VIDEO OFFWIND SAILING

Simo in 2011 after the aborted trip back to the UK because of an Engine fault , this leg was from Sines to Lagos on the west coast of Portugal , with the light north wind we bounded along at 5/6 knots .

BACK HOME FOR A WHILE

Well after the fiasco of the recent trip to Olhao with all the rain and stuff , we now have the coldest March on record in the UK , Lovely,

Anyway I found out at long last, my results in the recent Ranking races for model radio yacht racing , and secured one of my best places on the Sunday ,10th ,after a bit of tinkering by Brad
 ( European champion ) not so good on the Saturday but still a respectable 16th, so am now ranked at 15th in the UK ,

Castle Semple 2012

Ok so we move on , I have been having a bit of a saga with a company called ADVERC  it is a battery monitor basicly but it smart charges your batteries , and so on , well last year back in April I started to get a few problems with the monitor , sometimes when you touched the select function the screen would go blank , so I phoned the company and they said to send the unit back and they would sort it , well I had to wait till I was back on the boat in September ,,,,

The new unit

 I sent the unit back to them from Portugal and also sent an email telling them to expect it , after three weeks I had not had a reply so decided to call them using Skype , I had to call back the following day but they assured me that Brian had sent me a reply , (Funny I never got it ) I spoke to Brian and he said he was going down to the works that afternoon and was sure they would be able to get the unit posted out latest on Monday ,,,,,, Great i thought I will get the unit before I fly home ,,,, the unit did not arrive and I flew home , at the end of NOVEMBER, me thinking I will collect it from the boat yard when I go out in March no probs , I flew out on the 2nd March and Sergio at the yard said he had not had that package , but there were others waiting for me ,, next day I phoned Adverc , Brian not in call back tomorrow , so I did Brian still not in , but the girl had followed the paper trail as she called it , and funnily enough there was an email which seemed a bit odd .saying the unit could not be repaired it was full of corrosion and would I like to buy a new one at discounted price , £ 150.00 with the vat etc I NEVER GOT THIS EMAIL supposedly sent in November .

I then told the lady I would be back in the UK 17th March and would call to sort it out , I called and spoke to Brian he said the unit was not reparable because of corrosion !!!!!!! that cannot be my unit !!! he said they cant be mixed up , and a few other things , do I want a new one YES i said and paid for it there and then , I asked for my original unit to be returned to me ( IT IS MY PROPERTY )  oh he said we destroyed it back in January the workshop was full of junk we just had to get rid of ,,,, !!!! but they never followed up with their Email asking if I wanted to go ahead , what was I supposed to do leave all the wires dangling , I think this is very bad form and almost a con they destroyed my evidence of my unit,,, and had me over a barrel to purchase new , I am sure by law they should return my old unit , I think somebody is pulling wool over the eye,s re emails and somebody is covering up .

I don't like there style!!!!!

WHAT DO YOU THINK ??? 

OK so we must move on Glenn is finalizing his travel plans and aims to be in Horta on the 1st July , and because we never got launched in Portugal last time the launch will take place on the 5th June , the boat has been covered over with garden net from head to foot and has been sledged around the other side of a big boat so the southern sun can,t get to her Sergio as ever has been very helpful, David is coming down early 8th June so we could be heading out as early as the 12th June ,, another thing I forgot to mention was I asked them ( the yard ) to make me a new servo pendulum for the Hasler just in case we have a breakage ,,, well he made two of them so I have a spare for a hasler sp2 if anybody wants one , let me know , At the moment I am trying to put a short video together of the boat yard , I will post it when i have done it , but it is a learning curve and I am not great on the techo stuff , It would seem that David is our man for all that so I am expecting full coverage 24/7 on Sky news of our trip all the way I am pretty sure he has the APP for it , we were even looking at a kite cam , but could not find a harness big enough for me to fit in . Hey that's it for now I may post a you tube video on the site just to keep your taste buds going ( mine too ) 

keep warm BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

THE RAIN IN PORTUGAL !!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone , It has been a while since I posted an update , so after a thrilling weekend in Portishead i flew out of Bristol on the Monday morning , the pilot warned of strong wind and rain and said it may get a bit bumpy ,,  well we landed OK but it was like a monsoon , and to cut a short story even shorter today Sunday almost a week later is the first day it has not rained , and we all went off to a very expensive 5 star hotel to watch England win by the skin of there teeth against Italy , It is now almost ten o'clock so i doubt if I shall finish this tonight , The plan was to launch Simo this weekend and take her round to the Guadiana river where i have a little mooring , I had a fair bit of work to do , Prime the bottom ready for anti fouling , coat up the mast with Deksolj and re step plus a whole host of other little jobs , I had been looking at the grib files all week and there was to be no let up in the weather rain and all , I managed to get the mast rubbed down , but could not get any ACID OXYLADO , to get rid of the grey area's , I finally got it coated on Saturday morning having already aborted all plans to launch this month , and told David not to worry about coming down this time ,

I got on and did the best I could and two hours after doing the mast the heavens opened , but i think it had tacked of enough , so the mast goes back in on Monday , i have checked everything and put a new radar reflector up to replace the old one from the sixties ,

I manged to get the primer on and next day with help from a nice french man we rushed around and got a coat of anti fouling on , I got the name on in a howling gale of wind so it may just look a little crooked .

The mast don't look to bad considering ,

So all in all the jobs have come together OK , I am still happy not to have gone ahead with the launch because it is blowing force 7/8 outside , with pretty big rollers and the entrance to the river just ain't very deep with a foot or so clearance at low water , and of course I didn't want to put David off before we got started .

When the boat is out of the water everything seems to be in a mess, and when it's raining and your trying to do stuff under a tarp it's even worse , by the way the ten boxes of food and stuff arrived OK from the UK I was a bit concerned about where it was all going to go but after hoicking it all up on deck in a bucket and the stowing down below I can tell you i slept well that night , and was so surprised that it all went in easy as pie , i reckon there is enough food for a year in those lockers , and we still need fresh when we finally go ... we look that's it for now I will just do a spell check and then publish so you will get it soon I have also done the spot update and will try and put that in the next post in a couple of days ,

all the best from rainy Portugal

Mick

BOXES EVERYWHERE

Well after a lot of effort and scrounging boxes we got it all taped up and ready for the long drive down to Andover , where the shippers would send out to Portugal on a big lorry , ten packages including the life-raft all went in the back of the car and off we set just before dawn,

 The trip was just under four hours and on the way back we popped into Oxford to have a bit of Lunch and see if LEWIS was filming , it was a Monday and apparently they don't film on Mondays .
So that is a task off my mind , It will be delivered to the yard on the 6th/7th March , and with Luck I will have done a load of jobs on Simo , the two biggest is to get the anti fouling done that will involve rubbing down and applying a coat of anti fouling primer then leave for 24hour before applying 2 coats of the real stuff , Th mast is out ready for a complete rubdown 2/3hours and then I want to get about twelve coats of Deksolj oil on ,I can do it (the oiling ) in a day takes about 15 minutes then wait for 15 minutes before over coating, the weather will be warm so I can get that done and at the same time do some other jobs like putting the name on the transom, sorting out the roller reefing on the flying jib ( it has new bearings , and just needs bolting together ) and then mounting on the end of the bow sprit , there are a load of other jobs to do , and David should be down on the Friday so we can make short work of them , The yard will also have to step the mast and move Simo to the launch place by Friday, because that is the day of relaunch ( I hope ) . When the boxes arrive I have to empty two of them and refill with stuff that is being returned to the UK , sanders , paint and other stuff that is no longer needed on the boat , like the 40LB Luke fisherman's anchor , never been used in the 7 years I have owned Simo ( sods Law ) yeah we wont mention it , any way only 20 days to go before I can get stuck in  and I just cant wait, I am going to get some t shirts done this week so all the crew look good , when I get them back i will let you know

till then keep warm

best

Mick 

 

What a job , What an oven !!!

Well all the tins have been stripped of their labels and have been dipped in a mix of varnish and turps , a lot of the tins will be going down in the bilge and it may just get a tad damp down there so at least the tins will not rust ,

Yes that is snow on the ground outside and I had two fan heaters trying to keep the greenhouse warm because Jackie would not let me do the job on the living room carpet !!!!!!!!!!!

the tins took a couple of days to dry and were then packed in boxes ready for the long drive to Andover where the shipper is located 

yes I look drunk probably the fumes ,, any on to a brighter note the backpackers oven arrived from the states courtesy of Glenn and we have had a try out ,it is brilliants, packs up real small and we are now able to have fresh home baked bread steak and kidney pies , scones and lots of other nice things , so here it is 

It just sits on the burner on the cooker , probably have to find a way of tying it down and bobs your uncle , when you have finished with it it folds away in seconds it is fantastiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic .

one final thing is David and I have got new spin lock life jackets, and you may remember I got the life raft from Morton boats  , it will strap onto the boat just in front of the mast , like the old one did 

we are off to the shippers first thing Monday morning so the stuff all gets to the boat in Olhao when we go down at the beginning of March , to relaunch and just finish some odd jobs , In the next issue I will tell you about a new video camera I have got just for the trip, There will be plenty of footage that's for sure , so till next time

Motor sailing last year with Simo

Just a little video of Simo on the Algarve last year.

JOB'S JOB'S AND FOOD

Sorry I have not updated you for a while but have been pretty busy with Lincoln Model Yacht club where we race 2 different kinds of Radio controlled yacht , as I am the secretary I have to pull my weight a bit and we have some important events coming up a few weeks before I depart on the main event , a couple of pics so you know what i am talking about the top two are working parties to improve our sailing area and the bottom one is to give you an idea of what the sailing is like

I have got a bit of food in because i know how difficult it is in Portugal , a lot of tins!!! I am now in the process of marking all the tins contents with a permanent marker and will then take of all the labels and dip the cans in a very weak solution of Varnish and turps mixed together ,, the reason is most of the tins will be going low down in the bilge and I have learnt from one little experience ( outlined in one of my other blogs ) that when the stuff get wet the labels come off and head straight for the bilge strainer so when you start to pump it all clogs up. below are some of the tins and stuff , but I will get as much stuff as I can and have it shipped over on a lorry , to arrive 1st week in March ,

Fresh food will be purchased the day we leave but more of that later 

in the bottom picture at the back you will see a box of red tins , this is tin butter that I had imported from Germany , because as you know we have no fridge or any way of keeping things cool and this stuff last for ever . also Below Glen has sourced a BEMCO 7" oven that will sit on the stove top , I am hoping the Fray bentos Pies will be a perfect fit ,

BEMCO OVEN

 also I have been perfecting making bread , with the mixes you see above and it is delicious , we also have a few nice little treats like sticky toffee puddings and treacle tarts in tins and also thick cream in tins as well , I don't think we will starve that's for sure , I have also brought a great book on fishing , so we will be trying to catch the odd meal . Finally got the life raft , and some other bits and bobs and all has to be ready for us to take to the shippers in Andover on the 5th February to allow plenty of time for it to be delivered to the boat .