Anchored and thoroughly grounded!

Well, I closed the last post on this blog saying “...until next Spring”. Little did we know then what was in store for 2020 - which was to be our tenth and probably final sailing season aboard our beloved yacht Follyfin. As I also intimated in that last post, we had decided that it was time to hang up our sea boots for good. Follyfin was duly placed with a broker based in Annapolis, Maryland, who agreed to manage all aspects of the sale. We did not expect much ‘activity’ on that front during the winter months, so with the agreement of Cap’n Lee (see previous posts) to keep an eye on her and help with any potential viewings, we decided to leave her on the hard at Captain’s Cove Seaport near Bridgeport, Connecticut. Naïvely we expected to be able to return this Spring, 2020, and go sailing again whilst managing any potential viewings ourselves. How wrong we were. It’s now just one year since Follyfin was hauled out of the water there and what a year it has been...COVID-19 year!

Against expectation, several viewings and subsequent offers were received over winter from as far afield as UK, Nova Scotia, Maine,Texas and Pennsylvania, some interest even coming from Florida. The funniest, ultimately unsuccessful but serious offer came from a gentleman in St. Louis, soon to retire, who put his offer in without even seeing the boat and without consulting his wife or family; when the deposit was not forthcoming we eventually heard that his wife had put her foot down and he was ‘not to buy this boat, nor any other’! So for one reason or another none of those early offers came to fruition until a serious one in February. So we did actually return to Connecticut in March to fit out Follyfin for surveys and sea trial prior to sale ... only to return to UK one week later on one of the last passenger flights out of USA. For obvious reasons, all activity connected with the boat ceased whilst both the USA and the UK reeled from the impact of the pandemic. Luckily, we reached home 5 days before the UK locked down. Coronavirus ensured that all sporting activity including boating (even in USA) went quiet for 3 months.

Towards the end of May more enquiries started coming in and there were several more viewings during June and July. To cut a long story short, by the end of July a firm offer to buy Follyfin was received and accepted, subject to surveys and sea trials, and by the end of August the deal was done: truly a bittersweet moment and the end of an era for us! At this point the Skipper and I wish to acknowledge the extraordinary help of our good friend Cap’n Lee; he managed everything connected with preparing Follyfin for the transfer of ownership, from diplomatically finding his way through a complex set of diagrams, photographs, lists and emails from the Skipper, delving deep into murky corners of the boat to clear the contents, recommissioning of Follyfin for sailing and facilitating the surveys and sea trials, all under remote ‘control’ from North Yorkshire. Really, we couldn’t have done it without you Lee - a million thanks.

The survey reports were highly complimentary with only very minor issues which are to be expected in a10-year old yacht that has sailed over 20,000 nautical miles. The condition of Follyfin is classified as ‘above average’ and ‘very well maintained’. The broker who handled the sale of Follyfin said he had never had so much interest in a single boat: over 30 enquiries. In short, we are very sad to have parted company with her. And we didn’t even get as far as launching her for one last sail! Enough: with Follyfin’s crew having a combined age of almost 150, it was definitely the right thing to do. The Skipper and I (aka First Mate) look forward to new adventures in pastures new. We will not stop sailing but expect to be chartering in the future and hope to welcome some temporary crew to join us!

The past nine sailing seasons have so many happy memories of travels with Follyfin. There follows a brief summary of our adventures on board over approximately 20,000 nautical miles:

2011 - first tentative weekend trips during June and July from Chichester Harbour east and west along the south coast of uk; 10 day trip in September to Channel Islands; over-wintered in Chichester, UK

2012 - circumnavigation of UK (not including Ireland); over-wintered in Hull, UK

2013 - channel crossing, exploring north and south Brittany; over-wintered in Arzal, Brittany, France

2014 - exploration further south in Brittany; over-wintered in Arzal, Brittany, France

2015 - brief return to UK for some fitting out in preparation for Atlantic crossing; crossed Bay of Biscay to northern Spain; sailed gently down west coast of Spain and Portugal; from Portugal sailed to Madeira then the Canary Islands; over-wintered in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

2016 - sailed across the Atlantic from Tenerife to Martinique in Caribbean; sailed south to explore the Windward Islands and thence to Trinidad; over-‘wintered’ (technically the hurricane season June-November) in Chaguaramas, Trinidad

2017 - turned north, sailing back through the Windward Islands, then through the Leeward Islands, including the British Virgin Islands, thence to the Turks & Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, the NE USA as far as the Statue of Liberty; south again to over-winter in Baltimore, USA

2018 - sailed north to New York, then through Long Island Sound, onwards up the east coast, Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Maine; over-wintered in Captain’s Cove Seaport, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

2019 - further exploration of coastal Maine as far as the Great Beach, 25nm from the Canadian border; over-wintered in Captain’s Cove Seaport, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

It will be a joy to review the photos from each season, recalling happy times with all our temporary crew - some of whom joined us on more than one occasion. Thanks to all of you, too many to name here but you know who you are: you helped to make our time afloat on Follyfin so enjoyable and memorable. In due course I expect to put up one more post on this blog with some of the stand-out shots to virtually revisit distant shores. So I’m not quite finished yet! Thanks to all you dear followers, those temporary crew, supporters and readers who have shown interest in the travels of Follyfin and her crew.

Hanging up the sea boots - for now

Nearly a month since the Shark excitement, and much water under the hull since then so to speak - actually not that many sea miles but many hours of hard graft, land and air miles instead. Hard graft was mainly by the Skipper to prepare Follyfin for the winter and for ‘showing’ (yes, we have taken the hard decision to sell her) whilst I, the First Mate spent a week in Jersey City with son number one and his family. Of course it wasn’t all fun and games...

Malted milkshake tasting in Jersey City

Beer tasting in Jersey City

By way of a very welcome break, Skipper and I were tempted to go for a weekend sail on North Star V with Capn’ Lee and Deborah, with whom we had been sailing in tandem since Cape Cod in early September. Off we went on Friday 20 Sept, first east 35nm on Long Island Sound then north the following morning up the Connecticut River to Essex.

Duck Island Roads: sunset from North Star V

North Star V in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard (Follyfin behind)

Skipper was allowed to take the watch occasionally 

Heeling as we sailed on a broad reach

A galley slave’s work is never done...

It really was a lovely relaxing weekend which was so much appreciated - none of the responsibility but all of the enjoyment. On our return on Sunday evening, the work recommenced, me assisting with washing and cleaning the coach roof as well as cleaning and polishing down below of course, not to mention the tidying and packing up for winter. She really did look smart when we had finished.

Once Follyfin was hauled out of the water on Tuesday 24 September, our good friends Lee and Deborah once again invited us to stay in their house - an offer that we could not refuse, it being so much more comfortable than staying on the boat whilst it is on land.

Follyfin having her bottom washed

On her way to winter quarters at Captains’ Cove, Bridgeport, Connecticut

But autumn - or ‘Fall’ - is nigh (as shown by this splendid tree, snapped during our weekend in Essex) so it’s clearly time to head home.

Now Skipper and Mate are ensconced back at Follyfoot, having returned on 2 October to chilly, damp autumn days. Blogger will be returning next year. Meanwhile we await developments...farewell until the Spring!

Season end - hellos and goodbyes

No doubt, dear Readers, you have been waiting with bated breath (?) for the next instalment in the Follyfin Saga... apologies for long delay. Skipper and I have been a bit busy over the past 3 weeks, first busily engaged in putting FF to bed for the winter, then welcoming our latest grandchild, Celeste, into the world. 

Her timing was perfect, arriving last Saturday evening a few days after we arrived back in UK and only a couple of days earlier than expected. She weighed in at 9lb 5oz, and mother and baby are both doing well. Of course we are all delighted!

Winterising Follyfin was made significantly easier by the wonderful helpers we had. First there was Ivor, who helped get the sails off on his last day with us. Then there were our new friends Lee and Deborah - met only recently in Maine at the OCC Rally (see previous post) -  who invited us to stay in their house a short drive away from Captain’s Cove Seaport, Blackrock, near Bridgeport in Connecticut. This is where we have decided to store Follyfin over winter. It is not an extremely smart or modern Marina but the facilities and expertise amongst the staff are excellent. This is not the word we would use to describe the company who we used to service our life raft. It shall remain nameless for the present; suffice to say that from here it has been returned to them for a third time (the first two times from Boston whilst we were temporarily berthed there earlier this summer) because of substandard service and treatment of this essential and expensive item. The photo below shows the mark up done by Skipper prior to its collection from Captain’s Cove.

Lifts to chandlers and US Customs and Border Agencies, a nice comfortable bed, hot showers, washing machine, flush toilet and above all their company, help and advice made the daily toil of denuding, clearing and prepping Follyfin for the winter so much more pleasant. We were all rewarded with a visit to Brewport - home to a local craft brewery - on Ivor’s last night. Flights of beer and pizza: what more could a chap need to speed him on his travels?

Anyway, back to the winterising process... Skipper (Bosun/Engineer), having serviced the engine and dosed the engine, shower and head pipes with antifreeze (amongst numerous other winterising tasks) pronounced Follyfin ready for hauling out onto dry land (aka ‘the hard’ in nauticospeak). This was duly done first thing on Thursday 20 September. We were a little anxious during this process since the haul-out bay was barely wider than Follyfin herself. But like the secret passenger who fell out of the keel area once out of the water, we need not have worried. That evening we all celebrated by taking a Clam Crawl (raw ‘on the half shell’, steamed and fried) with our friends in two very different establishments.

By Friday evening the work was finished and we said goodbye to Follyfin until the Spring. The next morning we also bade a fond farewell to Lee and Deborah as we boarded the train to Grand Central Station in New York City. So this is the other silver lining about Hurricane Florence messing up our original plan to winter Follyfin further south: she and we are only a couple of hours by train from Warren and family in Jersey City. So we spent the rest of the weekend with them before catching our train down to Baltimore to fly home overnight on Monday 24th. Happy times with our JC grandchildren!

So, dear Readers, that’s all from Follyfin and her crew for this season. We plan to rejoin her in April 2019. Seems a very long time since we were planning to cross the Atlantic east to west; almost 3 years to be exact (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJWMdmZTqf8 ) for an amusing cinematic reminder!). Will 2019 be the year to cross back in the opposite direction? Who knows...watch this space!

The Naked Yacht

WARNING: this post contains material that may damage your health! Well, not really, but it does contains a fair amount of technical detail on the procedure for putting Follyfin to bed for several months. Ergo, it may not interest many of our readers!

Most of this post was compiled whilst still in the USA. Just didn't get round to completing it until now, 3 weeks after arriving home! So it is in effect the closing post to our 7th season of sailing aboard our own boat. This was the 7th time we prepared her for the winter break, so it is timely to record the winterising/decommissioning procedures more or less as they happen... Skip to EPILOGUE if irrelevant to you, dear and faithful reader.

DAY 1, whilst still at anchor in Swan Creek

Skipper: Service the engine. Involves changing the oil, and oil and fuel filters. Renewal of fan belt. Extraction of cooling water impeller. Clean out air intake chamber. General clean up of oil leaks from recently repaired gearbox (!)

First Mate: being on hand to help Skipper at a moment's notice with any task requiring an extra pair of hands BUT make sure not to get in the way! Provision of copious cups of tea, drinks of water, beer, whisky, wine, as necessary and of course food to fuel the worker(s), meals etc. 

Other tasks:  General tidy up in and on chart table; cupboard clear out; write blog post. Enjoy swim and sundowners as this is the penultimate day at 'sea'.

DAY 2, still at anchor in Swan Creek

Skipper: Dismantled blue water equipment on stern of yacht, i.e. battery charging - wind and water - generator (Duogen) and wind-steering system (Hydrovane).

First Mate: As above for day 1 AND continue sorting out paper work and throwing away a lot of it...otherwise much the same as day 1.

DAY 3, berthed alongside floating pontoon in Tidewater Yacht Services marina, Baltimore, having motored the 16nm from Swan Creek that morning.

Skipper and First Mate (combined effort): Whole afternoon spent removing the two sails, the jib and the mainsail. Each one has to have its battens removed before it can be taken down, lifted ashore and folded (quite complicated to get it right) and inserted into bag. Lift bags back onto boat and stow below.

First Mate: As for day 1

DAY 4, berthed alongside at Tidewater

Skipper: remove all running rigging - reefing lines and sheets - and any other lines, e.g. Jack stays, preventer lines and associated speed rings, lazy jacks, traveller, kicker. Replace all rigging lines with mousing lines. Coil and label all lines as they come off, then stow in forecabin locker.

First Mate:  As for day 1; plus clean and wash dinghy, inside and out, fold and put into bag.

Together: using main halyard, lift life raft off the stern and stow below. Almost ready for haul out.

DAY 5, berthed alongside at Tidewater

Skipper and First Mate: climb up 65ft mast (him) whilst being belayed from below (her) in order to remove anemometer. Repair TV aerial whilst aloft. Bind in halyards to mast to prevent them escaping and flapping in wind.

Skipper: bring remainder of Duogen in-board so it no longer sticks out from stern. Flush outboard engine with fresh water. Pour spare diesel from emergency cans into main tank.

First Mate: As for day 1; plus clean big white ball fender; take inventory of stores to be left on board. Refreshments supplied on demand.

DAY 6, admin day. 

Together: Borrowed courtesy car from boatyard. Once we had fathomed how to operate this so-called 'smart' BMW, visited West Marine chandlers for antifreeze, US Customs & Border Agency to cancel our Cruising Permit, and finally the laundromat for two large loads of washing.

Skipper in p.m., drained all the sinks, heads and showers and poured antifreeze through. Later, Reed the Rigger visited Follyfin to diagnose the suspicious noise heard in the saloon under the mast when sailing close-hauled. He reckons that the mount on top of the pole that supports the mast at deck level has become bent, thus allowing the mast to move slightly when the sails are in use. Remedy is to jack up the supporting pole from the bottom and slip an extra sliver of stainless steel under the existing rigid stainless steel plate that sits under the mast on the sole of the boat. Sounds like £££ but it has to be done to be safe in the future.

First Mate: as for day 1.

DAY 7, Follyfin hauled out of water at 08:00. After thorough pressure wash of the hull, she was moved into her winter storage position. By 11:00 she was settled onto her supports.

Skipper and First Mate: remove Bimini, fold and stow. Remove spray hood, fold and stow. Main halyard and topping lift brought down and replaced with mousing lines. The boom, normally held in position by the topping lift, is safely lowered to rest on the side of the cockpit, and the kicking strap (aka the Vang) normally connected to the boom similarly lowered to rest on the coachhouse roof.

Skipper: finish winterising the engine, antifreeze to replace cooling water.

First Mate: wash anchor, anchor chain and rode, store it on pallet on ground beneath bow of boat. Place covers on winches, helms and table. Supply succour to Skipper as above.

DAY 8: last day in USA. Morning spent packing and generally tidying up. 

Skipper ticking off last items on extensive checklist; it has >30 items. 

First Mate: empty fridge, dispose of surplus perishables and bottled water. At 16:00 contacted Uber for ride to airport for 19:00 flight. Phew - its over!

EPILOGUE

So that's it from the Skipper and me for several months. We are not looking forward to the wet and cold of a UK winter, having spent the last two in or near the Tropics. But we are really enjoying being back on land, especially not having to worry about weather and, for me, loving having a proper cooker on which to produce meals, not to mention unlimited water on tap and showers whenever we want them! So it only remains for us to thank you all for reading this blog recording our adventures aboard Follyfin - until next Spring when Follyfin will once again be afloat!

Our home in winter...fresh snow, pretty but cold!