![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/IMG-1448-225x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Why do we do it?<\/p>\n
Why do we live on boats?<\/p>\n
Particularly, why do some of us live on boats alone?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t you get lonely? Don\u2019t you get bored? What about when the weather\u2019s bad? When stuff goes wrong\u2026<\/p>\n
Well, all of that goes to make up days like today. For today is a good day<\/em>.<\/p>\n I should explain: Today is Sunday. I am anchored in Moelfre Bay on the east coast of Anglesey \u2013 nine days since leaving Les Sables d\u2019Olonne after a week of rather unsuccessfully trying to promote the French translation of Old Man Sailing.<\/p>\n The reason for coming back is because on Wednesday, my son Theo graduates from Liverpool medical school and I can\u2019t miss that \u2013 any more than I can miss Lottie\u2019s graduation in Liberal Arts from Leeds eight days later.<\/p>\n Originally all this was going to happen while Samsara<\/em> was in Island Harbour on the Isle of Wight having the new tank and watermaker fitted.<\/p>\n Except the tank isn\u2019t ready (foul-up in the paperwork, apparently). Well, that was OK. I could leave her anchored in Falmouth and take the train.<\/p>\n Arriving in my spot off Trefusis Point in time for lunch on Wednesday \u2013 a respectable 21 hours out of L\u2019Aber Wrac\u2019h – I had a whole five days to book a cheap old person\u2019s ticket for the North.<\/p>\n Not so. Apparently, it\u2019s going to be a train strike day – and the prices! \u00a3227 return! And that\u2019s with a Railcard\u2026<\/p>\n I considered the bus. I took the bus from Falmouth once before \u2013 leaving Cornwall before 6.00a.m and not arriving at home in Suffolk until almost midnight – feeling as if I walked all the way.<\/p>\n This is where Tamsin and a bit of straight thinking comes in: \u201cWhy are you in Falmouth? I thought you\u2019d be somewhere up north\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Well yes, but that\u2019s without taking the Irish Sea into account – and getting round the Lizard\u2026<\/p>\n Nevertheless, four hours after arriving, I was leaving again – just as things were livening up in The Chain Locker. I had to get round The Lizard before Falmouth Coastguard\u2019s promise of \u201cSouth-westerly 5-7 occasionally Gale 8\u201d shut the door.<\/p>\n That was the first gale. Over the next three days we had three of them. Minehead Coastguard, Dublin Coastguard, Holyhead Coastguard \u2013 they all had their own particular tone for announcing the unpleasantness: \u201cGale expected soon\u201d as if it was some sort of desirable event like a village fete or \u201cGale now ceased\u201d (thank heavens for that) followed in the same breath by \u201cSouthwesterly gale 8 expected soon\u201d.<\/p>\n At least we were going in the right direction \u2013 and there is nothing a Rival likes better than a gale of wind behind her. But, on the other hand, this was the Irish Sea, so the deck was running with water pretty much the whole way and all that crawling around gybing and reefing meant that my knees were never completely dry – which plays havoc with the sleeping bag\u2026<\/p>\n By the northeast corner of Anglesey, I\u2019d had enough of it. There were still 45 miles to go to Liverpool and although I should arrive three hours after low water with the flood to take me up the Mersey, Liverpool Bar is not somewhere you want to be with 28kts blowing straight up the channel.<\/p>\n And that was when Moelfre came into view \u2013 or, more precisely, the ships taking shelter in its lee. There were sixteen of them. If someone with 50,000 tons under them can drop the hook for a bit of peace and quiet overnight, I\u2019m sure I can.<\/p>\n In fact, with a 1.5m draft, I can get right into the bay \u2013 another favourite spot: this time just off the lifeboat slip.<\/p>\n Except I was still in eight metres when the engine overheat alarm started screaming.<\/p>\n This is the loudest alarm on the boat (and boats these days seem to have dozens of them). Sure enough, there was no water coming out of the exhaust \u2013 just a hollow cough like an asthmatic smoker.<\/p>\n I stopped the engine and let go the anchor \u2013 in that order.<\/p>\n Suddenly everything was calm and quiet. I made a cup of tea \u2013 and a peanut butter, honey and apple sandwich \u2013 and got out the rum bottle \u2013 and found Global Gold\u2019s Overnights on the Bluetooth speaker, now we were back with a mobile signal…<\/p>\n Investigating the innards of the engine could wait for morning.<\/p>\n \u2026and this is where it gets really good.<\/p>\n Not because a first look inside proved it wasn\u2019t the impeller or a blocked intake. There was a torrent of raw water pouring out of the side of the block and straight into the bilge. The trouble was, there was no way of seeing exactly where it was coming from \u2013 not without removing the oil filter, which would just make matters worse.<\/p>\n I began to think of options: Could I get an engineer to come out to a desolate bay miles from the nearest harbour? If I managed to sail all the way up the Mersey, would anyone tow me into the Marina?<\/p>\n And it was Sunday.<\/p>\n But wait: Facebook is open on a Sunday. I filmed a hasty YouTube short. Sure enough, ten minutes later Hans-Christian Hartleb in Berlin came back with: \u201cWater exhaust rusted through, my first guess. Would need to be changed. Welding most difficult. Good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n If only I could see round the back of the filter\u2026<\/p>\n But wait again: Paul Masters on Clytie<\/em> once told me how he looked at the holes for his keel bolts with a thing called an Endoscope. It seemed such a good idea, having a camera that you could poke into small spaces that I bought one myself and it\u2019s been sitting at the bottom of the bits locker ever since. Today it paid for itself.<\/p>\n \u00a0The hose clip on the engine block inlet had given way. I could see it all on my phone screen as clearly as if I had crawled in there myself \u2013 the whole Irish Sea pouring in.<\/p>\n It took ten minutes to fix \u2013 honestly, no more. And no engineer coming out from Holyhead in a RIB at \u00a380 an hour\u2026<\/p>\n Then the sun came out.<\/p>\n In fact, this was one occasion to get out the posh beer glass. It is, after all, a very good day.<\/p>\n Why do we do it? Why do we live on boats? Particularly, why do some of us live on boats alone? Don\u2019t you get lonely? Don\u2019t you get bored? What about when the weather\u2019s bad? When stuff goes wrong\u2026 Well, all of that goes to make up days like today. For today is a good … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2324,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320\/revisions\/2324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/IMG-1450-226x300.jpg\")