On the mooring

I've been rowing out at high tides this week getting all the gear aboard and ready to be stowed. Galley and cooking stuff, bedding, anchors, spare parts, bilge pumps, water bottles, compasses, harnesses, lifejackets, sails, fire fighting stuff, VHF, fenders, drogue, inflatable dinghy, battery, - and that's just the tip of the iceberg!!! For the final preparations it's now down to checking all the lists. Assembling 1st aid kit, tool kit, spare parts and making sure nothing gets forgotten.

Cookie is afloat once again!

Last Friday 23rd April, Cookie was launched into the River Exe and is now happily tied to her new mooring off Lympstone. It was a neap tide so wasn't coming anywhere near where Cookie rested on the slipway. I slapped another wheel on the rickety trolly and with the help of Sailing Club members at hand, we lifted the stbd hull onto the trolley, then lifted the port hull and pushed Cookie sideways into the brook channel. Wooohooo!! She always comes alive when she hits the water!! I followed her in and came within 2 inches of wallet and phone as I sank in the mud!!!!!
Thanks again to Alan Dixon who gave us a tow out of the shallow and narrow channel to the mooring. A quick check below to see if any water was coming in proved all is OK. It's a first for Cookie to have a thru-hull fitting and now something else for me to worry about!!

In the garden and ready for the move

Getting prepared to move Cookie from her refit refuge of 3 Strawberry Hill and take her down to Lympstone slipway.

Cookie wheels past Lympstone Church

It's not everyday a catamaran is wheeled in separate pieces through this village!!

Tire blowout halts progress!!

Phil and Cookie take a break after the front tire collapses in the center of Lympstone.

Port hull departing the garden

Thanks goes to Lympstone Sailing Club member Ian Schoefield for loaning his boat trailer to fetch the second hull after the wheel blowout on my wooden trolley!!

Bolting Cookie together

It pays to be flexible when owning a small boat!!!!!

Cookie moves to the waters edge!

A great day forward for the project as we moved Cookie down onto the Lympstone slipway. My brother-in-law Phil came to give a hand and we had the first hull loaded and being wheeled on the trolley by 10am. A minor crisis struck when one a trolly tire fell apart leaving Phil and I to half carry and half wheel Cookie's stbd hull the remaining distance. By this time Alan Dixon had come to watch the proceedings and lend a hand - and what a hand it was. Alan managed to rustle up another trailer for an hour so we could fetch the port hull and complete the job. Well done Alan!!!!
Now Cookie is bolted and lashed together and awaits the net, mast and rudders tomorrow. I'll visit on the 11.30pm high tide tonight to make sure she's not trying to float away too soon.

Long overdue April update

Its been head down, bum up getting all the repairs done to Cookie this past month. The beams have been reinforced with glass where needed, then painted. Harry (The wind-vane self steering) got his repairs and fresh coat of paint. Tillers repaired and painted. All deck fittings resealed. Dodgers re-canvassed. And loads of other minute but important details have been taken care of - such as the original New Zealand 10c coin placed back under the mast for good luck!! The mast is sporting new rigging and today I even made up a framework ready for a towing water charger to be added.
Jerry Ritchie and Nigel Longland - friends of mine from Belize sailing days - have come aboard as supporters and have made it possible to purchase the last items of needed safety gear. Huge thanks to Nigel and Jerry.
I laid a Mooring down last week on the mudflats off Lympstone ready to be Cookie's new home. Quite a muddy experience in my wetsuit boots and shorts but not quite the person-swallowing stuff the guys at the sailing Club had me believe!!
If all goes well tomorrow, Cookie will be wheeled down the hill on her trolley to the Lympstone Sailing Club slipway to be assembled at the high tide mark. Can't wait to have her afloat again.
Big thanks goes out to Alan and Jill Dixon who gave me their garage space and workshop to use this past month to keep progress going when the rains came down. Thanks guys!