06/10/2009 by Tim.

Fi and I moved on the 10th of August to Stoke Gabriel on the River Dart above Dittisham.  After living out of boxes for weeks we now have a new kitchen and front door and have got down to the serious business of earning some money

we love village life in this busy area, the dam is usually covered with excited kids and parents catching the hundreds of stupid crabs there are in the creek.  We now own a small sailing dinghy as well, “Swallow”, a 14ft Wanderer class which we will tootle up and down river with along with our two man Kayak, which has already found it’s way to the ‘Maltsters Inn’ at Tuckenhay

Off to do some work now so blog soon……

Tim & Fi 

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30/07/2009 by Tim.

Fi and I are moving down south on the 10th of August.  So we will be just up the road from RumRunner this means, if we get a good weather day then we will be off sailing, if we aren’t working, of course.

We are moving to a village on the River Dart and can’t wait.  Pictures will  be posted when we’re there.

Bye for now.

Tim & Fi

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13/07/2009 by Tim.

Hi everyone.

Last day, where has 3 weeks gone? the final day was wet, grey and for a change a nice F4 in a sailable direction woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!

Off we toddled down the Dart, the visibilty due to the drizzle was poor, but the sails were up as we rounded the Mew stone and set off downwind - dead downwind - so the genoa went away as the main was up and out, 8.3 knots with the tide we shot round to Berry Head. the wind was still F4 so we hardened onto the wind out came ALL the sail and we flew across Torbay - engine on tickover - result. 

The pepperpot on the end of the breakwater loomed out of the murk, the sails went away we fueled up and back onto RumRunners berth.  It was over, our 3 week trip had been completed.

Stats:

2o days
Sailing days 4
Motoring days 6
Fuel consumed 70 litres
Miles traveled 347

Fi and I have had a great holiday, sorry the blog went a bit thin, wifi abroad is very haphazard so more work needed for future trips. 

Back home now though to get the house sale completed and find somewhere to live in Devon.

I will upload all of the photo’s and comments here later so feel free to have a look. http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s148/Nicebut61/RumRunner/RumRunner%20tour%2009/ 

Next tour may be in september, possibly the west country to the Scilly Isles. We’ll let you know.

Thanks for reading.

Tim and Fi

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13/07/2009 by Tim.

we got up and blew up the dinghy to go down to Darthaven to replace the gas bottle and say Hi to Stu, who was commissioning another new 34. Not as nice as Rummie though. Lunch in Dartmouth and off to ‘Ditsum’ we weren’t expecting it to be too busy up there but all the visitors bouys were taken so we expertly (nice one Fi) rafted onto another boat, just as we were making fast the last couple of lines, the heavens opened never mind.

Dinner in the FBI (Ferry Boat Inn) and a few beers we toddled back to the boat viaa a very soggy dinghy. Tommorow is back to Brixham and our 3 week trip was over.

T&F

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13/07/2009 by Tim.

Up at 05.00 to get the boat and us ready for the return leg to Dartmouth. The couple we were rafted too (Mo & Liz) are also leaving so we got ourselves a race, not really they have a Hallberg Rassey 36, so can hold more sail and punch through the waves.  The tidal bell gave us a clearance time of 06.10 on the sill so at 06.30 we cleared the sill, by 0.7m, and set off into the Little Russell channel, the wind as we expected had dropped and as forecast was on the nose - there is a trend here, don’t you think. So Rummie’s little 18hp was reved up and off we set.

We could see why the little Russell has the reputation it does, abeam Roustel mark (a pinnacle rock that dries) the flat sea suddenly started to boil there were waves 4ft high from any direction, a real washing machine, you could see why they advise care in poor weather. Safely out of the end of the channel we set course for the waypoint at the end of the Casquets TSS, a cross tide slowed us down to 4.8kn over ground so we just plodded on, we were getting some drive from the main which also gave us some stability as the sea was still settling from the F7/8 from the previous days.  we crossed the TSS E & W bound channels with no problem, the visibilty was excellent - these weird shapes loom on the horizon the AIS tells you it’s 700ft long Ooer! combined with radar I would not be without it - next waypoint was the Dart entrance some 7hr 50min away. 

We sat down and let the auto pilot take us home, that was until the tide changed so Rummies track altered and took us slightly off the wind, enough to sail?, so up with the Genoa and pin it all in and we were away, unfortunately we had to keep the engine on as Rummie being light heads off downwind at 15degrees (Leeway) hard on the wind so the engine helps to keep the course, the wind started to increase as forecast so the reefs started going in until with 25kn gusts we were reefed hard down.

“Land Ahoy” we started to make out Dartmoor as we closed  the shore, about 20+ miles away then it had to happen, we got headed as we got closer to land the wind veered onto the nose, the jib was furled and the main pinned in to try to reduce the flogging. The plotter gave us 2 and a half hours to run, so we steeled ourselves to be bashed about as the sea state was still rough to moderate.

DOLPHINS!!!!!!!!! for the whole of the 3 weeks we had hoped to see some of these wonderful animals, well 60 minutes out Fi shouted ‘Fin’ get the camera………… a large common dolphin was diving under the stern and popping out on the other side of the boat. By the time I had got the video camera out, sadly it/they had moved on, never mind they were there.  Mo and Liz in the Rassey were about an hour in front of us, as expected, we watched the furl their sails and disapear into the Dart, 50mins later we did the same. 

We’d made it, Rummy again had treated us well, she had dealt with the heavy seas and shifty winds. It was a good trip but very tiring due to the motion of the boat and sailing to windward is always a pain. We tied up onto the deepwater pontoon and got the taxi to Dartmouth for Chips and a beer. Tomorrow Dittisham.

Tim & Fi

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08/07/2009 by Fi.

Hi all, sorry the Blog hasn’t been updated recently, we have been doing touristy things. Anyway on with it.

We got up early to leave with the sill/tide at 0600 this morning…… well some of us did! Tim couldn’t get his head off the pillow too much bubbly last night.
The wind was still gusting 6’s so we decided to go later on the next high tide. So off we toddled on a 60p bus ticket to the other side of the island to see what the sea state looked like ‘Rather rough’ was the met office description……. no kidding! all we could see was white water to the horizon and being as we were to be heading directly into wind we have decided to leave on thursday morning as the wind is dropping to F4 overnight.
So it’ll be early to bed and up with the lark to head off to Dartmouth, ETA will be about 1900 for a deserved drink in the Dartmouth Arms.

Tim will upload some pictures tomorrow as the WiFi round here is pretty dire.

Blog soon………. Bon Voyage

Fi & Tim xx

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04/07/2009 by Tim.

Hi all

Sat in an internet cafe in St Peters Port so I have uploaded some of the full size pictures onto our Photobucket account if you want to have a look……..

Here http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s148/Nicebut61/RumRunner/RumRunner%20tour%2009/

Blog again soon.

T&F 

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03/07/2009 by Fi.

Hi All

Apologies for no photo’s again, the WiFi in the marina is a little weak!  If we have time we’ll go to the internet Cafe tomorrow to put some on.

The weather in St. Peters Port today is fantastic (after yesterdays storms), boiling hot but with a little breeze.  We’re doing the touristy bit for a few days and have been to Castle Cornet, which is a 2 minute walk from the marina - facinating history & a great place to visit if you’re ever in this neck of the woods (it’s an age thing, the youngsters wouldn’t understand!!),  then it was back to the boat for a late lunch then a stroll round the town.

You can only get into this marina a couple of hours either side of high tide as there is a sill that dries across the entrance…….. a bit scary as it only leaves 2m of water in the marina & our boat is not far off that.  the water is so clear you can see how close the rudder is to the bottom - it’s a bl**dy good job the keel is out of sight as there must only be inches to spare!!  As we speak, a yacht has just tried to enter on the ‘red’ light & came to an abrupt halt!  luckily it bounced back & she seems to be ok.

Tim’s slaving away in the galley, a very strong waft of garlic is floating up the companion way ………. then after dinner (as per usual) we’ll be off to the pub!

more updates soon

Fi & Tim
XX

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02/07/2009 by Tim.

Hi from St Peters Port, Guernsey.  We are becoming accustomed to this hue called Grey when we ’sail’…………

We left Cherbourg at 07.00 today in bright sunshine and a promising easterly breeze, we cleared the inner harbour into the military one then out to the west entrance past the breakwater into the Channel.  There the wind died and the visibility went to crap < 1nm……. and so it stayed this way.  So we plotted waypoints to give Cap de la Hague a 3 mile offing, set Rummy on track and watched the speed climb as the Alderney Race sucked us in!

I’m sure the Race can be  a beast but today with very little wind <6kn and neap tides it was a pussy cat apart from guess what………..FOG!  a real pea souper again! hoping to see the ‘Cap’ as we flew past no chance.  The vis dropped to a couple of hundred metres in places and that is the way it stayed until we cleared Alderny Is. We only know we had done that because it was behind us on radar!

Sark, Herm and various other landmarks slipped by our electronic world until we saw the sth cardinal off Herm and turned to St Peters……. we entered the harbour in perfct time to clear the sill and come alongside.

So ends another grey windless day……… oh and it rained, but at least we can breath now.

Add some pictures tomorrow.

Cheers

T&F

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01/07/2009 by Tim.

Hi all, sorry for the lack of Blog so far this week………. French internet! or lack of.To update then, we left Cowes early on Monday morning, much to Fi’s disgust again! With a following force 2-3 so out went the full Genoa and with the tide beneath us we shot through the Solent at 10 knots over ground and were spat out of the needles channel heading for Cherbourg.  The wind increased slightly and was now on the nose again! so we had to furl away the Genoa a tad but were making steady progress with some help from Rummie’s 18hp………The wind eased slightly so up went all the sails, yay we thought! Not for long as the sun came out and killed all the wind, just the occasional zephyr floated across the sea to fill the main. We closed toward the shipping lanes then………

FOG, a yacht which could hold more sail than us earlier on just disappeared into the gloom, visibility went from 5 miles to 500 metres or less.  We kitted RumRunner out with all the latest equipment so an went the Radar and out went the warning zones on the AIS……… who needs visibility with all this kit, after what seemed like hours we popped out of the fog on the edge of the W to E shipping lane, the vis was still poor, we could make out the ships we saw on radar at about 1mile, a few twitchy moments ensued as we jinked in behind these leviathans of the channel – god! Some of them are huge.  Same drill with the E-W lane and we were through, 4 hours later we spotted land and Fi & Rummy had done their 1^st X Channel voyage.

Well done to Fi and Rummy, the electronics had worked faultlessly we had had a superb crossing, with a bit of emotion in the middle but hey that’s sailing

.We are due to leave Cherbourg for St Peters Port Guernsey early Thursday morning to catch the Alderney race.  Next update from there as hopefully their Wi-Fi will work.

The photos seem to be affecting the Blog so I will make a page up on Photobucket for the pictures to be viewed in hi res and drop the link on the next one..

Cheers all

Blog soon

Tim & Fi

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