The story here is that I had to end my involvement in the cruise a couple of days early. The O-bolt, by which the lower block on the mainsheet connects with the hull, pulled out of its housing. I rigged a temporary set up in light airs to get me back to Pin Mill. The fix was to source a new bolt, nut and associated washers, reach down and along through the bilge with a nut and washer and connect with the new o-bolt going through the hole, and then tighten. That’s the theory. The practice was devilishly fiddly, but I somehow managed to get there in the end.
Mended, with new bolt and penny washers included both on top and on the underside. The worrying thing is that no nut was found in the bilges from the previous fitting. So I have no idea how it has taken this long to break. This component copes with considerable forces.
I met up with some sailing chums for an overnighter, based at Titchmarsh Marina. The boat was still on her trailer following the Coniston event in June, and also some further mid-season maintenance. And I had Kizzy with me. Otherwise, I would have sailed round. But it was fun to trailer sail once more. Fresh from a temporary repair to her keelband (see previous entry), we launched on the Saturday morning at thus ever welcoming Marina.
Herewith some video of the event.
Again, my failed electrics meant that I was unable to record my tracks from this event. Again, for the ship's log, I have entered an estimated trip length of around 10nm.
In May and June, I made two visits to Titchmarsh Marina in order to sail around the Walton Backwaters. The first was a reconnaissance trip to prepare for the second which was a Drascombe Association rally I organised.
This is a blog of sailing activities aboard Daisy IV, a Deben Lugger built in 2012 and purchased in 2023.
Previous boats were Devon Lugger, Daisy (2005-6), Drascombe Coaster, Daisy II (2006-2019) and BayCruiser 20 Daisy III (2019-2024). During the years of boat ownership, I have covered well over 6000nm around the UK, most of which are documented in my various blogs. Sailing grounds are based around the east coast, mainly the Harwich area. Over the years, making use of a versatile roller coaster trailer, I have also covered the east coast from North Kent to Whitby, and various other locations around the south coast, Severn Estuary, Cumbria, inland reservoirs, and the Norfolk Broads.
