Messing About In Sailboats

Nearly ready to launch

S ince March I have been pretty busy on Messing About. Here is what I have done so far: - Bottom sanded and painted - Hull compounded and polished - Deck and cockpit scrubbed - Rail, stanchions, pulpit and pushpit polished - Topside teak cleaned and sealed - Saloon/cabin cleaned and oiled wood with lemon oil - Stained and sealed the cabin sole - Prepped the portapotty - Installed cam-cleat for the Cunningham - Installed new vang eye on mast - Unblocked sink and fridge drain (VICTORY!) - Winches cleaned and greased - Installed hooks and brackets for docking lines and boat hook in lazarette - Re-bedded halyard clutch - Had the outboard bracket replaced - Bought a whisker pole for the genoa - Charged and installed batteries - Touched up a couple of spots with epoxy - Emptied and sorted out the lazarette - Bought new better sail ties... Read more →

Personal Sailing Moments of 2009

Over the weekend, I had time for a bit of self-indulgent looking-back at my personal sailing year. As I looked back on my most memorable sails, I realized that everyone of them was a "learning moment". Few of the sails were spectacular but each one made me a better sailor or at least a less dumb one. I started the season with a sail where anything that could go wrong would go wrong.This shook out the winter cobwebs. In June, while crewing in the Leukemia Cup, I was reminded about the importance of safety and boom avoidance. Photo to the left for a hint). In August, Alice and I learned how to sail on a lake and what an amazing experience that can be, with a wonderful day sail on Lake Dillon, Colorado. OK that sail was spectacular. I closed out my sailing year with one of the best sailing... Read more →

Love and Sailing

For Alice and I, sailing has been a central pillar of our life together. I feel very lucky that we share this same passion and we have shared this since the start. It helped form the bond in the beginning, fixed the cracks later and now is creating a new foundation. When we were first married, Alice and I had spent relatively little time together. When we first fell in love there was a minor inconvenience. Alice lived in Houston and I lived in London. We had an on-and-off long distance relationship for a couple of years and then took the all-or-nothing plunge and got engaged. I made the move to Houston and for complicated visa reasons we had to get married within 90 days of my arrival in Texas. We never really talked about it but we didn't really know each other as well as most couples do when... Read more →

Teen Troubles

As the proud owner parent of teenage boy, ...er young man, I have found the various accomplishments and announcements of some notable of teenagers in the sailing world a little troubling. Back in my day any self-respecting teenager would be out getting pissed* on Specila Brew**, living off chili kebabs, looking for any opportunity of a snog**, worrying about acne or listening to the dulce tones of the Stranglers, The Jam or the anthem of my youth, Teenage Kicks by the Undertones. Ah those halcion days! What does the youth of the day do? Sail around the world! I ask you. First there was that young Zac Sunderland. Bloody troublemaker. Youngest person to sail round the world, doing a circumnavigation in an old Topper modified in his Dad's garage for blue water sailing.Then some English teenager, Mike Perham, whose birthday was a bit later in the year than Zac saved... Read more →

What was I thinking?

I had an idea for a group writing project. The topic is moments of blind stupidity while sailing which left you saying to yourself "What was I thinking?". Mine goes back about 5 years or so ago when I was back in the UK. We chartered a Sunfast40 (great boat!) from Sunsail in Port Solent and spent the weekend sailing round the Isle of Wight. On the Saturday, we sailed to Yarmouth, one of the truly nicest harbors in the world. On the Sunday morning we headed off West early with the tide past Hurst Castle aiming to round the Needles by breakfast. I had it in my head that it would be great to cook breakfast sailing round the Needles. I went below fired up the grill and stove and set to cooking up a classic English Breakfast - the Full Monty - eggs, bacon, toast, beans and a... Read more →