Iridium Go Satellite coms installed

Iridium Go Satellite coms installed and its getting a bit crowded on the chart table, even without the lap top.

Rain and Spray protection.

Hopefully this will keep at least some of the rain that gets past the hood out of the boat and off of the chart table. The curtain can be either side or both as shown. The overlapping acrylic strips are hung individually so in most conditions only 2 or 3 need to be in place.

The lot can be put up or taken down in 2 - 3 minutes. The galley is on the wet side for easy access, there is also a seat that fits in the hatch way so I can sit in comfort under the spray hood to see what is going on.

Originally posted on the Achilles flickr site.

Gantry, additional Solar panel and Wind generator.

With the wind generator and a total of 145 Watts of solar (115W rotatable fore and aft to about 70 degrees) I will hopefully not need to run the engine or go into a marina to recharge the domestic batteries.

Originally posted on the Achilles flickr site.

The revamped forepeak

Trial fit of Sancerre’s reworked forepeak. 

Removing the bunk cushions (5” thick and always damp in season from wet sails being stored on them) gives a significant increase in storage capacity up front, the large spinnaker now being able to fit under the chain locker, the wide angle lense makes it look deeper but shorter than it is.

It also gives access to the three lockers without having to remove one or both cushions  which was not really practical at sea.

The cushions can be replaced but there would be a lot of bolts to remove!

The end result except for a few more tie downs added later.

Spinnaker, cruising chute, storm jin and the 2.7m dinghy and more in
the revised forepeak, there would normally also be an electric cool
box in the space on the right. These days I usually store the dinghy
on the cabin roof for easier access, although it will go through the
hatch it is hard work.

The Sancerre Blog

I started the blog as a place holder for tracking and communications, but now post about my trips instead of writing them up in the log. 



Sancerre - Achilles 9 metre No 21 (1976/7)
at the Start of the Jester Baltimore Challenge
(Single handed from Plymouth to Ireland) 2019.
Not a race but 1st in from Plymouth.

There are also pieces written in response to questions on the Flickr site and for the Achilles Owners web site I now administer.

Alderney September 2018

In terms of enclosed area Braye harbour is one of the largest man made harbours in the world, built to shelter a Navel fleet the breakwater was 5,000 ft long when completed in 1864 but by 1900 2,000 ft had been lost. A planned breakwater running north from the shore to provide protection from the east was never started and the project abandoned as development of modern warships made it unnecessary.



Still busy in September, Sancerre is there! 4th from the right

The island has been very heavily fortified twice. Once, despite the "Entente Cordiale", in the 1840s, in response to French fortification of its norther ports. The second time by Hitler. on this trip I explored the north shore moving east from the harbour.

Fort Albert on the eastern shore of the harbour.

Alderney has the only railway line in the Channel Islands, Queen Victoria
once road these rails although not in the London underground
coaches now in use.

The harbour from Fort Harbour, Sancerre extreme right.

German strongpoint "Biberkopf" just east of Fort Albert.



The harbour breakwater from Fort Albert, the broken water extending
from the remain structure is caused by the broken remains lost section.
Sancerre on the left.

The NE shore from just east of Fort Albert. Saye Bay to the left, France
in the distance on the right.

Saye Bay with some brave swimmers - the water was cold!
Chateau s L'Etoc Point, centre.

The tide giving sairly symmetrical tracks outbound and return crossing
almost on the rhumb line. It was about 15 hours each way.