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We're planning a trip from Portsmouth to the Netherlands in June and July. Last time we were there we sailed on the Versemeer and Oosterschelde in a Wayfarer with a boom tent. That was in the 1980s, this time we will be in a 12m cruiser/racer with 1.7m draft. She has a holding tank. I've...

I know they're hosting the finish of the Fastnet but they tell me: "We will hosting the fastnet race from the 13rd of July to the 31st. The space will be restricted in that period of time." The race doesn't start until the 22nd. Why are they short of space nine days before the start?

Dutch and moored in Newtown yesterday.

Normal Calor butane with a regulator on the bottle and a mixture of copper and flexible pipe to the cooker. I normally keep the valve on the bottle closed at all times when the gas is not in use. The shut off valve near the cooker is left open. So I turn on the bottle valve then go below to...

I'm in Cherbourg at the moment and just extended my stay but they told me I must leave by the 10th July. They have about 100 large offshore race boats gathering for the Drheam Cup event. That will make clearing in and out of France a bit tricky.

They say that somebody has applied for a licence using our call sign and MMSI number and ask if we have sold the boat. We haven't sold and we don't intend to. I've told them this and that we want to keep the licence. But I'm a bit puzzled about how this can come about - possibly some sort of...

The (not very) old pump on my pressurised H&C water system is on its last legs. It has stopped completely twice so I took it appart today freed things off and got it going again. It looks like water has been leaking from the pump section into the drive and bearings. It's now leaking from...

Just noticed today that the battery voltage was 15V and it's never been that high before. There is a single 50W panel on the cabin top to keep the batteries topped up. The solar charge controller was flashing its "battery full" light. When I ran the water pump for a while the voltage quickly...

On Ryde Beach.

Launching soon. It is active on Facebook and seems to be getting a bit of interest. But they are a bit coy about which marinas are on board. I wonder how they intend to fund it. ...... we have an initial trial with five marinas, which is intentional as they are in strategic locations. We...

Collide with her towed array sonar?

Northumberland? Arctic walrus spotted on Northumberland beach

Looks easy to reef - just pull the plug out! Will it catch on? Michelin develops giant inflatable sails Yachty bit is about one minute in to this video.

Interesting.

There have been a few threads recently about sailing to the Channel Islands and travelling to France by ferry to visit or collect boats. But I haven't heard anything about sailing from UK to France. Covid procedures for fully vaccinated people seem manageable but we still need to isolate on...

Just laid out the new stay next to the old one and it looks like they are wound in opposite directions. Never thought about this before is there a choice when ordering new wire? The old one is over 20 years old and probably came from Sweden.

I've just noticed the above headline in last Saturday's Times that I had left on the boat. The just of the story is here: Leaky borders might mean boat licences

At the moment I tension the luff of the main with the halyard winch and I seem to get more tension at the top of the sail than at the bottom so I want to add an adjustable Cunningham system. I was thinking of a rope from a fixing on the mast through the eye in the sail and then down to a 6:1...

I've been using a pole sander for this iob for the last few years but today I lashed up a method of fitting a Scotchbrite pad to it. Finished the job in record time!

Anybody else seen this by email? The domain names don't look right although they go to official-looking sites.