She is slowly but surely getting used to her new skipper, who is himself learning as he goes.
It is beyond a privilege to be able to sail aboard Brimble, and I am constantly learning at every step of the process. The good ship has her own way of telling me "I told you so" and I occasionally find myself talking to the boat, both when berthed, and when under sail. Recently, putting in a reef when it was just the boat and myself I was saying "yeah, yeah. I know I should have done it earlier I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" as we were both being thrashed by some gusts going past Cabo Da Roca.
I seemed to have adjusted well to posting a lot on the instagram as many will have seen, showing how the boat is getting along, however have been far more hesitant as to what to do on the blog. For the moment I'm thinking I will come to it as and when feels appropriate for a more detailed discussion on the happenings aboard the good ship.
so... what has happened recently?
Well the GSB (Good Ship Brimble) set off from Falmouth to cross the Bay of Biscay towards the end of June with Commodore Parsons and Admiral Halsall. Weather wise, the crossing was well in our favour and as bay crossings go, was as ideal as you could generally ask. Foulies were often not needed, however the donk did need to be started once or twice. With the exception of a near sinking, gassing, and fire, all went without a hitch... hehe. (Turned out to be seperate exhaust problems and alternator problems, I will write more about these in the technical section soon)
The GSB arrived in A Coruna where she would spend a little bit of time as I had to rush back for my graduation! She was left in regretfully quite a bumpy marina so rubber springs were added to the lines and fairleads were moved all in preparation for her time alone.
Upon Return many jobs needed to be done. During the Biscay crossing we had some very odd wind readings for both direction and magnitude, and we deduced that the battery in the Anemometer was knackered. A replacement was bought in the UK that i bought with me, in the photo you can see Mads kindly helping me up the mast to replace it!
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| Up the mast in A Coruna to replace Anemometer battery |
I also needed to repair the aforementioned Alternator. The engine battery charging light was flickering on and off on the second day of the crossing which prompted all onboard Brim to go "hmm" then promptly ignore it as a problem for arrival.
This may have not been the smartest of moves as the next morning I woke up at around 6am in a cloud of smoke in the saloon. Calling for Admiral Dad, who was on watch. He responded to the situation with a multitude of words that should likely not be mentioned on the family friendly blog. The engine was quickly turned off to investigate the problem.
I dare to say that both my Dad and Rob were rather excited to have some tinkering to do and we all got to work, drifting in the bay of biscay, to sort out the situation. The damage included a completely melted plug & wiring assembly that hooked into the back of the alternator. Despite the drama, it was fixable and some 10mm spade connectors and electrical tape was all that was needed for the bodge job to get us to A Coruna (shown in the photo). The cause was corroded connections resulting in increased resistance to the terminal therefore increasing heat within the wires, ultimately melting the components that secure the wires to the alternator. A more permanent fix was due. On return to the UK my mission was to find the correct plug assembly and right-angled spade connectors for our LUKAS alternator.
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| The temp job on the alternator. |
This proved fairly difficult as I drove to a variety of different marine warehouses, hardware shops and chandleries with no luck. I was initially told - "no chance mate" and given an address of a scrapyard where they may be able to find what I'm looking for. It wasn't until I was driving home in defeat did I think of the local river chandlery in the neighbouring village to my own (Sheridan Marine) as a last resort. I unenthusiastically spoke to the man behind the counter explaining my situation, and without a word he picked up a small plastic bag with exactly what I was looking for. He seemed fairly confused with my response to this and probably assumed it was an overreaction but nevertheless I was ecstatic. Other than needing five different hands, the final repair was fairly simply and after this the GSB was ready to go.
Mads had flown with me to A Coruna and some confidence building was needed (for me as skipper, Mads was more than accustomed to the good ship), so some quick lunch time round trips were made across the Ria before Ella arrived. When she did we got set on some of the prettiest sailing of the Iberian Peninsula - Galicia. Mads jumped ship at the next stop in Ensenada de Corme before Ella & I cracked on.
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| Dinner onboard |
The Rias of Galicia are known for their outstanding beauty and they really did not dissapoint. Dolphines were spotted every day and we were spoilt for choice with anchorages. All very protected from the North & North-westerlies that we were seeing.
Ellas and Mads Pit Stops:
A Coruna
Ria De Corme (Mads Leaves)
Ria De Camarinas
Sardineiro de Abajo
Muros
Illa De Arousa
Sanxenxo
San Simon (Just for Lunch)
Moana
Baiona (Ella leaves)
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| Brim Anchored off Illa De Arousa |
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