Happy New Year.

Fair winds and lee going tides for 2014!

Tuesday 31st December 2013.

Will be making a new page for 2014 shortly and will change the link on the home page to take you there as of tomorrow.

For today welcome to  Warwick Leslie of New Zealand, he has just joined and enquired about the WildDuck drawings.  He has got a set of the old paper drawings for the 3 tonner as well, that he is offering to us, will have to double check to make sure we are not missing a sheet, I know we were once, but not sure if another member filled us in with it.. Will contact you shortly Leslie.

Warren of the GH 'Safrel' has filled in a couple of snippets of information on the GH page, correctly, we hope!,  identifying another GH.

Had an enquiry from  prospective GH owner too.  Does anyone know if the Cascover sheathing fitted to wooden GH's was ever continued up the topsides as standard, and if so from what sail number or date.??  I am not sure that it ever was as standard, as most timber GH's had very smooth glossy topsides and that would be very difficult to achieve with the Cascover under it, loads of filler would be needed to hide the weave....  Do you know different?

Robin Barrett of 'Aurora' the E 24 in Zimbabwe, has been in touch to say he is hoping to set off on another trip, along the coast of Mozambique again and should he write his log up for us?  His earlier log was published in two parts in Newsletter 10.     I have asked that he could and we will print it.  I have now taken to printing logs with the Newsletter pages, replacing the earlier layout, as most of the information that comes in to us is readable on the Stoppress pages or Gallery pages.  I have several logs to add, when I find 5 minutes.

We are trying to get in touch with the owner of 'Blue Waves' a Buchanan Wind Elf.  Bryan was once the owner of 'Sparrow' a 3 tonner.  He was enrolled with us but may have changed his mail provider....  Are you out there Bryan? someone wants to be in touch, Tony Rickards.  I have tried to mail the last e-mail address we had.

Kathy and Roger contacted us last week with a seasons greeting to all and saying that they have not only their 40ft junk rigged boat, but have now purchased a place in Spain again and when all is sorted they will place an advert on the site for members as a holiday let.  (You will remember they bought a rambling rundown farm halfway up a mountain in Spain and turned it back to Walnut and Olive production. )  They have sold their GH that was on the pages..... Doubtless we may see them about next summer, before they head off into the blue yonder again!

Well another year draws to a close and what an eventful year it has been for many of us, let us hope and wish for a good sailing season next year, a warmer one with less of the F6's please!

Good sailing, fair winds and lee going tides

John

Tuesday 24th December 2013

Christmas Eve.

Last night the wind howled round here, we had Storm force 10  over the local coastal strip  between Southend and Clacton all the way up to Harwich.  So far here the only damage is to my weather vane, the big copper and brass yacht has lost its foresail!  A cursory look round has failed to locate it, so looks as if I have to put the wellies on and walk over the fields! How far can a metal sail fly in a force 10?

A timely reminder came in from Bradwell marina yesterday, (with the advance notice of the fees!!).  During that Storm in October several boats lost reefed genoas, as they were not secured by a tie round the sail and blew themselves to bits, expensive..  but one boat that was ashore not only had the genoa unroll, but it toppled the boat over in it's cradle causing a lot of damage.  (marina will no longer lift boats out for storage with sails on spars!  Hope you had the foresight to remove all sails. 

For that matter all the halyards and control lines too, if needed, a light messenger line left in place will make re fitting easy.  Nothing worse for ropes than to leave them out in the elements all winter!   Bad enough the salt and sun on them in the summer, without the addition of green mould! All halyards etc. can go into the washing machine on a 30 degree 'Easycare' wash,  spun at 1000 revs they come out nearly dry and a few days hanging near a radiator dries them thoroughly enough to be safely stored..  they come out as new,  you will be so proud of them come spring!  (Any heavy end fittings can be covered with a sock, tied on!). I have never damaged a washing machine in the 40 years I have been doing this every autumn.

Over the holiday period I hope to get time to sit down and create a few new pages on the site.  We have some logs to ad and there are at least 5 pictures too, 2 of boats we have never seen before, more have come out of the woodwork.

Hope you have a peaceful Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.

John

Monday 23rd December 2013.

Today the radio is full of news of yet another fierce gale heading our way, though it is peaceful and calm at the moment. This time with southerly winds of 60 to 80 mph! I do hope you have those boat covers secure and if still afloat, are well moored!  Southerly winds of that strength are unusual at any time...

I spent a little time on the website yesterday re-editing my log, I was amazed how many typos there were.  Add to that my ships mascot had a real gender problem as he was referred to as she in one text and as sleeping on a the kipper bed, fitting I suppose for a cat, and it half looked as if I had meant to say it, but a Freudian slip!  Made us smile when I found it though.

Just shows how difficult it is to proof read your own writing!  So if any sharp eyed reader spots a clanger on these pages, please let the website coordinator, me, know!

No, to those who wondered,  I did not get the Yule fire going, too darn damp and by the looks of the forecast going to get damper. There is 2" of rain forecast here for the next 24 hours.

Looking at the weird weather they have got in the States right now makes me wonder what we will get as a result when it gets here in 2 weeks time.  New York yesterday was 21 degrees! Twice the average temperature and more. Toronto, Canada by comparison,  suffered one of the worst ice storms of recent years with power out all over.  Time to go and check the generator...

Still on the weather front, (no pun intended!) I had a mail from someone on the Artic Survey.  They are now alarmed at the melt of ice there, much more than expected.  Add to that the reports coming in from Greenland about the melted ice under the  cap there, they have found liquid water deep under the snow and ice, a lake the size of Ireland! 

During the time it has taken to type these few words the wind has got up, the trees in the garden and now being buffeted and the first drops of rain are rattling on the windows. Time to batten hatches. 

No chance of a White Christmas here. Just a wet one!

John

Saturday 21st December 2013.

The winter solstice.

The Winter solstice....

Hello Eventiders and  Solstice Greetings to you all.  Sadly the Yule fire has been thoroughly dampened so will not light,  not without an out of date hand held red... and I'm out of them, but the spirit is there.  From today the days get longer, whoopee!

I have got the last battery from the boat charging and so far 3 out of the 5 have shown they are healthy!  Now on float charge till spring.  1 is de-sulphating still, and though it states a 'maintenance free' battery I did note each cell had a top up cover that unscrewed, just as well as all cells were well down on water! I have just topped it up.  (all the other 4 batteries have no access to the plates, so you cannot top them up).  But they all have little indicators that change colour with the state of the battery!  Even indicating time to replace them ....  clever.  So far so good on them. They look fit for another season..

Though windy and rainy here, (F6 plus) it is not cold, 11 degrees outside.  So I am in the garage sorting a trailer today, not a boat trailer though, it is a dismountable one for my vintage motorbike! Just had a friendly local firm do some welding to modify it and today hope to grind off a few sharp edges and spray it to stop it rusting.

I was checking my trailer yesterday and realise I have to touch up some of the steelwork on that too, wire brush then a dab of Hammerite here and there will keep that rust free for another year.  Well worth the effort!

Had a very nice letter in from Peter Kemsley who is joining us as a friend, just bought a CD of the Eventide drawings so he can refurbish his 1/12th scale model!  He has also sent in a picture or two and a log of the trip he hade in the full sized version! I will be adding this to the Newsletter and logs page soon.

Heard from the church warden at Salcott, the old retired wooden Eventide boom will be a Yule log this Christmas for the wardens son! 

Still trying to find out if there was a drawing for the wheelhouse seen on an Atlantic Clipper.  I have sent out a pdf file of the one designed for the GH!  If anyone wants a copy for their GH, Eventide or similar, drop me a mail.

Enough typing for now, off to grind some steel!  The last present wrapping can wait till this evening....

John

Wednesday 18th December 2013.

The solstice rapidly approaches and the sun is very low in the sky...  today with the barn doors open it streamed in to light up the boat.  My solstice bonfire is ready to light, but with the gales and rain forecast for the next few days I suspect it will be a bit of a damp squib!  Get out there and check those covers!

Anyway got some more work done on board, the last of the 5, yes 5, 12v batteries lifted off and all on the bench charging, one at a time on the de-sulphater!  At he price of lead acid batteries it is well worth looking after them.  All but the fridge batteries came off fully charged.  (The little green colour showing in the window and 13v.).  I have found one of the fridge batteries one of the oldest ones, had lost electrolyte..  so much for maintenance free.  Needs topping up. Will keep checking that one...

My jockey wheel collapsed last year, the bolts had crushed the box section on the trailer it was attached to, I have, with some difficulty, sawn off one of the securing bolts, as they are in a very awkward position it is not easy, but i have one of those small plastic handles that you can hold a hacksaw blade with, takes a while but does the job!  I plan to refit with very heavy backing plates to prevent it happening again!  Guess there is a lot of load on it...

Had a couple of mails in, Tony still trying to find out about the wheelhouse on the Atlantic Clipper, hopefully we will come up with a drawing.

Had a real comedy mail in from a local church.  Did I want our boom back as they have a new flagpole now and the boom is not being used.!  This was the wooden boom for Everjoy.!  Sadly after many years atop the church, and having been altered for use as a flag pole it is no longer fit for use as a bloom, but a nice thought!  I suggested it may make a good Yule log!

Yes the annual Yuletide greetings are back too!  (good name for a winter launched Eventide?).

A letter in the post box, yes a real paper one!.  We had a thankyou reply from Peter Kemsley of Cheltenham.  He has sent in £5.00 for a CD of the drawings so he can update his 1/12th scale model of the Eventide 24 'Jahmari', one we had not heard of, another to come out of the woodwork.   Peter has not only sent in a few photos of the Eventide, but a log of its building and sail from Germany back to the UK!  We wonder where E440 is now?  Pictures to be added.

I have several more photos to add that have been sent in, plus one or two off EBay.  We note the Eventide 24 under a lean to barn did not sell. Though the E26 has seemingly sold, wonder if the new owner will be in touch.  Seems as if he will have a lot of work to do and may need our help.

Time to pop the mince pies in the oven.

Keep warm,

John

Tuesday 17th December 2013.

Sorry for the gap in communications, bit busy!

Welcome to Dr. Wilfred Moore of California who is looking to build an Eventide.

To Keith Kelly of Dublin, who I am just sending 2 CD's to. the WW and the Eventide. 

we have had mail from John Hopthrow, re the 2 Eventides selling on the Bay, From Chris White about the repairs to his GH 'Golden Morn', and the excellent job being done by the yard at Walton on Naze, Frank Halls and Son. Pics to be added.

From Kathy and Roger who have sold their GH as a result of the advert on the site, and who apart from their new junk rigged 40ft boat are renovating another old property in Spain, which will have a mention on the pages again when it is ready to let!

Today, new membership enrolment in  from Mathew in Waltham Abbey, the new owner of 'Wagtail', wondered where that Senior was!

Warren Stevenson  GH 'Safrel', has sent in a couple of archive pictures he has found on the net of Eventides etc. from years back, 'Eider Duck' and 'Toa'.

We had a hiccup with our enrolment form last week and a member slipped through the net, so I am sending a free CD of the WW drawings to Wigan for Alvaro, he wants to buy new sails and needs the sizes..  sorry we did not respond to the enrolment Alvaro, we seem to be victims of our own success, too many enrolments for the system! Over 300 in 3 years!  we now know to empty the data file before it grinds to a halt! 

Heck, that is roughly 2 a week!!!  We are popular!

We had a call late last night from Mike Brown in NZ, re the Senior, he was after full size frame patterns..   Sadly never made, one reason was the problem with paper patterns distorting. Better to work from measurements and loft it out.

Viv Wright has mailed with information about the GH 'Lady Milli', he sailed her across the Atlantic many years ago as crew and wonders where she is now...  He included part of a log of the trip I hope to add to the Newsletter pages soon.

Had a special series of mails from Yachting monthly offices during the last week. they asked if we could help an elderly chap out who had made a model of an Eventide he helped build and sail in 1962, for his Squadron Leader in the RAF.  Very pleased to be able to do so and send A4 copies of the sail plans he needed!  Y.M. have volunteered to support us!  Having seen the 'history' they compliment the members of the EOG for their enthusiasm!

Suppose I had better get back to the day job, the Seagull spares are piling up on the desk!

John

Monday 9th December 2013.

Stoppress from the local paper....

Breaking news Burnham: Marine unit to close

10:59am Monday 9th December 2013 in Local News By Emma Robinson

Burnham: Marine unit to close

Essex Police has today announced the closure of Burnham's marine unit.

In a bid to save £36million over the next three financial years, it has been decided that the marine unit based in Station Road will close and a dog unit in Sandon will be restructured.

This means more than £750,000 a year will be saved.

Essex Police Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh said: "A number of our marine officers will transfer to Special Branch but, where necessary, continue to provide a response to marine and inland water-search incidents.

"PCSOs currently working at Burnham on the Marine Unit will be redeployed into local Neighbourhood Policing teams, where Essex Police will seek to use their experience to support local communities where practical.

"Essex Police currently has one large vessel (the Essex Police launch Alert IV), three smaller rigid-hulled inflatable boats (ribs) and two jet-skis. The force is evaluating which equipment to retain (to ensure we are both efficient and effective) and will seek to sell anything no longer required.

Amazing isn't it, 3 days after the nearest thing to a flood disaster we have had since;53, and they are getting rid of the marine unit and all their expertise and possibly their boats, does make you wonder about this country..

John

Friday 6th December 2013.

Phew, a very close call!!

Thursday 5th December 2013.

Severe flood warnings for Essex coast!!!

1250 update, 2 metre tidal surge expected, on top of a 6 metre tide!!!

Sea defences may be topped!!!

Listen on your local radio.

Just heard that due to the 0200 spring tide and the storm surge that is predicted several of our members will be effected.  Our Webmaster and all his neighbours are being evacuated this evening.  Others have moorings to attend to to ensure the safety of their craft.  the levels are predicted to be within half a metre of the tops of sea defences, and some overtopping is expected as the seas will not have calmed from the gale blowing at the moment.  Wishing anyone effected all the best.  At least the defences are better than they were in 1953, but it only needs one chink in the armour.....

The Steering group have agreed to post a free CD to the Liverpool youth challenge Group that feature in the previous post/.  so one will be winging it's way to them today.

Apologies to anyone who has tried to enrol with us in the last few days, we have had so many enrol the database on line filled up, and though they got the message that we had been informed, we were not, so we are indebted to Keith Kelly for taking the trouble to ring.  (There is a note saying to do so if you do not hear from us in a week!).  Peter the webmaster is working on the problem and with any luck normal 2 or 3 enrolments a week will be the norm here again shortly.  I will be a little while catching up with a couple of weeks backlog though.

Time to batten the hatches.

John

Wednesday 4th December 2013.

Tuesday 2nd December 2014.

The year slipping away fast!  We have had the last Essex get together for the year, will resume January, last Wednesday in the month.

Have had 2 more drawings enquiries, one from a youth group in Liverpool with an Eventide 24 to restore!  Hope to hear more of them.  Another enquiry for the Senior, popular little boat!

One mail in intrigued us. 

I crossed the Atlantic in '78 on a GH 31' 6" called 'Lady Milli'.  I have no idea what she was called before that, but it ended up in Mexico at some point.  Wondering if any reader knows what became of her.

This came from Viv Wright, who has just joined the forum.  He will be asking the same questions there no doubt.  hopefully he is going to send some old pictures of Lady Milli in for the Gallery and i will add a link to him.

Another mail came in with much the same message last week and i was able to tell the lady her old GH was restored, she too is maybe going to find some old pics for the Gallery and I will add a note with a link to her ...

We have heard from John with the Riptide in Scotland, ex 'Ramillies', now 'The Black Pearl'.  Someone's been to the movies!  Hope to get some up to date pictures of her for the gallery shortly.

I have yet to add a few other pics, will find an hour to sit and upload them soon.

I have to go down to the boat and attack my trailer, fortunately inside the barn I am out of most of the cold.  The jockey wheel sort of got wrenched and the bolts have distorted part of the trailer that the holder for the jockey wheel bolts to. got to cut off the old bolts and strengthen it, just going to take a while to cut through the old 1/2 steel bolts, cannot get at them easily.  Will keep me warm!  I intend removing the batteries, one by one too, there are now 5 of them!  darned heavy they are too.  one by one!  I have a de-sulphating charger I put them on and after it has completed a cycle I then leave the battery on a tiny trickle charger, the sort that looks like  a large 13 amp plug with 2 leads and croc clips attached.  keeps the batteries in top condition. If you let a lead acid go flat, it may no recharge. At the cost of these batteries, it is worth the effort removing them.

Hope your winterising going to plan.

John

Thursday 28th November 2013.

A few interesting mails in over the last week, one enrolment, Mark Ramos in Spain, I have just sorted out a CD of the Senior drawings for Mark.  He was having problems with our enrolment page, the security questions, so he rang me, his English is a lot better than my Spanish, but I could see how it would have been difficult, so I mailed him the form and he filled it in and returned it. Mark has bought a copy of the Selway-Fisher Senior Hull construction drawing and is going to build, and has just bought the Senior CD from us to make the rest of the boat. Look forward to seeing the finished boat!

A small group of us are meeting up for lunch tomorrow in Titchmarsh marina Walton on the Naze.  Will be the last gathering before the festive season.

Have had a couple of people comment about the new Maritime conservation areas, especially the Blackwater, Colne, Crouch and roach one.  Rest assured it will not effect our sailing at all, it is aimed at preventing damage to the bottom and especially oyster beds, by large trawlers.  Will prevent  port complexes being built there or underwater cables being laid...

Had an enquiry from the former owner of Golden Hind "GALLINULA" Sail number 108.  She wanted to know if the boat had survived.  I was able to show her the pictures that had been on our For Sale pages, after a total refit.  she has been sold but sadly not sure who too as I do not think I have an enrolment from the new owner.  Hopefully we will.

One of our members met a former colleague of mine a week or so back, at a sailing club do on the Crouch, realised he might know me and indeed I trained him 25 years ago.  The former colleague is about to retire and has seen the log of my trip and wants to do the same trip  himself with the knowledge I taught him at yacht master evening classes.  Plus he then saw the charts I had for sale, and the bike...  we are meeting for lunch Sunday and I am pleased the charts and the bike are going to a good home!

Had another mail from Victor in Croatia, he has managed to strip his steering pedestal on his Atlantic Clipper and made new cover plates etc, good job.  I will be adding more pics and words to his page on the Builders and Restorers pages.

The Steering group have been called upon to sanction some updates to the EOG computer.  I bought a new security program and today it has checked and scrubbed the machine clean and we are working at top speed again.  the webmaster Peter has suggested we upgrade the operating system. Vista is little 'notchy' so we may well do that shortly.

Sad to have to close this one on a sadder note, the 28ft Golden Hind 'Cirra' is no more.  Mike Hoban had been valiantly removing dead and rotten timber for several years, but when the rot was discovered in the main frames as well as the deck and hull planking, he gave her a Viking funeral.  could be there may be some spars and other parts coming up for sale....

John

Friday 22nd November 2013.

A day marked by the anniversaries of two very different events, can you remember where you were when you heard? I can, A Young Farmers dinner.  The other one I never got into, so I never hid behind the sofa.  Saw one or two episodes  but the cardboard scenery spoilt it..

Today is also the first day of the new Marine Conservation areas, and the Blackwater, Colne, Crouch and Roach have all been given protected status.  We will have to wait till all the ink is dry to find out the full picture, but as far as I can tell it will prevent bottom trawling in the rivers and the development of harbours etc.

Today is also my sister's birthday, widow of our founding webmaster, Barry,  Happy Birthday Chris, know you read our pages!

Had a nice thankyou from the National Maritime museum, for the folio of drawings we sent them.  They have been added to the National Archive!  As a result of a suggestion from John Hopthrow, we will be sending additional copies to other archives.

Had an enquiry from a member for the drawings we have of the Golden Hind.  There are not many, but they may assist a restorer, as in this case.  (Even got Maurice's drawing for a Golden Hind wheelhouse.) Available to members at cost, £5.00 UK and £6.50 overseas.

The Essex crowd are meeting up next week, sadly I have not had any others ask to join us and so the book is closed for the luncheon now.

Still no snow here yet, but has been cold enough, make sure those covers are tight and snow proof!  I took this picture a few days ago, looking up the Blackwater at sunset, terrific sky.  Cold though.

John

Wednesday 20th November 2013.

Welcome to the chap who bought the Kesteloo John Hopthrow found on the net.  Colin Jones of Fleetwood has her and will be repairing and restoring her come spring, he is at the moment working on another steel boat!  I think 'Altair' will be in good hands.

David Alcock of Queensland Australia is sending updated pictures of Jo Jo.  Look forward to adding them to the Gallery.

Spent an hour yesterday untangling all the mooring lines halyards and other ropes.  They  have spent the last 3 days or so drying on top of a very large old fashioned radiator, to ensure they are really dry.   The pile of ropes is great fun for the cats though!  Several times whilst pulling lines from the heap I found a cat on the other end!  Now just have to wait for the rain to stop before I take them all out to the garage and box them up, no point letting them get damp again. 

With clear skies and temperatures down to freezing it is time to sort the jobs lists and plan for next season, certainly not weather for working outside.!  I am sorting the cushions from the saloon at the moment, covers going in the next wash.  If they are cleaned and stored now they will be fresh when they are refitted next season.

I have added another item to the Bits for Sale page, a nice Heath Bosun steering compass.  The type that is positioned under the tiller.  I have a similar one.  Very traditional.

Several times I have mentioned that my auto pilot has a name, 'Psyche'.  I named it thus because of the noise it made.  In 1953 there was a radio program called 'life of Bliss', 'Psyche' was the dog in the play...  today I wondered and Googled the program.   At the moment I have episode 3 of 34 playing on my P.C.  A free download from the BBC archive!  My autopilot does indeed sound just like 'Psyche', so my memory was not playing me tricks!  Happy days!

John

Friday 15th November 2013.

With snow mentioned in the forecast for the next few days and our first frosts, so pleased to be tucked up safe and secure in that barn!

Yesterday went to see the new owner of 'Dougaljo', Reg.  He is promising to fill in the enrolment form.  Doug and Jo were there too and handing over a few parts stored at home.  Doug will be back onboard one last time to take Reg through all the  different tricks to make all work.  The defective 'Cutless' bearing that I sprayed with WD40 the day before, was off and going to the engineers shop to be pressed out.  The shaft was slightly worn, but would be OK for years yet. 

A sad day in a way for Doug and I for one will miss looking around the horizon when I am sailing, he has been a constant sailing companion for many years.  However Doug is pleased that someone has come along to take care of his 'baby'.  He will always have a place on board 'Fiddler's Green'.

At the moment, whilst I am typing this, I can hear the washing machine rumbling away, with another load of sail covers washing.  Already had 2 loads of ropes, mooring lines, halyards etc., plus the spray hood!  That is drying nicely on the washing line.  I am amazed at the number of people who never wash covers or spray hoods.  You see them every year down the marina, with a slight green tint, and a cursory scrub with a yard broom is all they get...    It is not difficult,  most machines have 'Easy care' and 30 degrees on the dials.  I  set my machine to 'higher water levels', so it all gets a good soak.  I spin at 1000 revs and the ropes dry in a few hours.  I then store them on a rack near a radiator for a couple of days, to make 100% sure they are dry.  They then are tidied and coiled and stored in a large plastic storage box in the back of the garage....  Just have to get it all done whilst Darian is out!

We have sent a DVD with all the designs we have on it, to the National Maritime Museum, Falmouth, Cornwall, at the request of the librarian.  I would like to think this is another way of ensuring the designs will never be lost.

We had several mails today from the National Historic Ships collection, and they are offering courses now on the preservation of classic boats.  no idea of cost, but will look into it.

A prestigious local sailing club has written to us offing their premises for a venue.  It is a bit OTT, but maybe??? will investigate!

All for now, off to check the boat.

John

Sunday 10th November 2013.

Remembrance Sunday.

Wear that poppy with pride!  I hope traffic comes to a halt again tomorrow at 1100hrs on the 11th of the 11th.

I am very pleased to report that yesterday the Waterwitch 'Dougaljo' sold from our pages.  We knew that the first really serious person to look over her would jump at the chance.  Yes she has annoying deck leaks to sort and unbeknown to us a cutlass bearing to replace, but the new owner, Reg, has taken her on willingly.

I will go down and start spraying some WD40 in the aft bearing holder ready to remove the screws and get that off to fit a new bearing and I have also promised to sort another silly problem, the GPS chart plotter failed to work?  Every time it was turned on the trip popped out.  Got to be a simple wiring problem I suspect, so I will take the cabling/wiring kit down and fix it for Doug.  Last time I was out with Doug  it worked fine, it's a Garmin GPS/Plotter, do not believe it has gone wrong....

Spent today sorting my boat gear out, it was spread all round the garage!  Now neatly boxed up in huge plastic boxes and stacked and stored for the winter.  I have 2 of these plastic boxes filled with mooring lines, halyards and sheets, all to go through the washing machine.  (Easy care 30!).  When perfectly dry they will be stored away till spring in the same boxes.  I even have a pair of rechargeable dehumidifiers I leave with the ropes and sail covers etc, to ensure nothing gets damp.  After 24 years all the gear is still in excellent order  and only after 22 years did I have to replace spray hood and dodgers, and the mainsail cover after 23 years.  This year, 24 years on, the staysail cover is being replaced!  Pays to wash and valet them.

So far, whilst taking gear off and checking it over, I am only down one mooring line, a 19mm multiplait, that broke on our trip..  Not too bad!

In a day or two I will be able to get my little Morris van into the garage again, where she lives when not in use, during the winter.  With a tube heater to keep the frost out the van and the sailing gear is protected.

Mail today from John Hopthrow, he has spotted a Kesteloo Eventide for sale on the Bay, simply search for 'Kesteloo' that finds it. (use our EBay page of course!).  The Kesteloo boats were built in Steel at Brunisse in the Netherlands, at the Kesteloo yard.  They were 27'3" long, exactly the same length as my 'Fiddler's Green', because at that length  the steel plates lie perfectly on the frames! 

Over a period of many years they made several hundred and at least 100 were imported to the UK back in the mid 1960's.  The accommodation has limited headroom, as do many early wooden built boats, as the extra hull depth had not been incorporated into the drawings then, to allow for the extra ballast and loss of freeboard, so with a decent ballast weight in then they tend to be a little low in the water aft, but have high cockpit coamings to cope!  She up for £1,000 at the moment in north of England.

Also heard from Victor in Croatia again.

He had taken time off from the restoration of his Atlantic clipper, to have a sailing holiday in the Canaries.  He says do not use 'Viva Charter', they were not nice!  Sounds as if the boat was falling apart!  and it was only

Victor has been struggling to strip the steering pedestal and so h=far has had little joy.  The face plate behind the wheel covering the top gear broke off and so far he has not managed to get it apart more, even though bolts came undone lower down, it simply allowed the top part to rotate.  Anyone any experience with the Steering gear on these, what make is it?  Victor has not a clue!

Let's see if we can help him.

Looking at the outside thermometer I note it is falling fast.  Some parts of the  area got their first frosts yesterday night, but here, being only a mile from the sea, we get slightly milder weather.  not tonight,  it has dropped from the daytime high of 9 to 5 degrees and in the last hour has dropped to 4. 5 and is till going down. Pleased the boat is in her secure barn.

Off to throw a log on the fire!

John

Friday 8th November 2013.

Could not have chosen a better day to haul out,  dry, very light breezes and temperature just into double figures.  I was on board at 1000, puttered to the lift at 1030, out being scrubbed off, there's a story, by 1100, and on the trailer and mast lowered by 1200.  2 hours later we were putting her in the nice secure, dry, winter barn.  Now it can snow!  Got home to find the farmer, whose barn I now rent, outside the cottage, cutting the hedge!  Big  hedges and they are in great shape now.  (We replanted a lot!) Advantages of having a friendly farmer neighbour are many fold.  (Also authorised to shoot rats and rabbits etc. over his land, great stuff.)

When the boat was being pressure washed, the guys at Bradwell once again noted,  no barnacles, no jellies and no weed, just a slippery coat of slime that wipes off with the finger and disappears instantly with the washer. Easy job for them...  some boats they have to use a hoe on!!!   The 'Marclear' antifouling shines out again.  Certainly has proven its worth.  Sometimes I am asked if 'Marclear' works elsewhere than the Blackwater, well this year we have put a thousand miles under the keel and sailed the full length of the east coast to Inverness and the width of Scotland to Troon. 

Nowhere along the route did we get any fouling on the hull, so it works well everywhere we went.  What's more I had heard hinted that it is so effective that bare bits of hull can also be protected and this year we lost a small bit of antifouling on the starboard bow when the lifting stop rubbed it off at launch.  I was going to repaint it enroute, if we dried out on a beach...  The only time I did sit on a beach, Lindisfarne, I managed to put the starboard bilge keel in the only mud hole on the beach and the patch was immersed  in the mud...  so it never got repainted.  Even when we got back to Bradwell on the truck after the trip and were popped back into the water I could not do it as once again the strop was covering the patch.

So imagine my surprise when I went to check the area, as a 'control' sample area, expecting a barnacle or two, as it was clean!  Now this does not mean there has been no fouling this year,  as we have boats here with 9 inch grass skirts and barnacles all over.  I strongly suspect the 'Marclear' is simply so strong that adjacent areas are protected.  Have got mine in for next year already!

We have had a couple of new enrolments in the last couple of days, I will be replying to you personally shortly.

So welcome to John Carlise in Belfast with the GH 26 'Rose Bay'  John would dearly like to know anything of the history of his boat.  He is currently replacing the coachroof and replacing the single cylinder Bukh with a twin.  Pictures on the way for the gallery.

Welcome to Christopher White with the great looking GH 31, 'Golden Morn'.  I have seen here in the Essex creeks several times.  She is now to be Newhaven based, though still in the Walton Backwaters at the moment.

I have another picture of 'Golden Morn' to add to the site, I have just added another of 'Estere' to the GH page, our 60th GH member.  Look forward to pictures of 'Rose Bay' shortly.

We have been contacted again by the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall.  They have a library there of boat plans and we are donating a DVD with all  drawings we have collected to them, another way of ensuring these drawings are not lost to the public.  We have already lodged copies with the National Wooden boat building college in Falmouth and the one in Yarmouth.

There are still a few designs that we have not got copies of the drawings that we could pass on to owners, the Golden Hinds of course, though we do have some drawings of the wheelhouse option etc.  Would be great to get drawings of the Atlantic Clipper and later Barbican, as well as some of the very early MG designs.  (Sadly most pre war drawings were lost in a fire, 'Enemy action' as MG would say.).  Some of the other designs by Kenneth Gibbs may still be out there too.  There is an archive of Buchanan drawings at the library and I have added another, a 25ft round bilge boat.  Bought these drawings to 'save' them some years back.

I keep in touch with a lot that happens on the London river, after my years working on it.  Wonder if you know this. The Google Street Mapping car that has no doubt been down your road and photographed your house, (we live at the back of beyond and our little cottage can be seen on Google!).  Well the street car camera has been converted onto a boat and the P.L.A. survey launch, with the camera fitted, has done most of the Thames.  Certainly great for the likes of me who know, or should I say, knew it so well, because I was amazed to see how much had changed again since we last took a trip to St. Kats!  Wonder if other harbour authorities will do the same, a different sort of pilotage aid!

After yesterday out in the fresh air my cold, that had been lurking in the background for a few days has come out to grab me by the throat,  so I am laid up keeping warm for a day or two.  Hope you and your boats are warm and dry.

John

Wednesday 6th November 2013.

Tomorrow I haul out, will be interesting to see the state of the antifouling after 1,000 sea miles!  I know there is a patch where the antifouling got knocked of when we launched, so will be interested to see what that looks like! 

Had a few mails in, a payment for a CD after another enrolment, so welcome to Alexander in Bakersfield California!  CD of the 3 tonner winging it's way to you.

Had a Mail in from Steve ion France, anyone know the owner of 'Nutmeg of Consolation',  an Eventide 26 spotted on the Canal du midi near him.... Steve is refurbishing the Eventide 'Fintra'.

Had a nice mail in from don Street.  some may recognise the name.  don was the owner of 'Iolaire' for over 50 years and has written some good books on cruising.  He sailed the West Indies and Pacific/Atlantic.  at 83 years of age he is still sailing, as crew on a old wooden racing boat and still winning his races!  He told me that when he goes his son was to bury him at sea conventional style with a canvas bag and the last stitch through his nose to make sure, weighed down with a 50lb lead ingot.  His lad said the lead was too precious, he was going to toss the two Seagull he has carried all round the world in, as ballast!

Had a response to the bit I wrote on the forum, Nigel, who is building an Eventide 24 to move all the gear over from his old aging E 24, (used to be called 'Odden', some may recall her on the Blackwater, now 'Niagle.'

We have booked lunch at Walton the Naze for 29th November.  A carvery.  It has to be booked well in advance, but if you would like to join us you have still a few days to get in and call or mail me  01621 778859 or enquiries@eventides.org.uk

We have had a donation in from foundry Reach brokers in Walton on Naze as we had been advertising one of their boats for them on the for sale pages.  Did not actually sell from there but the buyer said he had seen her on our pages!  nice gesture. We have another that is also on their books and we have viewers this weekend, so could be another small donation.

The nights are certainly drawing in now and the magazines and brochures have already landed on my mat, advertising goodies as ideal Christmas presents!  Time was that you never mentioned the 'C' word till a few weeks before...  commercialism..  I binned the catalogues!

Hope your pride and joy is tucked up safe and warm for the winter as mine is going to be.  A warm dry barn!

John

Friday 1st November 2013.

We had a gremlin on the site yesterday, may have been something to do with the date????   Anyway our webmaster, saint that he is, has cracked the problem and normal service is resumed.  It was to do with the Vista operating schemes and the updates Microsoft sent out last week.  Seems Java script found a security problem and issued an update, this conflicted with Explorer.  Simple remedy get rid of the Java script.  It worked. 

The problem we found was on the 'builders and restorers' pages, but I have a sneaky feeling this may be a problem on other pages, so if you find a page that will not open, please let me know and Peter will work his magic on that page too.

Barry did realise Java was a problem 10 years back and he removed it from most pages, but there were still a few oval buttons on some pages taking you back to the previous page or home, these were the problem points.

Had an odd request from a member yesterday.  Can I measure the rudder fittings that you have for sale please, may be able to use them to make a self steering device...  Tape will be out later and we hope to find out more about this device!

'Watercraft' magazine have been back and they are going to press with our Senior design updates and some of our pictures!

Had en enquiry for a CD of the 3 Tonner drawings too!

Always something interesting in the mail box every day.

John

Thursday 31st October 2013.

Halloween!

The wind has now calmed down and so the broomstick riders will have a good night tonight!

We had no problems with St. Jude, the storm, as it was named, but I know some that still have no power 4 days on.  Living out in the sticks as we do we have our own back ups here, but Sodds Law says if you prepare it will never happen, fingers crossed.

Had someone with a dead diesel the other day, bought as an EBay bargain sold as seen....   (You should always see and hear mechanical things working!).  An engineer had a look at the motor and found a hole in it, inside!  The cost of repair...  parts £700,  more than it cost.  Buyer beware!

Just parcelled up a load of parts off the Bits for Sale pages to send to Ian of Everjoy.  quite a few bits selling.  Understand the sails for the E24 are still for sale, they will be a bargain at the price, so the 2 people looking for sails should try contacting the number.  if no joy contact me and I will put you on to an e-mail address of a friend of the seller, he has a shed full of kit to sort through here in Essex, all off this old scrapped Eventide, 'Lilly Belle'.

We have had enquiries re plans from Brazil, but as yet the enquirer has not joined us, a pre requisite for us sending out drawings on CD.

'Watercraft' magazine Editor Pete Greenfield has been in touch again, he is going to do an article on Kenneth Gibbs Senior and the updated stitch and glue hull that Selway-Fisher have produced. apparently it is selling well.  Every one who gets the hull construction drawings then comes to join us and gets a copy of the CD of Senior drawings.  Want to see it  when the first properly engineered Stitch and glue Senior is launched!

We have had several mails from Gary in the States about building an Eventide 24. Gary has left a message on the forum, but till he prompted me he had no responses.  Seems our members are not good at forums...  shame.  Have a look at the entry and the answers, do you agree?

Got to drag myself back to the tax return, rather be sailing!

John

Monday 28th October 2013.

It is not often, thankfully, that the sea  area 'Thames' has Hurricane F12 in it, but we had that last night!  The Helter -Skelter on the end of Clacton Pier was blown over!  A good landmark lost, as it is in bits on the pier now, hope they can rebuild it!  Trains all cancelled till midday and loads of roads closed in Essex with fallen trees and blown over lorries. Only damage here is a bit of old roofing felt lifted on a shed, no problem!  Pleased that none of the many trees we have planted down the road have suffered...

I will toddle off to the boat later but have had no call from the marina, so guess all is good.  I reduced the windage by removing spray hood, dodgers and sails....  fingers crossed the boat up wind of me was secure! Some owners still use clothes line for mooring ropes!

Hope you have come through with out damage, sadly we have seen some boats ashore on the news, mostly in the West country and south coast.  Hopefully all EOG members are careful and caring owners and will have doubled mooring lines and fenders etc....

Had another two new enrolments in the last week, Welcome to Martin Wyatt in New Zealand with the GH 'Estere'. Hope to get some pictures of this boat, she apparently sailed there from the UK in the 1970's!  Where's the log!

Welcome or should I say welcome back, to ex assoc member the Rev David Jenkins.  David had a WW, named 'Max' back in the 1980's, he is now looking at a MG 25ft Gaffer.  Though the boat is in Maldon, he hopes to sail her in his new cruising ground, Tenerife.  Look forward to changing his enrolment from 'Friend' to 'Full' when and if he acquires that gaffer. 

I think it must be a Bawley...  we will see.  (We have the drawings on CD for this one!)

Just sold a load more bits off the bits for sale page, including one of the charts I bought for my trip this year, the Wash! that is going to be aboard 'Everjoy' next season!

I was out practicing for the forthcoming 'Fiddling Around' crew reunion!  We are all off ten pin bowling in a couple of weeks, just for fun!  Boy are my shoulders stiff today!  I'm rubbish at it, but it is fun!

'Fiddler's Green' is coming out next week to be locked away in her new winter barn.  I can honestly say this has been the best thing ever to keep our boat in good order.  We have, over the years, had several covered storage barns, keeping the boat dry and frost free is a real bonus. Yes it costs,  but not megabucks, but well worth it.

Hope your boats OK and if in the other half of the world and fitting out, lets have those logs after your summer!

John

Thursday 24th October 2013.

We have had a message from our insurers!

Severe Weather Warning
In view of the severe winds and rain forecast for the south and south west this coming weekend and beyond, Craftinsure would like to pass on some seasonal risk management advice to all customers which may help prevent damage to boats as winter approaches.

•If left afloat, arrange for your boat to be checked regularly and for warps to be adjusted as required, especially where rivers and lakes are expected to flood.
•Don’t rely on automatic bilge pumps as these can become blocked or suffer power failure.
•Check all boat covers are in place and securely fastened.
•Make sure dinghies are securely tied down to the ground if left at sailing clubs or any exposed locations.
•Remove spray dodgers and boom covers from yachts to reduce wind resistance if laid up ashore. Un-step masts if possible.
•Securely tie furling headsails to prevent them unfurling in strong winds.
•Where chocked up ashore, check that supports and securing arrangements are adequate and well placed.
•Remove portable electronics and other expensive or vulnerable items to a secure storage location.
•Ensure trailers are well secured to prevent movement in strong winds.
•If appropriate, move your boat to a more sheltered location where possible.

But most importantly

•If you do become aware that your boat is suffering damage due to the extreme weather, don’t take any action that could put your personal safety (or the safety of others) at risk.

 

For my part I spent several hours at my boat around HW  this afternoon, the weather was just right to hoist and unroll the genoa, remove  genoa, main and staysail.  I have removed all the halyards from the mast too, taken all the heavy gear off, the Seagull, dinghy, life-raft and boxes of kit.  I filled the moggy van to the roof!  I will be back again tomorrow to take more off, when again the tide is high and it is easier to carry it, or push that trolley, up the brow!  I bet I fill that van 3 times with kit, it is amazing where it all goes!

I am hoping that by Monday and this storm comes in the boat will be empty and  all the wind-age from dodgers and spray hood gone.  the mooring lines have anti-chafe on them so hopefully all will be well and I can go back and haul her out  at the end of the week.

Hope you can make sure yours is safe.

John

The wind has been howling round the cottage, F7 on the anemometer!  Pleased I made the sensible decision!  Sad though as now it is time to remove the sails and kit and lay up...

Have just added a load of text to all the new pictures on Everjoy's page.  Hope Ian gets all sorted over winter and afloat next year. 

Have just added another GH for sale to our For Sale Pages...

Just added a bit to the restorers pages Victor in Croatia has a problem with an Atlantic clipper's steering, can anyone help?

If you are still afloat, hope you get a weather window. If laying up, make sure those covers are secure!

John

Monday 21st October 2013.

'To his immortal Memory'

Sadly my tribute to the great man and those who fell with him 208 years ago has been a washout. 

Heavy rain and F6 to 7 winds has meant I put off my annual Trafalgar cruise.  Makes no sense to get cold and wet!   I will still stand in silence to toast him and his sailors tonight though.

John

Tuesday 15th October 2013.

Just a few days but a decided drop in temperature!

I am looking forward to a last few days afloat, from Trafalgar Day on, then hauling out. Some think we may have a harsh winter..  Hope to be securely locked into a warm barn by then! The new winter storage is envied by many down at the marina! Get to talk to a friendly farmer.  Why is it in the Netherlands there are loads of undercover boat storage sheds, but few here?

Have had an enquiry about Eventide Keels and cabin tops, why are cabin tops so different?  Maurice told me it was immaterial, what shape the cabin tops were, within reason, (No sheds please!), he realised owners and builders would opt to do their own thing, so much so that he did not design a rigid interior. His opinion was so long as the underwater lines were not overly interfered with, ( a 10% lengthening was OK), it mattered little. The later keel modifications and raised topsides were all agreed with Maurice and the proof was in the sailing, 'Fiddler's Green' and many others, built with deeper keels and slightly raised topsides are living proof. Suffice to say I am very proud M.G. chose to use my modified Eventide for the cover of his biography!  One mod not too many are aware of is the wider side decks, not by much , but sufficient to enable easy access to the foredeck!

Great that we have 'evolving' drawings!.

We had an enquiry regarding the wheelhouse on the Atlantic Clipper, sadly there was no drawing for it, (though there is for the G.H. surprisingly).  So if your Clipper has one we would like the measurements...

I am chasing 3 contacts re Eventides that have been or are about to be scrapped. trying to lay our hands on the sails and other parts for others....  Hope to be able to add adverts for these parts for the restorers etc.

I am knocking my head against a brick wall with the new burgees and beginning to lose faith in the sail maker.  Has anyone a contact for Burgees?

One of the jobs on my winter list is to replace the fuel tank. Amazing how many variations on tanks can now be found on the net. Just using the EOG EBay page I have found several affordable options. watch this space!  I need the larger tank for the second half of my circumnavigation!

Off to post Seagull parts, back soon, keep those mails coming in! Great to be the best MG site ever!

John

Friday 11th October 2013.

The wild and wet, weather has set in for the weekend so no sailing for me for a week!  With 30mm forecast for today and 50knot winds it is time to batten hatches!  I do hope to get out on Trafalgar day, (21st of course), for just a few days with the lads, all local stuff, no epic journeys this time!  If you fancy toasting Nelson with us call 'Fiddler's Green' on Ch 16 if you are nearby!

We have organised an autumn get together with members in Walton on Naze area.  Friday 29th November at 1300 for lunch.  call me on 01621 778859 if you would like to join us.  An excellent buffet lunch.

We have had a couple of enquiries for CD's and another boat added to the For Sale pages. A very well travelled Eventide 24.  With Dave Green at the helm, single-handed he sailed all round the UK!  Refitted and ready to go again if you fancy it!

We have had a photo of another Eventide on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe!  This time a 9.5metre long steel boat. the sender of the details is Mike in South Africa who is looking at buying... so 2 Eventides on a lake in Zimbabwe.  add to that at least 2 that were built there when it was called Rhodesia and taken over land to the coast and away...  One is here in Bradwell Creek!  'Irene', Tony Scrace's boat.  The design does get around!

Golden Hinds do too.  Brian of 'right-E-Oh' tells me his old boat with it's new owners, is waiting in Titchmarsh Marina for a weather window and off to the south coast.  The other G.H. in Walton Backwaters is now also on our pages for sale.  We also have 2 others on our pages.  'Moonlight' and 'Moondancer'. All very nice boats.  were it not for the fact that I built my Eventide and know every bolt and plank, and she has served me so well, I may well be looking closely at these boats.

I am waiting on news of another Eventide, that is very much a 'project' boat.  sadly as we all know so well, 'project' boats need a lot of time and effort as well as finance, and there are not many takers these days...  I hope to go and see this one in the not too distant future.  Could be that it may be another donor boat... I am in contact with three owners of boats that have become this and hope to have some gear to ad to the 'bits for Sale' pages soon.

Talking of which I send a large parcel of chandlery off to a member this week, sold from this page, so if you have items to sell, send us details and we will advertise them for you.

Just adding a selection of nice photos of 'Lone Kittiwake' a beautiful junk rigged version!

Check your covers and mooring lines all.

John

Tuesday 8th October 2013.

Our website has been recognised as the best place for brokers to now advertise our sort of  boats that they have on their books, and so long as members have not already opted to advertise their boats already with us we will be publishing brokers adverts and hopefully the EOG will receive small donations from these companies when the boat sell as a result.

We have just altered a few adverts and in the next 24 hours will alter and add more.  We have just sold several items from the 'Bit's for Sale' page too.  there are many attractive items advertised here.

I have caught up with the new enrolments, or so I thought, but today we have more!

Welcome to Richard Matthews of Scotland who is the new owner of the  Eventide 26 'Iona of Aln'.  I will be replying officially shortly Richard.

We have had more requests for adverts on the site and another response to items for sale, busy here!

We are looking for items to post for sale, especially sails.  so if you have any that need a new home, contact by mail and send details. 

We have had a very interesting u tube clip in from Australia, 'Angela's new motor' Click the link here to go to it! Thanks to Peter Kirkland for sending it in!  Perfect engine for the Eventide too!

I have been able to give details of trailing weights to 2 owners, one with an Eventide the other with one of those rather lovely GH 26's!

The postbag has been very full this month so far!

Weather nice today for a potter but I am busy, out at the weekend I hope, but a lot cooler by then, so today it's a short run out on the 55 year old Bantam motor bike to get the bike MOT'd (Yes I know it no longer needs one, but an independent pair of eyes is good for both me and the insurance company!).

Talking of insurance I have just renewed a 'CraftInsure' dinghy policy through the link on the website and I have been reminded that I need to have another survey done for 'Fiddler's Green' this winter as the boat is over 20 years old now (25 next year!) so it is a survey every 3 years.  Bet she passes with flying colours again, but good to have a check up.... time to contact Arc surveys, see the links page!

John

Saturday 5th October 2013.

I have almost caught up with mails and have managed to reply to some new members, will attempt to get time this evening for all the rest.

Welcome then to the following new members:-

Brian Sinclair with the Golden Hind 26 'Proteus' based on the Colne, hope to see more of her.

Robert Wheeler with the Eventide 26 'Celtic Lass' in Poole. He is adding the finishing touches to the former owners restoration and hopes to be sailing soon.

Stephen Dargavel  with a Steel Eventide 26, no name yet, in Lincolnshire.

David Alcock in Australia with the Water witch 'JoJo' this one we know as it belonged to tim who was our webmaster for a while!

Paul Wanstall of Merseyside with the Eventide 24 'Myomy'. We like the name! Sadly Paul has no sail number or other information about the boat, anyone help here?

Douglas Rowe of Essex with the Golden Hind 31 'Moonlight'. this was the boat Mark Urry built for himself when running the boatyard., seen sailing on the Blackwater in a thunderstorm in August last, pics on the gallery, thank heavens for water proof cameras!

Michael Howard of Merseyside, who is hoping to fulfil his ambition of building a Senior! More power to the elbow Michael.

These are the new enrolments that have come in in the past 2 weeks whilst I was away.  You can see we are still getting people join at the rate of 3 a week!

I have made a few changes on the 'For Sale' pages, a couple of price changes and the GH 32 Right E Oh has sold.  worth a look if you are in the market for a good WW or maybe a Riptide to restore??

We are looking to arrange an Essex, midday, get together up in Walton On Naze area at the end of this month, so we can meet up with Brian and Mavis. (They have just sold 'Right E Oh').  More details later.

I have to visit the sail maker next week to chivvy him up on the Burgees.  This is taking forever to sort.  Sadly we lost the local company that made the last batches of burgees for us and ironically the Burnham sail maker, Lonton and Gray, has just moved to their old premises!  However whereas the flag maker did it all in one go, we now have to get the fabric from the sail maker, take it to a printer and get it printed in a set pattern, then taken back to the sail maker to be cut and stitched. All long winded and does not help if the sail maker has to move when we are trying to get the special pattern from them....

Will keep you all posted on the burgee front as many are after them.  I  need a new one too, as mine blew out whilst kept flying for 2 months, in the fierce winds we had on the trip!!

We had a mail this week about a sad Eventide 24 left in a garden for many, many years.  It needs a new home and I hope to get more details then go over and see it, it is not more than 50 miles from me.  Seems it was built in 1969, sailed for some years then rot got in and it was trailed to the owners garden.  Repair work was done but not finished, so sadly the rot may be back in it....  If I believe it can be saved I will be advertising it.  Otherwise I may be breaking it up for it's parts for donations to the groups funds.

I have requests from a couple of members for sails etc and this boat may have some usable ones if she is broken up, but i am also chasing an old mail from an ex owner in Scotland who has some sails, It has just been difficult for them to get at them to sort them out.  could help a few owners out...

Went down to 'Fiddler's Green' yesterday, first chance I have had since we have returned, (I did know she was alright via the local grapevine though). Pleased to say all the batteries topped up, you must have had some sunshine for the solar panel to do it's bit!  however there was an annoying bit of water in the bilge again and we can now trace this back to a leaking cockpit locker drain so this is an urgent job on the winter jobs list!

I organised my new secure barn winter storage again for this year yesterday, so work will be done on her from November on.  still time for a last cruise, my traditional Trafalgar Cruise, 3, 4 or 5 days in and around the Blackwater, Crouch and Colne.  Will publish dates soon, if anyone cares to join us.  (normally me and a couple of mates!).

I am off motor biking tomorrow, there is a big show not far away and my little BSA bantam apparently much admired. (A 1958 Bantam D5 for those in the know!). She looks resplendent all restored with Doug's beautifully made wooden box on the back sign written up with my Seagull logos! 

If you are out sailing it may be a lovely drift.....  F1 forecast.

John

Wednesday 2nd October 2013.

Sorry for the 2 week pause in updates. We once again were guests at the Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Muktoum's Arabian resort. We count ourselves as the luckiest people out to be taken there to enjoy the warm seas and sunshine of Arabia. The people, the hospitality and the culture is amazing and we have totally recharged our batteries, come back with new Arabian friends and a great tan!

In my absence we have had at least 4 new enrolments, and several updates on boats and projects.  We have had volunteers to help the youth project Eventide restoration in Folkestone and feedback for Victor in croatia with his preparations for the world trip in his Atlantic Clipper.

We have had requests for CD's and mails from the National archive of the maritime museum applauding our site.

I will be back with more on all of this when my feet are firmly back on the ground!  (Though flying first Class is not a chore and certainly no jetlag!). Got to catch up with my seagull customers, then I will be back, good sailing, looks to be good for a while yet, though not the 36 degrees we have been enjoying!

John

Wednesday 18th September 2013.

The weather is changing gently and days for sailing diminishing, I have just organised my winter barn storage for this winter,  a safe and secure storage  where I hope to be able to repaint the cabintop and decks as planned. I also will be removing the fuel tank to replace it with one twice as large, for the other half of my circumnavigation!

Have you any great plans?  Good to have dreams!

Hoping to satisfy a few sailors dreams with the CD's we are sending out!  Have another to send tomorrow, one of Colin Faggetter's to Australia.  Any of Colin's that we send out makes a donation to the RNLI in memory of him, a nice touch!

I have heard from Ian of the Eventide 'Everjoy'.  He is looking forward to next year and a good years sailing!  I will be adding pictures of the finishing off of 'Everjoys' restoration and relaunching to Ian's page shortly.

We sent a CD of Eventide Drawings to the good doctor in Folkestone this week, for his youth project and the restoration of the Eventide 'Ebbtide'.  Great to be able to help out.

To the many people who have asked after the new batch of burgees, they sail maker has made us a 'pattern' that he can cut them to on his laser cutter, we now have to pick that up and take it to the printer to see if they can print to the same pattern, hope so after talking to them. then when printed they will have to go back to the sail maker who is to cut them out and sew them.  all a little long winded and so far it has taken 6 months to get this far, not helped by the fact that the sail maker has had to move to larger premises in the meantime!  We soldier on!  With any luck I should be able come back with definitive prices, in about 3 months.....  maybe....

I am still reaping results from my 'Fiddling Around' trip this year, the other day out of the blue came another picture from a harbour master who snapped us, then looked us up on the net.  Amazing, I will get the pic added to the log!  I have had comments in from all over the world, Eventiders and of course my Seagull customers, as the log is still readable on both sites.

I have three and a half hours of video to work on.  The lad has promised to help me edit it on his apple down to half an hour or so with voiceover and music.  No idea how long it is going to take, but when it is done I will publish a link to it as it will be placed on my SOS website.  I have looked at a lot of clips, some great, some rubbish, hopefully the finished product will be worth looking at and not too long or boring..  One big wave can look just like the next one!

Taking a short break, back in a week or so.

John

P.S. welcome to Colin in Scotland with 'Lone Kittiwake' a junk rigged 'Lone Gull II'!  Looking forward to the pictures of that one!

And real Stoppress item.. mail from Mounts Bay, Cornwall and Peter says he is watching the Sennen Lifeboat tow in 'Diaol Armor' a 43ft Galapagos design, sailed by a friend of the EOG,  Alex Clarkson.  Apparently the foresail in tatters.

Apparently crew of two on deck and appently OK, but I bet there is a story to be told there!  Alex is the son of the couple who sailed the Waterwitch  'Pilecap' round the world, he was just a lad on board at the time, we understand.  I will publish more when we find out more.

John

Saturday 14th September 2013.

As the rain is still in the air and the prospective purchasers of Dougaljo have had to postpone their visit, I have spent some time editing the pages.  I have added a lot of photos, several more Eventides have been added plus the large article from Victor in Croatia restoring his Atlantic Clipper. I have started another new page on the Restorers section!  Some good tips in the work he is doing. 

Sent all the official welcomes out to the four recent enrollers.  We are still finding new members every week, go to be doing something right!

Off out to plant a hedge now!  Soil is all nice and wet so just right for the saplings!

John

P.S. just added more to the Restorers page! Mark has sent in updates on the restoration of Carina.

In addition I have heard more from Croatia and have been able to advise Victor on how to remove the bearing on his shaft, will add that to the pages too.

And we have just had requests for 4 more CDs so will be sending these out shortly, plus one to the good doctor and his youth group restoring the Eventide 'Ebbtide'.

And as I type this another request for more CD's, another 4!

And another boat for sale, an Eventide in Scotland...

Busy here. Well done everyone for keeping the Eventide Owners Group so active!

John

Friday 13th September 2013.

A post box that mysteriously appeared on a Thames bridge is to be removed.

The box on Sonning Bridge is only accessible by water. It appeared during the night.

Royal Mail said it was not one theirs and would not be collecting post from it.

Local councillor Mike Haines said he thought it was a "bit of fun" but the post box will have to come down.

Sonning Bridge is a listed structure which means it is protected and any alterations must be approved by the council.

Whilst I am aware it is a protected bridge, you have to admire the cheek and ingenuity of the people who pulled this stunt!  This item of news and many others come to us every week, this website gives more info about happenings on the Thames!   http://www.riverthamesnews.com/News1000.html

I am constantly amazed at the power of our website and the numbers that read our pages, as a result of my entry yesterday I am off to show a pair of prospective purchasers over Dougaljo. I have also spoken to Brian of 'Right-E-Oh'  after visitors to our pages found out the long way that she may be sold, Brian confirms this may well be the case, pending survey.  Sure it will pass with flying colours Brian.

Heard from Briony in Scotland with the Steel Eventide Molly Jade.  She was after the overall measurements for transporting and storing in Inverness marina. Pleased to be able to assist. Hope Briony will continue to update us on the boat's progress.

Welcome to new member Nelson Magnusson in Canada with an early Eventide 24. she is unusual in that she is fin keel, the second new Eventide and the second fin keeler in a week!

Welcome also to Paul Hojlund, (that is as near as I can get to spelling his name on my keyboard!) Paul is in Denmark and is joining as a 'Friend' with a Vivacity, I will find out if he is looking to buy or build one of ours...

I had a package arrive in the post today, a beautifully crafted teak grating, a step or platform.  At just a few inches tall , it will enable me and a few others, to stand at the back of my cockpit and see over the sprayhood clearly!  During the trip I spent a lot of time on tiptoe!   I will have to take a little off  the front 2 feet to allow it to sit level over the cockpit drains, and I will leave it to weather, should be just what I need. Will test it shortly!

I repaired my on board shower this week.  On board shower!!!  Well to be honest it is a garden 'Killier spray' pump up spray, but I  replaced the weed killer nozzle with a small camping and caravanning type shower head and valve.  After 25 years the shower head broke, but using our EBay page I have sources and now fitted a new smart shower head with integral on/off valve.

I got a bit of stick from Darian as we have not used the shower on board, (under the tent, in the cockpit), for many years.  but I argued that if we carry it, it has to work or be thrown off.  When you need a shower and none are available, it is perfect.   (One kettle of water and top up with water. Pump and 2 people can get clean!)

Simple and efficient.  In the Netherlands, whilst swimming daily in the Verse Meere, we stored it full of water, in a black plastic bag, left in the sunshine by day, by evening it was ready to use!

Wonder what bit of gear you carry that is only used once a decade!?

john

Thursday 12th September 2013.

I have, this morning, added an advert for our dear friend Doug's Waterwitch 'Dougaljo'.  As an octogenarian Doug has reluctantly had to admit he is not quite up to sailing now, though as sharp as ever!.  The boat is offered for a very realistic low price, as there are a couple of issues with water getting in that have to be addressed and  that reflects in the price.

You could paint the bottom and launch it, sail her away quite happily as she stands, to a creek or boatyard of your choice and do the remedial work needed next summer, when the glue will set OK.  She is a safe and sound, go anywhere boat. Doug built her with Alan of 'Bonita', the two boats built side by side.  He is very keen to have an enthusiast able to look after her buy her and enjoy what he has enjoyed for the last 20 years. Interested? Go to the 'For Sale'  page.   She is being sold as a 'sailaway' boat, extra gear to be sold separately.

I have heard via the grapevine that the Golden Hind 'Right E Oh' has been sold, or at least I have been contacted by a prospective buyer who thinks he was pipped at the post for her!  hope to hear from Brian and Mavis on that one.

I have reduced the price of the GH 31 'Moondancer' for Roger and Kathy, who have had enough of the weather in the UK and are off to warmer climes again! 

We have had a new member from South Africa, Dr. Richard Daneel has an Eventide 26, 'Phoenix' in South Africa and is looking for a GH to sail longer distances...  Welcome Richard, pictures soon to be added to the Eventide page of the gallery, another unknown boat and she is a fin keel version!

A new 'Associate member' from Montana in the USA, Gary Davis, not sure if Gary is looking at buying or maybe building one of our designs.. will find out more.

Pleased to say I have heard again from Victor in Croatia, he acted on advice I gave him re his Atlantic Clipper's stern tube bearings and Norris's of Isleworth have confirmed my opinion that the outer bearing holder had a grit seal as well as a bearing, Victor is now looking to remove this, as it is worn and replace it.  Great to be able to assist.  Victors article will be added to the site on the Barbican and clipper page soon.

I will be adding a few more item to the 'Bits for Sale' pages shortly, as a result of the pending sale of 'Dougaljo'.

We have had a couple of people have a problem enrolling with us, and maybe the best solution to this has been sent in by Nels Mag, with the Eventide 24 in Canada, who has printed the page off and completed it by hand and mailed it to us!  Well done Nels and welcome to the Eventiders.

I replaced the damaged cabin sole in my focsle the other day, a simple job with the power planer and epoxy.  Easy to do in the garage anyway, not everyone has that luxury and the  temperature outside rapidly falling so time for repairs to boats in creeks running out.. 

Still time for a sail or two before laying up, see you on the river!

John

Saturday 7th September 2013.

The Forecast for today is F5 and F6.  Apart from the rain yesterday the last week has been lovely, why is it the weather breaks at weekends?

I have had a mail from Victor in Croatia again, he has managed to put all the mails we had to and fro into an article, and I will be placing it on the site over the weekend.  See the Atlantic Clipper pages.  We are still puzzling over the outboard bearing on his prop shaft.  Appears to be some kind of seal..  I had a boat once with an outboard stuffing box as well as an inboard one, it was designed to keep sand and grit out as the boat was used in muddy waters.  Any one got similar experiences with a Barbican or Atlantic clipper?

Still waiting to hear from 3 people again re either tracing or selling their boats.  Info will be posted when I get it.

Varnishing new floor board for the boat today, and the new teak boxes for the hand held radio and the winch handle holder. They do look good! Hope to get down in the week to fit them and take a bumble out on the river...

Had an invite to visit the Coast Guard stand at the Southampton boat show....

I have just spent a little time adding some items to the 'Bits for Sale' pages.  All the charts you will need to sail between Scotland and Harwich, plus the tidal atlases!  Anyone up for it??

I will be sorting a couple more charts out that I used at the Western end of the Caledonian shortly!.  The rest are being saved and updated for the final half of my circumnavigation, next year??

Sent out a copy of the 'Storm' drawings this week to Enrico in Italy and  we have also had another new member.

Welcome to Keith Phillips with the GH  26 'Proteus'. Keith sails from the Colne so we should be crossing wakes at some stage, keep that luff taught Keith, my camera is never far away from the hand!

Take advantage of the sailing days when you can, summers going fast!

John

Tuesday  3rd September 2013

It would appear this may be the last fling of summer, we have temperatures in the 20's and fair breezes, the river was covered in boats today, a few more days only....

We are about to have a brilliant opportunity present it self to anyone wanting to buy a Waterwitch, at a greatly reduced price, provided they are willing to take on all the work involve in curing the deck and cabintop leaks she has that have sadly caused some rot.  At the same time a lot of the other gear from the boat will also be offered for sale separately.  Keep an eye on the For Sale pages.  Will announce it when I post it.  The whole idea is that the owner wishes the boat to be restored and sailed again, he is not worried about possibility that who ever restores it will eventually sell it on at a profit, just so long as it is sailing again!

I have had to replace a bit of my cabin sole this week, it was only 1/2 inch ply and a little flexible , but I found it had delaminated, so I am having to add a little stiffening to prevent the flexing. I must be putting on weight I guess!

i have found a possible cure for my small fuel tank problem, a new tank fitted beneath the cockpit sole.  I have found that now you can buy purpose made plastic tanks, with fuel gauge etc and all connections, at reasonable cost, so up with the floor this winter and out with the tape measure.!  I can double the 8 gallon tank size easily!

One of the other thoughts we had after the 'Trip' was stowage for a couple of items in the cockpit.  I have cured this by buying a teak winch handle holder, (using our EBay page!)  and by Alan Lonton making me a made to measure, hand held VHF holder in teak, matches perfectly!  Alan really is an excellent craftsman.

Had another enquiry from Nels, and I am waiting to get the name and sail number.

We had another enquiry from Paul burrows, re a Kesteloo Eventide, we are awaiting more details on that one too.

Enough for now, off to do some Seagull work.

John

Tuesday 27th August 2013..

Well I predicted rain and by golly we got it!  Over 2 inches in 3 hours.  Many parts of Essex were flooded, Maldon and Latchingdon not too fat away and many roads in Essex just south of here totally impassable for hours. So hardly surprising that the fireworks were also cancelled!  We motored away from Bradwell at the height of the Storm, the Musto's doing their job so well, and of course the boat did not mind a wash.  I called the marina on the  (waterproof) handheld as we left, a courtesy call to say our berth would be empty and Stuart said we must be mad!  We were the only ones out there, almost...  a couple of boats were high tailing it into the marina as we left!

Hockley Railway station Essex Saturday!

The fireworks just had to be cancelled, it was torrential, first time they have had to do that in years. We heard from other boats, they had taken shelter elsewhere, so no takers this year!

We puttered across to West Mersea where there was no signs of life in the deluge and crept up one of the creeks.  We stayed there for 3 days!  The wildlife was amazing and we only saw 7 people all weekend, including the oystermen tending their oysters!

 The rarest bird we saw was the spectacular Egyptian goose.  There were an adult pair and 6 goslings, so they have bred here, probably on the RSPB reserve we were anchored next to and probably the first ones to breed outside Norfolk.  When it flies the tops of the wings are black with a broad white stripe down the length.  They walked close past us, flew past us and swum past us, but as soon as a man with a telescope appeared on the horizon, they flew away. Darn twitchers!

The seals a male and female, entertained us all weekend, quite amusing to see them playing hide and seek, or more probably 'catch me if you can' as the female was always in the lead!  They were endearing as they lay together on the oyster mans raft! Got to be plenty of fish about!

Met other owners and friends this weekend, but no one was about to go off for a sail.  We gently puttered back to base as the wind blew an Easterly 4 and the forecast was for more.

Today of course it is gentle breezes and sunshine, Soddes Law.

We will be out on the river for a month or two more yet, but I do feel the August Bank holiday lived up to it's traditional 'end of season' reputation again!

John

Friday 23rd August 2013.

Boy, have you seen the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday!  So typical of the August Bank Holiday!  Heavy continuous rain all Saturday and into Sunday then add F4/5 occ. 6 for Sunday!  I wonder if the weather gods wait for me to organise a day afloat before unleashing all the wet stuff!  I can tell you I sometimes think I am a mobile test bed for Musto's!  (And so far they don't leak!)

Today had a request for an advert on the site from member Gerry.  he is the owner of the Lone gull II 'Ivory Gull'.  She is a very unusual MG, one of just a handful.  she is rigged as a Junk Schooner!  Like 'Jua' she does look a picture!  See the For Sale page.

I am still adding pictures etc to the site, another GH going on today!  and another load of pictures and info on the restoration of 'John Humby'.

Well the wind is beginning to get up in anticipation of the weekend and though there is not a cloud in the sky, but the air has a damp feel to it, so what's new!

See you on the river, I will be the one with the umbrella!

John

Thursday 22nd August 2013.

Welcome to new member Simon bell, he is rebuilding the Eventide 26 'Mistress II' not far from here.  I met Simon when he bought the boat and have kept an eye on progress since.  He seems to be doing the right things, removing any suspect timber plus a bit more and as far as I could se last I looked, not attempting to re-plank the plywood with joint on frames!  Always fails! think he must be reading the site!

I have spent 3 hours today trying to catch up with articles and photos.  I have uploaded about 25 new pictures to the site, amended dozens of pages and added articles to many pages.

We have had so much activity this summer, a lot since I returned, but some outstanding from the time i was sailing, so sorry to those who may have been waiting a while.

Pages that have been amended include:-  Little Gull's page , Elbarco's page, the Eventide page several times!

the Senior page, the Riptide page, the Wild Duck page, the boats for Sale page, the home page, The 3Tonner page, the MG designs page, The GH pages, the Barbican and Atlantic clipper pages, The Lone Gull page and the Newsletter page.   I have added a note to the Burgee page about the next batch of flags too.  I have added a bit to my 'Fiddling around' page.  There have also been small alterations on other pages just to correct spelling or grammatical errors that I found. bet there are going to be more of those!

I have more photos to add to the pages and a couple more articles to shoehorn in, but the fingers are geting tired, so they will have to wait for another day.

Thanks to all the dozens of people who have sent mails in pictures comments and articles.  We literally have half a dozen of these mails a day, plus other enquiries.

This weekend I hope to meet a few members afloat and enjoy the fireworks Saturday evening at the Mersea Regatta.  No meal this year though, they have shut the place down for the night!.  Meeting a couple of people at Bradwell before we sail too.

Though the forecast is for rain on Saturday, I doubt it will effect the fireworks and we will enjoy the sail Sunday and Monday.

The season is rapidly drawing to a close again and I only just think it has started, even though we had nearly a thousand miles under the keel before the end of July!  Hopefully we will have an 'Indian Summer' to round the year off.

See you on the river!

John.

Sunday 18th August 2013.

the gales over this weekend have at last abated and we hope the high pressure building over the UK will last till next weekend, as.. yes it's West Mersea....

Saturday 24th August, West Mersea Meet.  Bank Holiday Weekend. HW time 1520

Once again we will meet at Maurice's old club on the Saturday afternoon for a drink, maybe on the lawn outside, at about 6pm..  Followed by a walk up the road to one of the eating houses! Last year table booked for 18!  HW. Saturday about 1520.  We once again hope to have arranged snug moorings, in the upper Strood channel,  as we have done in previous years courtesy of Tony, one of our members.   Boats on the moorings will  dry water at L.W. this year!   £5.00 a night to RNLI. There will also be the WMYC boatman  on hand or we can use our dinghies as we have in the past...  Call sign YC1 on channel 37 ('Why Sea One') if you need the taxi, but be warned prices have gone up, £3.00 single late night!

There are rooms to let we have heard at the  Victory Pub, 01206 382907 for Saturday and Sunday if needed, this means those who would like to come by road can meet us outside  the WMYC on the Saturday evening, can arrange to come for a sail in company with us on Sunday, maybe a short sail to Maldon and back,  then later  a drink  at the WMYC Sunday evening.  Or Sunday we may if there are no guests, just have a sail in company, maybe up to Maldon in the afternoon, to later drop down to a creek for the night before sailing home Monday.

Will be attempting to book a table  at the Oyster Bar for a meal on the Saturday.     We have to book...  so if you want to come along Saturday night about 7pm or 7.30pm you HAVE to let me know by Tuesday 20th August at the latest....... 01621 778859  Post Script, as it is regatta they are closing and so no meal....