BLUEMOMENT

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I'll try Teem Surveys. Predictably, the 'Teem' appears to be one bloke and his wife. I'll not be shopping about for new insurers though, since my broker has been fantastic and - I think - cheap. They've shelled out almost 20 grand over the years and always paid up...

Just had a bit of a shock to the system. My usually excellent and good value insurance brokers want a full out of water condition survey this winter before they'll renew the insurance. The shock was the quote - 600 squid for looking at a 27ft boat. That's nearly two quid an inch or about the price o...

I've replied to Aros More directly, but some of you might, possibly, be interested in this. I've just 'published' a sort of harbour pilot entitled "105 Rocks and Other Stuff to Tie your Boat to in Eastern Sweden and Finland". It's available FREE on my website at http://www.edge.me.uk It's ...

In other countries in northern Europe leisure and recreation are generally thought of as good things and are funded as a matter of public policy. There's a sailing school in practically every village. In Britain all forms of recreation apart from watching sport on the telly are seen as slightly sham...

Dutch Harbourmasters, I'll bet they know EXACTLY what thecurrent situation is & may well produce their own chartlets to augment charts I’m sure they do. That’s why it’s not really a problem getting out of these places. It’s getting in alive to speak to them in the first place that concerns me. ...

You simply need Carruthers on he foredeck with a long sounding pole, and tea brewing on the Ripingille stove. I suspect Carruthers might tell you where to put your sounding pole if you sent him onto the foredeck in a 10 ft North Sea swell approaching a shallow lee shore. In a very gentlemanly manne...

Riddle of the sands huh? If you have to throw all your charts away and buy new ones every 3 or 4 years it's the fiddle of the sands. I know the channels shift about in these waters and you have to keep an eye out for the buoyage, but I didn't know just how much. Arriving on this coast with a 6 year...

... and from the general state of things hardly a surprise that their VHF arrangements were perhaps not all they should be. Ooh. A bit judgemental :shock: . It's true though. Certain things about some boats just don't inspire confidence. Like for example... Oh I don't know... if it's being towed by...

I’m sitting here in the Dutch port of Lauwersoog, or ‘Unpronounceable’ as it’s known in English, waiting for the right weather to nip round some of the Frisian islands to Germany. I thought I’d just cross-check a couple of chart details. In particular the fairway buoy marking the end of the channel ...

Blimey, that sounds much more dramatic than our puny exploits. That's the problem with that coast. Nice wee harbours but none of them easy when conditions get worse. Here's me just wimped out of heading to sea tomorrow with a '5 to 7' forecast in exactly the right direction.

As regards liquids, I don't know if the fact that the three of us emptied 5 bottles of whisky in Lossie the day before our debacle contributed at all. In our defence the bottles weren't all full when we started. I'm afraid I won't be joining Cherry Ripe on the SIPR. Which is a shame as I'd love to s...

Thanks Ken, It doesn't help when the pipe falls off and directs all the heat at said melty ropes of course. Cherry Ripe is a boat with a truly prodigious number of alarms. There's an alarm to tell you that there's water in the bilge, an alarm to tell you you aren't at anchor, one to tell you the toa...

T'was I who ventured onto the foredeck to attach the towing line. It was just attached to one forward cleat and over the bow roller. Since there was only quite a small loop in its end there was little choice in this. Plus we were given no time to mess around with bridles and things before they start...

The offer of a liferaft was very kind, but Cherry Ripe doesn't need one. Instead she just gets towed around by the RNLI when the motor doesn't work. In the latest instance we were towed 25 miles into Sneck Marina, against a very splashy SW force 6, by the Invergordon lifeboat. Still, she is at least...