We jokingly referred to Peter Lyons as 'Uncle Jim', when he gave us a hand getting Ceol-Mara in the water last summer. The reference, for those of you that haven't read the books, is to the stalwart character of Captain Flint, in the Swallows and Amazons series, by Arthur Ransome.
Little did we know...
On our last day of sailing, as a great many of you know, Ceol-Mara's mainmast came down around us - leaving us somewhat stranded in Ballyholme bay. Given our 'reliable' seagull was doing what it did best (nothing much, then) we were really a bit stuck. Luckily, we called upon some friends and lived to sail another day - and that is cutting the story very short. But this is not a story about how we broke the mast... this is the story of how we made the new one.
In Swallowdale, the Swallow's mast breaks in a much more dramatic manner, including a sinking. Luckily, the local boat yard is able to supply the appropriate length of timber, and 'Uncle Jim' sets to, helping the youngsters fashion a new mast. In our case, it was thanks to the generosity of Terry Needham, who had an old folkboat mast sitting looking for a home. Within a day or so of the December Gaffers Log coming out, he was in touch offering it to us. (which is really very lucky, considering the beautiful typo I managed in the article describing the measurements we needed...)
So, with a mast, and a planer, we were all set to go.
And you know what Gaffers are; very willing to offer advice. So Peter stopped by one morning, and gave me the gist of what needed done. Then he gave the same to Mandy a few nights later in the Royal North - which is a good thing, because anything mathematical goes through one ear and out the other with me.
Mandy having broken the planer, (well, she followed Peter's advice, used a piece of string in some interesting calculation, and the planer swallowed it. There followed an interesting half hour of tkaing the planer to pieces, removing said string, and putting it all back together again. I might add it works just as well.), me having created some interesting lumps and bumps in our new mast (am relegated to sanding the hull in preparation for antifoul.) and various things like work having got in the way...
However, I am pleased to say, we now have something looking a lot more like a mast of a 16ft schooner than a folk boat mast! It's not finished yet, and indeed, it's getting to the point where appropriate advice might be paid for in the good old black stuff, but at least it's getting somewhere!
The aim is to be in the water the week before Carrick, so we have time to get accustomed to our new, and exceedingly shiny, suzuki D6...
The Seagull? It's found a new home with my uncle, down in Clare. Luckily, if it stops in the middle of his little lake, he can take out the oars.
Danielle
(and I apologise for all the entries that purport to be by me. It's just a little blip which I will try an sort out. Just in case you can't tell by the distinctive Gary Lyons-esque style (and his name...) all entries before this date were written by him, not me!)
Our esteemed Commodore, Mr Dennis Magill was recently in receipt of his long awaited 'Commodores ensign'.
Chiquitita lain Oughtred designed 'Puffin' class varnished wooden sailing dinghy (3.11m x 1.23 x 0.48m) with pale grey painted hull, built (2001) and maintained to an exceptionally high standard by the late Alan Hidden.