Gentrification and Jobs.

It seems there's been an effort to remove boats from the Eastney foreshore this week. There's a post about it on Facebook. 

Ostensibly to remove abandoned boats, but I feel sad for those that get caught up that have legitimate reasons for having a boat on the foreshore. 

By all means pick up boats that have never had a mooring, but there must be some leeway for those repairing damaged boats. 

For instance, in my case Sprite was on the shore after breaking her moorings and at the time I didn't have the money or the means to install a new mooring. It took a few months to get all the required bits together. 

Then I had my dinghy taken off the shore by the council. No arguments, the dinghy was gone. At that point, the sour taste made me give it up. 

One thing that Langstone harbour was, was a last chance for those of us with very little in the way of funds to be able to still own a boat and enjoy sailing. Sadly that seems to be being taken away. 

I note that the harbour mooring fee has almost doubled since I sold my boat and of course there's the relentless pressure not to put your boat on the shore for repairs.

And sadly that's what I saw coming when I sold Sprite. The last bastion of the Skint Sailor in the Solent appears to be pricing us out of the game. Sadly it looks like the poorer people don't have a voice on the Harbour board and the voices with money are calling all the shots. 

Sadly it seems that there isn't anywhere for a legitimately poor sailor to sail in the Solent. 

Surprisingly the same money issues are plaguing the top of the sailing tree. The problems surrounding the Americas Cup seem to stem from the amount of money it takes to host the event and the lack of money available at the moment around the world.

New Zealand has refused to pump public money into the next event, Jim Ratcliffe has pulled out the Ineos team, three-time winning skipper Peter Burling has left Emirates Team New Zealand.

It's like the end of an era.

Are we seeing big shifts in the sport of sailing across the board? 

I get that feeling. There is something in the wind and sailing will not be the same again. Companies involved in sailing need to prepare for the coming storm. Owners need to start preparing for hard times. 

The costs involved in sailing have got to the point they are practically unsustainable. Not just for the skint of pocket like me, but also the richer end of the sport. Marina fees, engineering work, even the price of equipment on the boat, all are unsustainable. 

A decent instrument package can run to many thousands of pounds. That's out of the reach on even mildly well-off sailors. 

I fear there are a lot of jobs in the sailing industry that are now poised on a knife-edge.

The money just isn't there to sustain them.

Americas Cup: Day 2.

Well, let's just say my predictions about the British boat are sadly accurate. Beefy boat and a crew that are not as sharp as the rest of the pack: two defeats in two days. Only the Orient Express inexperienced crew and bought-in boat launched months after the Brits are dead last. But no win for the Brits in two days with a crew that supposedly has experience in the AC75. I've said all I need to say about the boat. 

The two boats I predicted will be fast are up there in the top three. Exactly the same number of wins and losses shows they are pretty evenly matched.

Of course the master tacticians of New Zealand are at the top. Caution! Sharp crew. Stick that warning sticker on the back of the boat Kiwis, it makes an excellent bumper sticker!

Ineos need a "Dull Boat, Dull Crew" sticker on theirs. Sadly as with most things British these days, they talk the talk, but never deliver. The HS2 of sailing, then.

My money is still on American Magic to come out as top contestant, to go up against the Kiwis for the cup. 

Bayesian Sinking: Thoughts.

 I've commented way back about expensive yachts losing their keels when they shouldn't, now we have a supposedly (defined by the manufacturer) "unsinkable" super Yacht sinking.

Of course given extreme circumstances and a loss of displacement, anything can sink, but it seems strange that a super yacht of such a size can sink within seconds.

Surely there is enough buoyancy in such a large vessel to keep it afloat for at least a few minutes?

Well, it depends on how quickly the water was rushing in.

If, when the boat was knocked down there was a large enough opening that allowed the uncontrolled ingress of water, that would do it. Did the companionway not have a water tight door? Probably not. Was the companionway partially submerged when the boat was knocked down? If it was, isn't that a design flaw? Was there a garage door at the rear and was that left open? Were the internal doors to the garage left open? Were they even water-tight?

Any sailing ship can be knocked down in serious winds and the designer should account for that in the design.. Large open, unprotected spaces that allow the ingress of water should not be allowed. The ingress of water should be contained by water-tight doors and bulkheads. By all means have your grand entrance, but off that entrance everything should be ship-shape and closed off, so the vessel retains some buoyancy even if the grand saloon is flooded.

In the evening, when the watch is reduced, the ship should be dogged down tight and none of there garage/waterline access doors should be left open.

Emergency closing water tight doors should close when the vessel starts to flood.

There's lots of talk of the portlights being left open which caused the sinking. I doubt that very much as a portlight wouldn't be able to ship the amount of water to sink a vessel in seconds. 

And why would the portlights be left open? This is a multi-million dollar vessel, so I would assume it has climate control to keep the guests cool.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist. The fact his co-defendant in their court case also dies at the same weekend is more than likely a coincidence. 

But there are questions to be asked about super-yacht design and their ability to withstand extreme weather conditions, no matter how freakish or how unannounced. We all know that the sea is a cruel mistress. It can turn on you at any second. I lost my buddy Mick in April, lost overboard. I know how dangerous the sea is. I always had duplicate systems if not triplicate in place. Navigation was covered by my chart plotter, phone and tablet. My lifejacket was a high buoyancy auto-inflating version. If push came to shove and it was rough, I attached a harness and line to the big D-ring in the cockpit. 

Just as with the spate of keel losses a few years ago, the designs of super-yachts need to be investigated. Their lack of survivability needs to be understood, so prospective buyers can understand the risks involved. Just like with any other nautical purchase, the buyer needs to be informed. 

And to be honest, if you're chucking several millions at a yacht, you'd want it to look nice AND be able to stay afloat whatever the conditions. Wouldn't you?

It's Americas Cup Time Again.

Well, all of the boats are now out and doing their thing.

All the boats are superficially similar, but when you get into the detail are surprisingly diverse.

I'm not that impressed by the British Boat. It looks heavy on the water and seems not to want to get on the foils as easily as other contenders. From the increased volume up front compared to the others, I assume they envisage sailing in heavier swells than the previous competition. The British boat's bow fulfils the volume requirements by having a broader skeg than most after the actual bow. Just aft of the bow there is quire a widening of the skeg area. The designer seems to have designed the skeg to cut off airflow under the hull. But not as drastically as the Swiss Alinghi/Red Bull boat. From the videos I've seen the British Ineos boat looks heavy and the skeg looks pretty much glued to the water. From videos it looks sadly as though the hull has an issue getting off the water. Did I say it looks heavy? Maybe it's nickname should be Beefy. Maybe this season's race foils will work better. Not sure why they put a skeg on it that finished almost half way down the boat towards the rudder, especially as the rudder area isn't close to the water. Instead the hull looks nose-heavy or runs in nose-down trim.

The most fair-weather design looks to be the American team. A very flat t-shape through most of the length of the hull, with a small skeg. They've fulfilled the volume required in the bow by the regulations by putting the volume up high but wide. In swells I assume they've gone for the option of getting on the foils quickly and riding the hull over the waves, rather than having part of the hull touching the waves. Certainly it already looks a light, fast boat. It certainly looks fast and light. Interestingly they've gone for recumbent cyclors I assume to get the height of the hull down. Did I say it's a very flat design? 

The Italians with Prada Pirelli, is a nice looking boat and again it looks fast and light. A deeper skeg than the American boat, but it seems to have some of the smoothest curves of the boats. I assume for aerodynamics. But nothing much aero-wise on the top of the hull. The depth of the hull is about average. Not much more to say. It seems to foil easily from videos I've seen.

The New Zealand boat seems to be in the bunch With Prada Pirelli and Ineos. However the Kiwis got the boat on the water in a matter of hours. No pussyfooting around, they were on the water and sailing straight away. Such was their confidence in the boat. And it worked pretty well. The advantage that boat has is definitely the crew. But will that be enough?

Now we get to the Swiss Alinghi/Red Bull boat. Probably the most radical in my eyes. It's not an iteration of a previous design, it's pretty much a one-off. Quite a deep design with a thin skeg, Possibly the skeg is there to block off the wind and give the hull lift. The top of the hull has had some aero work as well, with a hump under the jib. Nobody has yet figured out it's purpose yet, but as with most aero bits, it must be to change the wind speed in that area.

The differences on the boats is interesting. Most have similar lower forms to the hull as American Magic, but the upper decks are slightly different to accommodate the more upright grinders.

It saddens me that the Brit boat looks clumsy in videos I've seen. Maybe the proper foils will change that. 

American Magic looks to be the best of the contenders at the moment. But it depends on the wind and wave conditions they race in. 

I'll be watching them when they get their final race trim bolted on and dialled in. Then things might change.

Sadly Lost another Sailing Buddy Last Weekend.

As the title says, I lost another sailing buddy last weekend.

Mick had just started off on a solo Round-Britain adventure, but was lost overboard off Dover.

His lifejacket didn't inflate, I don't know whether that's because it was only a manual model, or if it was automatic and failed to activate. 

His family reported him overdue into Dover and his empty boat was found not far away. His body was recovered off Dover after a short search. 

He'll be missed, we used to discuss boaty stuff at work when he nipped in for a chat/advice. He was the person that gave me the Garmin chartplotter for Sprite.

I assume more details will come out over time, whether he died as a result of falling in the water or something happened before he left the boat. 

Those booms are always a risk, luckily I was never badly clouted by one.

I know I've been out in a gale (Force 6) just to see how Sprite performed, but I always made sure in conditions like that I was tethered to the boat. 

Mick was a really genuine, helpful and humorous guy. He always cheered you up when you talked to him. 

RIP Mick, you'll be missed and if your FaceBook profile is any judge, by a lot more people than me. 

First Yachtless Gales.

The past couple of days have been a bit blustery. It's still weird not having to worry about the boat after almost a decade of ownership. 

I hear the wind and then have to check myself thinking "I wonder how the boat is". 

I'm sure I'll get over it, but it's going to take time. 

I notice there are a few cheap boats on eBay going in Eastbourne. I really have to stop looking.

Sailing a Different Kind of Boat.

The Mrs booked us an AirBNB with a twist when we went up to Manchester last weekend to see my Mum.

I got to steer. I can't say the handling was that responsive, it took some getting used to!

Me at the Helm. Pic Courtesy of Chris from the WCBS.

Me at the Helm. Pic Courtesy of Chris from the WCBS.

Yes, we were on a historic narrowboat. On the Canal. In Winter. In below freezing temperatures.

Having a sense of adventure is a requirement!

Thanks to Chris of the Wooden Canal Boat Society for being our host. No thanks to Canal and River Trust who have forced him to make trips mandatory as part of the airBNB deal to comply with their CRT licence. 

Not easy when you have no engine, in winter, pulling/poling through ice! Yes, it's a historic Butty, an unpowered narrowboat, so no engine.

I thoroughly recommend a stay on board. But maybe not on the coldest night of the year so far. lol.

We stayed ay Portland Basin in Ashton-Under-Lyne. The area is pretty historic. 

The Museum is worth a visit and just a stroll round the area is pretty nice, The Museum has a restored canal-powered water wheel, one of the few in the country.

Water is drawn from the canal, drives the wheel and then exits via a tailrace into the river Tame, some 40ft below the level of the canal.

The WCBS have a few boats moored up at the museum, not all in good states of repair. Sadly, the charity isn't that well funded and could do with an injection of cash. If I win the lottery, they'd be the first charity I'd bung some money. They so desperately need it and they do good work with minimal funds.

The AirBNB money goes some way to helping out, mainly because the boat is already ready to use and any labour is from volunteers.

I chatted with Chris about my memories of the canal being restored. He sent me a link to a video he'd found which shows the basin and the efforts to dredge the canal in that area. 

The video is here:

Back then I was fascinated by the monorail tipper wagon they were pushing along the towpath. Being roughly 9 when the restoration was happening, sadly I didn't participate.

One gripe I have about the area is that Ashton has now seemed to turn its back on the canal. Back in the 70s, 80s and 90s there was a lot of publicity. First the restoration of the Peak Forest and Ashton canals as documented in the video above, and later the restoration of the Huddersfield Narrow canal that joins one of the three arms of the junction. There were yearly canal festivals that helped fund the HNC restoration. But once that was done in the early naughties, the canal has slipped back into some sort of quiet slumber. Just a few boats around and very few walkers.

Anyway, we braved the weather back home. Skirted the snow in London on the M25 but made it home about 11:30 at night. Straight to bed after all that driving.