Juggler's Logbook

"Oh for a hotel bed that doesn't rock and roll..."

"Juggler" is a Halcyon 23 sailing boat. The following is a logbook of her summer cruise from Bristol to somewhere West.

The log is currently (August, 2000) updated daily using a Psion series 5 handheld computer and an Ericsson SH888 mobile phone which has an infra-red modem.

I eventually spotted the blond heads of Jo, Steve, Becky and Camilla. I phoned Jo to tell her where I was (oh, the wonders of mobile phones) she spotted me and waved across the boats. We greeted and exchanged gifts, a star shaped crystal to catch the sunlight and refract it into rainbows for Juggler, two Beanies, an orange squid and a green conger eel, for Becky and Camilla. a brass dolphin for Jo and Steve. The Dolphin is one of a pair I bought in a charity shop in Ilfracombe one of which I have kept as an ornament on Juggler. I would like to mount it on the bow, but there is little space for ornament aboard a 23 foot sailing cruiser. The bow needs to be kept clear for anchor an mooring line usage. The dolphins both look friendly and graceful, they add to my life, so I shall find a place somewhere inside or out. it is romantic to remember that my dolphin is one of a pair, the other of which is with my sister's family home. I saw a dolphin off the Gower Peninsula and Jo and family saw dolphins in Fowey Estuary.

I found an internet facility in ilfracombe today, like a cyber cafe' but not commercial. Rates are reasonable at £3 an hour for web use, they had some stock photographs of local scenes, so I grabbed a few and will attempt to place one here. The images are nice and cheesy and very un-yachty, so that is an antdote to my tendency to overdramatize events!

Sailing and cooking is extremely difficult. A combination of heeling over at 20° or more, lifting and falling over waves, and, wearing lifejacket, safety harness, and sailing jacket makes a sandwich in the cockpit the usual choice. I could "heave too" a way of stopping the boat while maintaining the damping effect of the sails on the waves, but passages are rarely in the bag until finished so stopping for half an hour to cook is unappealing. Probably on a journey lasting several days the relatively minute amount of time spent cooking would be worth spending heaved too. This indicates some of my uneasiness with cruising, based on the feeling that I cannot lose any time because I cannot regain it later. A 4 horse power outboard engine may be cheap to maintain but it gives little joy in use!

Sunday night, after heavy rain all day, I lit a charcoal fire to dry the boat out. It was wonderful to have such a powerful heat source which dries in a way a fan heater never could. Charcoal has an unpleasant smell, though, I think it was that which made me sick back at Flat Holm. I love the smell of wood smoke and rather miss having a burner which will consume anything, as on Mistral. Mistral has a Torgem, a multi-fuel stove big enough to take blocks of hardwood with a flue diameter of five and a half inches. The stove on Juggler is a Nelson, from a manufacturer in Skegness, who designed it to be as seaworthy as possible. The flue is just 42 mm diameter and consequently wood will choke itself out whereas charcoal seems ideally suited. I have tried using smokeless Anthracite, but there seems to be insufficient draft to keep it burning for long. I suspect that the flue, at just under 1 metre in total length from stove to top, is a little short preventing a good draft being created.
I shall experiment with a longer flue pipe, but while sailing a short one is most useful. Charcoal is very light to carry and will give a good heat for hours. I have yet to use it on a night sail, one of my fantasies when deciding to install a solid fuel stove aboard Juggler! Charcoal smokes heavily for half an hour after it is ignited. This could necessitate a course change in certain winds or risk smoke/sea sickness.

Ilfracombe is not a completely calm place to moor. Any South Westerly around to North Easterly winds send in a surge to both the inner and outer harbours. This means constant movement which is wearing on the mind in a way that only someone who has experienced it can know! From the pier the boats look calm and pretty with the slight rolling and rocking movements appearing, well, charming and relaxing. From within the cabin though, the view outside is forever heaving up and down and ones internal organs are in motion. The feeling this produces makes me quite envious of people on holiday with cars and sleeping in nice solid hotels. "Oh for a hotel bed that doesn't rock and roll...". No, only joking!!!

I have a plan to make for Milford Haven tomorrow morning at 0500 hrs (Tuesday the 15th August(. It is a slightly daunting passage in the open sea at around 50 miles. The refuges en route are nil, apart from Lundy Island, which is a formidable lump of granite accompanied by Puffins. The Puffins do sound wonderful and reaching Milford Haven has become an ideal position too attain.
From there I can take a train to Ilkley next week while juggler is moored securely in a marina. Also there are numerous rivers and bays to explore all within the relative shelter of the extensive Cleddau Estuary, which stretches ten miles inland. I would feel that I had made sufficient distance away from Bristol to be really pleased with myself, at the same time I would not be giving myself any extreme challenges on the way back in September. 100 miles is a fair way but done in day sails is easy to whittle down. The 50 miles from Ilfracombe to Milford Haven is proving hard to embark on, psychologically it is beyond my comfortable passage length of 25 miles although I have many times sailed 50 miles in one leg. I have sailed 100 miles in one leg from Dover to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. The difference there was a fair wind, right behind and a lovely consistent force 4 to 5. When the wind is behind the boat, the boats speed reduces the wind's strength and the waves are rolling along with the boat, which can be most pleasant.
The weather forecast for sea area Lundy is for West, backing South-West, force 4 or 5, occasionally 6 at first.
The force 6 would be too strong but "at first" means it is unlikely to blow force 6 by tomorrow morning. A "backing" wind is one which moves, in direction, anti-clockwise around the compass rose, in this case coming from the West and then coming from the South-West.
A South-Westerly 4 or 5 is a good wind for a fast passage. Force 4 is enough to keep a flag flying and force 5 is enough to make it crackle. Juggler needs a reefed main and foresail in force 5 otherwise it takes all my effort to keep the tiller under control. With reefed sails, though, she sits mostly upright and stomps along surrounded by froth and bubbles. Ilfracombe to Milford Haven requires a North-Westerly course. The South-Westerly wind would enable a close reach to be sailed. Close reaching is sailing at the point at which the wind is coming towards the boat from a point forward of the beam, it is in between "close-hauled" (everything hauled in tight to make towards the wind) and a "beam reach (the fastest point of sail, with the wind coming from the side and the sails half way out). Close reaching is a relatively relaxing way to sail, however, with tide effects and wind shifts it often turns into a close hauled sail. I'm a sailor who is only really happy when the wind is right behind me and the boat rolls onward unambiguously. Of course what is really pleasant about a "run" (sailing with the wind behind) is that tides can be fought against fairly and squarely. If the tide is going the same way too then we get the unusual feeling of "love of sailing" where progress is real and anxiety is for worriers.

I really do not feel the enthusiasm for a long trip tomorrow, I just want to be in Milford Haven. I shall publish this on the web now and sleep on it. I have set my alarm for 0440 hrs to allow myself the choice of an early start. I have fuel, food, water, battery power, charts, pilots, a yellow sailing jacket (!) and an early night last night. So we will see...
Oh, but I haven't yet paid my harbour dues (around £20 for 4 nights), I can send a cheque later. That is what I did in 1997 when I came here on Juggler, I sent the cheque after I had arrived in Bristol. I'm glad I did, now, it means I can "look the harbour master in the eye" and know I'm not a laggard! On the contrary, I'm a home in time for tea type sailor me, just like all the rest of them.