02.12.09
Posted in Trips at 5:25 pm by Admin
I don’t know how the logic worked in our thinking but we decided to take Mercy Jane to Largs to carry out a complete strip and re-varnish of all external brightwork-and there is a lot of it. We thought that we could take a full week off work and take an extra hand with us and just get stuck in and get it completed in the week. We could have done the same thing in Fleetwood - its just not the same.
We decided to go via Peel on the Isle of Man then to Portpatrick, Campbelltown, and finally Largs and we weren’t in any particular rush. Our regular crew for these trips normally is John Hindle and Steve Capstick but unfortunately due to work pressures Steve couldn’t go (he’s a farmer) so it was just the three of us.
We left Fleetwood in bright sunshine and headed for the south end of Isle of Man. The weather deteriorated a little on our way over and it turned into a bit of a bumpy ride forcing us to seek some shelter in Castletown harbour awaiting the tide to take us through Calf Sound. I went below for a sleep and the next thing I knew we were away again and heading for Peel, Graham had sneaked away at first light leaving both John and me to sleep on. I got up but left John to sleep on.
We arrived in Peel about 7am, John still fast asleep, and thought it would be good fun to leave him there and go and find some breakfast, which we did at the top end of Peel in a little cafe we use occasionally. We arrived back at the boat to find that John was still asleep so cast off very quietly heading for Portpatrick with huge grins on our faces. John did eventually get up and looked a little miffed that he had not only missed breakfast but Peel altogether.
The wind was just right for us to sail freely to Portpatrick and we enjoyed the experience, sailing along in warm sunshine getting there in what appeared to be in no time.
We were happy to berth snuggly in the harbour which is very protected and once we had tidied up the boat went to the local pub for a few well earned beers and some hearty food.
The next day we awoke to another warm sunny day but had to wait for the tide at midday before we could get away, we were actually touching the bottom, just. Graham went on a scavenging trip around the harbour and came back with a bagfull of lobsters, ready boiled for us to have for tea. We entually got away heading for Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre. We had a really good sail with the wind more or less on the beam making a good 6 knots in 12-15 knots of wind heading in the right direction. We had ‘Bob’ the autohelm in control allowing us to relax on deck taking in the views of Ailsa Craig on the Starboard side.
We got in to Campeltown in daylight and having found a good berth on the main pontoon headed for the bright lights of the town. A very pleasant evening was had in wandering aound the town visiting quite a few pubs and savouring several excellent pints of beer.
Next day we awoke to a bright sunny day and after a bit of boat manoevering headed out and made for Rothsea, again we had superb sailing in warm sunshine with the mountains on Arran very clear and dominating the scenery. Arrived at Rothsea to find the harbour completely full so picked up a local mooring buoy, went ashore in the dinghy and headed for the bright lights once more.
I think we found the liveliest pub that night, live music which got everybodies feet tapping, the musician played non stop for at least 4 hours including bag pipes. We got involved in a bit of dancing with the locals whilst John did a good job of keeping the beer flowing all night.
It was a good job that John doesn’t partake in the odd pint, he was sober enough to herd us back to the dinghy and get us back safely on board. (If its ever possible to herd Graham anywhere after he’s had a few pints)
We were up bright and early next day and managed to get Mercy Jane the short trip across to Largs where we berthed up ready for the work to begin.
All in all we’d had a really memorable trip, in good weather and lots of good sailing.
Rhys
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04.30.08
Posted in Trips at 10:36 am by Admin
I last went to this festival about 5yrs ago on Sceptre and was keen to go again in Mercy Jane as I felt it was a good event and had enjoyed it very much and also it was an opportunity to show her off at a relatively local venue, if you can call the Isle of Man local.
After speaking to Graham about it we decided to go regardless of weather conditions or anything else, we just needed some crew to assist, me and Graham can sail her between us but its hard work as one of us has to remain on the helm whilst the other does all the sail handling and the sails are extremely large and very heavy.
I managed to persuade both John Hindle and Steve Capstick to come along and felt we had a good bunch of lads to take Mercy Jane across the Irish Sea, which can and usually is a very uncomfortable trip. We looked at the tide tables and agreed that the best time to go would be around 3pm on Thursday to arrive in Peel in the early hours of Friday, a crossing of around 14hrs going directly to Peel through the Calf Sound.
We got away at about 3.30pm on Thursday in bright sunshine and headed out into the channel in light winds then headed generally for the wind farm off Barrow and could see that the turbines were not moving indicating that there was no wind to speak of. We passed quite close to the turbines and were amazed at the size of them, they towered over us like huge trees unmoving in the light airs.
Passing the wind farm we set a course for the south end of the Isle of Man, it was very clear with brilliant visibility and could clearly see the clouds over the island. The next few hours were spent under engine with regular cups of tea making the trip very pleasant but still no wind.
We soon could see a gas platform in the distance which gave a good target to aim for as it was bang on our course, then the Isle of Man became visible quite clearly with the setting sun highlighting the mountains and giving a spectacular sunset.
Graham had brought a home made casserole which we ate just before sunset, all sat in the cockpit, accompanied by a glass of red wine……….very civilised.
It was agreed that we would take watches through the night starting at 10pm with Graham and Steve together and me and John taking the first watch from 10pm to 12 midnight. It was a very calm night, a flat sea and quite warm so keeping watch was quite enjoyable, so much so that we didn’t hand over till nearly 1am by which time we were ready for some sleep. We were woken from our deep sleep just as we had emerged through the Calf Sound,it was daylight and the wind had increased to about 12 knots so we were sailing. Unfortunately the wind was not quite right to lay a course for Peel, as usual, so after 15mins or so of sailing away from the land we dropped sail and motored towards Peel which we reached about an hour later.
On reaching the breakwater we decided to tie to it for a few hours until we could enter the inner harbour, so we bedded down again and caught up on some well earned sleep. We must have needed it, I awoke at one point to the sound of the other three all snoring their heads off with great gusto.
We finally got into Peel inner harbour at midday on Friday and rafted up alongside another traditional boat and feeling more relaxed we had a couple of beers and generally entered into the spirit of the festival, mainly by visiting most of the local hostelries and sampling the local brews.
One of the features of the Peel Festival is that most of the food is provided in that the organisers arrange for an evening meal at the sailing club on both days and for a bag of kippers, bread, cheese and milk to be left in the cockpit each morning, enough for a hearty breakfast, and very welcome too.
Saturday afternoons activities consisted of a race around the bay, really a display of all the traditional boats, which we entered at the last minute in bright sunshine and just a breath of wind. We timed our crossing of the start line just about right and proceded to catch and overtake most of the other boats much to our delight till we eventually caught up with the leading pack in very light winds, making around 1-2 knots.
The race culminated in an incident at the final buoy as we held our ground and managed to fend off the other competing boats, with a few coarse comments and a little pushing and shoving, crossing the line in front of these other boats by the finest margin. We were jubilant as we made our way back to the harbour and decided to partake in a few more beers to celebrate.
Wots me name ??
The revelry continued on into the evening, several beers being consumed at the Sailing Club along with trays of Queenies which were handed out by the festival organisers accompanied by some excellent traditional music from a band called King Chiaullee.
We were very pleased to find that during the trophy presentations we had been awarded the best Bermudan rigged boat in the festival and duly collected the trophy along with several more beers. The evening continued in the same vein until around 1am we found ourselves in the cockpit entertaining ourselves with a bit of banjo music from yours truly.
Sunday arrived with the kippers as usual and a very sunny day, unfortunately we had to leave to make our way back to Fleetwood and left as soon as the gates opened, around 3pm.
We enjoyed a leisurely sail down to Calf Sound then turning into the wind we had to rely on the engine once more. Despite our best efforts to get back to Fleetwood in time to catch the gates open we missed it by 30 mins or so had to anchor in a small pool just outside the marina which allowed us to remain for the day waiting for the gates to open again at the next tide.
We did eventually tie up in our usual berth and made our way home after a very memorable weekend.
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02.14.07
Posted in Trips at 7:48 pm by Admin
An account of her inaugural sail following 12yrs of restoration. We’d had a couple of short shakedown sails in the channel just outside Fleetwood to see that everything was working alright and that the new engine behaved itself, which it did, perfectly.
Graham and myself work together and the prospect of a day off, known locally as ‘September Break’ with a good weather forecast persuaded us to take Mercy Jane on her first sailing trip following an extensive restoration which had taken us 12yrs. The plan was to leave on the tide at about 2.30pm on Sunday, 11th September,05 which would give us plenty of time to get to Piel Island, stay overnight then sail back the next day.
We’d never been to Piel Island before but had been informed by local sailors that it was an ideal first trip being about 11 miles. Piel Island is located off Barrow, A . small island with a castle and a pub and sounded good. The boat was provisioned up, with lots of beer, the sun was shining and we were off. The lock gates to Fleetwood marina opened up at 3.45pm so we cast off, Graham at the helm and headed out into the river.
It was decided to motor till we were out of the channel where we would hoist the sails and make for Piel Island. We got to the Cardinal Buoy at the seaward end of the channel in no time, the engine easily pushing us along at 5 knots, to find that the wind was directly on the nose, which in my experience it always is. Anyway, undeterred, the sails were hoisted, we would tack, we were going to sail there regardless of the wind direction.
Once Mercy Jane gets into the groove she sails very well, making about 5 knots under main and jib sail, the original sails, the main being very baggy and the jib being too small, nevertheless it was good going. After a couple of tacks, Blackpool Tower was clearly visible keeping us company as we headed generally for a new wind farm installation under construction just off Barrow. We were having a really good sail, Graham suggested making a cup of tea and went below. This type of distraction nearly always invites trouble and lo and behold as soon as he had gone below the wind increased and with it so did the sea.
Mercy Jane was now well over on her ear, Graham was still trying to make the tea and we had full sail up and definitely overcanvassed. The sea by this time had risen to a nasty short steep chop that was bouncing Mercy Jane all over the place. We drank the tea quick, it was time to reduce sail, in fact we decided to get all the sail down so I made my way to the foredeck. Mercy Jane’s bow was now dipping into the oncoming waves and then rising dramatically, so hanging on with one hand the jib sail was dropped and tied onto the rail.
Next the mainsail was dropped, roughly flaked onto the boom and tied in place, I was glad to get back into the safety of the cockpit. By this time we had reached the Shoal Buoy marking the channel into Barrow which we followed until we reached an area full of mooring buoys between Piel Island and the Isle of Roa, which in fact is part of the mainland connected by a narrow causeway, where we picked up a good sized mooring. It was a very quiet and peaceful place with very few other boats, the anchorage being split in half by the deep channel leading into Barrow docks and the pub on Piel Island looking a long way away.
Once we had checked out our surroundings, the sea had died down to a flat calm so we pumped up the dinghy and motored across to the island towards the inviting lights of the Ship Inn. The landlord informed us that we were the first customers he’d had for about 3 days, most people had gone back to work,the holiday season being over and it was a bit quiet, anyway the beer was very welcome. Back on board later in the evening we lit the oil lamps, warmed up the chilli and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine from a bottle that Graham had given me some 10 yrs earlier called ‘Cabin Boy Kift’ which I had saved for this occasion.
Surprisingly it was very good,so was the chilli. The atmosphere in the boat was very cosy, we both looked around not believing that we were here, actually sailing in Mercy Jane after all this time. Next day we awoke to a lovely bright, sunny day. It had been a quiet night, the weather that is, not so inside the boat, sleeping in the same cabin as Graham is like sleeping next to a Rhinocerous! Taking advantage of the sunny weather we went across to the island again and explored the castle which has been there since 1450 or so. After mooching around for a couple of hours we returned to the boat, had some lunch and got ready to leave.
It was still a lovely sunny day with no wind so we resigned ourselves to motoring back to Fleetwood in time for the lock gates to open at around 4.30pm. We had a fairly uneventful trip back, except that the chartplotter lost all the GPS data which was puzzling to us, the same had happened on our outward trip, apart from that it was a very pleasant sail back. We entered Fleetwood Marina with a little excitement caused by the Lockmaster asking us to go to a visitors berth not recognising our name.
We are a little nervous entering the marina normally not quite having got the hang of how she handles at close quarters so we entered in some trepidation to find with some relief that our berth was still free. After a couple of waltzes around the pontoon we were finally tied up and with some relief sat down with a couple of beers. All in all it was a successful trip, we had got to Piel Island and back, Mercy Jane sails very well and she is very comfortable. There are a couple of minor teething problems which can be expected from what is essentially a new boat, the biggest problem being the Chartplotter losing the data, this is a brand new bit of kit so is still under guarantee and hopefully can be put right.
Mercy Jane is a very lovely boat and attracts attention wherever she goes, she is also a very technical boat and requires quite a lot of skill to sail her, John Morris was obviously a very skilled sailor having sailed Mercy Jane all over Europe without an engine and very little in the way of navigational aids. We are looking forward to our next trip, The Isle of Man perhaps…
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