Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

[Clint_D]

That's got to be such an exciting process! What are the specs on the engines? Also, that's cool as hell that you'll have bow thrusters, should make a massive difference when getting into port and docking. Congrats G&P!!! I'm sure the wait is tough though…

[Giles]

Volvo Penta D6 480BHP's

And I've over-specced the thrusters, and they're proportional. I've realised that when you need them, you really need them.  A couple of times on Pilgrim I have needed thrusters to crab into a really tight spot against a strong wind, and the thrusters couldn't make any headway, once I had to abort, and the other time the harbour master pushed me in with his RIB.

I'm also going to get this fitted when we get Sakura back to UK.  We don't have a door from the helm to the side deck, so I want to remove as much stress as possible….

https://www.dockmate.eu/products/dockmate-twist/

[Giles]

So we had a strop that holds a hatch down fail.  I made a new one but had to learn seizing and the Ashley stopper knot in the process…..

[Giles]

RIBs and outboards are like rocking horse shit at the mo.  Found what I want, but in the UK, not Spain, so we will not have a tender for the trip home from Menorca, but we can deal with that….

And powered by this a Suzuki DF20ATS, batteryless electronic ignition - yeah baby….

[Ian72]

Glad you can drive inside [emoji12]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Giles]

Hahahaha.

1. it was about low springs, so I was worried about the depth under her in the inner swashway
2. I was chasing these guys, it was great viewing….

[Giles]

My first soft eye splice in double braid.  I'm making up a tow rope for the tender on Sakura…

I'm also practising for a lot of eye splices I am going to have to do in some 22mm dock line, that's going to be a real challenge…..

[goosehd]

Really nice and clean job G!

[Giles]

A lot harder than I thought 

[Giles]

Oh, and btw, the tender will be called:

The Sea Word

[Jett129]

I Sea what you did,Absolutely brilliant!

[Giles]

I was ruminating on names for SAKURA when I had a 5-hour drive to do some fishing recently, it just appeared in my brain from nowhere, but I will admit, I am extremely pleased with it.  Obviously, the big boat has her own name now, so we have "The Sea Word tt SAKURA"

[Giles]

A braver man than me gets in to give her a scrub and check the anodes…...

[Clint_D]

I'm assuming that's not Alex, right?

[Giles]

It was not…..But a close friend and one of the guys he used to work with .....

[mclaincausey]

G, your knot work looks excellent to my semi (Boy Scouts) trained eye.

[Giles]

Thank you.  I have a lot to do, and a lot to learn…..

[mclaincausey]

Honestly though that is one of the coolest parts of your chosen retirement. Developing a skill that is useful. Nothing against traveling and playing golf or something, but becoming sailors is way cooler and I would imagine way more fulfilling. And it is a practical skill.

[Giles]

Thank you.  We chose to do this so we would keep mentally and physically challenged…...

[Giles]

Today's lesson from Youtube…..How to splice a continuous loop out of double-braided rope.

Sakura will have 22mm (7/8" to our colonial cousins) mooring warps, a couple will be 20 metres (74 feet) long, that is really too bulky and heavy for @Madame Buttonfly (and me too probably) to coil and self-fasten.  So I came up with the idea of using endless loops for the fastening, so I need to make a few….

I bought some end-of-reel braid...

And gave it a go….

The intended use…

It's actually far to long for its intended purpose, but I had no idea how much rope I would lose in the buries, now I know…...