I've been trying to get down to the boat for an hour or so after work on a Friday. Most of the time has been spent cleaning up the topsides. I used cif and a green pan scrubber for the worst bits. The wooden grab rails were covered in lichen, which scrubbed off easily with the pan scrubber. The whole lot looks a bit more loved now, with a shiny white top and a clean blue bottom. The red hull paint is really poor quality though. Suspect it is a one coat and the preparation was poor.


I managed to get out for a very short sail this weekend with my two boys. We didn't have long as there wasn't much water under the keels and we were more or less at HW. As we set off we ran aground on the sand bard at the harbour mouth. (This has since been dredged). The motor pulled it off without problem.

After about a minute the motor cut and stuck in gear so wouldn't restart. We resorted to the genoa and sailed pretty well, even slightly to windward under genoa alone. I lifted the motor and it decided to go into neutral so we were safe to get back.

Turning back, the sailing was still good. An attempt to sail onto the mooring narrowly failed but the motor was in the water ready.



Since last writing I have purchased a hard dinghy to leave at the harbour pontoon. You can just see it in the pic. Now I don't have to take my inflatable each time I go down to the boat. Only cost £100 but does have a small leak in the bow. I will add a pic.