A sail it was

It was lacking in excitement but as I will be busy tomorrow I'm glad we got out on the water.  This time of year you can never guarantee the next time you'll get out.  Happy to know also that we were under the watchful eyes if the coastwatch. Wasn't too cold but wore the wrong gloves, (fingerless) and paid the penalty with very numb fingers.

The Sun has got it's hat on

Whoo hoo the sun is out , there's a light wind from the North. We may just have a sail this afternoon. Hmmm. Just looking at smoke gently rising vertically from the chimney opposite I guess there may not be enough wind.

If it's too light then the alternate is to go to Watanga and do some maintenance. There still plenty to do after mopping it out the last few days Got to get up the mast at some point to renew the filiments at the masthead. If they weren't so expensive and still somewhat dubious as far as the insurance companies are concerned then I would fit the new LED bulbs, after all it's better to have a light that can be seen at a slightly lesser distance, than one that has failed altogether.

I still haven't decided on the layout of this page and as you may have noticed have changed it with the additional picture at the top. It was cropped from this one, a rather tranquil scene of the old pier taken from Buckshore looking east toward the Isle of Wight.

More dreary days

On my daily trek to the sailing club I pass this building that has a rather strange parapet.



The Heritage Centre is situated in the Old Market Building on Swanage seafront on the site of the "former "Bankers" where the local quarried stone was stored before shipment.

The building was built in 1892, originally as a market hall, by George Burt (1816-1894). Burt was the head of the major construction firm founded by his uncle, John Mowlem. Like John, George salvaged stones, tiles and whole structures from building work in London and brought them to Swanage. The centre contains information on the " history, geology and geography of the town and surrounding area, this is made available on film (10 minutes), a series of short videos and on banners. Educational packs are available and talks can be given. There is also a small retail area including local crafts.
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About Town

It's been a bit dismal the last few days so nothing exciting to go on about. Took a walk on the recreation ground on Wednesday. This is the site of the War memorial. The stone cairn was erected in 1920 in memory of those that died in the Great War 1914 to 1918, and was added to after the second world war. There are 164 names of local men and women inscribed.

For God and the soldier we adore,
In time of danger, not before!
The danger passed, and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted."

- Rudyard Kipling

Time for maintenance

Went to do some work on Watanga today, it has been some while since I last looked in on the boat and found it to be very wet. The weather in December to January has been the rainiest for a long time and with the hatches slightly open for ventilation quite q bit has got in. Trouble is that then means mould. It's not too bad at the moment but as things warm up the inside will be a breeding ground.

So.. have spent 2 days getting every drop of water out of the boat. Rigging up a ventilation system to run off the solar panels and generally cleaning up Cillit Bang seems to work wonders with mould stain.

I had sunshine most of the the day but on return to Swanage there was quite a mist. Corfe Castle being positively fog bound. Found a stray sheep on the way home. as you do when living in the sticks

Busy weekend

A busy weekend this, Started the day helping Greg assemble his spare Dart18 in preparation to compare it with his old one on Sunday. We got very wet getting it ready in a downpour. Nicky phoned up whilst we were doing this and I had to shoot off to Jump start her car --Again.

As you can see from this second photo that the sea was a trifle rough. In the evening we went to a surprise party for Marcel

Sunday was such a different day. Clear blue skies, a gentle westerly wind. Not surprisingly there were lots of boats out this morning, most people staying out for about 2 hours