Fuel, B&B, then more exploring - Herm this time

We had a little trip planned - only as far north as St Sampson harbour though, the bulk materials commercial port of Guernsey with a very boring entrance:

and a drying out spot for the commercial guys:

(Yes, this pic was taken on another day when the clouds decided to make themselves felt and the water level was lower.)

Timed for high tide it allowed us to pick up some fuel from Gary the friendly Rubis man. The pontoon used to be a precarious thing, vaguely coupled to the wall with chains but is now rather posh:

Izzy found the whole experience rather tiring - running around between us and Gary who was up top with his road tanker, checking out the seaweed as it moved and barking at any funny noises from the pontoon. So much so that on the return trip to St Peter Port she needed a flybridge snooze:

Our liner curse was in full swing, with this anchored off and a rash of tenders ferrying annoying cruise passengers ashore:

We discovered that their behaviour was no different to pre-Covid times. In other words they walk in line abreast down the streets, owning the pavements and making random slow moves in unexpected directions which normal folks are supposed to anticipate and avoid. Luckily they don't seem capable of walking too far and even Havelet Bay, right next to the main harbour, was uninfested:

Until Izzy arrived that is:

Martin and Inge, who also own a Nordhavn 47, were flying over to Guernsey to prepare their boat for a relaunch in St Sampson. They needed bed and breakfast for a couple of days before the launch so we obliged. We then got to see them arrive at the end of their sea trial with the M and G boatyard folks on board:

We were sitting on the ferry to Herm and so could not help them berth alongside us:

Quite a rare sight, four Nordhavns in St Peter Port together:

Apparently the official collective noun is a "noodle". We much prefer the ideas that you folks generated a while ago. Have a look at "Collective noun conundrum" post 

Whilst Martin and Inge were reclaiming their boat and adding copious fenders to keep us apart, we were on the way to Herm, enjoying sights like these:

and beaches like this:

The doglet had a great time walking the cliff path around the south of the Island:

She also enjoyed, as did we, a very good lunch at the Mermaid Tavern. The price changes since our last, pre-Covid visit were remarkable! Not enjoyable, just remarkable:

A slow wander back to the Rosaire steps (the ferry cannot get into the harbour at lower states of the tide) allows lovely views over Jethou, with Guernsey in the background:

ready for the "Travel Trident" ferry back.

We found that Herm island now operated their own ferry boat, in competition with the long established Trident operation. No idea how they will both survive, the ferry and island were very quiet during our visit. We had picked a liner free day on purpose mind you!

Guernsey revisited - very happily

The evening view from the mooring in the harbour was lovely and a reminder of how nice this island is. Castle Cornet in the sun and blue skies:

spoiled only by the rather elderly Condor ferry backing into her berth: The four ferries that serve the Channel Islands have an interesting and very chequered history. The odd collision with docks and other vessels, a high speed trimaran that makes folks ill with the motion in bigger wave patterns (bought as a bargain from down under), the odd fire on board etc:

The two main freight ferries are 1990s' builds so it will be interesting to see how they fund replacements in the coming years.

We had to do the short walk to Havelet bay to let Izzy run wild, bark, chase a fox red labrador (way too fast for her but she tried very hard!) and generally let off steam after a day at sea. Such a peaceful scene, so glad you cannot hear the barking:

We commented on how the Weymouth harbour folks seemed to have timed their pontoon replacement badly. Well, they are not alone:

It was rather poignant when Facebook (we rarely post anything) reminded us that 8 years ago to the day we had Anne, Izzy's owner, on board with us enjoying the same location. This was just before she collected Izzy at the regulation 8 weeks old:

The Swan pontoons (outer harbour area) had emptied out a lot once the Morlaix race yachts left and things became even more Nordhavnish when this rather splendid 60 arrived and moored on the non walk ashore pontoon:

Suddenly we felt insignificant again although it was nice to have another Nordhavn around. They moved to our pontoon later on and we had the pleasure of meeting the Canadian couple who were off on an extended cruise, having spent the winter in St Katherine's dock near Tower Bridge in London. They reported being horrified by their first power bills from the marina - they quickly switched from reverse cycle heating to the diesel boiler! Their friends on another Nordhavn pitched up a few days later:

What other excitement? Well, the captain managed to catch a summer cold and so was feeling a bit less energetic than his normal "cannot really be bothered" self. Dosed with Night Nurse he managed to snuffle and cough himself to sleep though. His snoring still did not match that of the little dog though. (Who is he kidding????)

Maintenance News:

We reported earlier about swapping out the horrid Chi Tai panel meters that show the DC voltage and amps on our electrical panel for way better versions from Neil, a proper electronics person and Nordhavn 40 owner. Well, he now has the AC meters available too so we happily got rid of all 7 of our AC meters too. Here is the new circuit board:

and the slightly more complex and overheating prone style it replaced:

We now have a full complement of circuit boards from Neil and his new website, Nordy Bits. There are even new stickers for the original cases so you know what is in there:

The sad bit is that from the outside, nothing looks any different at all:

As we are off shorepower, we could judge how much less 24V DC power the new meters (12 in total) use compared to the originals. It is significantly different! 

On the topic of electricity, we still like how tidy and well labelled the wiring behind the panels is:

Cosy but at least you can trace things with the aid of the good wiring diagrams the builders provide.

What else during our lazy time here? Well, the alternator drive belt for the small engine alternator (the one that charges the start batteries) got tightened up. It was new just under a year ago and had stretched a little. All good. We also swapped out the fuel polishing filter as the transfer speed / vacuum had increased a bit. Not surprising really, the filter was a 2 micron, being used up from some that we were wrongly supplied and then given for free. For the non boating folks, that is way way finer than the normal 30 or 10 micron Racor filters we use and so would clog up much more quickly.

Portland to St Peter Port (Guernsey)

The Channel Islands beckoned. We'd not been since covid struck and kind of miss the place. The idea was to head to Guernsey, get some fuel, enjoy the island, let the little dog run on the beaches and through the woods and then make it up as we go. Probably including Herm, Sark and possibly Jersey as we have not been there in many years.

Planning the trip was fun. We didn't want to go overnight as we had a furry passenger. She has always been fine on longer daytime trips but we didn't want to push things. The tides decreed an earlyish start of 6:30 am but we ought to get some great assistance on the way. The forecast was perfect too, wind of force 4 decreasing to 3 or less and a "slight to smooth" sea state. Perfect motorboating weather. Oh, it was going to be sunny too. 

So, we headed out from the closer eastern entrance of Portland as there was no commercial traffic. The military stuff was all tied up and probably enjoying a lay-in:

Heading out from the harbour, the sun made an appearance and started to burn off the cloud, it was quite atmospheric really:

As you cross to the channel islands, you have to thread your way through the shipping lanes where there is a traffic separation zone.  Stuff going west comes first:

and amazingly we fitted through a gap in the traffic with no course alterations needed:

We were not as close as that picture suggests by the way, about a mile off the tanker.

The tides like to take you east to start with and then back towards the west. We let them do it as it is way more efficient than fighting them twice to try and achieve a straight line to the southern end of the separation zone. You can see where that is by the kink to the west in our course:

Izzy took clearing the traffic in her stride and with her new lion toy in her mouth. It lost its ears though, despite being loved:

Crossing the eastbound shipping lane we were not as lucky but we only needed to change course for one ship, a little 10 degree jink to starboard gave us 3/4 of a mile to play with:

Not the prettiest of things really:

After we cleared the traffic zones, we celebrated what was turning out to be a fast passage with some of Mrs Bishop's home made cake:

In case you are wondering, it was as good as it looks. The weather played ball and so heading more or less south from the Casquets towards Guernsey, we decamped to the flybridge. Our first sunny calm trip up top this year. Izzy was transfixed as Herm and Guernsey appeared and got bigger:

We just beat the Commodore Clipper freight ship into the port and were welcomed back by a friendly face in the harbour dory - he told us that the Morlaix race yachts were in port and that things were "rather manic". He wasn't kidding! The French yotties were rafted four out on the waiting pontoon for the marina and all over the Swan pontoons in the main harbour. We were given a spot on the one harbour pontoon that isn't connected to the shore, ideal with the doglet on board.  ☹  So, the RIB was launched to take her for the regulation pee and then retrieve her. As the harbour guys kindly said they would move us to the walk ashore area once the race yachts went into the marina , we recovered the RIB and later duly moved over. A big water top up and a much needed dinner followed.

The trip took under 10 hours, running at our normal cruise rpm for shorter trips of 1650 rpm or so. The boat was very light on fuel and water so that helped our speed through the water. The bottom was pretty clean too as it wasn't long since our lift out and the weather had been far from sunny. Perfectly calm too, the bumpiest bits were in the edge of the Portland race and when a couple of big patio door sporting fast motorboats came steaming out of St Peter Port throwing up quite a wake. A thoroughly enjoyable trip, the best so far this year.

Maintenance News:

Nothing to report really. One of the Furuno screens in the pilothouse decided to reboot itself during the run (we have a black box job that runs both of them and is the core of the Furuno system). One instance has played that game before but there is a software upgrade that, like every software upgrade ever released, promises to fix everything. They never mention the new bugs that come with it. As it also involves an operating system upgrade for the box and for the plotter on our flybridge, we will leave it for now. Better the devil you know as this devil just restarts one screen on the odd occasion.

Portland life and a FAST boat trip

The bus to Weymouth beckoned, as did the beach for the little dog. We kind of like the £2 capped bus fares at the moment too. Weymouth harbour looked very deserted:

thanks to the (very) late installation of a run of new pontoon there. Still no power or water supply installed and they seem to be keeping the area clear. Brilliant planning - knowing that everything has delays these days, why not plan to do it in October or November rather than risk the obviously lost visitor revenue in the early season? The harbour is council run and we remember being told that when it fell under the control of Dorchester, the council management had no idea what to do with it as they had no other harbours in their jurisdiction. The then harbour master was told that he was reporting to the Dorchester folks who ran car parks. Oh yes, just the same challenges and capital spend requirements. Might possibly be connected to this delay?

Despite the rather empty harbour, the beach was suitably busy, especially the dog friendly bit near the harbour itself:

A very happy little dog indeed. After a good walk around town to help the doglet dry off a little, we returned to Portland remembering why we like the area so much.

The Captain had an "awayday". Together with Ray, a friend, we've acquired a slightly used Cap Camarat 9.0. What is one of those we hear you ask. Well, have a look at the Jenneau website. The idea is to park it outside the house in Hythe and use it for trips around the Solent area. A delivery run from Chichester was needed so after a bus, train and a lift, we arrived in Chichester and headed to Hythe way way faster than we could ever manage in our Nordhavn. This was at around 26 knots:

and apparently it tops out at around 47. Twin 250HP Yamaha engines on something that weighs under 3000Kg before you bolt on the engines does mean an impressive power to weight ratio. We made it to Hythe rather rapidly and we have to report that the little hull handled some choppy stuff rather well. Not quite a Nordhavn ride or Nordhavn fuel consumption but all OK, no osteopath or overdraft were needed.

Berthed in Hythe on the pontoon that comes with our house:

The return to Portland was a lift, train and bus thing, only the train happened to be the one that most of the students from Brockenhurst college catch. To say that it was infested with students is an understatement.  However, they were amazingly well behaved compared to the average teenagers on public transport. 

Alex and Gisele had arrived in Portland whilst the captain was playing hooligan on the Solent. The following day they invited us to join them on the short trip to Weymouth harbour. Up on the flybridge, you can see that it was a bit of a blowy day:

Yes, there is a Gisele under that hair. We went for a wander into town and Izzy fell totally in lust with Bear, this rather cute boy. Some unkind folks commented that he was too good looking to be heterosexual. We didn't let the two of them get close or alone enough to prove or disprove that viewpoint:

Back on board Lady Grey. Alex was in good form and dished out some large and very welcome gin and tonics before we headed into town for dinner. 

A very good one it was too. Crustacean restaurant did us proud, some really good fish dishes and although they do not advertise it, they have a couple of dog friendly tables near the entrance. All in all, an excellent day.

Finally, the sun came out and the wind dropped. It almost felt as though spring was here. Izzy had a walk along the Portland harbour area and plenty of amusement and exercise chasing stones:

If only it could stay that way.

We finished off our social whirl with a visit from an ex work colleague of the captain, Mr Bishop. He came on his rather lovely BMW GSA motorcycle that made the captain rather nostalgic for big twin boxer engines and the open road. He also came with cake - always welcome especially as it was a blueberry one. Some was saved for our planned trip the next day.

Maintenance news:

The saga of the wiper arm continued. The fitting on the wiper motor spindle was so seized in place that loads of penetrating oil made no impact on it. We had to move to a more destructive approach, slicing it open with a Dremel cutting disc. It took three of them by the way, the stainless arms are pretty thick:

The other fitting in the picture is for the trailing arm, it just screws into a bolt on the superstructure. Just? Well, maybe it just did in 2007 but now, it was as if it was welded in place. The whole fitting was removed, penetrating oil and heat were used, as was some bad language hoping that would help. Funnily enough, it didn't seem to. Finally it gave up and the old arm was free. 

The clamp arrangement to fit onto the motor on the new arm is way better and ought to allow future removal with less stress:

The new arms were cut to the required length (one more Dremel cutting disc bit the dust) and then we noticed that the new arms only had a spring on one of them, not on the trailing arm. As pressure on the screen is critical, we removed a spring from the old arm and fought it into position in the new one, together with the screen washer fitting and pipe. Finally fixing it in place with plenty of anti-seize paste was satisfying but somehow worrying too. One done, three more to go it seems. A really annoyingly tricky job that could have been avoided if the builders hadn't assembled the things "dry". 

Poole to Portland

The bank holiday Monday in Poole was a non-event. So much for hiding away from all the boats out and about. There were very few and the marina visitors area was pretty empty too. Grim weather might just have had something to do with it of course.

We planned to head a bit further west on the Tuesday and, as is often the case, timing was tricky. The wind was from the west, in other words right on the nose. If we left later on to take a favourable tide with us, then the "wind over tide" fun would have built up some messy waves over the bank that runs down from St Albans Head. It can get very confused there in the wrong conditions and the inland route was not an option as the gunnery range was active. So, we opted to leave a little earlier than "optimal" for the tides, aiming to cross the bank around slack water. We knew that the Lulworth range was active that day and would be firing out to sea. The only question was "how far" and so how far south we would have to go to clear it. By the time the tide got going in a westerly direction,  over the wind, we would start to get shelter from the land around Portland and so the wave heights should be fine.

That was the theory. the practice was pretty much spot on too. We left a deserted Poole Quay in the now standard wind and grey weather. Pushed the tide down towards Studland and the famous "Old Harry" rock and his neighbours:

Old Harry lost his wife (another chalk stack) quite a long while ago thanks to erosion, not divorce.

For folks who don't know the area, this is a UNESCO heritage site, have a look at Wikipedia entry

As we passed Swanage and headed out of the shelter of St Albans Head, there was a little more wave action but, rather unexpectedly, some fog banks too. The view became more like this:

and the radar was our friend. We called the Lulworth range guys on the radio and asked how far south they would like us to go. The answer was "south of 33.5 or 33". ie south of  the 50 degree and 33 minutes north line. You can work out where that line is from our course below:

basically following that line westwards until we were abeam Lulworth cove itself and could head up towards Portland harbour. The crew took a turn at the helm and the ship's dog just kept on snoozing:

The fog banks came, went and got thicker and bigger so not much to see bar the radar plot. The good news is that the St Albans ledge area was very calm as we traversed it. Approaching Portland it all got busier with a little tanker moving across our track then spinning around to come alongside an anchored ship for bunkering:

This meant a diversion for us and as there was some commercial traffic, we took the longer route into the harbour, through the more northerly entrance. It was pretty thick fog in the harbour too but the fast sailing dinghies were still out, up on their foils and haring around in poor visibility. Portland marina gave us a berth and as we approached the fog cleared a bit, thanks to very heavy rain and 36 knot wind gusts. Ideal for mooring up when we had to back down between two pontoons and wriggle into the corner berth.  As we approached, we noticed that the allotted spot had a yacht in it so a quick (soggy) radio call and we were given another option. Why that kind of thing has to happen in the rain and with strong gusts that make berthing tricky at the best of times is a mystery. 

Despite the best efforts of the fates to conspire against us, we moored and happily pottered up to the office once the rain cleared. Portland is in the same marina group as Penarth so berthing here is a freebie for us. We prefer being in the harbour in Weymouth but our bank balance likes it here.

Maintenance News:

Nothing really to report. The wing engine had some exercise on the way over, the big Lugger was happy too. The captain needs to adjust the position of the port stabiliser locking pin next time we run the engine - it didn't slide in happily to lock the fin when we arrived. This is a simple enough 4 bolt job with a big allen key.