20-00 hrs: Went streakering this morning and am beginning to feel at one with the boat. Righted a capsize and got back in easily. Lots of muscles I did not know I had are now aching. Excellent fun. And have done very little since apart from look at piles of books on the flooir in the hope that they will put themselves onto shelves.

Week in Woodbridge 7

a.m.: to the gym, which was crowded and my muscles tired from yesterday, but came out feeling better. Now settling down to do something useful - - namely a re-organisation of the books, files and other stuff in my room.

20-20 hrs: I spent the afternoon at B&Q getting shelves and other bits to help with the tidy-up. I fear it is displacement activity to avoid tax and writing! Spent time since I got back making the shlves and carrying files and books around - it has to be done I suppose.

Week in Woodbridge 6

a.m. Off to accompany trainee sailors in Wayfarers downstream - over the tide - to have a picnic at 'the Rocks' with lots of warm clothes and food  packed.

I drove the big DYC Safety boat - with bouys, bags of food and much else.
We had two Ribs with us as well

19-45: just back - missing Dr Who. An interesting day with wind gusting 20 to 30 knots - several boats under jib alone going at 5.5 knots - with the tide - on the way back. More harmless fun.

Week in Woodbridge 5

The central part of Woodbridge - covering my normal stamping grounds.
The sailing club is just off the map, downstream  to the left.
Copyright  John Roberts, Top Floor Studio, Woodbridge.

a.m. The gym before anything else - usual beneficial effect on well-being. Indigestion all night due to eating too much too late yesterday - dodgy digestion came back during the day from time to time - proof that side-effects need to be respected.

And the rest of the day - did things at home, cycled to the Tidemill (to get some screws from the boat and also had a pleasant chat with a boat owner who has just moved here) - then to the sailmakers (to get some rope for righting lines) and to the shops (for food). Back home - lots of minor domestic things and a few emails. Also took an hour and a half (and two drills) to drill two holes in the Streaker's rudder so that I can fit a better way to hold the rudder down and also get it up in shallow water. Nothing dramatic - and very little  stirring of the mud

Week in Woodbridge 4

a.m. Today we have - - things to do to put off the hour of writing documents. Easier because the weather is overcast and cold, so I am not tempted to go out into the sun. A pleasant morning writing letters and surfing the web for dinghy goodies.This day two years ago I had arrived in Wells. I still feel - what is the word - disturbed at not living that life anymore - like mud at the bottom of a pool being disturbed if prodded. Maybe I will buy some dinghy goodies as consolation - - -which I did. And spent the afternoon mooching in the shops and avoiding heavy rain showers. 

Start of evening race seen from the clubhouse - just after the start gun.
The start line is the two white dots on the far bank and the fleet are heading into the wind and current - so is there a reason for being shy of the line?

 Evening racing - I thought it would be too windy so did not take my gear. Spent the rest of the evening eating and looking at rigging on streakers.

Week in Woodbridge 3

a.m. Not sure how to spend the day - sunshine forecast so am temped by the beach. In the end - decide I need to recoup strength, so go to the gym and plan to do useful things in the sun. The gym - a life-saver and an important part of my life here; I try to go every other day. I do a varied routine of resistance training using free weights which normally takes about an hour to an hour and a quarter. At the moment I am gradually increasing the range of what I do and the weights I use, so it also confirms my general well-being or otherwise.

But some unease inside - two years ago I ran away to sea but only got as far as Woodbridge. I did intend to go much further and have to be careful not to rage that it has not been possible. Why not rage? - good question - I feel that I have landed up somewhere with a better lifestyle than I had before - interesting sailing, different boats and two bathrooms - so I would not be respecting my life if I did too much weeping and gnashing of teeth. But - - - -

21-30: I have spent the whole day doing various small things - mostly in the sun - and (probably) avoiding doing some writing. It is often thus. All the trivia - including putting out the rubbish, mending a sail, looking at boats,cooking a batch of fish pies, buying things and gossiping to various people about all sorts of things like how to make vegetable stock out of broad bean and pea shells. But I did put in two hours on the U3A web site updating a lot of articles about interest groups.

Week in Woodbridge 2

the beach with pebbles and waves: to cheer me up

21.15: Tuesday - a different day - reaction to several busy days. A lot of sun and a cold wind. 

Slept badly and got up feeling feeble and continued to feel out of sorts all day. I got to the marina for 9-00 in order to give Richard some bits of boat to be collected by a rigger. Then did nothing and dozed fitfully in the cockpit but I did sort out the boot of the car to leave room for picnic things for beach visits. Got home for lunch - watched a bit of TV - lazed around and did nothing.

I intended to sail the streaker in the evening - so I went to the sailing club with my gear at 17-00 but I really did not feel like it. I did help someone rig their boat and mend a small gash in my sail. Had some coffee and a wee chat and came home. Watched TV whilst I made and ate supper. Relunctant to go to bed incase I don't sleep and cannot be bothered to do any web work or documentation. So it is not all rush-around in Woodbridge.

Week in Woodbridge 1

From Bawdsey beach - looking upstream across the Deben to Felixstow Ferry;
sea kale in flower in the foreground

20-50 hrs: I do not expect this week to be typical - for one thing there is more wind and sun forecast than usual. And I plan to do more sailing things than usual.

Monday - to the gym (geology group not meeting today) and then packed a load of beach-survival-things to go to the beach to look at the waves and gravel. But a lot of fussing around the flat - clearing the gear from being on rescue yesterday, filing papers, answering a couple of emails. I make it out eventually and go to the shops on the way  to Bawdsey Quay, (about 8 miles away) where I park the car overlooking the river - eat - drink coffee - watch the waves - usual things. Both an early and a late lunch.

Eventually walked out to the beach along the footpath - put on a lot of clothes due to strong and cold wind. The waves in the river almost show in the picture. Took pictures of sea kale, gravel, waves and a few plants. Collected two kilo of gravel for an experiment (of which more later - but probably unsuccessful). Returned to the car and grossed out in the tea room. Then back to Woodbridge. 

Nothing much since apart from eating a small supper (due to a lot of eating during the day) and doing some editing on the U3A website - it needs to be done asap.

the keel on the ground - ignore the ladder

11-00 hrs: The keel runs up and down on runners on each side - the red arrow points to one of them. The blue strap winds the keel up and down from inside the boat, through the slot at the bottom ( a red arrow points to this). 

What stops it falling out? Answer - nothing apart from the strap. It may have rested on the fitting that holds the slot gasket in place.

The design is for a nylon bush to be fitted at approximately the place of the round red circle. This then catches on a ridge in the keel casing and stops it falling out. Nice. But - mine did not have one. It does now,  the Tidemill staff made and fitted one before the keel was put back.

But - you may say - how do I get it out next time I need to inspect it? Good question - the nylon bush unbolts through holes in the keel case inside - necessitating the removal of a lot of woodwork and the galley to get at it - so a non-trivial thing to do. But feasable.

At least I am not going to have the keel fall out of the bottom next time I do something daft. And I better understand the whole mechanism as a result of all this.

Sloes

11-15 hrs: They are fat and nice near water but those in dry areas do not seem to be so good. They also seem quite early - as are the elder flowers.

The keel - and the gasket. Note the runners at the top and the blue tape

The slot. The blue tape is used to wind it up.
The marks of the runners show along the edge of the hole.
There is a fitting to go into the grotty part.

13-15 hrs: Good stuff. The keel is back in having been checked over and some re-furbishment done. There was a lot more to doing this than a simple statement suggests. And Richard did some cool crane-driving to position the boat to get the keel back in - and the staff did a lot of positioning of the keel as well. More to it than meets the eye. I did not have my camera on me when it happened - - - .

Now - a new slot gasket which means another ride on the crane - probably middle of next week.

I will also tell you in another post what stops it falling out of the bottom of the boat other than the blue tape.

Lookfar is lifted high enough to get the keel out. Getting it back in was the fun part as it is pretty heavy.

13-40 hrs: This is really a picture of the crane. The keel is out for inspection and I hope to have a repair plan soon. 

Last week - a lot of hanging around - and an infection in my right eye. Weather dull but warm except for cold winds - trouser weather - good bye balmy days of early summer.

my streaker and DYC dinghy park

16-00 hrs: I have not forgotten you all - or how to capsize. (Last time I capsized - maybe three years ago). I went streaking a couple of times and finished up being tipped into the river by a mooring yesterday.  Righted the boat without trouble but then found - - - I could not get back into it. Much effort and use of the safety cover got me ashore eventually. And note this - you sailors in the North - it was like falling into a bath - it was not really cold at all (I had three thermals, a watertight jacket and short wetsuit). Fun - fun - fun. I now need to make a ladder to get myself aboard and do a lot more dinghy sailing - I had forgotten what pleasure it is - -

Life here is sunny and windy, - shorts/tee shirt weather. The battallions of  side effects are under control, I have sat around on the beach and done nice things. I also have had (including the capsize) epic sailing in the streaker. Lookfar is waiting the be lifted by the big crane and I have done a few improvements to the rigging. I have mostly kept out of trouble.

 

 

 

Gravel bank at the mouth of the river Deben - looking seawards.

20-00 hrs: It has been very windy and sunny all weekend. I walked out onto the gravel banks at the mouth of the Deben and then along the beach. Rough sea and cold wind - but I found sheltered places to gross out. Much needed after the excesses of last week.