Blue Hound

Big Waves

2011-11-10T01:39:00.000-08:00

Caught this on the BBC this morning. Blue Hound was there a few years ago. I think it's Nazare...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15670415

Stromboli

2011-11-03T01:17:00.000-07:00

After anchoring overnight off San Pietro in Panarea (anchor hooked on rock, no tripline, but got it out in the end), we anchored overnight off San Bartolomeo on NE corner of Stromboli, in 14 metres, bottom visible, sand, good holding. Lucky with wind - none, and little rolling except from cruise liners passing inside Stomboliccio.

Left at 08:00 just ahead of an electrical storm. Motor sailed down to Taormina Roads anchorage, and then on to Syracusa the next day.

Anchored off San Bartolomeo, Stromboli. The islet is Stromboliccio.

Maltese Falcon

2011-11-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Followers will know that this is a yacht I love.

This was taken during the Perini-Navi Cup racing this year. Full story at
http://www.charterworld.com/news/2011-perini-navi-cup-sailing-yacht-maltese-falcon-wins-final-race-cancelled

Pic courtesy of charterworld.com

Etna from Taormina

2011-11-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

Anchored in Taormina Roads, caught this pic of Etna in the evening sun:

Anchored at Taormina Roads - Mt Etna

Marina de Ragusa

2011-10-31T03:29:00.000-07:00

A great little town, and Ragusa itself is worth seeing (UNESCO world heritage site). If you are coming into the marina though, then check this video first, and watch the weather. Read the notes below the video too.

Marina de Ragusa - enter with caution in strong winds. This video was taken after a couple of days of 20-25kts from the east, with stronger winds out in the Ionian. You could time it well and be lucky, but there's only 5.5 metres or so depth in the entrance and some rollers were big. Earlier in the year we passed by in an easterly F8 and anchored round Punta Scalambri off a good sandy beach in 5 m, out of wind and swell.

Aeolian Islands

2011-10-30T01:17:00.000-07:00

We're tucked up in a bay, hiding from bad weather, on the island of Vulcano in the Aelolian group (Stromboli, Lipari etc.), under one of the two active volcanoes in the island group. Smells like rotten eggs a lot of the time. From Acitrezza we stopped at Taormina. Then it was an interesting, windy trip up the Straits of Messina, past the whirlpools of Scylla and Charibdis, which we didn't see. Almost turned back, but persisted through the wind and then the Tyrrenhian Sea was like a millpond - until yesterday. Salina next, then Lipari, Panarea and Stromboli.


In Porto Ponente, Vulcano

Understanding El Nino

2011-10-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

Weather data analysis is now uncovering the secrets of El Nino. ENSO events - 'El Nino Southern Oscillation' is now understood better, at least in terms of the data. Predicting these events is still elusive.

As Physicsworld.com describes it:

"El Niño, meaning "the Christ child", is so-called because the first signs of its appearance are marked by a warm current off the coast of Ecuador just after Christmas. These rising sea temperatures are related to a weakening of the trade winds that usually transport warm surface waters to the western margin of the Pacific. During an ENSO phase – which occur every 2–7 years – these warmer waters accumulate in the eastern tropical Pacific.

Individual ENSO episodes can last up to two years and lead to severe flooding in Latin America and droughts in South East Asia. One extreme cycle in 1997–1998 had far-reaching consequences, including extensive fires in the Indonesian rainforests and mudslides in California. Another impact of El Niño is that the accumulated warm water acts to block cold-water currents, which usually transport nutrients from the deep ocean to ecosystems along the Latin American coast. This can have a devastating effect on the fish stocks that form an important part of the economy in countries such as Peru and Colombia. "

Full story at http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/47268

Etna's Anger

2011-10-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

We headed up from Marina de Ragusa to Syracuse for a couple of days last week (one night anchored on north side of the strait behind Capo Passero (good holding) out of the swell), then on towards Messina.

We had some wind! Etna was playing hell with strong gusts backwinding us.

After a night anchored on rock outside Stazzo, the anchor came up cleanly and we headed back to Acitrezza for better shelter. The gale blew (46 knots in the morning gusts coming down from Etna), boxing the compass. 52.6 knots last night as we got back aboard from the pizzeria. It wasn't so bad here, given that it's open to the north and that's where the gale came from, give or take. Only 40 miles fetch from Messina, so that helped keep the seas down.

By the way, Stazzo had far less water in the harbour than the pilot books led us to believe, with scattered rock.

Back to Sicily

2011-08-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's great to be back after a few months in the UK working on some projects.

Etna is erupting, but the flight got in OK. A 2 hr wait for the regional bus and then 2 hrs again through olive and citrus groves, but it's well worth it. I'm impressed with Sicily.

They've had a dry summer, with no rain for almost 3 months. Blue Hound is fine apart from rust-dust (the dust is iron oxide based) which wipes off with a cloth.

Even the beach was tempting!

Now to planning the next sail - Scylla and Charibdis figure strongly in legend. Whirlpools and water spouts, then the contrary winds of the Aeolian Islands. Should be interesting...

Sailing - How ?

2011-07-18T02:06:00.000-07:00

A great illustration here

Storm Cell

2011-06-23T00:24:00.000-07:00

A great picture of a storm cell, by Mike Hollingsworth, published in the Daily Telegraph, 22 June 2011:

Full story at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/8591401/Pictures-of-the-day-22-June-2011.html

and then, on to Sicily.

2011-06-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

Mostly motor sailing in a light north easterly, but as we approached Sicily, it got up a bit. Sunday morning saw us racing past Marine de Ragusa in a F8, 44 kts max gust. Sunny, little sea and Blue Hound had her skirts up. I was unsure of the depths in the marina's entrance with an E F8 blowing directly in, so we opted to go a few miles further, around Punta Barcetto and found a lee, dropped the hook and slept for a few hours. Good holding off a pretty beach. Then we had a quiet entry to Ragusa that evening when the wind dropped. Then it came up again and blew for 2 days, up to 40 kts.

We are enjoying Ragusa - there's plenty of space in the marina, though we are a long way from the facilities. Wifi is a bit of a problem, but working now. And it's blowing NW 5/6.

Here's a mention of some of the friends we met in our 3 weeks along the Ionian way:

Alan and Gillian on Kumari
Ian and Mel on Jigsaw
John and Jan on Brigantia
Mike and Grace on Two Moons

After Fiskardo...

2011-06-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

..we moved on to Argostoli. Sod's Law was in operation - as we dropped the anchor and went astern for the quay, the throttle cable broke. All ended well, and I had a spare aboard. Not inspiring, but it could grow on you. 1 night stay = 2 days' charges on the town quay. The extra one is a check-out charge. Not bad, about €9 a night for 15 m loa, free water (not potable), no electricity. The Transit Log was stamped by the port police, although we did meet people who say they sailed for 2 years without a transit log.

Anchored at Kioni on Ithaca

Refuelled from a mini tanker at €1.55 a litre, painful. Great fruit, meat, fish markets on the waterside. The new quay is taking cruise liners - a big P&O ship was in port at the time. The marina is unfinished and Leon in Cafe Eionian will do guardiennage if you need to leave your boat on the quay or in the marina.

Fiskardo...

2011-05-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

Fiskardo before the charter fleets arrived...

After Ay Euphemia on Cepahlonia, we moved up the coast to Fiskardo. A great meal out last night at Nicolas Taverna overlooking the harbour. Sea Bream and Lamb. The harobour is jam-packed with charter boats. Each to his own. Today we need to get fuel and prepare for the trip back to Malta or Sicily - haven't decided yet. Then a 112' motor yacht tried to moor between us and a Farr50. There wasn't enough water for him though...

Ionian Contd..

2011-05-27T03:11:00.000-07:00

Gaios in Paxos

Paxos to Lefkas and down through the Levkas canal to Ormos Vlikho. Stunning.

Ormos Vlikho, Lefkas

Then, past the Onassis Island of Skorpios and on to anchorages in Meganisi. Cloudy today, air temp 26 deg C. Super.

Ormos Abileke, Meganisi

Underwater artefacts too:

Ionian Islands

2011-05-19T03:09:00.000-07:00

Three days from Malta, mixed weather from calm to F6 and a thunderstorm, but all in the right direction. We moored in Gaios on island of Paxos on Tuesday afternoon. More to come on the check in procedure here in a later post...now, have to find a bicycle tyre inner tube - the joys of cruising. Some Lymington friends here too!

Is this an Ugly Wally?

2011-05-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

Now some people tell me that Blue Hound is ugly, and yes, the pilot house windows could have a nicer design - that's in my plans longer-term, but the new 50m charter yacht from Wally is, in my humble opinion, ghastly. What do you think?

Photo courtesy Wally Yachts www.wally.com Photo: http://www.wally.com/templates/popUpImgCenter.asp?ProdId=109&idImg=1285&idType=2&idChannel=184&attivo=5
It's a design for a charter boat (I can't imagine anyone choosing this design for aesthetic reasons).

Serious Story, with a Funny Follow-on

2011-04-21T00:15:00.000-07:00

A sailing couple nearly died of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by fumes from their generator, when they were anchored off Brightlingsea. I know that there's a danger of death from fish and chip fumes when anchored off Southend, and yes, the message is serious. Reminded me to check my carbon monoxide alarm.

Anyway, what really cracked me up was the comments that readers left - typical small town points scoring. What a laugh - I didn't know that people from Kent had webbed feet. Full story here:

http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/8982483.Sailing_couple_nearly_die_of_carbon_monoxide_poisoning_during/?ref=rss

Extreme Capsizes...this is something else....

2011-04-19T00:26:00.000-07:00

...and really entertaining!

And Here They Go, Auckland to Hawaii...

2011-04-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

A good picture of them with sails hoisted, and the full story. I wonder that the local authorities let them go, having heard how keen the NZ authorities are on yachts' seaworthiness and equipment...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/manukau-courier/4887140/Sailing-the-Pacific#share

Boat Building as it used to be done, Pacific Style

2011-04-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

How the Maoris did it...

World's Largest Sailing Ship

2011-04-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

I caught this item on the blogosphere. 141 meters overall, green credentials - wood build, wood interior, built for a Turkish company. She dwarfs Maltese Falcon, and appears to be a four-masted topsail schooner with a gaff mainsail...assuming the aftmost saile on this monster schooner is still known as the mainsail. And, the masts are all the same height (just as on Blue Hound, but the comparison stops there...)

Maltese Falcon has the so-called Falcon rig (an evolution of the Dynarig) with sail engineering that will take her very well to windward. From the pictures, this new one looks like she could be handy to windward (ish), as schooners go. There's always a problem - the after sails have to be sheeted harder to maintin the flow, and the more masts you have then the harder it gets...

She's a bit too big for me I think ...The full story is at Jameslist

Funny what you come across!

2011-03-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

As part of my quest to be able to store the crew's c##p for wider waters, I got the holding tank into place in its assigned locker - a good fit - this weekend. During my research into active carbon filters (I'll need one for the holding tank breather), I came across a video which cracked me up. I'm going to make my own filter - the activated carbon is readily available - and once I've finished I'll post the details here. Anyway, I thought I'd share the video with you. It's adult only (not sexual) and maybe you'll find it as funny as I did, though I'm not going to embed it here. The sound track is hard work (at least for me), and you need to persevere through the first couple of minutes. There really is another world out there....oh, and the comments are a hoot too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0cM3yLHk8E

This year's plans?

2011-03-26T01:31:00.000-07:00

Well, what's it to be this year? Looks like a visit to Greece, then maybe back to Sicily - I've never been to Greece. Maybe Kefalonia and Zakynthos?

First though, I've got a small job to do - fit a holding tank. I've got the tank now - a good fit for its destination locker. Problem is fitting the breather vent and active filter - I don't want water coming back in, and the foredeck gets wet. Need to research it and keep it simple....

Tunisia

2011-02-01T10:42:00.000-08:00

Bitter-sweet is how I feel. The Tunisian people were lovely when we visited, but I'm sad to see the pain they've suffered. I'm happy too that hopefully things will improve for the people. I guess as tourists though we were sheltered.

The Boulevard de France in Tunis was very atmospheric, and it was sobering to see the film of rioting there.

We missed out on Bizerte last year, but look forward to an opportunity to visit when the harbour is open.

A Month on, and what a Month it's been - Lisbon to Malta!

2010-11-03T03:18:00.000-07:00

After a haulout and re-launch in Amora near Lisbon, we were weather-bound for 4 days whilst most Portuguese harbours were closed. We got to Cascais in a massive swell which was breaking over the breakwater! 2 days there, still waiting for seas to subside and off we went down to Ceuta (a Spanish enclave in North Africa, across the Straits from Gibraltar). This harbour is close-by Jebel Musa, one of the ancient 'Pillars of Hercules'.

On the approach, we saw a couple of Orcas (killer whales).

Then, on to Marina Smir in Morocco for a couple of days, 10 miles down the coast:

The nearest town, M'Diq was 10 mins away and real Morocco!

The next leg was the long one, past Algeria (still not a place to visit, with political instability), staying 40 miles off the coast, 6 days at sea to Tabarka in Tunisia. After all, this is the coast of the Barbary pirates!

Still, en route we were visited by a pod of grampus (Risso's) dolphins - so relaxed and graceful in our bow wave - quite different to the frenetic behaviour of common dolphins.

Tabarka was the best stop of the trip. The 'luxurious marina' in Tabarka is well past its best, but the people were very welcoming and helpful. We even managed to find free wifi in a hotel. Food quality was ok and plenty of fish!

They trade on the reputation of the Barbary priates here.

After Tabarka, we went on to Sidi Bou Said near Tunis, for a visit to Carthage. The marina was not special, and the town was a half hour walk away (or 300 step climb)! Carthage, though, was worth a visit.

Then, on to Malta, a couple of days away.

Finally...

2010-09-25T01:17:00.000-07:00

At last I got around to updating the website with 2008 & 2009 cruise details, some pics and a couple of videos, including storm petrel and loggerhead turtle!

http://www.blue-hound.com/Cruises.html

Seixal near Lisbon

2010-08-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

At anchor now in the River Judeu about 5 mls from Lisbon, off Seixal town. Steaming hot – 35 deg one day, but very few mozzies I’m glad to say. I’ve been doing maintenance, some deck welding and painting, for 10 days now.

There's a good boatyard at Amora just across the river from Seixal - run by the Vanancios family, nice people.

The buoyed channel to the boatyard has 2m+ at CD. There's a lot more water in this estuary than my e-charts indicate - I bought the latest Portuguese paper chart - it's got more water ;-)

So, we will haul out and do Blue Hound's underwater bits....it's 18 months since I looked at her bottom in St Sampson (Guernsey).

Plenty of wildlife - herons, egrets, terns and some small petrel-like birds that I haven't been able to identify. Fish galore, though being an estuary the water isn't that clear.

I like Alcantara dock in Lisbon, but mooring charges have gone up annually by 7% for the last 5 years, and the facilities are no better (and it seems to be noisier). There is now a Pingo Doce supermarket within 10 mins walk and they've got Twinings English Breakfast tea! The nearby laundry has disappeared and there is no wifi - important for those of us who try to work from the boat. I got a Vodaphone Portugal dongle for 40 Euros with 10 hrs incluido. Valid for 6 months and rechargeable at 5 euros for 5 hours. So, I'm writing this at anchor!

Seixal town is typical old Portugal - I had a churrasqunio barbeque lunch in the street yesterday - a lovely little town and plenty of live music; even a small popular beach. Ferry to Lisbon 15 mins.

The estuary is very reminiscent of Brazil - here's a couple of shots, one of the full moon rising over the town at dusk this week, and an evening view across to the Tagus Bridge and Cristo Rei monument:

Lisbon at last!

2010-08-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

We finally got here after 9 days sailing close hauled (well, as close as a schooner will sail). 748 miles great circle, we logged 1026 miles over the ground. Only a couple of tough days with big awkward seas and F6, and less than 24 hours under engine. Still you have to count your blessings, the French guys on the aluminium boat next to us hit a container at 8 knots and lost both their ballasted dagger boards - they were unstable in 10 m seas and 40 knots of wind accompanied by a warship for 2 days.....Here's a chart of our track from Sao Miguel to Lisbon...

Sao Miguel

2010-07-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

After Terceira (Angra), Sao Jorge (Calheta, Velas), Faial (Horta), Pico (Lajes do Pico), we're now in Sao Miguel (Ponta Delgada). We'll be here for a few days and then off to Lisbon. Discovered new marina in Lajes do Pico - super little place. I'll be putting pictures and more background on www.blue-hound.com soon! In the meantime here's a shot of Pico from Horta.

Azores again!

2010-07-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well, we got to the Azores via L'Aberwrach and Portosin - light winds, 52% motoring! Rosy's first time here, but Blue Hound's fourth visit. This time we are going to see a lot more!

Terceira was great, now we're about to depart Sao Jorge for Flores (wind dependent). Good food and wine, great weather. The fajas in Sao Jorge were amazing, but here's a picture of the Tourada in Terceira:

Round the Island

2010-06-20T01:54:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend. I'd never done the RTI before, and the thought of a 12 hour drifting match or a beat into half a gale for 6 hours was not appealing. But this year I think will probably go down as one of the better ones, at least for smaller boats. A friend invited me to sail on a Starlight 36, and did she go!

A great spinnaker run down to the Needles, then a long reach down to St Caths and a beat to the forts.Then a cracking reach to the line in close company.

Our corrected time was just under 8.5 hrs, and we would have done a lot lot better if we hadn't tried to take a shortcut inside the fort (against my advice). We lost about 10 mins I reckon. But a great day for the Folkboats - they were in our class and did they go! Nip and tuck all the way.

The radar saga is now at an end. I did in fact manage to fix the old one - bad connections in the scanner. Boy, is that Koden gear tough! In the meantime I managed to locate a used Furuno 821 - a great set, but only 2kw. So now I have two! :-)

First Cross-Channel This Year

2010-05-26T03:00:00.000-07:00

Well, got that out of the way - a cross-channel weekend to test everything. Headed for Cherbourg from the Hamble, but the winds didn't work too well for a schooner, light and easterly, so ended up in Alderney. Flat sea both ways, and a beautiful midnight moonlight sail into Braye. Sunday saw us in Crabby Harbour for some fuel - we were a tight fit! Sunday also saw the beautiful Jolie Brise sail in and anchor.

Although I'd tested the radar before leaving and it was fine, it did have a wobbly moment. I remade the mast connector and it was fine. However, it did go down on the way back, and this time I think it's a circuit board issue. Lots of radial noise on screen in standby mode, and completely swamped when transmitting (and no sign of any targets). Tuning appears to have no effect. I have detailed circuit diagrams, and I'm wondering whether the noise filters are screwed, or maybe the tuning circuit. It's a Koden MD300 - superb tough piece of kit, but about 20 years old now. So, if you know of another one I can cannibalise then let me know!

I was last in Alderney in January 2009 before heading up to Cherbourg where I was snow-bound for a few days; then a brisk single-handed cross-channel to the Solent. Since then, Mainbrayce Marine has changed hands - the new owners are very helpful, and the range of stock has increased a lot.

Anyway, the first trip is done, though we had to motor all the way back.

Easter Weekend, Looking Out..

2010-04-04T04:31:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend, more activity at last! View from the porthole this morning:

First Trip 2010?

2010-03-25T03:13:00.000-07:00

A grim winter now past! First trip - just a tootle up and down the Hamble with a radio journalist who is preparing a short piece for an arts festival, but at least the cobwebs are away. I'll be posting the audio piece on http://www.blue-hound.com/, sometime in April.

It's good to be mobile again!

Sun and Hurricanes

2010-02-05T02:21:00.000-08:00

A beautiful sunny morning on the river - spring is in the air methinks!

I've just been reading about research into future hurricane patterns - it seems that they will become more intense and less frequent. The research is based on output from the IPCC - though their output is under question at present. Anyway, it is an interesting read. See more here at Physicsworld

What will 2010 hold?

2010-01-23T05:32:00.000-08:00

Thoughts at present about heading to the Canaries for the New Year (2010/2011). My beaten path has been to go via Brittany/Galicia/Lisbon/Algarve. This year I'm thinking seriously about going via the Azores - one direct leg.

Schooners don't go too well to windward, and Blue Hound is no exception; though, with the yankee and forestaysail she's much handier than with the genoa.

Still, the Azores in one leg is highly dependent on wind direction for me. We'll see!

Talking to a friend last night who is doing a two-hander direct to the Faroe Islands. Now that's a toughie!

Winter's here

2009-12-15T01:18:00.000-08:00

This week has seen the cold weather hit here, down to +1 overnight on weekend (on the river), and this morning a cold and drizzly easterly. Got to get some fuel today as genny now doing about 5-6hrs a day running heating.

Will be seeing some of my 'trip-to-Brazil' sailing pals today, looking forward to that. Their boat in the Baltic had engine problems in the summer. The yard engineers in Sweden couldn't solve it, but I worked through it with them over a few days via Skype, isolating and testing various parts of the fresh water cooling system, and we beat it!

Calmer at last

2009-11-15T11:45:00.000-08:00

A quiet day today - it blew 9 here yesterday, up near Swanwick, and apparently 90kts+ recorded in Solent. The tops were being blown off the waves here in the Hamble :-(

Went and got some fuel today, reattached the aerogen bracing stay which had worked loose in the wind, a few deck jobs and then watched replay of England scraping home against Argentina. It's good to be Welsh!

Weather :-(

2009-11-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

A bad blow forecast here tonight. Have been out today in the dinghy to have my car tested. Lots & lots of rain. I'm still pondering on the heater conundrum and wondering whether to go for a blower heater or just a plain oil fired heater, naturally convected. I'll see what's cooking on ebay this weekend.

sailingsoulmates havenplace blue-hound

Aerogen

2009-11-10T02:18:00.000-08:00

Getting cold now. Missed out on a couple of heaters on ebay - they are going for silly prices, or is it just me?

Good news is that aerogen is working ok and refitted after test harness removed. Not much wind though. B****y typical!

Sunday Recovery

2009-11-08T05:02:00.000-08:00

Late night last night, up till 2.30 am working on rebuild of www.blue-hound.com . Preparing chandlery page and offers. Aero6gen didn't reach reserve price, so will re-list in a week or so.

Good news today is that small aerogen appears to be working, though not sure if reaching full power. 10 kts of wind and barely driving an inspection lamp. Maybe output is affected?

Saturday stuff

2009-11-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

Well, trip ashore to find my library books - senior moment during the week when I left them in the Post Office! Anyway, kind soul had returned them to the library!

Good news is my first ezine article has been accepted and I get expert status! Fool's Gold - see ezinearticles.com :-) There is a major obstacle course to get published, but I'm getting the hang of it now. Have started article covering some experiences with online dating...

On the other hand, Wales lost to New Zealand this evening. I think they put up a pretty good show, but were out-thought tactically. Graham Henry ran the game HIS way. Warren Gatland has a bit to learn.

2009-11-06T11:22:00.000-08:00

Well, have doubts about Aerogen wind gen output, test harness today didn't appear to work, using 9v battery as a load. Strip it!

Progress on www.havenplace.co.uk - have loaded youtube videos of spinner dolphins and the house martin landing on blue hound last year ( www.blue-hound.com ) ; also slideshows of azores and of turtles - only 3 pics - but getting to grips with the technology. Need to find a tool to edit videos - would like to get the Green Flash video on. Maybe it's still on youtube?

www.footballpoolswizard.co.uk is coming on, have just about finshed it for now. Put copyscape protection on - www.copyscope.com - see how it goes. Have got to grips I think with the aweber list management software.

My "Winning the Football Pools" book is coming on - at last step now, doing the draw selections, but a lot of results sheets to prepare and include. About 80% done now.

Job tonight is to start reconstructing the blue-hound website.

Tomorrow going to think about a heater...

2009-11-05T14:31:00.000-08:00

1 st post.

Today installed aerogen, not sure if it is working, no wind tonight.

Ploughing on with website work, sorting indexing with google.