Stardate 2407-2010

And the Oscar goes to....

After 2000 miles and 12 weeks at sea we moored safely back in Cardiff Bay yesterday afternoon. This followed a 36 hour non stop passage from Newlyn (Penzance's fishing harbour) around Lands end and up the Bristol Channel. The wind gods favoured us at last so we had a great sail virtually the whole way, the highlight of which was being buzzed by a school of dolphins. For the past week we have been accompanied by Rob McCulloch, who helped us navigate the north coats of Scotland and Andrew Hine, Iain's brother who joined us in Plymouth.

It seems only right and proper that, at the end of the journey, the outstanding contributions of various individuals should be recognised. Therefore I have arbitrarily awarded the following Oscars:

1.The Vivian Westwood award for crimes against fashion had several nominations:
a.Don West for his hoodie
b.Rob McCulloch for his flat cap
c.Keith Fletcher for his 'old sea dog hat'

But the winner is Rob McCulloch for helming the boat in his thermal long johns

2.The nominations for the Melvyn Bragg cultural enhancement included:
a.Don West for his lectures on the geology of Scotland and
b.Mike Ruscoe for his insight into syphilis in the plays of Shakespeare

But the winner is Andrew Hine for watching Warrington versus Wigan, wearing 3D spectacles on Sky Sports in Plymouth

3.The nominations for the Basil Fawlty award for customer service included:
a.The New Inn in Kinlochbervie for studiously ignoring us and not having any beer
b.The Lugger Inn, Fowey, for insisting the Iain eat scampi and chips even though he had ordered steak and Guinness pie.

However the clear winner was Cardiff Marine Services for sending us to sea with a very dodgy diesel engine

4.Finally the nominations for the Titanic award for seamanship included:
a.Me, for running us aground in the mud in Amble Harbour
b.The French Yachtsman who directed us into the sandbank in Ramsgate Harbour

But the winner was George, our auto helm, who randomly sent us in a 360 degree circle in the middle of the night in the Humber Estuary, as a North Sea ferry approached.

More seriously, Iain and I want to thank everyone who crewed for us. They helped keep us sane and safe, provided great company and dealt with contradictory Instructions (pull that sheet, no that sheet...) with great humour. We both want to than John Waters, not only for crewing for us but also for designing and maintaining the website.

Personally, I want to thank Iain, I really could not and would not have contemplated the whole venture without him. He navigated us safely around the whole coast and provided wise counsel, expert seamanship and great company for the whole trip.

Finally you might wonder how this all started:

Picture the scene, Ashton Court mountain bike course Sunday Morning, early December 2007.

Me: I'm going to take early retirement
Iain: Have you ever thought of sailing round Britain?
Me: No

One week later:
Iain: Thought any more about sailing round Britain?
Me: No

Another week later:
Iain: Thought any more about sailing round Britain?
Me: No

Another week later at our Christmas party:
Iain: I thought you would like to read this book about sailing round Britain
Me: Aaaaagh.......

Stardate 1407-2010

A silver lining for Silver Mist?

As a lifelong supporter of lost causes; Everton FC, rugby league, Bukh 20 HP diesel engines, the Labour Party, I was not optimistic about the future under our new coalition government. To compound the problem, I have taken three months away from my business to do this trip. This means that I have missed out on three months fees as a management consultant. Or so I thought........... then Andrew Lansley, the new Health Minister, announced that the health service is being reorganised yet again and that GPs are being put in control of the NHS. This will pay for the circumnavigation because I can charge the whole trip as one long consultancy project. Billable hours and chargeable targets are the gods of consultancy and now I can charge all three months in one go.

I now realise that all the time I have spent on the boat gossiping with Iain about the NHS was actually a detailed development programme to re-skill him to take on the on the complexities of business cases, option appraisals and capital investment. He may never get to see a patient again but I'm sure he will find writing reports and engaging with key stakeholders far more rewarding. Even better, I can bill him double for the week my colleague Don was on the boat, I may even try ti bill him for the week Rob was on board as the IT consultant. The only possible obstacle is that I have not yet told Iain that it is his practice that will be footing the bill. Should I tell him now or just wait until we get back? I also need to see if I can find the VAT receipt for dealing with the 'feckin shite' in the diesel tank so that I can throw it in with the expenses claim..........

In terms of the trip (sorry I, mean ongoing GP management development programme) we have made great progress along the south coast in between two gales. We were held up in Brighton for a couple of days, delaying our departure to Portsmouth. This meant that Chris (Iain's wife) and Alan Carpenter saw far more of Brighton than they envisaged but were rewarded with an early morning start and a glorious sail to Portsmouth. At this point Alan had to leave but my wife Maggie joined us. We then had the best weather of the whole trip so far as we made our way to Weymouth via Poole, the Beaulieu River and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. We are now holed up in Plymouth for a couple of days waiting for the second gale to pass through before we set off on the last leg, around Lands End and back into the Bristol Channel.

Finally, we were delighted to catch up with the guys on Czech Mate again. The bad news was that Iain had leaked details of my birthday to them. I was woken up at the crack of dawn in Portsmouth to be presented with an 'Ancient Mariner' sailing cap. I will get my own back!

In the afternoon we sailed 12m to the scenic Beaulieu river and walked 2mile to the Montague Arms pub in Beaulieu village for an excellent birthday dinner with cows wandering passed the window. On Thurs 8th we sailed across to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight and went on open top bus trip to Alum bay and The Needles and Chris and Iain went for a swim in the sea.

Friday 9th we sailed to Poole harbour mooring at the town quay marina. The next morning Don joined us for the day and we had lovely sail to Weymouth in warm sunny weather and moored on the cove quay in town centre. Today we are enjoying Weymouth's seafood festival after a walk to Chesil beach this morning. James and Marcella our neighbours in Bristol met us at Chesil Beach and came back to the boat for lunch.

We plan to go round Portland Bill and onto Dartmouth tomorrow.

Star date 0507-2010

Where did all the sharp knives go?

Much to our delight, several of the people who have already crewed for us have volunteered to do another week, firstly, John Waters, then Keith Fletcher. Rob Mc Culloch is coming back in 10 days time and Don West is hoping to join us again too. Basking in reflected glory, Iain and I concluded that all these offers to crew for us were a testimony to our superb seamanship, navigational skills and the haute cuisine (aka corned beef sandwich at 3.00 in the morning crossing a shipping lane).

However, if you have been reading this log from the start you may recall that Keith Fletcher, who crewed for us on the very first week, from Cardiff to Dublin, was so concerned about our relationship that he replaced all our cutlery with plastic picnic knives. Iain and I now realise that the returning crew are not coming to sail but to ensure our safety. We are sure that the guys have been plotting with each other to keep us under their watchful eyes. Keith gave the game away, soon after he got back on board. His first question, rather than being about our passage plan - or even the nearest pub - was

"so are you both still speaking?" followed up by "my wife chairs Relate Wales. Have you thought about relationship counselling.............?"

With Keith's mediation and conciliation services over the past week, we had a great trip down from Aldeburgh via the River Deben, across the Thames Estuary and round the Dover Straits onto Eastbourne and Brighton. Iain grew up sailing on the East Anglian rivers and this was initially a great reassurance to me. Sadly this was undone as we sailed into the Ore, Alde and Deben and he gave a running commentary along the lines of:

"Oh yeah, I remember running aground there.................., and there.............., and there.........."

Not what I wanted to hear!

We are just about to depart from Brighton (great Pavilion but where's the cricket team?) with a replacement crew (Iain's wife, Chris, in the hope of a summer holiday) and Alan Carpenter an old pal and cycling buddy.

Steve

PS please keep the website comments coming, we really enjoy them

We left Aldeburgh in 27th and went into very pretty Deben river through another shallow narrow entrance went up river to Waldringfield and then back to Ramsholt where we moored and listened to England v Germany match then went to pub to drown our sorrows.

Next day went passed Harwich and into the Walton Backwaters - again very scenic and sunny and setting for Arthur Ransome's 'secret water'. Yesterday we did 60mile crossing of Thames Estuary to Ramsgate arriving 9pm after fighting the tide and new (so new that not on our new chart) large Thanet windfarm off Margate. Today we have come 15m south to Dover and plan early start tomorrow to go passed Dungerness and onto Eastbourne.

Stardate 2706-2010

Goodbye to the Clitheroe Kids

Over the last two weeks we have travelled virtually the whole length of the eastern coast of the UK. This means that we have now passed the most westerly point (Ardnamurchan Point), Most northerly (Cape Wrath and the most easterly (Lowestoft). We have also logged over 1300 miles which means that we are more than two thirds through the estimated 1800 miles it will take us to return to Cardiff.

After Rob McCulloch left us in Eyemouth we were joined by Peter Redshaw, Iain's brother in law. Peter is a very experienced dinghy sailor and it was great to have him on board to trim the sails and get the best possible boat speed. My only anxiety was when he asked if we would have to stand on the keel to turn the boat over if he capsized Silver Mist.........

Our passage down the north east of England was spoilt by some very typical cold grey days and cold grey seas. This meant we passed the picturesque Farne Islands, Lindisfane and Banburgh Castle without really seeing much of them at all. We were also joined for a day by Iain's son Jonathan for the sail from Amble to Blyth. Sadly for Jonny we ran into an unpleasantly lumpy sea but he recovered in time for dinner in the local Italian restaurant. We tried to persuade him to stay but somehow the delights of the Durham University Ball held sway over our offer of another rough passage and as much corned beef as he could eat. Hmm. I wonder why?

Peter had spent his boyhood summers in Whitby so he delighted in taking us around his childhood haunts. Our last stop with Peter was Scarborough and he planned to remain an extra night with us. I only heard one side of his conversation when he called home:

"I thought I'd stay with the lads watch the England v Algeria game....

....no, of course I haven't forgotten it's our wedding anniversary..."

He jumped ship immediately and was replaced by John Waters who had done the first week with us on the passage from Cardiff to Dublin. We were delighted that John had rejoined us as the leg from Scarborough to Lowestoft across the Humber and the Wash is the longest of the whole circumnavigation. It took us 33 hours to cover the 150 miles across one of the busiest shipping lanes in UK waters. Our AIS system, which tells us the name, speed and direction of commercial vessels, proved its worth as it also tells us the time to impact if they are getting too close. I worry enough at the best of times about the risk of collision so you can imagine how I felt when I woke up in my bunk to hear Iain on the VHF radio. The conversation went like thus:

"Pride of Bruges, Pride of Bruges, this is Silver Mist, Silver Mist, the yacht on your Port Bow...

....Silver Mist, Silver Mist, this is Pride of Bruges. We have already altered course to 10 degrees to starboard, suggest you do the same"

To be fair, Iain had already changed course so we were actually quite safe but it was reassuring to know that the car ferry had seen us and taken action. A much more intriguing radio transmission later that night went along the following lines:

"Viking Warrior, Viking Warrior, this is the F 86 the British Warship one mile off your port bow....

... then a few minutes later, Viking Warrior, Viking Warrior, this is F 86, the British Warship half a mile off your port bow"....sadly we did not hear the outcome.

Back in Eyemouth we first encountered Czech Mate, another yacht doing the circumnavigation. We then met up with Czech Mate again in Hartlepool and sailed in company all the way to Lowestoft. Czech Mate is from Fleetwood and crewed by two guys, Keith and Dave from Clitheroe in Lancashire. The two of them were fabulous company and brilliant storytellers. Hopefully we will catch up them again on the south coast.

Just as we settled into the Lowestoft Marina for the night, half of our electrical systems failed including all our lights and navigation equipment. We were fairly sure it was a loose connection and Iain very quickly diagnosed the problem (broken cable on the stop solenoid). "Typical physician, I muttered, as Iain left it to John and Dave (from Czech Mate) to do the surgeons' work and make the repair. You can be the manager, he retorted, just clear up the mess!

Left Whitby 7am Friday 18th and arrived Scarborough after 4hr sail with wind behind down coast passing robin hoods bay.

Moored on pontoons in old fish dock as wind increased as predicted. Peter left on train and we spent next 3 days stormbound with Keith and Dave from Czechmate. The friendly Scarborough yacht club provided good beer and butties. Saturday 19th - we refilled with diesel and bought a diesel syphon so that we could refuel at sea then walked up to Scarborough castle and down to North Bay. Still very windy with large waves breaking over road and lots of surfers out on Scarborough beach.

John arrived in the evening for his second trip (he had been on board when we crossed the Irish sea). Sunday 20th we went on a 24 mile bike ride (hired bikes) towards Whitby along a disused railway line and had a good Sunday roast pub lunch.

Monday 21st left Scarborough in light SE wind to go 140mile to Lowestoft passing white cliffs of Flamborough head after 2hrs. Czechmate sailed in company with us. Our AIS was very useful when we met lots of shipping off the humber overnight. Next morning tide turned against us and we took all day to reach Lowestoft passing Scroby wind farm as we took the inner channel passed Great Yarmouth with wind and waves increasing. Eventually moored in Hamilton marina, Lowestoft 5.30pm after 33hrs at sea and then our electrics failed! (very relieved this didn't happen during the crossing) Had shower then out for chinese before to bed by candlelight and deep sleep.

Wednesday 23rd mended electrics then left 1pm for 30mile trip to river Ore entrance passing southwold, Sizewell power stations, Thorpeness and Aldeburgh. Light SE wind so motored. 7.30pm through very narrow entrance then lovely motor up to Aldeburgh passed Orford and beautiful orange/red sunset over the river. Moored to visitors mooring off yacht club 9pm and by 10pm in the "potty pub" for 2pts of Adnams bitter!

Thursday 24th had lunch at Iain's parents then collected Steve's wife from Saxmundham station. Friday 25th John left and we had quiet day ashore after early morning swim in sea for Iain. Keith arrives tomorrow and plan leave Monday 27th for river Deben then Harwich.

We arrived Blyth 6pm 13/6 and moored in large marina with old wooden 'tyne' lightship as clubhouse of Royal Northumbrian yacht club with good bar and showers.

We had long walk into deserted town centre where had good meal at Sambuca, a busy Italian restaurant. Jonathan left us next morning before we sailed to Hartlepool passing Newcastle and Sunderland. Went to good chinese restaurant for supper. Next morning met Czechmate we had previously met in Eyemouth and followed them down to Whitby sailing into wind and tide passed 10 tankers anchored off Redcar. After going only 7m in 3hrs we motored into Whitby arriving in time for 6.30pm bridge opening and then fish and chips at magpies.

Have spent today sightseeing with Peter as guide (he was last here as a child in 19...). Leave in morning to go 14m to Scarborough.

Star Date 1506-2010

The return of the caped crusader

Now I remember who to blame! Owning a yacht is often described as standing in a cold shower ripping up £10 notes. This does not do justice to shivering across the Irish Sea, cursing the Bukh engine, quelling a mutinous crew, and personally financing the pension plans of Cardiff Bay’s boat electrician. So, I asked myself, as I crawled into my bunk on a cold wet night last week, how did I ever get in this mess? The answer lies thirty years ago when a pal of mine built his own Mirror dinghy and invited me to crew for him. Though it was obvious that he was an instinctive sailor and that I was clueless, I was, sadly, bitten by the sailing bug. Therefore it is all his fault.

I was reminded of all this as the culprit, Rob McCulloch, has been crewing for us for the past two weeks. Since his early days in the Mirror, Rob has gone on to much greater things; sailing over 10,000 miles in small yachts, Brigs and Tall ships and recently crewing a yacht around Cape Horn. The June issue of Sailing Today had a long article, headlined the Cape Crusader, by Rob about tackling the Horn. We now have an autographed copy on prominent display so that we can intimidate all future crew with the standards of seamanship we expect in future.

The past week has seen good progress as we tracked our way south along the east coast of Scotland. The highlights have been some cracking sails, delightful harbours (Stonehaven), Smokies in Arbroath, and helpful harbour masters and marinas. We even found the home of the deep fried Mars bar and natural yoghurt (though the sight of Iain photographing the evidence in the Stonehaven Co-op bemused the shop assistants). The low points were the food in a couple of places (eating in Weatherspoons twice in a week) and watching the England v USA game in a Scottish bar with all the locals wearing Anybody But England T shirts.

Finally a big thank you from Iain and me for all the comments and feedback on the website. Please keep them coming, we really appreciate them.

We left Eyemouth midday today after waiting for tide to rise enough to cross the bar. 7hr motor sail to Amble in grey skies but passed interesting coastline with Lindisfarne, Bamburgh castle and Farne Islands. Once inside Amble harbour entrance we had a temporary unplanned stop on the mud before mooring in the marina. This afternoon off to Blyth with Jonathan joining us for the day.

Star date 0606-2010

Mutiny on the Bountiful

The last week has seen a series of important milestones for our circumnavigation around Britain: we successfully negotiated our way around Cape Wrath (the North West tip of Scotland) and through the Pentland Firth (to clear the North East tip). Both of these are notoriously dangerous stretches of sea. Cape Wrath because it is completely exposed to large Atlantic swells and the prevailing westerly winds. The Pentland Firth because of the treacherous tides that can rip through at up the 12kts (bearing in mind Silver Mist can only do 7kts). A tanker skipper admitted to me that even his 50,000 ton vessel had been carried through sideways at one stage. In reality the two passages went remarkably smoothly. Cape Wrath looks incredibly intimidating, and must be awful in foul weather but caused us no problems. Similarly the conditions were benign when went through the Pentland Firth.

There was one moment which reinforced our belief in the fellowship of the sea (apologies if this sounds sentimental). Earlier in the trip, at Kinlochbervie, we had made friends with the crew of Maui 4, a gorgeous 44ft Moody) and we met up with them again in Scrabster, the jumping off point for the Pentland Firth. We planned our trip across together and sailed in parallel for a time to take photos of each other. Eventually we lost sight of one another as the swells increased. Just as we were in the midst of the Merry Men of Mae, a series of overfalls, the VHF chirped up with a call from Maui. They were calling to see if we were OK as they could not see our mast as we dipped below the swells. We were completely safe and untroubled but their concern for our safety was very reassuring in such a notorious seaway.

Sadly, I have to report one very worrying incident. By the time we cleared Cape Wrath, it was apparent that we were going to be in Scrabster ahead of schedule. Immediately the Iain and Rob mutinied and began a long and bitter campaign to divert to the Orkneys on such spurious grounds as:

• We had the time in hand
• We might never get another chance
• The weather was perfect
• The Orkneys are beautiful
• There was nothing to keep us in Scrabster other than the bacon butties from the Seamen's Mission

Star-date 3005-2010

A warp in the space time continuum?

Much to our surprise (and delight) the last week carried on as well as it started. Don West arrived in Campbeltown and brought with him a change for the better in our weather and our passage making. If you have seen photos of Don on our website you may have noticed that he was wearing a hoodie. We are worried that Don has taken the spirit of the new coalition government to heart and actually believed David Cameron's hug a hoodie campaign. To redeem himself from this crime against yachtie fashion Don provided us with a fascinating insight into the geography and geology of the Hebrides. Iain now claims to be able to recognise a truncated glacier (looked like another bloody hill to me......). In all seriousness it made an enormous contribution to our enjoyment of the scenery to get a basic understanding of how it was formed millions of years ago (or in 655 BC for the creationist readers).

Over the course of the week we made excellent progress, covering 250+ miles from the south of the Mull of Kintyre to Ullapool. The highlights are difficult to pick out: winding our way through the beautiful Crinan Canal in shorts and T-shirts, being buzzed by dolphins on the way into Portree, speeding through the Dorus Mor tidal gate or sailing towards the brooding mountains of Rum and Skye. A really good week's sailing culminated with us arriving, back on schedule, in Ullapool where Don left us to be replaced by another old friend, Rob McCulloch.

On a more worrying note, we have also discovered a warp in the space time continuum surrounding Silver Mist. Despite all the evidence to the contrary from Admiralty Tidal Atlases, we have realised that we are always sailing against a least half knot of tide, no matter what the official charts say to the contrary. This reached ridiculous proportions when it was even against us going through the notorious Kyle Rhea where it should have sent us shooting out northwards. We are now really worried what we will encounter in the Pentland Firth, with the strongest tides in the UK this week.

The fitting climax to the week came on Sunday. Iain was puzzled why Rob McCulloch and I were so concerned to get to Lochinver as early as possible. He soon discovered why. As soon as we had berthed, Rob and I ran off in search of a pub with a TV showing the Warrington v Bradford Rugby League cup tie. Rob celebrated in the true spirit of rugby league, sailing the next day in his long johns and flat cap. Eee, yer can tek t'lad outa t'north but yer cant tek t'north outa t'lad.................

*I was going to mention flirting with the lockkeepers but the crew told me it was politically incorrect and I should omit this bit as they had not enjoyed it anyway.

Star-date: 2305-2010

Our mission: to boldly go and explore the outer limits of natural yoghurt *

This was a week which started badly, got worse and ended much better than we could ever have anticipated. For the start of last week, Mike Ruscoe was our extra 'hand'. Mike is an experienced dinghy sailor but had never crewed a yacht before. He came expecting balmy weather, smooth seas, sophisticated conversation and fine dining in the restaurants of Dublin. Sadly he got rough seas, freezing weather, Guinness at 5 Euros a pint, a bickering skipper and navigator and a greater insight into the workings of the Bukh 20 HP diesel engine that ne could ever have wished for. In retaliation Mike gave Iain and me an unwelcome insight into syphilis in the works of Shakespeare..................

The problem with the fuel system, which had delayed our departure from Bangor was finally sorted on Wednesday by another great mechanic. In the meantime Mike juggled ash stricken flights to get home for an alleged family birthday party - we suspect he could not cope sleeping above the spare diesel filter any longer. The low point of the week was when a waitress asked if we were from a boat - when we asked how she knew, her reply was that we stank of diesel.

We set off in the early hours for a long passage to Islay and motored for several hours until the wind was ok to sail. After half an hour the wind died and you can guess what happened - no engine. After much angst (mainly over loss of face, rather than loss of life) we reluctantly asked the Campbeltown Lifeboat to come and tow us in. The RNLI were brilliant, not in the least bit patronising or dismissive. Silver Mist also went faster that she has ever been in her 25 years as we were towed at 10 knots around the Mull of Kintyre.

Roddy, the next in of our collection of helpful mechanics turned up with one spanner, a screwdriver and oil can - we were not optimistic! After an hour's diagnosis of prodding and listening to the engine as he cranked it by hand he asked if we had a hammer (of course we do). He then tapped the fuel pump gently and the bloody thing started first time................aaaaagh!! The cognoscenti of Bukh 20hp diesel engines amongst you will already have guessed that the return spring in the fuel pump had stuck in the closed position - hence the engine would never have started. Iain was then given a crash course in where and what to to and how hard. In the spirit of medical education (see one, do one teach one) he will be leading PGMDC course in the autumn.

The delays meant that, Don West our replacement crew, had to divert from Oban to Campbeltown to meet us. Don has brought with him the balmy weather and smooth seas Mike had expected, starting with leisurely sail up the Firth of Clyde and picturesque passage through the Crinan Canal. It won't last............

*Iain and I were briefed by another Bristol GP who did this trip last year. He claims that natural yoghurt is unavailable north of Norwich. Hmmm.

On a brighter note the rest of the trip has gone pretty much according to plan. The crew dynamics and interchanges have gone well and (everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves. Keith Fletcher was a great help with his local knowledge of Milford haven and his work on the passage plans to Dublin. John Waters twice volunteered to go up the mast to effect running repairs and remains our software engineer, updating this website for us from Bristol. Iain and I are still speaking, though we noticed that Keith, when he left had removed all the sharp knives and left behind only a set of plastic picnic cutlery. Does he fear for our mutual safety?

The positive side of waiting for engine repairs has been the help and support we have received from numerous individuals: most notably, Barry the trawler owner at Port Oriel who helped us restart it with the advice ("treat it like a feckin cement mixer") and Eamonn (??) from the Clogher Head Lifeboat who squeezed the three of us into the front seats of his Electricity Board van to drive us the mile and a half to the nearest pub.

Note from Chris Hine: Iain has managed to break his tooth today while eating his lunch, just to add to their woes!