‘80 Seconds’ 

Robin Knox-Johnston celebrates his 80th birthday with a series of monthly talks lasting 80 seconds entitled “The Lure of the Sea”.   

Episode One describes why he keeps returning to the sea and what his future plans might be.

https://youtu.be/0S4aE6B8lxo

Guide to essential tasks:

ANTIFOULING
Use a copper-based paint with an anti-slime additive.   Sail-drive legs made of aluminium should use zinc-based antifoul.

TOPSIDES
Clean with a soft brush and non-scratch pad then give a good wax & polish.

THE RIG
Go aloft to check the masthead mounting points are secure; holes for wiring are sealed with silicone; furling shackle is sound; tangs & stay end-fittings are good; halyard & boom lift shackles, blocks & sheaves turn easily; tangs & spreader end-fittings are sound; mast step thru-deck wires are watertight; gooseneck is sound; mast is straight, stays are tight and mast pre-bend appropriately set up.

ROLLER FURLING
The whole system - drum & bail, turnbuckle & lower clevis & split pins, foil sections & fasteners and the top swivel should be inspected.   (Tying the bosun’s chair to the foil sections with a small loop helps avoid swinging backwards).   Flush any dust & dirt from any open bearings on the drum with hot water.

WINCHES
Open the winches and use a solvent to dissolve the old grease.   Re-grease the bearings, drums & pawls and reassemble.

STEERING
Turn the wheel/wheels hard in both directions for play in the system indicating a need to tighten wires at the quadrant or weak fasteners in a torque tube installation, especially where the tubes change direction.     Check: Sheaves for wire (or mounting brackets for tubes) where failures can occur; Cast quardrant for cracks; Rudder key aligning the quardrant; Autopilot attachment to its rudder post and key; Rock the rudder sideways (if out of the water) to test for play in the bearings or cracks in the mounting.

THRU-HULL FITTINGS
Ensure seacock valves turn easily and are  free from corrosion or electrolysis.   Check hoses are in good condition, secured with two stainless steel clamps and that wooden/rubber bungs are handy.

ENGINE
Change oil, oil filter & fuel filters and drain off any water in the fuel filter housing.    Check raw water impeller for brittleness or signs of fracture around the base of each fin; also the raw water anti-syphon loop.   Ensure the drive belts are free from brittleness, hard spots or need for tightening.   Zincs anodes - are usually in the heat exchanger, back of exhaust manifold or elsewhere including prop shaft.    Check the prop shaft attachment to the transmission for wear.   Stern gland leakage should be marginal and only when the shaft is turning - controlled by the stuffing box packing.   Rock the shaft &  P-strut (if out of the water) for play in the cutlass bearing or attachment problems.  Replace worn anodes on the shaft and propeller.    Inspect the rubber gasket on sail-drives for leaks or wear.

BATTERIES 
Ensure wet battery cells are topped up with de-ionised water.   Keep them in the top third of amp-hour cycle after relaunch to refresh the discharge/recharge activity.

WATER TANKS
Flush the empty domestic tanks with a couple of five gallon buckets of mild bleach solution, pumping it through the system one faucet at a time before flushing and filling with fresh water.

https://www.bwsailing.com/fitting-out-2/

Will it affect you?

UK-based vessels will lose EU VAT-paid status on ‘no-deal’  Brexit-day or at the end of any transition period. However, if located, at that time, in an EU port or sailing in EU waters it will keep its VAT-paid 'Union' status.

It should be borne in mind that non-EU citizens sailing in EU waters will only be allowed to stay, in person, for a maximum of 90 days in any 180 whilst then leaving their boat in the EU in order to retain its Union status.

A UK-based yacht will lose it’s EU VAT-paid status and become liable again 18 months after any sustained period of re-entry into the EU (i.e. on expiry of EU ‘Temporary Importation Relief’).

In summary, UK-based yachts wishing to stay in the EU longterm should be located in an EU port on Brexit day in order to retain their EU VAT-paid status (keeping marina receipts, dated photographs, insurance certificates etc as evidence).  Conversely, a British ‘EU-based’ yacht may become UK-VAT liable when eventually 'imported' back into the UK (currently after 3 years).

https://www.theca.org.uk/news/rats/considerations_if_no_deal_brexit_070119

see News item ‘T2L’ 13th Dec 2018 for instructions on completing the application form.

‘One and All’ has claimed 3rd place on the podium, having arrived back in Les Sables d’Olonne after completing a non-stop single-handed ‘Golden Globe’ race around the world.   Previously owned by GCCC Past Commodore Tony Atkins and circumnavigated by Uku Randmaa of Estonia, ‘One and All’ crossed the finishing line at 0900 UTC today after almost 252 days at sea (and with only three packets of powdered soup left in the larder!).

Uku Randmaa thanked God for his safe return, then his boat ‘One and All’ (a Rustler 36) and finally his Hydrovane self-steering gear.   “My biggest worry was keeping the boat in one piece..... the Southern Ocean waves were amazing, ... but barnacles were a continuous problem.”

“This was my biggest dream in life and I am very, very happy to have realised it.”

More details available at www.goldengloberace.com

see previous GCCC News items of 29 Jan 2019 & 9 Oct 2018.

International Women's Day

Tracy Edwards, guest speaker at GCCC clubhouse last year, says she did not form an all-women crew for the cause of feminism, but to do what she simply loved doing best - sailing; and then going on to skipper a 58’ yacht ‘Maiden’ in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race (precursor to the current Volvo Ocean Race).

‘Maiden’ is now the subject of a film documentary about Edwards’ struggle to put a female team on the water while tolerating chauvinism within the yachting community and rejection from potential sponsors. 

The film, ‘Maiden’, features interviews & original film footage of the 1989-90 race and is due for release in UK cinemas from today - International Women’s Day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAaXRpdWXXo

http://www.themaidenfactor.org

A sculpture, ‘Sound of the Sea’ (designed by pupil Ada Kohlmaier-Sims of The Island Free School) has won 1st Prize in the Cowes Harbour Landmark Design Competition for a theoretical piece to be sited on the Cowes Breakwater:-

 Artistic impressions of ‘Sound of the Sea’ on Cowes Breakwater.

According to the panel of judges “its spiral shell-like form was in keeping with the natural sea environment, the white triangular shape fits with the shape and colour of passing sails and the sculpture... would complement Cowes seafront environment.”

The award winners will be presented with their prizes, in Cowes, on 1st March 2019.

Tony Atkins, GCCC Past Commodore, has produced an itinerary for the club's two-week West Country Cruise in June together with a list of interested boats and potential 'stowaways'.    A passage plan is shortly to be posted on the website and a WhatsApp group established for those wishing to keep in touch.

Several options are indicated for arriving at Dartmouth and skippers will be asked to submit their intended route nearer the time.  Those skippers and stowaways already expressing interest have been asked to keep Tony informed as their plans firm up so that advanced marina and dinner reservations can be made.

Boat and crew lists will be finalised in early May by which time skipper, crew and potential stowaway arrangements should have been made between themselves.

Please contact Tony directly, using the club’s membership directory, if you would like to be added to the cruise circulation list or for any further comments or enquiries you might wish to make.

The Round-Isle-of-Wight Race, organised by the Island Sailing Club since 1931, will this year start and finish outside Cowes on Saturday 29th June.  Early bird discounts for online entry are currently available until 28th February.

Around 1,500 boats take part each year including monohulls, multihulls, gaffers, classics and dayboats.   The current monohull record stands at 3hr 43m 50s set in 2013 and the multihull record at 2hr 22m 23s set in 2017.

A public entertainment programme starts on the Parade at 12:00 on Friday 28th June.

Visit www.roundtheisland.org.uk for more information.

Lobbying by both the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and the Cruising Association (CA) has pursuaded the Maritime & Coastguard Agency to convene a ‘Lobster Pots & Small Craft Safety Working Group’.   The Group is composed of members from the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO), RYA and CA tasked with seeking better ways for avoiding small craft entanglement and also improved methods of law enforcement.

Group Members: (left to right) Ian Wilson (CA), Gwilym Stone (MCA), Robert Greenwood (NFFO), Michael Coyle (MMO) and Stuart Carruthers (RYA).

The first meeting took place at CA House on 16 January 2019 to prioritise their tasks and set up a review of existing regulatory powers across the UK.

www.theca.org.uk

GGR 2018-19

73-year old Frenchman Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, in his Rustler 36 ‘Matmut’, has completed the Golden Globe Race non-stop circumnavigation back to Les Sables d’Olonne in France.  He crossed the finishing line early this morning after 212 days at sea.   He is the first to finish since the race started last July and was greeted alongside by a huge welcoming crowd and a large bottle of champagne presented by Robin Knox-Johnson (winner of the original 1968-69 race).

Dutchman Mark Slats, in second place, has diverted to La Caruna following advice to avoid being dangerously trapped on a lee-shore in the Bay of Biscay by an approaching storm.   His Rustler 36 ‘Ophen Maverick’ was trailing by just 320 miles after narrowing Van Den Heede's lead by 91 miles over the weekend.

Third placed Uku Randmaa of Estonia lies 3,600 miles astern in his Rustler 36 ‘One and All’ (previously owned by GCCC Past Commodore Tony Atkins and sold specifically for use in the race).

With just four boats yet to finish out of the original eighteen, more news can be followed at https://goldengloberace.com/  or  https://youtu.be/u3NM1Ox7Nt0