Tips for making KTL work properly are at the end of the about page
July 21 2010
The slug is now at Wainfleet - the journey round was hugeley entertaining - and there are some vlogs on the youtube space - keepturningleft . On the 44 mile journey from Great yarmouth to Blakeney I managed to get some polypropylene line from some fishing geat around the prop and the slug started taking in water at the rate of about five gallons an hour.
Gloom and despondency for a while because I did not know what was causing the problem - but everything seems to be back in business. Wainfleet is a drying creek up the back of Skegness. Its a brilliant place and the other sailors moored there are wonderful people. Very helpful, a great sense of community. Adventurous sorts - no marina lubbers there. When I arrived two blokes had just returned from a circumnavigation of the UK and aother member had just come back from Holland. Great stuff lads.
My plan is to spend the summer and winter around the Wash. The birds are the best in the UK and there is also a huge amount of military infrastructure to explore - take a look at google earth around the edge of the Wash, There are some really weird shapes and causeways in the mud. I can also strike inland across the fens from there - so that will provide me with penty of entertainment through the winter.
I have now had 350 takers on the website - thanks for that chaps - I promise to waste every penny of it on sailing. The slug has an impressive list of things that need fixing - stern tube, roller reefing, genoa, electrics, pullpit.
But the main thing is that I am having a great time - its been a brilliant summer so far. Lots more to come.
Dylan
June 17 2010
The Boat is fixed - just a smidge under £500 and she is now on Womack water on the Broads. Jill and I spent a wonderful couple of days in Southwold waiting for the wind to ease up. We took the bikes and cycled around the perfect Suffolk countryside.
The coast is fascinating - having retreated a mile since Roman times. Dunwich - which was apparently th third largest town in Britain - disappeared under the North Sea. Its a serious business this long shore drift.
Then when the wind settled down and it stopped raining Jill and I took the boat around to the Broads - just a short hop along the coast and in through Lowestoft harbour. . The license for a week on the Broads for an 18 foot boat is £30. That seems like a lot of money until you get onto the Broads and see how much work it takes to keep earth banks between the sea and the land.
We took the boat all the way up to Beccles - great little town - and spent a sublime evening tied up in the reeds and listening to the warblers. We also stopped off at Blythe Castle - an old Roman cavalry fort.
A trip down Beydon water - where the mobos are allowed to rip - swines - and into Great yarmouth. Then up to the North Broads. Well worth taking a look at Google Earth to see exactly what a great sailing place the Broads are. There are also a few clips on youtube which I will upload to here asap.
Then we took the slug up to Horning to film the start of the three Rivers Race. Its a truly astonishing event where 170 broads boats race up three rivers in whichever order they like. The starts are held on a river that is about 50 yards wide - up to 20 boats for each start. The sailing is skilled and courteous. Gentle bumping of boats on the crowded start line is tolerated - no calling for 720 penalty turns. The boats have 24 hours to get around the course - some don't make it but most end up doing some night sailing. Breakfast is a long and massive affair.
Getting back from Womack water to the car at Southwold involved a whole day and three different bus rides.
The boat sat on Womack water for a week and then I went back alone and bought another £30 license and took the boat up to Hickling and Barton Broad. Both great places to sail.
While at Hickling I came across the gentlemen of the Lady Yacht Club. They meet several times a year and hold the most civilised and gentlemanly races I have ever watched - all carried out in traditional wooden Broads boats. The races are a sort of round robin - the points go with the helmsmen - other helms not racing volunteer as crew. They drink tea and moderate quantities of beer between each race. Joining is by invitation only. You have to be the right sort of chap.
No women.
The next time I go down to the boat I will be taking it around to the Wash.
I am ashamed of the size of the gap between the sailing and the films that is appearing - but that is a good thing. It means that I have had lots of good work.
Cheers
Dylan
250 takers for the website so far
May 20 2010
The Slug is currently stuck in Southwold.
After a simple trip around from the Alde - about 15 miles or so - I came into Southwold motoring gamely against the three or four knotsof tide. The Beast shoves us along at a a top speed of 4.5 knots so it was a rather stately entrance to Southwold.
It is the most amazing place - great boats - astonishing architecture. The first night I dropped the mast and took the slug up under the footbridge to the Blythe Estuary. You can really see how man is throwing in the towell when it comes to defending the estauries. Broken down sea-walls everywhere. So the birds are really benefitiing from the fractured terrain.
I got to the top of the navigation at Blytheborough, but while turning the boat around the prop hit something in the mud. Buried treasure or a supermarket trolly - most likely the former. It made a pleaseant tinking sound.
Then the engine stopped talking to the prop shaft. I looked through the hatch and could see that although the engine was turning the prop shaft wasn't. I drifted back down with the tide to the Southwold Harbour and then spent a day with my head buried down the access hatch. The prop turned freely by hand - the engine turned but the two were not as one.
I dumped the boat, came home, conulted the experts on the PBO section at YBW and found out that the most likely cause was the disintegtration of the key inside a keyway between the shaft and the engine coupling.
Bumma.
I went back on Tuesday and spent another 24 hours doing keyhole surgery down the hatch. The repair is beyond my abilities so the slug is coming out of the water today and I fear it will be needing a new drive shaft - and possibly a new coupling. Rory, the 70 year old mechanic at Harbour Marine has a most re-assuring air and I am confident that the the boat will be back running fairly soon. This is the first big repair job I have bumped into during the journey so far.On a 45 year old boat over two years of some pretty rough abuse then I have to count myself lucky.
So with any luck mid-week next week I should be ready to move around to Lowestoft and spend a few days exploring the Broads. At summer half term! More mobos than you can shake a stick at... but I now know that the way to deal with the broads is to sail early and late and tie up somewhere quiet during the main part of the day.
Dylan.winter@virgin.net
May 17 2010
The Orwell. Sorry for the sentimental tone of this one - but it was here that I really learned to sail and also the place where I went to school.
It was odd returning to the river after all these years . I had not really managed to summon up the courage to revisit the place until now. I had always promised myself that I would sail up the river in my own boat. In my minds eye it would have been a much bigger and prettier boat than I own now.... but a boat is a boat... and the one you can afford now is better than the one you are still saving up for.
The River has really changed - more moorings - marinas - its now a very busy place. Plenty of commercial traffic too - which I think really improves a river. Makes it feel so much more real.
As per usual - any feedback gratefully received
Dylan.winter@virgin.net
dylan winter keep turning left sailing yachts essex yacht charter dighy seals wildife