Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

[Giles]

@Madame-Buttonfly keeps our armpits on brand……,

[Giles]

Tender arrived today.....

@Madame-Buttonfly likes it because it has a steering wheel....

Tomorrow, we have a day of training on close-quarters manoeuvring with SAKURA, we want to avoid hitting anything else..........

[endo]

@Giles said in Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure:

we want to avoid hitting anything else......

why? seems to be the way to make new friends ...

[Giles]

Staying in marinas on the way back from Menorca reiterated to me and @Madame-Buttonfly just how much we were looking to not doing that.

I have been concerned about the stock anchor that came with the boat. I think it is a little light at 30kgs, and it is an older "Bruce" design, was revolutionary when it was released in the 1970's, but times have moved on and there is a whole new breed of modern anchors that set very quickly and hold exceptionally well. When we drop the hook in a secluded anchorage, I want to rest easy that is will hold.....So we have upgraded to a 45kg modern anchor....

Fitted it today.....

[Aetas]

This anchor is looking beatiful and this shiny chrome finish is sharp!

[Giles]

It's actually polished 316 (AKA A4) Stainless Steel, chrome and salt water are not good bedmates....

[Daniel San]

the standard anchor looks pretty lousy against this great polished 316 beast

[ROman]

The anchor looks great..

[A Former User]

Polishing seems the way to sail

[Giles]

8-strand to anchor-chain splice.....

[Giles]

@ohnny beats me in the massive Horreo stakes..... Nice find @Mr-Eddy

[Giles]

Yesterday, it was The Round the Island Race

I was going to race with some friends, but the boat refit ran late and I did not make it, not that I was that bothered as the weather was foul.

Coco de Mer a 66ft Gun Boat, is moored opposite SAKURA, and the crew have been on deck every day since we got back from Menorca, getting her ready for the race.

Very sad to say, the wind got the better of her on the east coast of the island, and this happened....

All the crew are fine, but so sad.

Last I heard was as we were coming back in from a cruise today, Solent Coastguard, put a "notice all mariners" out on channel 16. She is dragging her anchor and there is an exclusion zone around her.

That will be one expensive write-off.

[Karol]

@Giles
RIP
If they wanted to race trimaran or monohull would have been better option. Catamaran is not something that you buy for such task unless it’s a racing one and not a house on the water.

[Giles]

Racing catamarans is a thing, and Gunboats are one of the best options available. My friend David Thomson races one.....

Here he is on the bow, which is his speciality.......

And another when they won their class in Antigua earlier this year.....

And a simile, if I wanted to catch lots of fish, using meat or live bait is a much better option than flies or lures, but I do the latter because I personally believe it to be more fun and requires greater skill....

[Karol]

Those can almost fly, being part of the race crew must be super fun but freaking physically demanding.
Me being lazy and risk averse would go for something from https://www.neel-trimarans.com/
The 52 is the sweetest https://www.neel-trimarans.com/range/neel-52/

[Giles]

Trimarans flipped too....

[goosehd]

I truly love the water and have great respect for it. It constantly amazes me how quickly the seas can change and how devastating brutal they can be.

[Giles]

I chatted to some mates in the know, the current thought is that Coco de Mer suffered a rudder failure, then she was completely at the mercy.....

[Karol]

@Giles sweet mother of darkness!!
Freaking humbling experience, the conditions that does that … , or the hubris.

[Giles]

I am sure, a bit of both........