Restoring your vintage "ships" clock.

After repairing the detached mainspring on my clock I am restoring the case, after 6 years there were a few areas of corrosion starting to appear, and not being able to go sailing I thought I would fill in some time doing that and writing this post. 

A 3" 8 day clock, often more
suitable for small craft than a
6", Signed by Marpro but a
Smith's Calibre 51, 1960s?

Restoring or servicing the movement can be high risk for the layman, after retiring for the first time I got fed up with nothing to do and set up a business restoring and selling pocket watches, over about 7 years until I retired for a second time, I did over twelve hundred of them that paid for Sancerre and more. I also did marine clocks, they need different tools so I restricted myself to servicing and sorting the cases rather than mending them, but as people were not prepared to pay enough money to make marine clocks worthwhile I did not do many. I now have three full size ones and a smaller 3", two of them left over, two kept on purpose and you can probably guess which. I normally have one on the study / workshop wall and one on the boat. 

For anyone interested in pocket watches my blog of the time is still in existence here and includes pictures and descriptions of a lot of very interesting watches and some information on watch repairs and restoration, much of which is relevant to clocks (click on the faults and repairs tags) . There is also a story about what happened when I became watchmaker to Wonder Women, there was a follow up for the second film with some mods required but I only wrote that up on the Facebook page now deleted,

With the above in mind I'll mainly be saying what not to do with the movement and give more positive guidance on the case and glass. 

First the warnings:

• 

  The motion work of a centre
  seconds clock, the inside is more
  complicated. If you do take one
  to pieces take photos at every
  stage to help you when putting it
  back together.

  Do not mess with the hairspring or balance unless you know what you are doing, in which case there is not much point in reading this post! For some reason people seem to think that they can pull or tweak them, I scrapped dozens of pocket watches after people had done that. Adjusting hairsprings and the escapement is a skilled business, damage it and fixing it will likely cost much more than the clock is worth, if it is possible.
• Don't mess with the mainspring, if you take it out of the barrel you won't get it back in without the right tools (and if you did manage it there would probably be big isochronism (*) problems due to twisting of the spring), putting a new one is easier as they come pre-wound ready to slide in, but don't bank on being able to do it, take it to someone who does it for a living.
• If taking the movement to pieces ensure it is full wound down before doing so or you will cause significant damage, to be sure put the key on the arbor, hold it and the movement steady and release the "click" (ratchet) and let the rest of the tension off. Like many operations on watches and clocks you could do with three hands doing this.
• Some more modern marine clocks are plated, abrasives may remove the brass.
• If removing the hands take care, the hour & seconds hands, and perhaps the minute hand are a friction fit, levering against the dial is liable to damage the dial. Ideally use a clock makers removable tool or at least use something to protect the dial. When replacing hands, especially the seconds hand do not push it too far on, that can cause friction and stop the clock or make it run short and / or keep bad time. Counter intuitively an escapement that is underpowered, perhaps due to excessive friction in the movement, often runs fast, this is because the balance develops a very shallow and therefore fast action.
• Repainted hands may look worse than worn but clean ones, the exception might be ones that have badly rusted, in that case remove the rust before making a decision, blueing or blacking (in oil) would be preferable to paint. The exception is the big, usually red, seconds hand on a centre seconds clock, most I have come across have been in poor condition but come up well with red enamel, remove all rust before painting.
• Do not use clock oil on the escapement (The balance (requires it to be removed so not recommended), lever & escape wheel pivots plus the pallet jewels), a platform escapement is about the same size as a pocket watch escapement and needs a light watch oil, a thicker one will likely gum it up. A light clock oil or a heavier watch oil will be OK on the movement pivots.
• On no account spray a movement with WD40 or similar, I have seen that a number of times on pocket watches. It may work in the short term but it will soon cause problems and the residue is difficult to get off unless you have an ultrasonic cleaner. If you have one that it has been done to it will need taking to pieces (except the mainspring barrel) and everything, including the hair spring, needs to be cleaned with a suitable solvent, preferably in an ultrasonic cleaner.
• Do not over oil anything, it will cause as many problems, if not more, than under oiling. Only a small drop is required on pivots. and perhaps a couple of drops of heavier oil into the barrel for the spring but it the clock is running OK leave the mainspring alone.
• If someone tells you a non running clock is over wound don't listen to them, they don't know what they are talking about. If you over wind a watch or clock the spring, or possibly the "click", breaks and its pretty obviously not wound.
• Don't try and clean the dial unless you are sure it is cleanable, many have ink printed numbers etc., often on paper or paint and one can run into the other, any attempt to clean one of these is likely to be disastrous and will require it to be replaced, also names may be transfer printed and come off with the slightest touch. I bought in a nice Kelvin Hughes clock where someone had tried to clean the dial, it looks good with the modern replacement dial but it would probably looked better with a slightly mucky original, just harder to sell. Replacement pre printed dials are readily available for £4-£5 but you will have to cut out the holes for everything apart from the centre one.

My Kelvin Hughes 6" clock, the replacement dial I fitted makes it
nice and easy to read but an original would probably look better
if in reasonable condition. The 8 day centre seconds movement
was probably Coventry made for Hughes in the 1950s.

Another centre seconds marine clock, this a 7" in a painted steel
and brass case. It had a replacement dial when I acquired it, the
"Astral" movement is from the Williamson factory in Coventry, part
of Smiths from 1934. Date unknown, but probably early 20th century,
Williamson also made a lot of pocket watches after acquiring
the business of CH Errington in 1895 and started to use the name
Astral, on pocket watches in about 1907.

My 90 year old 6" dial - crazed, dirty but usable with more character
than a new plastic dial. Unlike many, the movement runs for 15 days
rather than 8, time keeping suffers on the 15th day (it is in any case
normal to wind every 2 weeks, the extra day is a "spare") and probably
briefly when fully wound due to poor isochronism(*) in an old clock, a
new mainspring would help that but it is not worth the effort.  

The clock is from the mid 1930's. The escapement is signed by  "The All
British Escapement Company" that started production in 1931/2  and it is
before 1939 / 40 as it is signed by a chandler in Rotterdam and by post
war the escapement company had changed it's name.

Mercer signed as maker, they were and are, a premier maker of marine
chronometers, but they almost certainly bought this movement in.

(*) Isochronism: In this context the ability of a clock to keep time independent of how close to fully wound it is, there are several ways of controlling it covered on my watch blog here.

Regulating the clock

I have the kit to do this electronically using a computer, without that you will need to run it for 24 hours (perhaps less for the first few runs), note the loss or gain, make an adjustment noting how much you moved it, if lucky there may be a scale. Run for the same length of time, note the error, adjust, note and repeat until it is acceptable. Make the first adjustment(s) fairly significant, if you are lucky it will change from running fast to slow or vice verse you can then estimate how much to move the adjuster back.

Ensure the clock it vertical whilst you do this, it the escapement has a positional error (keeping time differently in different positions), you will be wasting your time doing it face up. Positional errors are not a significant issue with a clock so unlike a watch they would not normally be adjusted for it as it takes time, even with analogue or digital timing machines. Wind it well before each run but try and stop just before it is fully wound, you don't want errors due to isochronism errors.

My Mercer after restoration but with an old main spring will be within a minute or perhaps two after 10 - 14 days, it sometime has a rough time on the bulkhead of Sancerre.

The platform escapement on my Mercer. There are two speed
adjustments, course / initial adjustment is made moving the small
leaver, right of the centre of the balance and fine adjustment using the
leaver going through the dial, set centrally when making the course
adjustment.

Visible centre bottom is a screw that adjusts the end float on the
seconds wheel, if too tight it will create too much friction and could
stop the movement or cause bad time keeping, if too slack time keeping
might be a bit variable. If very slack it could disconnect the escapement
with dire results for the mainspring and perhaps other parts, as the
movement unwinds at great speed. If you take the movement apart,
tighten this screw for minimal float before winding and only slacken
if necessary.

The Glass.

If it is mineral glass and in acceptable condition leave well alone, minor marks can be removed using CeriGlass or similar, you won't be able to properly clean / polish the inside of the bezel but taking it out is a risk. If it is plastic / acrylic it may come out easily which will make cleaning easier. If very old plastic it may have turned yellow, in which case replace it.

I would advise not trying to replace with a mineral glass, they are supplied "rough edged", smoothing that and shaping it to fit the average marine clock bezel is a non trivial job.

A new acrylic glass is readily available and costs about £9, is easy to fit and won't break if it comes out, but they do scratch much more easily than glass. To fit, clean out the old glue, mastic or whatever from the bezel, a graver works well, but whatever you use be careful not to slip and scratch the bezel. Fit using a thick weak glue, a strong glue such as an epoxy may cause major problems when it needs replacing again and a thin glue may not work on the rough surface of the bezel. There are specialist glues that are UV activated requiring a UV lamp, but G-S Hypo was designed for the job, is cheap and easy to use, just follow the instructions and do not skimp on it.  

Cleaning a brass case.

Warning, this can be a long job! Consider removing the glass (see above) and the bezel from the case, both make life easier but is not essential.

Remove the movement, usually just four screws, and put in a safe place.

Remove the old lacquer, this is best done with multiple applications of paint stripper, it will save a lot of rubbing. Wire wool will help get partially detached or softened lacquer off whilst rinsing the paint stripper off.

Warning: paint stripper and solvents could interact with the adhesive holding the glass in, so handle with care. Also check that they are OK with plastic, if not remove plastic glasses.

Now for the tedious bit, rubbing down. As ever it is a case of starting with a relatively course abrasive moving towards finer. A 240 grit is probably as course as you want to start with, wet and dry will work but I prefer the "Garryflex" flexible block I used on pocket watch cases, but be warned it sheds "grit" so do the work over an easily cleaned surface or paper.

Scratch pens.

For odd corners and areas of corrosion a fibreglass "scratch pen" will probably be needed.

Wire wool is also useful in odd corners and is my final step in cleaning the case.

Now you need to think about the type of finished you prefer, if a "brushed" finish then keep on with wire wool, if smooth then switch to Brasso, I prefer the liquid. Jewellers rouge is an alternate but it is so messy I gave up on that years ago.

Ready for polishing.

Now is a crucial step; degreasing. If this is not done properly the lacquer will not be fully effective and you will be doing it all again very shortly. Best is Acetone but others will do, perhaps white spirit or methylated spirit, the latter is often the cleaner of choice for lacquer brushes so should be a good alternate. Don't skimp or hurry this! From this point on wear clean gloves to handle the case until the last coat of lacquer has dried..

Now more decisions are required, what lacquer and what colour? I can't give comparative advice on the brand as I have only used Horolacq. I prefer clear lacquer for the light brass colour, also available are red and gold colours that may help in covering blemishes, some are so dark and red the case ends up looking more like copper than brass, your choice.

Some people recommend warming the case is an electric oven (which helps dry it) and applying lacquer whilst it is still warm as used to be required for some lacquers. I have not tried this and the instructions with the horological "cold" lacquer I use does not mention this option.

Apply multiple coats of lacquer, I suggest at least four, and preferably six, salt air is a very hostile environment so the more the better to ensure there are no pin holes or thin areas. If damp gets in through one pin hole in the lacquer in time corrosion will spread under the good lacquer, pushing it off increasing the rate of spread.

As with varnish and paints more thin layers are generally better than fewer thick ones and make sure the previous coat is fully dry before overcoating, so it is going to take the best part of a week.

With all that work plus the service and parts you can probably see why I gave up on buying them in essentially unknown condition at £100 - £150 when there was no ready market for them at £200 - £250 with a years guarantee.

 

Pictures of the finished clock will follow in a week or three.

Steel Cases

Some marine clocks have a painted steel case with a brass bezel and base. Treat as above through to degreasing then use a good gloss enamel on the steel part, Hammerite liquid paint will do the job, I have not tried the spray.

 

My 7" centre seconds clock in a steel and brass case, restored
some years ago with multiple coats of Hammerite gloss black
on the steel body.

For replacement parts, tools and consumables in UK Google Cousins and / or Walsh, at least the former requires you to register as a trade customer so that the distance selling regulations don't apply. A lot of the stuff you find on eBay are sourced from one of these and sold at a mark up.

Sancerre's new home - Milford Marina.

Since leaving Sancerre at Milford Marina last month I have secured a permanent berth there. It is a 4 hour drive from home vs an hour and three-quarters to the Hamble, but she will now be on a well sheltered pontoon, some time ashore is included and it is nearer my preferred cruising ground in Scotland and Ireland. 

And overall it is substantially cheaper! 

It is a snug fit but I was able to jump the waiting list as more
modern boats are too fat to get in.

It is an old ship dock and the high wall provides good shelter.
It is behind a lock so no swell or waves get in from the Haven.

Milford Haven anchorages and marinas

My review of anchorages and marinas around UK has been updated to July 2024.

Anchorages and Marinas covered as at July 2024

Sancerre in the anchorage at The Holy Island of
Lindisfarne, 2021, the Farne Islands and Bamburgh
Castle in the distance.  A trip line is required in
this anchorage, to see why click here.

My review of anchorages and marinas around UK has been updated with those visited through July 2024, at that point I had been to 155 different ones since getting Sancerre, almost all have at least some comments. The pages were getting over long so there are now 11 of them. 

I now include:

• Harbours and Marinas.
• Some info on fuel & gas availability but I would not have checked at many locations. 
• Cell coverage, Vodafone and O2, for those I have visited recently.

Be sure to check out Reeds  and / or the appropriate pilots for more detailed information and alternates, this is just an overview of likely candidates, but I have been to all of them over the last few years. Some notes on passage making using some of these can be found here:  "Planning a round GB trip" , a list of charts and Pilots I have used round GB can be found here: "Charts and Guides for a round GB trip"

Further updated during a boring winter 2023/4 to include some information on access to and from marinas. Done from notes but largely from memory but fortunately that is good for this sort of thing, I just wish that I always knew why I went into a room or opened a browser page 😕. See my page Marina & mooring notes (opens in a new window) for some general tips, definitions and the context (handling of my boat) in which I comment.

From 2024 I am adding videos of anchorages when weather, daylight and time permit.

Village Bay Anchorage, St Kilda

Hunda Sound anchorage looking towards Scapa Flow, Orkney at 03:30.

Note that these "Pages" do not show up under "Post Labels" (right). There will normally be more photos of each anchorage on the linked post and sometimes subsequent ones (I normally only "tag" the first post in a sequence) the associated slide show, or by clicking on the Post Label right:

• The Solent.
• The Needles to Plymouth.
• Fowey to Lands End.
• Lands End north to Anglesey
• The Isles of Scilly and SE Ireland from Baltimore to Carnsore Point 
• The East Coast of Ireland from Carnsore Pt to Red Bay.
• Mull of Galloway to Ardnamurchan Point.
• Ardnamurchan Point to Loch Ewe.
• The Western Isles.
• Loch Ewe to Orkney.
• Duncansby Head to The Solent.

The anchorage at Canna, the Small Isles, on route from
Tobermory to S. Uist, 2022. The Isle of Rum in the distance.

2024 Spring / summer (what summer?) cruise stats and issues.

A very poor trip that also left me much poorer, due to the weather, failure of equipment less than 7 years old and early abandonment due to a family emergency, again.

• 93 days to abandonment at Milford Haven.
• 429 hours at sea.
• 1,975 nautical (2,273 statute) miles over the ground for a running total on Sancerre of 15,735 NM (18,111 statute).
• 49 days sailing / motoring (ignoring moving a short distance to/from a berth / anchorage).
• 51 place visits (duplicate visits counted each time).
• 17 anchorages / marinas visited for the first time.
• 34 days weather bound.
• 50 nights at anchor, 39 in a marina or paid for buoy (excluding time at Milford Marina where I left the boat there to go home).

High Lights

• The sail from the Runnel Stone (S of Land's End) to Milford Haven.
• Skara Brae.
• Through the Sound of Luing, both ways even though they were under engine

Weather:

I spent 34 days (37% of the total) weather bound and through force of circumstances the majority were in expensive marinas such as Portland, rather than at anchor. The ratio was only made semi respectable because from Stromness to Milford I only had three nights in Ardglass marina (2 weather bound) and one at Tobermory, all the other nights being on the hook or at sea.

I also used more than twice as much diesel as expected due to motoring through lack of wind on the way north and 29 hours under engine in the rush to get to Milford and home.

With all the delays and no sign of improvement I gave up on Shetland before making a quick return from Orkney down the west coast, that was a good decision, if I had gone down the east coast I would have been stuck in marinas for quite a few more days and used more for overnight stays as the anchorages would have been unusable due to the wind direction.

Equipment:

Both the anchor windlass and the plotter failed in the first few days, both were installed new in 2017.

I had a new motor delivered to the RAFYC, easily removed the entire unit from the deck - something that had been worrying me due to the thickness of the mounting platform I had built, but I had done a good job and the bolts came out easily.

The offending windlass came out easily
then the problems started.

I then tried to split the gearbox casing to remove the old motor but one of the three bolts was stuck due to corrosion between the stainless bolt and the alloy core of the casing (which is sheathed in stainless), eventually I got it off but cutting off the head and filing the casing and bolt down 3 - 4 mm, it then cam apart easily. Unfortunately the three countersunk cross head machine screws holding the motor to the casing were also corroded to the case and they were immovable so I had to buy a new windlass, 8 months after the 6 year warranty had ended.

So I ended up spending £600 for the new unit plus £100 for the new motor that I could not fit, hopefully I will get some of that back selling the motor and new parts not required on eBay. 

The plotter failed whilst I was in Portland and was over £1k to replace, but I did get a 9" rather than 7" (the hole was too big for the new 7" to fit into) that now fits on the back of the cabin, the previous version was bigger and would not. I may be able to repair the old one with parts from the US but it is unlikely to be worth the effort as the obsolete 7" would probably not fetch much more than the cost of the repair, if I can fool it to start up without the card reader and can find the bail to mount it, it may be possible to use it as an instrument display but I'm not sure where it would go, perhaps replacing the monochrome GNX 20 display? 

The REALLY annoying thing was that a week after purchase Garmin launched a big discount sale and I could have saved over £300.

The new Garmin 923, without a powered jig saw several hours work
was needed to enlarge the hole and mount it. The SD cards are now on
the back  of the unit, the screen now going almost to the edges, and
are not easily accessible so I may fit the the optional remote reader.

On the plus side, the new one is much easier to read and the App that maintains the software and charts recognised my charts as being 2 years out of date and gave me a free update to the 2024 version, I suspect that is because when you purchase charts on a card with the plotter (rather than downloaded separately) you get one free upgrade to the current version and the software probably thought the charts came with the plotter. Now that I have a compatible plotter I could upgrade to the charts incorporating Navionics features but I doubt that I will as the version does everything I need, the upgrades are not cheap and although I will not use much of the area my current chart covers the Western Mediterranean, the Atlantic seaboard from Belgium to Africa at 26 degrees N, the Canaries, Azores, etc. The new UK chart covers just UK & Ireland and several others might be required.

The 722 as an instrument display, there are lots of options
with everything on the NMEA network displayable one way
or another. Screen shot in Portland, just before it failed,
during the second named storm to delay me, it peaked
with gusts of 56 knots recorded at the breakwater.

I also had several other problems, mainly resolved before I left Hamble for the second time, fortunately from then on I had no gear failures.

• On the last delivery trip to the boat, I tried to wind the rather nice 15 day vintage marine clock I had restored, signed by Mercer a premium chronometer maker with an escapement by  the "All British Escapement Co" c 1935 and the mainspring broke or became detached from the arbor or barrel. Fortunately I had a centre seconds 8 day clock by Kelvin Hughes on my study wall so I lugged that down with me on the train so as to have the space on the bulk head filled and because I use the clock a lot as it is easily visible from the cockpit and from the bunk. Update: the mainspring was detached from the arbor, hopefully now fixed in less than an hour, but now it is home it will get a clean, regulated after the disturbance and the case stripped, polished and re-lacquered, so it will probably go back on the boat for next season. 

The replacement clock, nice and easy to read but I had to replace the
dial when I restored it, the original was printed and someone had
wrecked it trying to clean it. The barometer on the right is by
Broadhurst Clarkson from the inter war years, also restored.

• When I switched on the instruments to leave Hamble, the wind instruments were not working, they had been a week before. I was not totally surprised as the seriously expensive plug and socket at the mast had given trouble a year before not liking the thin cable and very thin wires. After the first failure I had hard wired it but the water had got through. It could not be hardwired again as the short piece of cable from a connecter block under the head lining to the old socket was too short, but I had come prepared with a different make of plug and socket and a length of the correct cable to replace the gash bit that had been left on the boat when the previous owner had installed a radio linked sensor (another long story, but I had replaced that in 2021 as it was useless). 
• Fixing the wind instruments disturbed other wiring and I had to go back and replace a broken jumper that provided the earth for many of the cabin lights.
• One non-slip "Treadmaster" pad disappeared from the deck in a storm the day before I left, yet to be replaced.
• The electric toilet pump packed in shortly before I left, replaced with a much better and far cheaper locking manual pump, now the bowl doesn't slowly fill to half full then slop all over the place in rough weather unless cling film is put over it. It also uses less water so does not fill the new holding tank as quickly.

2024 June 29th Days 92 and 93, A mad dash to Milford Haven. Part 2.

There are few pics due to the weather and night time. This post needs to be read after the last part of the post before last "It's like déjà vu all over again".

Approaching the West Codling buoy the wind rapidly increased from the SSW as I was headed SSE sails were not much use to me, the F4 wind against tide and light rain made it uncomfortable but reasonably quick and at one point there were over falls not noted on the (raster) charts. 

A large lorry ferry coming through the banks.

Some quite large ships pass through the banks, the one above was coming a bit too close so a 30 degree course change was required to avoid, then I was dodging a lot of pot buoys in the channel, each with a very long pick up waiting to catch the prop. 

Approximate track in the absence of
the real one, straight lines instead
of curves

A 40ft + catamaran with 4 or 5 men busy working pots also had to get out of the way of the above, but not out of my way, she drifted as they worked one string then moved at 8 knots to the next one making it difficult to gauge where we might meet and I ended up passing within 50 yards of her whilst she drifted.

The tide turned as I got to seaward of the main banks and even making 5 knots under engine and a day off a neap tide, I was moving more to the east than to the south (more so than in the indicative route shown here), at least that helped me clear an off lying shallow area known for over falls. 

Fortunately I was still in cell phone range at 11:30 when I got the news that my wife had broken her hip and would be operated on later that day or on Sunday.

As expected not a great deal of southern progress was made for 3 hours and not much more for the final 3 of the tide and I was more than 5 miles east of the rhumb line when the tide turned again to the south but that helped me get to my waypoint off "Bishop" without any significant change of course.

Meanwhile the wind was not cooperating and had been blowing F5 since late morning vs F3-4 in the forecast, by 16:15 the change to the northerly had not happened; then it veered 180 degrees in 10 or 15 minutes without dropping, a rare event. All through the trip Met Éireann and the UK Met office were playing catch up and largely understating wind strength, at one point they were forecasting an increase to F5 coming when I was in F5-6 and had been in F5 for half a day.

I set the headsail with one reef to reduce rolling vs the full sail, recalculated the route and timing and had a think. Under sail with a still dirty hull I would make about four knots through the water without pushing too hard, motor sailing I could make 5 - 5.5 knots, still well short of I would make with a clean hull but better than before the cleaning I did at Ardglass. 

At 5.5 - 6 knots there was a chance of getting past the "Bishop and Clerks" off of St David's Head just after slack water, coming north on a following spring tide I had made 10 knots over the ground along there, I did not want to be heading into 3 - 4 knots of tide but if I could get well across St Brides Bay before the stronger tide started I would then have to battle the tide into Milford Haven but that was more "doable" than getting past Bishop against a full tide and would get me to Dale for some sleep before getting to a marina.

Given the time pressure I opted for motor sailing and accepted the noise and vibration that results, so there would be no chance to take 20 minute naps and relying on regular visual checks plus AIS and radar alarms to avoid collision.

One of two serious alarms on AIS on the long leg, this one went
less than half a mile past my stern after I had made a significant
course change in poor visibility. 

I was now rushing south at 7 knots over the ground or better and it was looking good until about 20:00 when the wind dropped from F5-6 to F3 - 4, my speed dropped and I didn't make it. Typically the wind came back as I reached Bishop and I was very glad it was dark so I couldn't see how bad the sea was,  a F5 wind against a strong tide created what looked in the moonlight to be a scaled down version of the seas in a southern ocean storm, I had to slow the boat down and reduce rolling or there was a serious risk of a broach and a potential knock down. 

Under engine alone I was still surfing down waves at 6 - 7+ knots but making only 2 occasionally 3 over the ground. The autopilot did a great job driving me straight down the waves with only the occasional roll when an awkward wave hit on the quarter. I would have been very hard pressed to do that for four hours and would probably have streamed warps and waited for the tide to change.

Approximate and simplified track from Bishop to Milford in the
absence of the real one.

It was too dangerous to alter course and I was reconciled to continuing south well out of my way and getting close to Grassholm before the tide turned calming the sea, but fortunately the wind backed a little and the wave changed direction a little and I was able to almost follow my planned track reaching Skokholm as the tide turned. 

I then had an easy motor into Milford Haven except that I hit a big pot buoy off of St Anne's Head, the marker was being towed under by the tide and was completely invisible with sun behind it and barely visible down sun, when a cloud briefly put a shadow over the water, wake from them showed more pots ahead so I jinked a few hundred yards into the channel and made my way to the west of Stack Rock (S of Sandy Haven Bay) where I let the boat drift as I made phone calls to find a berth.

My luck was in and I got a berth at Milford Marina just half an hour away and the best place to be as it is sheltered and 10 minutes walk from the station. I went onto the outside waiting pontoon and opted to stay there until free flow through the lock, that was easier than locking through and saved the marina operating it. I spent the time checking out the marina and starting to tidy the boat.  Free flow started a few minutes late at 11:50 and I was on a berth shortly after.

I had got an update when I came within cell phone range, my wife was #1 on the list for Sunday having been bumped on Saturday, but whilst she was expected on the ward she had not arrived and I could not get through to the evaluation unit, so I had a brief snooze and when I woke up tried again, she had just arrived on the ward at 15:30 after a successful four hour operation.

137 miles in 29 hours from the Skerries to the Haven Marina waiting pontoon, 183 miles in 49 hours from Ardglass with 3.5 hours sleep.

The aftermath.

On Monday it was 6 hours on the train, then taxi home and car to the hospital after fixing her a dinner to take in. 

To add insult to injury, when on the following Thursday I took her home I got a puncture in a tyre only replaced last September after the previous one was trashed going to the same hospital after rushing back from Hope Cove when she had broken her other hip.

I have asked for the boat to stay in the water at Milford for a month (the same price as c 18 days on the daily rate) then be lifted out for 2 - 3 weeks by which time I should be able to go down for a few days at a time to do the anti-foul and touch up paintwork damaged by weed and a mooring buoy - hopefully I'll not need to do a complete repaint this year. 

Having looked at the rate card for Milford Marina, a year in the sheltered marina is £40 cheaper than my exposed trot mooring on the Hamble plus my yacht club membership required for dinghy storage and other facilities. Also time ashore and services such as lift outs are a lot cheaper - for example 4 weeks ashore during the winter would be half the price of doing it on the Hamble, a significant saving and the saving increases with more time. Even a simple lift, power wash and relaunch would save £260 vs the same at Deacon's and be only £90 more than drying out on the YC piles to DIY which in practical terms takes 3 days as I usually go into the dock before dawn and stay the night after.

It is a 4 hour drive vs 1.5 hours, I’d have to pay for accommodation when the boat was ashore and when the time comes it could probably be harder to sell the boat there (although there are a lot of Achilles owners in the area where they were built and many A24 owners move on to the A9m or A840). But I’m seriously thinking about moving the boat there in October and am waiting for details, T's & C's etc.. 

Click here for stats and issues during the cruise.

2024 June 29th Days 92 and 93, A mad dash to Milford Haven. Part 1 to Dublin and the options.

A lot more text than usual in this post, even with the trip split into 2 parts. Few pics due to the weather and night. Needs to be read after the previous post.

Timings are generally from memory, time stamps on emails etc., at the time of writing my navigation log is on the boat along with the Dongle security device for the navigation software and I didn't mess around downloading the log from the chart plotter before I left the boat.

I got about 3.5 hours sleep and was away before 04:00 on Saturday punching the tide under engine before the tide turned south as I rounded the outer island (St Patrick's, I wonder how many of them there are in Irish waters?), there was no wind and visibility was very poor, not what I was hoping for with loads of pot buoys to avoid. Fortunately it improved as I reached the biggest concentration. To be replaced with light rain and drizzle that would remain for most of the day. 😞 The end of June and I was in full winter gear from Dublin on, fleece lined trousers, wind proof fleece, duck down gilets, insulated boots and full waterproofs. Fortunately my French made fisherman's salopettes do keep me dry, unlike the high tech, expensive ones I have had previously.

Passing inside Lambay Island. The small rubber boat surprised
me, four big men aboard fishing at 05:36, before I reached for the
camera two of them were fishing standing up!

I was off Dublin Bay at 08:00 and there was no news from the hospital, when a friend finally got through at 09:00 there was still no definitive news, possibly another broken hip but the senior staff would be reviewing later in the morning, the junior doctors strike was slowing everything down.

Approximate track in the absence of the
actual one.

Now I was in a bit of a quandary, I was past the south end of Dublin Bay with a few hours of tide left, I could go into Sorrento Bay and wait for news and perhaps get some sleep and leave on the evening tide if necessary but that would be a bit of a cop out achieving little and wasting the last of this tide, also possibly a tide at the other end, more of which later.

I could go into the marina at Dun Laoghaire (Dublin Bay) or, if they had no space go back to Howth, both the marinas are a long way from the airport and in the EU, at best I would get home overnight on Saturday or early Sunday leaving the boat in a difficult and expensive location (Eire is expensive these days and these are premium sites). I decided that would not achieve much, if she was let out of hospital my sister would cover until I got home, if they kept her in they would be looking after her, although she would not like the food - The Horton in Banbury has excellent people and facilities but poor food and rubbish parking, they also happen to be the go to place for hip surgery. 

So I decided to press on, but which way? Going along the Irish coast would not achieve a great deal and if the then current forecast was right (it wasn't) I could get stuck further down with few options for a safe haven or even somewhere to anchor. 

Newlyn was tempting but its was an awful long way, they have few spaces in the marina and it would take longer.

So it had to be Wales, Fishguard was ruled out despite a good rail link (but a long ride home) because there is no marina and it is exposed to the northerly winds forecast, Holyhead might be quicker by sea but the marina got trashed a few years ago, is in a sad state, it would be a very long train ride and I have never been there or through some tricky waters off Anglesey. Pwllheli seemed no better. So Milford Haven was the place to go, there are two marinas although they can get full, several places where a buoy can be rented also I have a few contacts in the area who might find me somewhere if all else failed, hopefully short of leaving the boat at anchor which would cause all sorts of problems, not least where to leave the dinghy.

I already had a route planned for Sorrento Bay to Milford for the following day so it was a quick redo for a different start point and time whilst I continued south, still under engine, heading for the passage through the offshore banks between Codling Bank and India Bank, a route I have taken several times before; following a trodden path is always a good idea if you are tired or under stress.

The  weather chart down loads at 08:30 were in general agreement and different from the previous evening but it was a difficult situation for forecasters and computers with a shallow low over Ireland moving east and dissipating, timing was always going to be an issue but I was a little surprised as to the error in wind strength that was to follow. 

Essentially the wind should fill in from the SW, back to the S then quickly veer to the N or NW. Looking at the domestic forecasts from the UK Met office for various places along the Irish coast plus the ECMWF and UK Metoffice hi-res models the change to NW or N should happen about 14:30 and be F3-4. Very good news as, pushing just a bit, with that I could fly the spinnaker and make good time under sail and be comfortable. Alas that was not to be, although I was to make even better time, although not quite enough to make a big difference.

Click here for part 2.