High and Dry

I’m going to start with some boat basics so forgive me if you know this already….!   A boat is moved forward by a propellor, which sits at the end of a shaft.  The shaft comes through the bottom of the boat and is driven by the engine.   Where the shaft comes through the hull, there needs to be a good seal to stop water entering the boat.   This is called the Stern Gland and as the shaft is continually turning when the engine is in gear, to ensure it does not get overheated they are normally kept cool by ensuring plenty of grease or water is surrounding them.   Ours is water cooled, which normally is linked to the engine and provides a loop – what in at the stern gland and out with the engine exhaust.  During installation the hose connected to the engine had not been installed, which in itself was not too bad, providing the loose end was safely secured above waterline.   This had not happened, and during our earlier engine work, must have been knocked into the engine bilge allowing water to flow freely and unnoticed for a few hours.

Having removed all the water from the bilge, we motored back up the river that was now very familiar to us.   To cut a long story short(er), the re-pitching of the prop was not a success and, after spending another night in the boatyard and relaunched on the morning high tide, we found ourselves back in the boatyard a few hours before the late afternoon high tide.   Richard worked furiously on the propellor and Graham, the boatyard manager, returned at 9pm to refloat us for the last time, as the boatyard was closing the next day.   We did a quick sea trial as we headed over to St Mawes to anchor for the night and meet up with a friend, Jason, the next day.  

We spent a few days in Falmouth and St Mawes, enjoying the peaceful surroundings of this lovely village, working through our job list and having our second Covid vaccinations.  From our anchorage in St Mawes we could see three castles and felt very privileged as we watched numerous ferries bringing day trippers into the picturesque village while we had the luxury of being in the quiet bay and able to enjoy the landscape and pretty houses at our ring-side location!   Jason rowed over for breakfast one morning and, as he was returning to shore, rowed into our neighbours steel boat, hitting them with a loud crash.   We were blissfully unaware of this until we caught up with Jason later, so decided to visit our neighbours and apologise for their rude awakening.   Adam and Marie had moved on board their 48ft boat, Hyperion, two years ago with their two lovely young children, Ella (9) and Aiden (10).  We spent a little time getting to know each other, enjoying the relaxed conversation and shared experiences that I love about the sailing community.

Richard had been in touch and told us he wanted to have another go at changing the pitch on the propellor as our revs were still not quite right.   As the boatyard was now closed and the other yards had at least one month waiting list, the only option was for us to dry out alongside a wall.   Fortunately Tim and Emmie on Shadowfax, our sister boat, had used a wall at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club to dry out a couple of weeks earlier and Steve had the foresight to spend a little time observing the set-up of the procedure.   We arranged to borrow a couple of big fenders, cleared some rocks off the beach where our keel would sit and talked to the Yacht Club bosun who was very encouraging and supportive when seeing our nervous anticipation at the thought of deliberately grounding our home when we have done it accidently, badly in recent times!

Forty five minutes before high tide, we slowly starting weaving our way through the moored boats towards the wall.   As the approach is very shallow we did not want to leave it too long before high water, and definitely not after high water, just in case we misjudged the depth and ran aground.   High tides were getting lower as we were heading towards neaps (when the difference in height between high and low tides is at the lowest), so we knew that if we did not dry out on that day, there would not be another opportunity for over a week.   We were making progress to the wall when we noticed another boat approaching and watched with horror as they tied up alongside leaving no room for us.   We stopped Cerulean and tried to find out whether they were intending to remain there or just load up and go.   For ten minutes we circled, unsure whether we would still be able to take advantage of the very small window that we thought we had.   At last we saw the other boat leave and we quickly got into position and slowly came alongside, watching the depth get lower as we approached the wall until only 0.2m of water was below the keel.   Once safely tied up we then had to ensure we remained in the correct position while the tide went out so when we did touch the bottom it would not damage the boat or fall over.   We attached one of our halyards (line from the top of the mast used to pull up sails), to a secure point in the lawn to try and give the boat a slight lean and ensure we did not fall away from the wall when the tide went out.    Then we waited!   In fact there was a little more water than we had first thought and it took about an hour and a half for us to hear a thud and shake as the keel settled on the sandy bottom.  While we waited for all the water to ebb away, there was a steady string of interested visitors wanting to know about the boat, our plans, the work we were doing while we were drying out – many times we repeated ourselves but we enjoyed meeting everyone.

High tide was at 9:45pm so with Richard having completed the re-pitch, we re-floated and went to test the engine in the evening light.   Our short motor across the bay to St Mawes seemed to deliver very positive results with the engine getting to maximum revs and us speeding along at almost 8 knots – our maximum hull speed.  

The next morning Jason and his friend, Robert came on board for breakfast just as Marie and Adam on Hyperion were heading out of the bay towards Falmouth.   We waved to them as they sailed past in the light morning breeze.   Jason and Robert were keen to talk to us about the boat as they were also looking to sail to NZ.   We had a fun breakfast with them and as soon as they left we pulled up the anchor and followed Hyperion to the Falmouth Marina where they were being hauled out.   It was late afternoon when we checked our phone and had several missed calls from Jason.  He told us he and Robert were sailing up the river when they heard one side of a Pan Pan (an emergency call to the Coastguard where a boat is in trouble but lives are not at imminent risk).  The call was from a boat taking on water as they were sailing east along the coast from Falmouth, and the boat’s name was Cerulean!  Knowing our past record, Jason and Robert contacted the Coastguard to ask if they could assist and were told it was all in hand, so they sailed on to the pub instead!   Jason was relieved to hear we were safely in a marina and, this time the boat taking on water, was not us!

We stayed in the marina for two nights.  On the first night we had the Hyperion crew staying with us as their boat was out of the water and the marina wouldn’t allow them to stay on board.   On leaving the marina we filled our fuel tanks with 630 litres of diesel which almost broke the bank but comforted us to think it will, hopefully, last us at least six months so eased the pain a little!    When paying for diesel you pay 20% tax on 60% of the total for using the fuel to propel the boat, and no tax on 40% for heating.  The diesel is dyed red to prevent it being used in cars and some European countries are not happy about UK boats using red diesel and may insist tax is paid on the remaining fuel, although this does not happen very often. 

Richard came on board to complete the final few jobs while his lovely dog, Rusty, patiently waited in the cockpit in the afternoon sun.   One of the jobs he did was to fix our bilge pump floater switch which we hope we will never need again!  We said a fond farewell to Richard, hoping to see him in Spain in a couple of weeks as he had an opportunity to crew on a super yacht.  I’m not sure Richard believed us when we said we were really leaving in a few days!

Bea and Andy returned from their holiday in Northern Ireland so we arranged for them, and their lovely house guests, Lilian and Turki, to come sailing.  Sadly the rain arrived so the sail in great winds was a little damp, but our spirits were high and we all enjoyed the wind in our faces while Cerulean sped along at 7-8 knots with the new main and yankee (large sail at front of boat) filled.   Bea has joined the crazy trend of cold weather swimming and swam off the boat as we all marvelled at her courage and commitment! 

We said what we hoped would be our final goodbye to Bea and Andy as we left them in Helford Passage and motored up the river to continue our preparations for the long journey ahead of us as we prepared to leave the UK in two days.