Bit of a nostalgia trip...and an update on selling Hannah

Along the Nova Scotian coast last year - a tad windy

For those of you who have come to these pages via the advert on the ferro site, indeed for anyone wondering what happened to the plan we had to sell…..well it’s on the back burner. We felt we had another trip in us, did it and then we felt that we might have another long trip in us, which is where we are with our current thinking. Where we will go to is still in the thinking stage and we’ll write it up once we decide but for the moment the possibility of the sale has been postponed. However things can change so if you have an interest you can write to us at hannah4sale@outlook.com

Labrador reality, fog, motoring and rocks...

As March moves toward its end and the snow comes, retreats and then comes again we realise with a bit of a shock that we're down to the last 4 or so weeks of our visa…soon be time to get the show on the road. 

We were recently sent the tale of a French boat that sailed the Pacific from 1966 to 1968 and the photos alone got me going….but would it be this way now we wonder? Folks we know who have sailed the area say it is still possible to have anchorages to yourself as so many boats seem to stick to a very narrow track, rarely deviating from that which is written up and just 20 or so miles off the line can open up new, relatively unexplored vistas…..we’ll see. Plenty of time at sea make it all seem very attractive

One of the reason's we keep getting drawn back..

But whilst I’m on a ’60’s theme, you will know, I’m sure, of the wonderful Golden Globe 2018. I’m not into racing boats, sure as a young child I crewed and raced dinghy’s, did the odd race when I was at BKYC but I’ve always been drawn to boats that look interesting, work boats and such. Having said that I followed the original race and the subsequent books that came out of it. The modern RTW race does nothing for me, the speeds seem insane, the technology beyond belief and the boats bear no resemblance to anything I could possibly own, or want to, afford. Then I read about this and found myself smiling, chortling at the number of people who are eager to get involved but mostly gratified at the ordinariness of the boats that will race. It will be a hard race for sure and the restrictions on modern equipment (essentially, if it wasn’t on Suhaili you can’t take it) may make it “un-newsworthy” simply because reports can not be obtained instantly and so will hark back to a different time but if you haven’t already checked it out, I’d urge you to do so. 

this mess will be tidied up before we leave...

Aboard Hannah things are moving along as a brief, and welcome, warm interlude enabled us to crack through some cosmetic type jobs, brightwork and non cosmetic, replacing bowsprit shrouds etc. We needed to come up with a way of supporting the Pudgy on deck and with the help of long term friend John T we were able to sketch out and then make a template. He found a fabricator who could knock up the steel base very quickly, whilst John roughed out and then cleaned up the wooden cross piece. All we needed to do was paint the steel and then bed it to the deck. It all came together so smoothly and watching John casually measure the angles, the amount he wanted to remove and then do so with a few clean saw strokes etc was a joy. The dinghy sits solidly on its mount and lashing it down will be simple. Very pleased.

Another result came about when I mentioned to another friend the problem we had been having with our radar. Essentially it wouldn't produce a return at any distance above 0.75nm. We'd lived with it but it was a little frustrating at times. His immediate response was to "check the ground" We did. The contact was good but it was a poor ground in that it was attached to the engine block. We moved the wire to one of the studs that hold the zinc anode and turned it on. A return all the way up to 16nm! 

And finally. You may remember me mentioning Trevor Robertson when we were in Labrador last year. Well he did leave Newfoundland in November as he intended and headed out. We heard this morning (Apr 1st) that he had arrived in Freemantle, Aust. yesterday after 171 days. We have no other details; I believe it was non stop and his account will, eventually, be published. I can hardly wait.  

Only a few weeks back.

 Lastly, the first 3 pictures on this post belong to Russ Nichols. Please don't use them outside this post without written permission. Thanks.

On a similar note: I've noticed a lot of traffic of late from two specific areas. One was Russia about 6 weeks or so and Germany in the last fortnight. The latter came about because an article I written for AAC was lifted, re worked and published over there. But Russia I have no idea how that happened... I'm curious how folks get to know of an English sailor's blog and how it "translates" to your language. Drop me a line if you can shed any light.