Things can only get better...........

The words of that song go round and round in my head. After yesterday's disaster I was up and out the door at 6.15am to catch the tide.................and the flat tyre on Arwen's trailer. Nothing would shift those rusted on nuts and so by 7am I knew I was going to have call out the AA. Another sailing day went up in a puff of smoke!

I have to say the AA man was brilliant. He wrestled those rusted nuts off despite the fact that they were so badly corroded they kept breaking off in pieces.  Off he went....and I moved the trailer forward. A phoosh sound and yes.......the other tyre deflated. Yes that's right - two deflates in 2 hours...due to corroded wheel rims. Well, it was inevitable. Arwen had sat on the drive all winter. Despite washing down the trailer and wheels after each trip....the rust won the battle. 

So two new wheels and tyres. We may be able to resurrect the old ones. Someone down the road is going to shot blast them and then install inner tubes. So I may well end up with a spare or two!

It's day two of my holiday and so far.........total damage is pushing £700!
I need to re find my karma!

Steve

I reversed Arwen into my neighbour's car!

I'm still in shock and I feel awful. 

I've put two dents in my neighbour's car bonnet and caused some deep scratches and minor dents. The paint has cracked and is flaking off and there are white paint marks all down the bonnet! It will need panel beating and a respray of the entire car bonnet. I'm just hoping that the paint is still available as their car is 11 years old and was until I managed to come along in pristine condition; washed each week and stored in the garage everyday. It was their pride and joy.
I can't still quite believe I did it. Our road is narrow and there was a parked car on the other side. A white delivery van was forcing his way through between me and the car opposite and I panicked thinking he'd hit one or other of the cars and so I reversed back a couple of metres and crunch! The outboard bracket hit the bonnet.
I feel awful not just about the damage done but also about the unnecessary stress I've caused them both. They were both so nice about it as well demonstrating extraordinary patience, tolerance and forgiveness. Obviously I will sort out everything including a hire car for them while theirs is in the body shop. But I've still caused them stress and inconvenience; and the likelihood is the car bonnet will be a slightly different shade.......I just cannot believe I was that stupid. My first motoring accident in 30 years of driving and I did it to two of the nicest people I know. Unforgivable. I'm so damned angry with myself for being so careless and causing my neighbours such stress.

And then Arwen's right hand side tyre deflated because the rim has rusted away and so the tyre cannot form a proper seal......so I need to get a new tyre and rim.

Day one of the holidays. I hope it will get better than this! I have this real sense of self loathing and frustration at my own gross stupidity at this moment in time.

Steve

PS My neighbours have just got back. It will be a new bonnet (as it can't be bashed out because it is a double skin) and new spray job. It will take four days and can't be done until August!  Ouch.  Now I'm feeling doubly bad!!

the new GoPro

Obviously I can't show any footage from aspirations week last week which includes students in. So this discounts all the brilliant in boat footage I shot. the only clip I have with no students in this this short clip (this out of 10 hrs of footage!!). It just doesn't do the camera justice but with the weather hopefully improving I promise I'll post some at the first available opportunity

Steve

There is a whisper.................

just a mere rumour, whispered by word of mouth..........but.......wait for it................our weather may be changing for the better! We may get sunshine and little rain for the weekend. Whats more......the Met Office are suggesting that the jet stream is shifting northwards and we should be returning to normal July weather in the last week of the month!

here are the windguru forecasts for the next few days

Winds are looking light but the main thing is NO RAIN!

Oh my!
I think I've forgotten how to sail Arwen!
And I finish school tomorrow for the holiday........I don't want to build up my hopes but maybe, just maybe....I may be sailing Friday or Saturday

Right I need to finish school tomorrow and spend the evening planing what I'm going to do. I need to see if it is worth getting Dad down as well!

Oh yes.....things are definitely beginning to look up!

Steve

aspirations week

I've been very lucky this week to spend time with some outstanding watersports instructors and fantastic young teenagers. The fantastic thirteen were from my school and I was very privileged to take them sailing. I have laughed all week; went hoarse yelling instructions; prayed that their listening skills would develop and marvelled at their capacity to remain good humoured through four days of torrential rain, continual capsizes and gusting winds.

All this success has been down, in no small measure, to the outstanding instructors of the Mountbatten Water Sports Centre here in Plymouth. Anna, Maya, Lee, Sam, Alex and Amy.....you have all been stars. Anna, we all wish  you good luck in the Laser 1 nationals next week. The posse were very keen to hire a mini bus and come up to Abersoch to be your groupies!

Sam, the activities manager, has been accommodating, thoughtful and brilliant throughout. The quality of instruction was amazing. Clear simple instructions and demonstrations; constant good humour and drilling of technique. Having used the centre twice now I can honestly say that all the instructors have been some of the best I have ever worked with over the years; and many of them are volunteers too!

At the end of the week, everyone gained their RYA Adult Level One certificate. Five gained their Level Two.

We've handled Pecos, Laser Bahias, Laser Topaz and appalling weather. Hailstones, high wind gusts, torrential rain, cold, peat coloured waters have not put us off. We've had the odd accident or two - booms across noses; knock out of boat situations, run over toes (by trolleys), pinched hands between wire shrouds and a fair few booms across heads (thank God for helmets). We managed to successfully run a bahia across someone elses large boat trailer (the owner was very tolerant given it took us 20 minutes to remove the offending boat off his trailer). One broken mast clip; one torn sail; one dented dagger board. That's pretty good given our previous track record (three broken masts; four broken dagger boards; three damaged rudders and two bent booms (a different centre - least said the better!!!!)

The GroPro camera performed well. slight fogging despite having anti fog strips in the camera but it is good. Clearly it is an up close camera to give the viewer a sense of being part of the action, so distance shots are poor. it also gives a slight curved edge to some of the photos because of the lens type. Clever bit of kit though. Make sure you get a 32Gb card for it though. My 16Gb just wasn't enough.

It has been a cracking week. Thank you everyone!

Steve

well the gopro has arrived

So first impressions:

"Wow! It really is small"

"How much did you pay for that?" (guess who had that to say!!)

After a quick examination:

• a clever bit of kit
• easy to use interface (note Wayne's comments on last post about old Gopro Hero)
• plastic housing seems sturdy but easily scratched
• lenses could be scratched easily when outside the protective case
• the sticky pads seem bomb proof - the demonstration one that comes securing the camera in the box - well we still haven't prised it off its plastic base and believe me we have been trying - so pretty impressive on that front thus far
• the mount system seems versatile

We like on first impressions:

• the tripod mount (will attach it to our gorilla tripod - a piece of kit we both LOVE!)
• headband seems comfortable and easily adjusted for head or helmet
• the floaty attachment is cool, neat, small and RED - so easy to spot

It is charging at the moment so we haven't taken any film yet.

Things we are worried about:

• scratching the lenses
• the outer waterproof case closing mechanism takes a bit of getting use to. The click when it closes sounds awfully like polycarbonate plastic fracturing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• the fact that the camera doesn't have a viewing LCD. This is bought as a separate attachment known as a LCD BacPac.  Most of the reviews we read recommend getting it but also say that it isn't a problem not having it as you just point it in the general direction that you want to film. The angle of view at 170 degrees means that you will be in the ball park figure of what you want to film. Even so - not being able to frame what you want to film is initially disconcerting!
• remembering all the different configurations and choices on the set up menu and how to actually get from one thing to another using only two buttons to navigate!!
• that the sticky pads will stick to Arwen's painted deck i.e. the paint will hold!!
• that the bike mounts don't seem very substantial...can they take the pounding of a teenage mountain biker with a death wish on  a bike with 29 inch wheels rushing down the sides of Dartmoor? (that's my son by the way not me!)

Well we will let you know in the next few days!!

Steve

GoPro Hero HD2

We are getting excited in a very sad way. The camera hasn't arrived yet but it is on its way (we hope!!). In the meantime we are trying to find out how it works. This video clip seems to give the basics.

Only son has to get to grips with it first so he can use it on his bike helmet. Then we have an opportunity to use it on Angharad, our lapstrake planked open kayak next weekend. We are planning a three day canoe trip on the Norfolk Broads in the summer if we ever get the weather. Son wants to take Angharad and I'll hire an open canadian canoe. A long time ago, a very long time ago, I actually knew how to paddle one quite well. I even built one called 'Chakotay'. I sold it a long time ago. Yes 'Chakotay' from Star Trek 'Voyager'......I needed a name which sounded spiritual, in touch with one's surroundings!!  Anyway, son has to use Angharad next week and prove to me that he can use her safely.

Steve

GoPro Hero 2 HD cameras

Well we have gone ahead and bought a new video camera.  We needed something that would be fully waterproof; shockproof and easily attached to a variety of things like bikes, vespas, canoes and boats!! It had to be good for snorkelling and diving too. A tall order but eventually we plumed for the Gopro Hero2. We could only afford it because of some birthday money from my sisters (thanks girls xxxx); and the permission of 'she wot must be obeyed'.

And it was a tough decision. However a number of factors won it in the end:

·         It’s wearable and mountable

·         An  ultra-wide 170 degree video at 1080p with 11mp higher resolution stills, fast time lapse and burst shooting at 10fps

·         A huge array of mountings, fixings and accessories

·         Waterproof down to 60m

·         A slow motion 120fps mode at 848x480 that will slow the action by four times.

·         Both HDMI and external microphone ports.

·         A Wifi  remote-control using a smartphone

·         A robust build with high durability

·         Minimal engineering with only two buttons, a clear interface and a protective housing

·         Clear icons  like "1080 - 30" with "W" at the top meaning the camera's set to 1080p video at 30fps with the Wide field-of-vision;  easy to understand, simple to navigate and logically organized icon driven menus

·         2.5 hr battery life easily recharged in 1 hr

The Gopro people boast that this camera is all about capturing the action from the inside of the adventure!!

We are awaiting its arrival and will give first impressions sometime next week. In the meantime here are some video clip tests

and a sailing one.........................enjoy the music........teenagers eh? whatever happened to Led Zepp?

Nice to see my old stomping ground again - The Mumbles!

Steve

a growing sense of frustration tempered by lovely boat pictures

Will it never stop raining in this country? This is supposed to be our summer and look what we are getting http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18639312

Can you believe this is June in the UK? The jet streams have come so far south that weather you would expect to get in the Faeroes (no disrespect to people up there) is now the mainstay of our weather pattern! In fact as I watch the BBc news now, they have just said that this is the wettest June on record (since records began). I watch in disbelief as someone is canoeing in his back garden so deep is the flood water in Tyneside. One thousand lightening strikes in a five minute period and a tornado as well. This is weather at its very freakiest!

copyright windguru website

Any hopes of going sailing this weekend look remote (again)!  Having a vespa in the garage means I cannot dry out sails if they get wet….so………nuff said really!

So I content myself by admiring Richard’s new navigator. It is such an elegant boat and joins the ranks of ‘Slip Jig’; ‘Annie’; ‘Ellie’ and ‘Yuko’ in is well crafted looks and beauty. Maybe Arwen is in need of a make-over as she approaches her fifth birthday. Maybe some wood decking strips, new hull paint perhaps?

Anyway I can’t post any sailing reports so please make do with these excellent images of Richard’s boat and his commentary beneath. Thanks Richard for letting me share this with others. Appreciated.

Although not obvious I fitted an outer stem of two pieces of 4 mill hardwood laminated together. Quite tricky, one snapped on first attempt. I steamed them on separately but it gives an excellent look to the bow. The 19mill brass half round strip just finishes it off.

I extended the stem by 10 centimetres to accommodate the bowsprit which slots into the Samson post and neatly over the stem. Also seen is the front end of the coaming which is a separate piece and follows the deck stringer to bring it in front of the mast, like Pathfinder.

I continued the hardwood trimming on the fore deck as on the transom deck. Here also is shown the Samson post, the bottom of which is bolted right down on to the stem, and also the bowsprit which fits over the stem.

When stepping the mast the end tends to bash against bulkhead 2 so I mounted a hardwood pad to protect it. I have yet to fit the locker doors in B/head 2

I knew that I would have a problem lifting that main mast into its hole in the deck and so resolved to make it so I could walk the mast up. I made a sub deck, strengthened everything underneath, put the hole in the deck and king plank as per the plans and then cut the slot out. Voila! Stepping the mast is no problem and the belaying pins are very handy.

This is a Duckworks deck block on its slide for the jib sheet. This is a nice combination and worked well.

I stopped the seating at bulkhead 5 giving lots of space in the front.

The hardwood rowlock mounting was a reasonable success but would have better further out to give more leverage. I am very happy with jib sheet clam cleat mountings but will probably buy swivel clam cleats

I took the coaming down to the deck and I think it looks really good and gives fantastic storage space.

I filled in bulkhead 7 which gives a nice locker accessed by the trap.

I put a rubbing strake on the transom. Doesn’t really serve any purpose but looks pretty. You can also see the hardwood up stand for the main sheet pulley and a bit of hardwood trimming. The upstanding pulley is a waste of time as it needs to be a double!

I really like the thought and attention which went into the creation of this boat. There are some clever adaptations from the plans. Well done Richard, a splendid boat.

Steve

More photos of Beale Park 2012 boat show

can be found at Gavin's excellent site
http://intheboatshed.net/2012/06/25/expect-the-unexpected-at-the-beale-park-thames-boat-show/

Enjoy.

Steve