After getting a phone call from the sailing club suggesting i move Blue Venture into the dock, now vacated by all the boats now on the hard. I decided to bring her in for the winter. The outboard had been thoroughly dried out and had been running ok on the bench in the garage. So with some unpleasant weather forecast and the tides right, i decided to bring her in the next day.
Tuesday the 9th December i motored out a couple of hours before HW. I got 200 metres and the outboard conked. I tied up to a nearby buoy and tried to get it started,it fired a few times but wouldn't run properly. I rowed the rest of the way.
20 minutes before HW i slowly brought Blue Venture in. A couple of helpful members took some lines off me and i was snugly alongside. I spent the next hour sorting out lines before she settled on the mud.
As she settled she listed to starboard and went down by the head by the time the water had left the dock i was well cock eyed.
I went home for a couple of hours and then went back on board for the night to see how she settled on the next tide. The wind blew and the rain came down as HW passed. She settled much as before. So that was how i left it for 24 hours.
Tuesday the 9th December i motored out a couple of hours before HW. I got 200 metres and the outboard conked. I tied up to a nearby buoy and tried to get it started,it fired a few times but wouldn't run properly. I rowed the rest of the way.
20 minutes before HW i slowly brought Blue Venture in. A couple of helpful members took some lines off me and i was snugly alongside. I spent the next hour sorting out lines before she settled on the mud.
As she settled she listed to starboard and went down by the head by the time the water had left the dock i was well cock eyed.
I went home for a couple of hours and then went back on board for the night to see how she settled on the next tide. The wind blew and the rain came down as HW passed. She settled much as before. So that was how i left it for 24 hours.
I came back early on the 11th to see how she was doing. At first it looked much better sitting near upright and only a little down by the head. But on closer inspection i could see the rudder was being forced over and the tiller had snapped off. Bugger! There was nothing i could do about it then, so had to leave it as it was until later in the week. Hoping there wouldn't be any more damage to the rudder.