Stoppress 2024

I have got the same great deal on antifouling again, now called EU45, (as it was years back) identical to the old Marclear, made by the same man... Bill Robinson. For high strength navy blue, mid blue, red, black, grey and white Antifouling. (Workboat red has become just red!)

Ring the free phone number above and quote EOG. Bill will make a donation to the EOG as a result of owners buying...

Now on the paint is being supplied as 2.5 litres in 3 litre size cans, so it is easier to stir.

Members if you would like it delivered all you have to do is ring the free-phone number to speak to Bill and quote 'Eventide Owners Group' If you are not enrolled join first or we will know and you will not get the discount.

You pay him direct by card, or bank transfer it will come direct to you within 48 hours!

John

Scroll down for 2024 Stoppress pages...

So latest update at the top, under this header, earlier entries below.

Wednesday 4th December 2024.

In the last few days we have enrolled our first member from Ukraine.

Welcome to Yevhen, who has enrolled as he is hoping to build an Eventide, or maybe a Storm? Yevhen is from Dnipro and works in IT, but has an ambition to build his own boat, to sail when it is safe to do so! Yevhen has kindly donated for drawings. I have e-mailed him via Google download and also sent a DVD. Hope that gets there, he will let us know.

Apologies for the 2 week interval in postings, it has been busy here.!

There have been a few discussions and a trip for me to Chelmsford, my nearest large town, (now officially a City). Busy place and a culture shock after sleepy Dengie where we live. The Steering Group have given the go ahead for us to change banks. Lloyds want to charge us next January, so we are hoping to move to Metro Bank. I am jumping through many hoops here to try and make it happen.

On the boating front, FG was lifted out and chocked up ashore a week or so back. The marina have a new idea of adding extra wooden props for and aft as I suspect some of the extreme fin keel boats on the hard standing may not have that secure cradles. Can see it is a good idea for these boats but I was somewhat surprised to see FG sporting extra wooden chocks!

All boats, when the masts are up, gently vibrate in the wind, (That is why their rigging only lasts 15 years, the vibration stresses stainless...). That vibration dislodged my chocks within 24 hours, and they are still down, neatly stowed under the boat. I since found out the yard charges for them, sneaky.

I had asked Bradwell to remove the mast for me and lay it atop the boat. It stows neatly between the pulpit and the stern rail crutch, trapped by the carpet padded tabernacle. This is how it stows for trailing. I wanted it down to check the wires. I left it up the past 2 years and found rigging a cover difficult. So to better cover her, to check the wires and to be able to easily remove and replace halyards after washing, I wanted it down.

FG Ashore, hull cleaned and polished!

Normally, with the help of crew, I would have lowered it myself, we have our mast lowering and raising gear stowed aboard. But I was lacking crew this year, so asked the marina. Sadly then I find they have no-one to drive the crane?? Now something in me must have foretold this as when I removed the halyards for washing, I left one in place. The one I use to lower the mast! So it was last Saturday I was down the boat, and in about an hour, rigged my mast lowering gear and attached foam padding and bits of old carpet to all the parts that might chafe the cover.

I was fortunate to be able to get the assistance on Sunday of brother in law and crew Keith, along with Nephew Harvey, (crew for the west country leg of the round UK trip!). We turned up at the boat Sunday 1000. It took a minute or two to remove the last shackle from the bottom of the roller reefing genoa, on the end of the bowsprit. Fortunately Harvey is tall and could reach! Then 20 seconds to lower the mast! We did have to wait a few moments as the wind chose that moment to start gusting very strongly, but a few moments later it was safely down. The heavy bit was then to lift the mast and move it forward on the boat, bit by bit, until the heel rested on the pulpit. That's where the strong crew came in! A bit of scrap carpet in the tabernacle to pad that and the mast head resting in the rubber padded crutch at out stern. All done. We then padded any bits of the mast that might tear the cover, strapped up the roller reefing gear alongside the mast, again all padded so no metal to metal contact. By 1200 the boat was cocooned in tarps and even the solar panels rigged.

Al wrapped up for winter!

I will be down to nip on board when the sun is shining, to check the batteries are charging.

Hope your boats are all protected from the elements. No knowing what the weather will bring these days, snow a rare event now, but if it is threatened I will be nipping down to close off the cover at the stern! Snow one of the worst things to cause damage. It blows in everywhere, then can thaw and freeze.. Note the prop still quite shiny. We had no fouling on the hull at all. EU45 Antifouling works.

John

Wednesday 20th November 2024.

1000 days of ruzzian invasion.

Apologies for long pause in news. This computer had to go in for repair and I only got it back a day or so ago and have been running on the spot, to catch up.

We have had an issue with the back up program 'Acronis' that saves all our data to several different storage places. It simply refused to save anything. Eventually I managed to contact the company in Switzerland and they remotely accessed the machine. Took a couple of attempts but eventually they traced the problem. Although the normal computer checks all showed a healthy machine, there was in fact a 'bad sector' on the data storage drive. So off to the local computer shop and the machine went in for a 'new' hard drive and for all the info on the old one to be cloned to the new one. I am relieved to say that all worked well and we are back to normal. But has taken a couple of weeks. Thus the delay.

The Steering group supported me and agreed for the repair and for me to be reimbursed the £85 it has cost. Knocked a chunk off our funds though.

Talking of funds and money, we had a letter from Lloyds Bank informing us they were changing our account name and we were going to have to pay £4.25 a month for the privilege. Of course this could have emptied our account inside a few years! So now we are once again looking for an alternative 'Club' bank account. We have a couple of options and will be actively investigating these. We need an account where cheques had to be signed by two members to protect us. Not many accounts about now that do that and do not charge. (That of course is how the banks can afford huge buildings filled with well paid staff!).

Other news.

You will have noticed the picture at the top of this page. This is the shoulder patch sent to me for assisting in the purchase of over 50 pick up trucks for Ukraine. They were delivered last month, filled with first aid and medical gear and other equipment to assist them on the front lines. I wear the patch with pride. The 1000th day of the war since the invasion is not the full story of course, this conflict has been ongoing since the ruzzians marched into Crimea 10 years ago, remember the Dutch air liner they shot down? With the changes coming in the USA it could mean serious problems for the whole of Europe next year.

Part of a batch of trucks to assist in Ukraine.

On a more pleasant note, we are going to a choral concert in aid of Ukraine on Sunday. Every little bit helps.!

Eventide news. Apart from conversations with the Steering Group the mails have been quiet, as they often are this time of year.

Did have one fun photo sent to me by my daughter. A flash back to 1991! Jenny ad her friend Helen on board.

The girls enjoying the sunshine waiting for the tide on Osea beach.

Boating wise, our boat was lifted out Monday, or rather I puttered her round to the lift Monday afternoon, in sunshine and a flat calm, to be lifted, but had to abandon her, leaving her moored temporarily to the pontoon knuckle at the travel lift bay. I had to rush off to number 3 grandson's 13th birthday bash, the family one. Beth the lift operator said she would lift her and leave her in the strops ashore overnight, washing off the next day, as it was late and getting dark. So imagine my face when I dropped into the marina at 2200 that night, in wind and rain, to see the lift empty and no sign of the boat ashore nor afloat?!!

Seems it was too late and too dark to risk lifting her so they hid her in amongst the big boats, I could not see her. Anyway Tuesday morning she was lifted and washed off, yet again no fouling, just a small amount of easily washed off slime. EU45 antifouling works!

This year I am taking the mast off her, she always used to be trailed to a barn and stored in the dry, but the farmer more than doubled the cost, so for the last couple of years I have left her in the marina, with the mast up, sheeted over. Trouble is I cannot check all the wire rigging easily and also I left halyard on the mast. As the lines were getting grubby with air bourne dirt, it was time to wash them. 'Easy care 30' in our washing machine! Makes all the difference, nice clean lines! Soft to use and the washing removes salt deposits that can abrade ropes internally. Proof in the pudding, the halyards on FG last 25 years plus!

As it has been so wet this season and hot, there was green mildew on dodgers and spray hood, that will benefit from a machine wash, and when the genoa came off I noticed that was very green on the sacrificial strip, so that went to the sailmaker for a wash and check over...

I removed all the fenders and mooring ropes from our berth yesterday, boy was it chilly! The ropes are waiting their turn in the washing machine! one or two soaking in a bucket of detergent for a few days!

Fender socks too! (Green of course!).

As it is very chilly for the rest of the week and gales forecast for the weekend, it will not be till next week that the mast will be craned off, to be set down on top of the boat, supported at the pulpit, the tabernacle and the crutch on the stern rail. I fit foam pipe insulation to the guardrails with electrical tape and tie bits of old carpet to any lumps and bumps on the mast or rails, then she will be sheeted over for the winter.

I now rig a pair of 20w solar panels to her over winter, to save me taking the batteries off, to keep on trickle charge ashore. Normally the panels hang on the bowsprit as she has been left facing roughly south before, but this time she is at an odd angle, so the panels may have to be slung in a different position.. Worth doing though.

I had to replace one of the aux batteries this year, turns out it was 9 years old, the second aux battery turned out to be duff too, but will not replace that till next year. No point. But 9 years for a lead acid sealed battery is not bad, and I put that down to using our 32w flexible solar panel, attached to the spray hood, to ensure they are kept topped up during the year, and the two 20w solar panels we rig over winter.

All for now, off to throw another log on the fire, bit chilly here!

John

Tuesday 5th November 2024.

Now here is a different charity, books for children!

Fireworks tonight! here and in the States!

Eventide News.

Sadly no new enrolments and few mails this last week. The weather here has been grey and still, high pressure. Not so in Spain where they had a years worth of rain in a few hours and tragic flooding. And there are still some who deny our climate is changing

On the other side of the 'pond' we await the results of their presidential election today/tonight, could have serious ramifications for everyone....

Back to more pleasant things. I ran my genoa into the sailmaker today for a wash and check over. When I lowered the sail last week I was surprised to see how green the sacrificial strip had gone. Tad too large to go in my washing machine. My machine at home here has been working overtime washing the halyards and other control lines for the past few days. 'Easy care 30' or '40' works wonders on dirty ropes! At the moment I have washed 3 loads and have another load to do when the dodgers come off in the next few days.

Aiming to have the mast lifted off and laid on top of the boat shortly, once we are lifted ashore. The mast nestles nicely between the carpet padded top of the pulpit, the carpet padded cheeks of the tabernacle and the rubber padded crutch at the stern!. Then I can easily check the rigging over and sheet the boat over completely for the winter. Leaving access to the cockpit of course.

I will rig my two 20w solar panels again somehow, to keep the batteries all topped up over winter. The last couple of years I have been fortunate enough to have been stored facing south, so the panels hang neatly either side, on a batten across the bowsprit. Batteries kept on charge!

Crew Keith pointed out I cannot add up today. It was 51 years ago we laid that mooring, not 61! Just seems like a long time ago, and I still remember how muddy I got doing it and how long the smell of that mud stayed with me!

Hope you are managing to lay up whilst it is still warm enough to make it pleasant. I can recall hauling out on November 5th in snow!

John

Tuesday 29th October 2024.

Pleased to see we are training sailors from Ukraine on the ships we have donated, go Navy!

Eventide news. No new enrollments this week.

Sadly no takers for the Senior at Shotley Marina, Suffolk . This is 'Shelduck'.

She really is worth saving, and she is free!!

Time running out fast for her, contact me if you can take her on. She is on a trailer, with the rig and some gear stored dry... enquiries@eventides.org.uk

In the last week I have managed to sneak out sailing, thanks to crew Keith!

Sailing on the Blackwater in October!

We escaped afloat last Wednesday for 5 hours. The forecast was for F3's and the temperature 15 degrees C. With crew Keith on board, we left Bradwell with a smidge of water beneath us, an hour after Low Water and puttered out against the first of a good tide. Sailed goose-winged over to The Nass, then we puttered up South channel towards Tollesbury, against a light breeze, but with the tide. We arrived 3 hours before High water, to check out the mooring we maintain .

We negotiated the entrance channel with a few inches under us...

We could see the mooring buoy, it was just afloat, but to pick it up we would have had to drive the boat up into the mud. It is approximately a half tide mooring, as the tide drops you sit in soft mud and most times almost upright! As we did not want to hang about, but be back at Bradwell by HW, we opted for a quick turn around and made our way back out. Sadly this season i have not managed to even spend one night on it, or have a lunch stop. Either too wet or too windy! As ever we say, 'next year'!

My mooring buoy at Tollesbury, Woodrolfe Creek. We laid it over 60 years ago!! Still good!

Back out in the River Blackwater, We sailed gently over towards one of the racing marks off the Nass.

Buoy dedicated to M.G.!

Sailing just under genoa we made our way back with the last of the flood.

Sunshine on crew Keith and the old Bradwell power station.

I do not suppose there were more than 10 other boats out all afternoon. The weather was perfect too. Not expecting many, if any, more trips afloat this season. shame as it is not chilly, yet!

Of course it was also another chance to prove the little Beta engine was all sorted and running like a sewing machine again, who'd have thought a jammed tiny flap in the engine mounted fuel lift pump would have been the culprit! Caused a total blockage, but only now and then!! Steve at Althorne Marine Services is going to fit new internals. I have a new pump fitted and working and of course the original still as a spare in a locker. Belts braces and bits of string, me!!

I was back down to F.G. on Monday morning to show Jim and Mike around her. Jim has the G.H. 'Clementine. They took notes and photos as the rig on the G.H. appears to have been altered from sloop to cutter, but not completely correctly, no intermediate shrouds to counter the pull of the lower forestay. Unless sorted that may lead to some odd stresses on the mast. The boomed staysail on F.G. was noted too. Maurice gave me a set of sail drawings from his last boat, the 27ft 'Kylix'. The sail sizes were very similar to the Eventide and I used the drawings to make a staysail boom, that pivots, rather cleverly, about 12 " back from the tack. The reason for this is simple, as the sheet is paid out the boom then allows the staysail to become fuller, more suited for downwind sailing! As I said to Jim, I do not use the staysail often, but if I have extra hands aboard in light weather, it gives them an extra string to play with! It does increase the 'slot' effect and does increase boat speed slightly, so worthwhile for light weather sailing. It can be held to windward on a run, with a bungee rigged from the staysail boom to the guard rails, and this helps the genoa stay full.. I can also sail with staysail and three reefs in the main and stay balanced, if it is breezier!

The unseasonable warm weather continues. It is dark now but still 15 degrees! Unnatural. And it is not just the UK, in Japan apparently for the first time in 130 years, no snow on Mount Fuji. The world is in a mess, and it is not getting any better. There is now increasing concern that the Gulf Stream, that brings warmer water up to the UK is slowing and may stop. The counter cold water Labrador current the same. If they fail this is going to have serious ramifications. Plant more trees!!

Add to that my long foretold, 'flip' of the magnetic poles is now, they say, increasingly imminent, with all the problems that will bring, not just for our compasses, but to the protection it gives us from cosmic radiation. Time to build a bunker?

Hope your boats are safe, I will be stripping the sails and halyards off in the next week or so, ready to haul out. Aiming to lower the mast and remove all the lines for washing this year, I have left the mast up last two winters, so halyards in need of a good 'easy-care 30' wash!. But I really also have to replace all the anti crow electrical ties on the spreaders and on the mast head, keep finding them on deck, the UV and the crows responsible! What did we do before them! I recall the time it took to 'mouse' all the shackles with seizing wire!! Electrical ties, done in a jiffy!

Hope your winter work list is as short as mine! Only have the annual antifouling on my work schedule!

John

Monday 21st October 2024.

Trafalgar Day.

Pleased to see the blue and yellow on Nelson's column.

Eventide News.

No new enrolments this week.

Had a few mails, Robin looking for info on other Golden Hinds, he owns 'Wine Knot'. Number 12. He is wondering if there are any older GH 31's out there, sure there are. His was built in 1966.

Sadly the Senior being offered for free at Shotley has had no takers. I did hope I had found someone, but like me, he has too many projects on the go and no space for another.

If you fancy restoring a nice Senior, needs some interior woodwork and the cockpit sorted out, it is on a trailer and the tyres have been pumped and are holding, just needs towing away. Has the rig in store and loads of timberwork with it. Contact me at enquiries@eventides.org.uk

I have just got a day sailing organised for Wednesday, looks like the last good day and as the clocks go back at the weekend the nights will really be drawing in. It was nearly dark at 1800 tonight!

Next week I have a member with a GH 26 popping over to visit 'Fiddler's Green' in Bradwell, to see what I have managed to shoehorn into our boat!

Must say I doubt there are many Eventides, (ours stretched to 27ft in the building), with toilet holding tank, fridge with freezer, full oven with flame failure devices, heater, 17hp diesel, Full navionics, including radar, 5 berths and 5'8" headroom! She is capable of setting off tomorrow, back round the UK, or even further afield. Sadly now I have to limit my sailing to local ditch cruising, but in the most comfortable of boats! Every year I ask myself, for how much longer can I manage this? I want to stay safe, not just for me, but for my crew. I know one day I will have to swallow the anchor, but even then I will be loathe to part with her. Family have suggested widening our drive and wheeling her in and securing her in the garden as a feature, making her an extension to the cottage! Really in a year or two's time, if it happens, I would rather see her go to an adventurous person, to add more miles under her capable keel!

Then I might be looking for a Senior for odd day sails!

John

Monday 14th October 2024.

Last weeks Northern Lights seen over a battle field in Ukraine and here at St. Peter's chapel Bradwell.

Worlds apart.

Eventide News.

No more enrolments and nothing heard from the owner of 'Lady of Locherly'.. sadly. Nor from the chap building a Senior hull from the Selway-Fisher hull kit. He will need to get the rest of the drawings to complete her to spec.

Conversations are ongoing with the 'owner' of the Senior in Suffolk. A member not too far away in Norfolk is interested in salvaging her. Waiting to hear if the wheels and tyres on the trailer OK. We have ascertained the rig is intact and in store, as is a lot of the interior timberwork. Hoping the member will take her on and restore her, he has a good record of restorations!

Weather has taken a turn for the worse here. Friday the builders and painters, (me included), finished work on our cottage and our sheds. Just in time"! Saturday and today it has fallen! Cold easterly winds here saw temperature plummet, only just making a max of 10C. Nearby, people had frost. Brr. Tender plants moved into sheds... Do not think we are going to get much chance of an 'Indian summer'. Now looking at laying up. Going to leave it for a week or two, but not holding out much hope of a gentle end of season sail.... disappointing.

Adam has sent in a great photo of the 1968 Weston super Mare regatta. Centre Stage a Golden Hind! Or is it an Eventide 26?? Could be... The cabin window may not be GH. Straining the eyes to read the name on her transom! 'Caravelle'! Where is she now?

In those halcyon days a GRP boat was an oddity! Look at all those lovely wooden boats! Are they both 'Silhouettes' in the foreground?

Had one tentative enquiry regarding the 'Starship' class sail boat on the 'For Sale' page. Sadly the way the mail was versed I do not think anything will come of the enquiry. The boat belonged to my friend and crew Phil and is here with me in Tillingham. Yesterday we visited my friend Phil's widow in Southend. I picked up the anchor for the little boat. Would be great to get some pennies for her.

All for now.

John

Monday 7th October 2024.

Ukraine had Defenders day last week. they deserve a thank you..

The world seems to be a very dangerous place at the moment, 1 year since the attack on Israel and still more and more violence.

Hoping for peace, everywhere, but not that optimistic. Too many dictators with 'world domination' in their heads.

Eventide News:-

Heard back from Ray with the modified Eventide design 'Eirene'. He has joined us, welcome. He has a charitable trust in Ireland, based in Kerry, at a community boatyard, a project to invigorate not only old timbers, hulls, rigs, but also hopefully minds and bodies. Hope to learn more.

Eirene as she appeared on 'Boatshed'.

Sadly I have not heard back from Michael with 'Lady of Locherly', the GH 31 in Scotland. Do hope he sorts his mail out and tries to contact us again. All my replies bounce back at the moment, with 'mailbox full'.

After a few miserable days when the temperature has not topped 12C, today we have 19C! Sadly also thunderstorms predicted. As I have builders up ladders repairing cement work on our little dormer windows in the roof of our tiny cottage, I hope it holds off till they are at least past the preparation stage!

The weather recently has been unpredictable to say the least, F2 one moment, F7 the next! Hoping to grab at least one more day afloat before lay up... If I can muster a crew...

I have been working on a 16ft GRP sailing boat in the garden here, (featured on our 'For Sale' page), salvaged from my late friend Phil's garden by Keith and myself last month. I used the pressure washer on it last week and amazingly it has white decks, not cream! Everything cleaned up a treat. It had been in their back garden best part of 30 years! I have the mast laid across the garden and I am fitting gooseneck track, cleats and blocks etc. to it at the moment, then it will go on eBay. Sure it will sell if I make it complete. Sadly so many non complete boats though are failing to sell.

Read an interesting piece on the news from Cornwall this week, on the number of boats abandoned in creeks and harbours in the county. Seems the trick is to sell the unwanted boat on eBay for £1.00, so you can walk away from them, passing the responsibility to the 'lucky'' buyer! Seems the authorities believe these abandoned boats are going to be a real problem in the next 10 years. They are calling for a tax on boat owners, to assist the removal and disposal of these craft. Great. And we are not just talking of old wooden boat, no now it is all manner of GRP boats, of all sizes, that are being abandoned. A quick look on 'Lonely Boats' or 'Boat Breaker' will show you the size of the problem.

As I have said many times, we seem to have had the golden years of boat ownership.

So I was not that surprised to get a call from Suffolk last week, asking if I could help rehome a Y.M. Senior. This boat well known to me, seen often sailing on the Blackwater. I have volunteered to save her, as the boatyard want to break her up! Clock ticking!! She is not complete sadly, part of the cockpit seating missing and some of the interior bunk supports, but she looks salvageable. Been left open to the elements for a while, so sad... Apparently the rig is safely stored under cover though and OK.

I must be careful to pass on my friends Phil's boat quickly, before this Senior arrives here or I will be in deep trouble with the boss. I am becoming a 'receiver of wrecks'!

I am vainly hoping there may be someone willing to take this project on, after all she is small enough to fit into a garage to be worked on.... Any takers...??

I'm off out to re rivet the spreaders on this little 16ft boat here and cut a couple of ply pads for an outboard bracket. She has to be a finished boat to sell...

What chances an Indian summer??

John

Monday 30th September 2024.

The first snows of Winter have fallen in western Ukraine.

Have a thought at what it is going to be like there, with the power stations destroyed by ruzzians.....

Eventide News. After a cold but bright weekend, the rain has come back with a vengeance. Gale 8 forecast for tonight. Not many sails on the Blackwater Saturday, when at least it was only F3. None since! Hoping for a warm spell later, before winter layup.

Had an enquiry from Ireland last week, Ray has bought the 30ft MG designed 'Eirene', that is ashore at Bradwell here. She and several other boats have been purchased in the UK, for a trust based in Eire. She is bound for County Kerry, next spring! Think there may be a bit of work to do on her before she sets sail.

I have responded to Ray, but his mail has bounced back, 'Mailbox Full'. So if your read this Ray, access your email and clear the backlog. Hopefully my response about alternative, cheaper mooring places will get through to you.

We also want to put a link or mention of the charity you run...

The same for Michael who has 'Lady of Locherly'. My response to you bounced back too, your mailbox is full!!

Hope you both manage to sort your mails and get back in touch.

Graham the custodian of the historic 'Borer Bee' has sent more photos. I will not show them here they are horrendous! Suffice to say all the bad bits are being ruthlessly torn out and rebuilding will start later, on good foundations!

David Fennell-Roberts has sent us a heavy tome written by the late Martin Lewis. It describes the evolution of his 'Extended Bilge Keel' version. Also his log of his solo passage across the North Sea and back. I have another of Martin's logs here as well, sent on by David Hilliard, from Tony Sykes's widow Betty. So good of them to do this, these need to be in the public domain.

Will be scanning and posting these papers during the winter!

Not heard back from Johnny in Australia, building a Senior hull from a Selway-Fisher kit. If you are reading this, please check your mail, was expecting an enrolment, so we could send you the Senior drawings and allocate a sail number...

I was down to F.G. on Sunday, horrible, cold, windy weather, marina deserted. I wanted to see if my quarter turn on each of the many, many bronze screws in the cockpit floor had stemmed the little leak. Been leak free for 7 years, since before the second half of the round UK trip. Sadly I found a pint or so of water in the stbd bilge again. So this means I am going to have to chose a dry, and not too cold a day, to unscrew all those darned screws and lift the floor again. Not easy with a gammy knee! The floor was sealed with a thin 3mm strip of foam rubber stuck to the underside of the ply floor. Bet I wont be able to trace the blessed leak, so it will mean replacing the lot, pain. To that end I have purchased a 6mm thick roll of sticky backed foam to replace the slightly thinner strip I fitted 7 years back.... I like to only see dust in my bilge!

Whilst I was aboard I took the opportunity to check the voltage in the batteries. I had one of the services battery fail a fortnight or so back. Incredibly the battery appeared to be 19 years old, not 9 as I first thought! Either way I have more than had my moneys worth! Replaced with a very slightly smaller capacity, 105 as opposed to 125Ahr, battery of the same type, looks identical.

When first installed it only had 12.2v and it has only risen very slowly. Sunday I recorded 12.5v. Realised the Solar panel I use to charge all the batteries had not had a lot of sunshine recently!

So I fired up the little Beta and had the motor running in gear at 1200 revs to produce a hefty charge to not only the new services battery, but also to the fridge batteries, that had been recently used, but not topped up either, too windy to go out....

On the left the battery monitor for the Services, on the right for the fridge.

Using these clever NASA battery monitors, I can keep a constant check in the state of the electrics. The Services monitor also enables me to check the start battery voltage at a press of a button. Good to see the alternator is putting out a substantial charge when needed, 13A, plus, most times the amps seen are low, 1 or 2A, as the solar panel trickles charges (at up to 1.5Amp) all the battery banks when the boat is unattended, or indeed when we are sailing! I have seen the Amps up to 20 plus on both sets of batteries at once... 50Amp Alternator.

We have an intelligent charger, an X-Alt, (sadly no longer made) and an intelligent, no voltage drop, splitter, an X-split. (Also no longer made.). The splitter allows the most discharged battery to recharge first, but prioritises the start battery! I normally step on board to see all the batteries happily charged at 13.5V.

I have a simple change over switch on the dash to switch from solar panel charging to engine charging. Works on the Field coil wire from the Alternator. And yes I sometimes forget to switch from one to the other, but I have not found an automatic one as yet! Important to remember to leave it on 'solar' when leaving the boat!

I was also pleased to see the replacement NASA Navtext was working well. Much easier to read than the previous one too.

Heres hoping the weather will brighten up in October, just for a few days....

John

Sunday 22nd September 2024.

The Autumn Equinox.

Today marks the first day of Autumn, when day and night the same length.

Eventide News.

Jonathon in Australia has bought a set of Selway-Fisher Senior hull drawings, and is after a set of Senior plans to finish the job. Expecting an enrolment any day. (You just have to be a member to be entitled to a set of drawings on a DVD).

Robin, selling the GH 'Wine Knot', mailed us, he had an odd request. Anyone got a Lewmar winch spare? He went down to his boat to find one of the cockpit winches missing! No damage, so was not ripped out by a passing boat's mainsheet, but stolen!!! I said that he best report it, incase someone is robbing boats and the local police can at least have a heads up. He later got in touch to say he had found a replacement at 'Boat breakers' website. https://www.boatbreakers.com/ He has also now put 'Wine Knot' on their 'Lonely boats for sale ' site. https://lonelyboats.com/31ft-golden-hind-for-sale-in-poole/

Sadly looking at the boats offered for sale there and the ridiculously low prices on some of them, it doubles my suspicion that unless a boat is in full 'sail away' condition and well equipt at that, then used boats are just not selling... There now appears to be little hope of selling project boats. For the last 20 years I have been noting the numbers of older or uncared for boats, being broken up. Even the good viable GRP ones these days, as all the old tore out wooden ones have long gone, mostly as bonfires. Leaving piles of copper and brass nails and screws to sift through, a messy and not that lucrative a job!

So unless you are really keen on rebuilding one particular design for your, or your families own use..... rebuilding a project boat is just not happening... Then the boats are abandoned. I hear that boatyards are now chasing owners or their families for compensation, legally.. Apparently there is quite a cost disposing of a GRP boat these days, thus the giveaway prices asked by increasingly concerned owners. When you see complete and seemingly in good order Westerly Centaurs going for a song, you have to realise the 'Golden Days' of boat ownership are rapidly drawing to a close. At every yard or marina I have visited recently, there is a growing problem with boats that owners have 'walked away from'.

So few younger people have the experience, the time nor the money. We have been the lucky ones it appears. The 'Golden Generation'. What can we do to help others??

For those still owning and using their boats, Roger has sent me another update for the entrance to the River Blackwater and the Sunk Head sand area.

https://mailchi.mp/6f8559f04d8f/new-consolidate-update-21st-september-2024?e=d71b2e29a2

Yesterday it was just a tad too windy for the boss and I to have a day out on the river, F3 and 4 but gusts of F5. So instead we decided to picnic on board, in our berth and watch the 'Bradwell Air Show'.

Aboard F.G.

This show has been put on several times now and one year it was a terrific spectacle, with large numbers of vintage military vehicles, loads of people from re enactment societies, in full RAF gear or Army. Hundreds turned out. There was a 1940's band that evening in the the old Bradwell Bar. (Before Mike and Anita retired, and it was taken over and turned into an upmarket bistro... There is little normal comfort food now, so sadly boat owners mostly shun it...). The Green Man a few steps away at Bradwell Waterside, does a roaring trade as a result, recommended!

As the RAF memorial flight is still grounded, they had put on a terrific display in previous years, we were not expecting much. We were right, maybe 6 people in RAF uniform at the gate and couple of them looked like air cadets, no vehicles and no marquees full of information, and memorabilia. Nothing to explain the importance of Bradwell Bay airfield. Instead the bar had an outside catering stall set up, to sell to visitors.

There was music on the bar's verandah, but not 1940's.. No Glen Miller.... They were good but I think they missed the point. It was supposed to be in honour of the Bradwell Bay air crews.

In the air, first off was a solo stunt plane, for 10 minutes, followed long after by two more stunt planes, again for a few minutes. Then, after an age, the air was filled with the unmistakable roar of a Spitfire, that wheeled and dived, rolled and looped overhead for 20 minutes, to the delight of the small crowd onshore and the boat owners. The noise was incredible. Lastly, after a lot of people had left, a pair of biplanes trundled past, with wing walkers! They stayed for a little longer as it seemed to take them a long time to fly past!

The mini air show.

After the picnic and the last planes had left, we tidied up and made a pilgrimage, that I bet no one else attending did. We went to pay our respects at the Bradwell Bay memorial.

The Bradwell Bay war memorial. (Its a concrete Mosquito). They were based here.

This is still in pride of place at the memorial. Along with a ceramic plate depicting a 'Mossie'. Jack was a founder member of the EOG and Eventide owner for many years. Sadly no longer with us, but his work lives on.

We have a lovely sketch of our cottage, drawn by Jack, on the wall here, that he did in advance of us moving in here, nearly 29 years ago, cherished.

Hoping that the last day of summer and the thunderstorms and rain of today, the first official day or autumn, will not mean the last day of sailing for the year.

John

Support Ukraine lest our youth have to take up arms again!

Sunday 15th September 2024.

Supporting Ukraine at home and afloat.

Eventide news. Heard from young Kier in Canada and we have sent him all the info we have on the timber GH31. Hoping to get some photos back at some stage.

Heard from Graham with 'Borer Bee'. He has uncovered the builders plate whilst stripping and cleaning her. A nice bit of boating history!

Cleaned up ready to go back.

Been quiet on the emails for the last week, apart from the two just mentioned.

I was watching the weather all week, in hope and to my surprise the F2 SW was still on the forecast Friday night, so Saturday morning an hour or so after HW, we slipped moorings in Bradwell and headed out into a very empty River Blackwater. Every time we have managed to get out this year, I have been surprised how few other boats were out there. The Marina was reasonably busy, judging from the number of cars parked up, so there must be a lot of owners on their boats, but only 3 moved when we went out.

Out in the river we putter slowly up river against the gentle breeze and a weak ebb tide, (neaps), to anchor for lunch in the entrance to St. Lawrence Creek. (Special place for us as we scattered mum's ashes here). We would normally expect to see a few seals and maybe a visiting porpoise, but today nothing. The number of gulls could be counted on two hands. A dozen cormorant were fishing or drying their wings on the newly exposed mud. Where were all the other birds, again... they surely cannot all be following tractors?

The Blackwater. 'That gem of a river, that noble arm of the sea'. We had it almost to ourselves...

Looking round the horizon we could only count 12 boats, half power boats, half sail. It was a warm sunny day with a F2/3. SW. At one stage a dozen dinghies appeared from Stone, and raced round the yellow marker buoys, and were then hooted at as they passed the finish line off the Thirstlet buoy, then they were off home.

A half dozen cruisers under spinnaker passed heading out, to reappear 4 hours later, tacking slowly back. And that was about it.

Really remarkable that for all the boats on moorings around the Blackwater, on such a lovely day, so few were in use.

We had a leisurely picnic and sat and soaked up the atmosphere for a few hours. At an hour before LW we raised anchor and sailed gently back down river at 2 knots, to arrive off Bradwell as the tide turned. As it was a Neap tide I chanced my arm and headed in. The echo sounder went to 0.1m a couple of times and we nudged the bottom once, but no panic and we were off again in seconds, without having to gun the little Beta for more than 5 seconds.

We arrived back in and other owners were amazed that we had come in at LW and enquired of our draft. We draw a metre, seems others are very wary of ditch crawling!

As ever when sailing, an issue came up, the auxiliary battery voltage was down, 11v??? Soon figured out one of the two 100Ahr batteries that provide power to the services, lights, radio, plotter, instruments etc., had failed. I would expect 13.5v as the Solar panel keeps all topped up.. So I will be back on board this week to remove the offending battery and to measure it up to get a replacement. Worked out the batteries for services had not been replaced in many years, probably 9 or 10, so they have done very well! Sure the solar charger that keeps them topped up summer and winter helps lengthen the life of these batteries.

I have 5 x approx. 100Ahr batteries on board. Two 105Ahr for the fridge, 2 totaliing 190Ahr for services and one 85Ahr, dedicated to the engine start. (In addition I have a parallel switch that I can operate, to link start and services together in emergency, never had to use it!).

Will just be careful working my tides out, so I do not have to lug a heavy, dead, lead acid battery up that brow at Low Water!

Next weekend there is an RAF commemoration event at Bradwell. Bradwell Bay WWII airfield is a stones throw away, and the Marina and the Green Man pub. have a big display of military vehicles and of course a fly past. Last time they did this the Battle of Britain Flight treated us to 30 minutes of Ariel ballet, with a Lancaster that low over the river that you could see the pilot's smile! That many barrel rolls from the Hurricane and Spitfire it made you queasy!

We will be there again.

John

Sunday 8th September 2024

(Link removed as expired!)

Eventide News.

Welcome to Kier, with a GH31, in Canada. Named 'Swallow', do I feel an Arthur Ransome influence here?

It was not till I re-read the form that I caught a little fact at the end, the applicants age! 12!!! Seems he is renovating his father's boat! Double welcome Kier.

As the postscript to last weeks Stoppress indicates, on the first day of Autumn, 1st September, I managed to get afloat for the day and my little Beta Marine performed faultlessly. A, brisk at times, sail under genoa, down wind to the other side of Osea, where we anchored for lunch, then puttered back under power into a F4 easterly, to Bradwell 4 hours after HW.

Seems there were several issues that contributed to the engine problem. Primarily it was a defective lift pump on the Beta, where one of the valves jammed and blocked flow. Obviously intermittently, as some days it was fine, others not. Also to add to the difficulty, the internal coating of the fuel pipes were delaminating and it could well be that a little bit of this material had jammed the lift pump valve... I have given the defective pump to Steve the engineer, who is going to fit new valves... as Kubota do a repair kit. So I will find out in the fullness of time!

So with all new fuel pipes, and for good measure, the electric Facet lift pump renewed, (this lifts the fuel from the under cockpit tank, up to the filters), and a new Kubota engine lift pump fitted, we are back in business. As a mater of course, I bought and carry a spare Facet pump, because at £35.00, they are cheap enough to have one as a spare. (I also have the original Kubota lift pump packed away up forward, as a spare too. Belts braces and bits of string me!

Now hoping we now get an Indian Summer. At the moment we have heavy rain and thunderstorms over most of southern England, but we here on the Essex coast seem to have escaped the worst. What Global Warming?

Once again EU45 have a special offer on for the Southampton boat show. I took advantage of this last year and have enough for next season already in store. This stuff really works. Even though it has been warm, at times, and we have not moved often because of the high winds, we have no grass skirt and an outing washes off the thin layer of slime. I recommend Marclear EU45.

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Well that's about all for now, except to say I have had an offer from Craftinsure, that if I pass people on to them they will give me a £20 voucher. I can say I am very pleased with the cost and cover they give me, so check them out and mention The Eventide Owners Group. We might get something back as a group.

Good sailing,

John

Saturday 31st August 2024.

Click here to donate to help the children..

Click here to join the Jake Broe fund raiser for vehicles.

(I just did and am expecting a nice shoulder badge as a result!)

Eventide News:-

Heard back from Angie. She has decided not to go and visit the Eventide 'Cosmic Wind' that she and her husband Mike owned, as it would be too upsetting to see it unloved. Anyone out there fancy saving her, she is at Iron Bridge Wharf, Faversham, Kent and I am sure can be purchased for a reasonable sum.

As she was and as she is now. Anyone fancy saving her?

However she has sent me a link to the film that the boat was in, albeit extremely briefly! A very young Mike and Angie appear at the 4 minutes 45 seconds mark. Angie says she is the girl in the stripy top, trying to fry eggs with no oil! A long time ago, mid 1960's.

Period film showing a few lovely boats of the day and bemoaning the lack of marinas! Click here to see it.

No enrolments in the last week or so, but a couple of interesting mails.

Steve has asked, do we know the air draft of a Barbican ? Interesting question. I worked out the air draft of Fiddler's Green many years back when we were planning a trip to the Netherlands. (12.5m, if you are interested!). The info was not to hand, but on the Gallery there was a good drawing and knowing her length, 33ft. it could be worked out. Have not heard if he has yet... Be sure to include the VHF aerial!

Peter has sent in a photo of the Eventide 'Mata Rani' hoping it may jog someone's memory. He would love to know where she is now.

Mata Rani.

I have been struggling to get my little Beta Marine sorted. After replacing the electric Facet lift pump, plus all the hoses and now the mechanical lift pump on the side of the engine, it appears to be behaving. Just returned from the marina and the boat, having lifted the cockpit floor and found a stone jammed under it in the foam sealing strip, which I hope is the reason the cockpit floor leaked water into her for the first time in 8 years in the downpour last Saturday. The foam strip could not have been sealing!! All checked and all the securing screws now hard tightened down, time will tell. As it is gently raining now and more predicted in the next few days I doubt I will have to wait long to find out.

Whilst I was removing and replacing the floor, the motor was running in gear at 1500 revs, for over an hour. Did not miss a beat. I stopped and started it half a dozen times trying to catch it out, to no avail. Tomorrow for the first time in weeks the F5's have gone from the forecast, so we are being joined by brother in law and stalwart crew man, Keith and my sister Sue. Midday HW, so a sail up to Maldon on the tide the order of the day! winds tailing off in the afternoon to F2;s, so a gentle sail, or motor back, as the wind is Easterly, so on the nose on the way back!

I have just been out in the workshop investigating the original Beta lift pump removed from the boat recently, well not the 'original' bought with the motor in 1994, but one I fitted in 2012. prior to the first leg of the round UK trip. Reason for replacement, the original did not have a manual lift, the replacement did have.. And useful it was too!

However the engineer Steve found the pump was blocked and sure enough when I stripped it, I found one of the tiny valves in it had jammed and had blocked the flow... and it was a good Kubota one too. Looking on line for a replacement, there were dozens for sale, mostly chinese knock offs, at £20.00. Avoid! I bought a brand new Kubota pump for £35.00. As fitted to mini diggers everywhere! Can you guess how much Beta marine wanted for the same one?

£250!!!

So tomorrow watching the weather, and hoping for a nice day afloat.

Hope you are sailing too.

John

Post Script. Sunday evening. Just had a great day out on F.G., sailed up past Osea, anchored for lunch and motored back against a brisk F4 Easterly, to Bradwell. Beta purred all the way! Sun shone and smiles all round.

John

Thursday 22nd August 2024.

Borrowing something out of the UK book, dummy tanks etc. Laugh, ruzzian terrorists use a £3million missile to take out a £1000 dummy!

Click the link below to see Jake Broe and his fundraiser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD-Jaag3wAU

Eventide news. No sooner that I had sent out last weeks Stoppress than we had an enrolment from the Netherlands! Welcome to Kees with a GH 31!

We also have had several interesting mails, one took me far down memory lane. Angie would like to know where her late husband Mick and her family's boat is now. The Eventide 26, 'Cosmic Wind'. I recalled the name and then a long conversation started about all the policemen from Dagenham and the local Essex stations, who all had boats based at Hullbridge Yacht Club on the river Crouch, going back to 1968 and up to 1973 when I was a member. I was sailing Mirror dinghies then but recall the Eventide. Anyone know where 'Cosmic Wind' is now?? (In 1973 I bought my Eventide 'Bluenose' and got a mooring for her at Tollesbury...) Angie is trying to find a better photo than the fuzzy one she sent...

The same day we had an enquiry about another boat, called 'Mata Rani'. Now Peter had remembered her as a 23ft boat, but guess it was a 24. He recalls helping his father 50 years ago, when he was a lad, fit the engine. She was moored on the Crouch as well, lower down at Wallasea. I do not recall this name, but names do change. I have asked Peter if he can find a photo of her sailing as there may be a sail number we can search for.

Graham has contacted us regarding 'Borer Bee'. He has finished stripping the bad bits out and is now starting to restore. However he is thinking now of not re rigging her but leaving the rig off and just concentrating on getting her afloat, under power and using her on a sheltered lake for now. The rig can always be fitted later!

Borer Bee under repair.

She is still for sale, see our For Sale pages, and he was thinking of getting her onto the 'Historic Ships' register too.

Had a mail from J. (sorry did not get more than an initial), owner of the GH 'Lady Louise' He brings our attention to that 22ft Eventide lookalike that we featured on here a while back. She is back on eBay. She is different in that she has a centreboard and the cabin top can be lifted off!! Odd set up and only of use on the Norfolk Broads or the like, but may appeal to someone. We would love to hear her story.

Go to eBay to see her.. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296642284033

J also mentions 'Jua' the Golden Hind 34 made in Steel and give a distinctive Junk rig. Sailed all the way to America by Roger and Kathy Thomas, and then round the Mediterranean, she still languishes in Port Dinorwic, North Wales, no takers! Crying shame.

Jua

Have to report the sad demise of the Eventide 'Liverbird'. She was abandoned about 4 or 5 years ago says our informant Adam. She was stripped of anything of value of course and now is a sorry mess.

Sad end.

Julia has sent in a nice article about a Senior. Her father built one years ago and sadly after it was donated away, it fell into decay. So in memory of her father's efforts she has bought and restored another and I have just added the article she wrote to the Senior page. Well done Julia.

Click here to see Julia's Senior.

As most people must be aware, climate change has caused a lot of changes to our summer weather. This year we have now had two named summer storms, very unusual.. Today it is Storm Lilian, we have had F8 here today but further north is is even windier! What have we done to our planet! I have been accused of being a doomsayer, because I have been harping on about this for decades. Wonder how long it will be before we start to try and make amends... Gone are those halcyon days of the 1960's and '70's. For the past fortnight or more the wind has not dropped much below F4, and if it did, only for a short while. I am now at an age when I would like a day of gentle F3's!

However even if the wind drops, 'Fiddler's Green' is still tied to her berth, as we have engine problems. After a few great outings earlier in the year, suddenly the little Beta Marine inboard peters out after a few minutes if I run her up in the berth? (I try to run her in gear, under load, just to ensure all is well after the fun I had repairing the heat exchanger last year). That part is holding up well, but it would appear we have something more serious going on with the fuel system

We wondered if there were an air leak or a blockage. Having replaced all the filters, that did not need replacing as we had done very few hours running, and replacing the tired 'Facet' pump, I fitted back in 2016, fitted as the location of the new tank under the cockpit floor, called for a stronger pump to lift the fuel to the motor, instead of relying on gravity as before.. But we find that the motor still dies?? Inspecting the inside of one of the fuel hoses removed, I found it has deteriorated internally? Steve the engineer, is changing the fuel pipes, all of them! I know Steve quite well as he was owner the Eventide 'Camelot' for a while... and he and his father, who run Althorne Marine engineering, kept their boats next to ours for decades. I have called on him a few times to assist me onboard.. I respect his knowledge and work. He also drives our village fire engine!!

Hopefully over the next day or so I will have a purring Beta again! At 30 years service and having motored many thousand of hours, including all round the UK, it has served me well and I am pretty sure the extra care given to servicing it every year, has paid dividends. Think it has some years left in it still!

Steve also renewing fuel lines on another boat and that has similar issues. He says the standard for fuel pipe has changed recently, so it may well be a good time to replace any older fuel pipes...

Bank holiday weekend and though not a washout, certainly not going to be a balmy end to the summer. Hope we get a long 'Indian' summer.

Good sailing.

John

Thursday 15th August 2024.

Who would have thought it a week or so ago, pics from inside ruzzia! Bravo Ukraine.

Eventide News.

No new enrolments this past week or so.

However I have added details to the boats I added on the 'For Sale' pages!

We have had a great mail in from Julia, owner and Skipper of Sandpiper. Her father corresponded with me 40 or so years ago when he sailed 'Kipper', the Senior he built. Julia wanted to relive those days and sadly was too late to restore 'Kipper', as she was donated away by her father and fell into disrepair... but instead she bought and restored the Senior 'Sandpiper', and now sails her in the Lake district. I will be adding the write up by Julia to the 'Senior' pages of the gallery shortly.

Today I visited Tollesbury and took the opportunity to photograph one of the boats on our 'For Sale' page to see for myself her condition.. Not pretty, but nothing a power pressure washer would not cure!

I may add one or two to the Glass Tide advert.

For my part I have had a rather difficult time sailing wise. It has been so windy here for so long it was an even bigger disappointment for me that when I did get the chance of a gentle sail, the motor played up.

I have a local chap looking at the engine trying to figure out why it keeps stopping. Feels like an air leak into the system or a blockage, but we have now changed all the filters and the feed pump and bled the motor several times, after each filter replacement or pump replacement, but it is still doing it. Hope to find out tomorrow what the engineer has uncovered... Feel a big bill coming...

This motor is 30 years old this year and been maintained scrupulously, and it has till now given sterling service. Even now it starts instantly, just tends to peter out after a few minutes?? Got to be something simple, surely?? But what.

Anyway today there were no sails on the river again and it blew F6. 'What Climate change'?? Oh for the halcyon days of the 1970's....

Hope you are managing to get some sea time..

John

Tuesday 6th August 2024.

Two great bits of news for Ukraine. The New Ada Class corvette launched, but will not come into service for a while..

And more importantly the first 10 vipers patrolling the skies in Ukraine!

Eventide News.

Sorry for lack of updates. I am only just getting back on my feet after our holiday, unprecedented amount of Seagull work! Mustn't grumble, pays for the boat mooring!

I am hoping today to start adding adverts to the 'For Sale' page today. I have a Senior, a 28ft Eventide, a Storm Class, a GRP 26ft Eventide project and a Kylix to add! Watch this space.

I got to check out FG and to my horror,when running up the engine, the Beta Marine failed. What, it never fails.... Investigation showed it was connected to the problem I had 2 months ago, that we thought might be fuel filters blocked... Lack of fuel at the engine.. They were clear, I am ultra careful with fuel! No, it turned out the 'Facet' lift pump. I fitted this when the fuel tank was enlarged shifted to beneath the cockpit floor. ( Our floor is slightly raised... was a void now utilised.). Needed an extra lift pump, as the one on the Beta was not man enough, was OK with gravity feed.. Fitted in 2016 and removed last week, dead! Though it ticked, it did not pump! New pump fitted last week, (I always carry a spare!!) and Beta purring again! New pump on order, to carry as a spare again!

However it has been blowing F4 and 5 since we returned, today F6! so not ventured out as yet to test it, but running in gear on the berth, at tick over, which is when the motor tended to die. You know just when you have throttled back to make the last crucial turn into the berth and need that touch of stern gear! Tends to make the heart race a bit!!

Hope to be adding those adverts later..

Hope the wind throttles back a bit... Got to be global warming....

John

P.S.

I have just added 3 boats to the 'For Sale ' pages I await more details on the Kylix and a Tidewater and a Senior.

Welcome to Julia with a Senior in West Yorkshire, awaiting a few pics and more info.

Welcome to Alex he has one of the boats I have just entered onto the 'For Sale' page, A stretched Eventide 26, now 28.

Forecast F6 for next few days!!!! No sails on the Blackwater....

John

Thursday 25th July 2024.

Soon!

Eventide News.

Sorry for the three week gap, we have been holidaying in our favourite islands, the Scillies. We saw a couple of pods of dolphins as we came back on our little ship, the 'Scillonian'. Always a treat.

The Scillonian leaving harbour bound for Penzance.

Whilst we were there we spotted the Golden Hind, 'Right Eh Oh' moored in St. Mary's harbour. We last saw her here 2 years ago. Sadly the owners have never contacted us, though they were given the message that we had their ships bell available for them. Sadly the opportunity has now gone as when the EOG computer went down, some historical mails were lost. That is unless the first owners of the boat are still reading this page and get back in touch!

Back to 20 odd good mails mails and a new enrolment. Plus 500 spam! You would think some might have better things to do. Read recently that all the spam mail in the world uses the equivalent of 2 large power stations worth of power. What a waste.

Also read that Sunday was the hottest day in the worlds history, on average. We had 31 degrees driving home! Sadly the world is intent on spiraling to destruction, so little being done and all too late.

Something we again noted, and have been saying for over 25 years.... recently heard that others have now 'cottoned on' and are as concerned as we are, re the lack of insects. When was the last time you had to scrape them off the windscreen by the hundred?

Back to Eventide News!

Welcome to Chris Bradley with a Kylix based in Conyer. I will be sending the welcome letter shortly.

Heard from Graham with 'Borer Bee', he has at last removed all suspect wood and is allowing all to dry out before he begins the restoration. She is tucked away in a boat builders shed in Scotland, in good hands. She is still for sale if anyone wants to take on this historic craft.

I have not yet had a chance to visit my boat, as grass was a foot high and needed a sheep or me with mower, and I had to answer 400 Seagull messages on my return. Waiting at home for me, on my return was a near new Navtext, an eBay bargain. An electronics company of repute selling off the shop display model! My original Navtext, over 20 years old, had died, internal battery leaked and destroyed the mother board. NASA could not repair it and offered me a replacement for £200. I declined. This one was half that! Will be fitting shortly. Boss says I have now got to go offshore again to get full use from it. Azores??

Had an interesting phone call just before we swanned off to the Scillies, it was from a friend who used to run the 'Fellowship Afloat' a Christian youth organisation I have had dealings with for over 50 years. He had been passed a written log, and wanted to return it to the author. Sadly the author, Martin Lewis had died over 22 years back. I had cleared his house of boating gear for the family, and salvaged his Senior, 'Pau Amma' that the yard at Pin Mill wanted to scrap! Sadly I later passed it to one of the old association people who defiled it. I should have just stored it. Now however I have Martins log of his 1980 travels around the Thames estuary, and exploration of every tiny creek. To my surprise I opened a page to find a picture of myself and the family looking back. 'Bluenose' in Bradwell Marina. The old assoc. meet when it was a real friendly organisation. I will publish the log later in the year, sadly it all has to be retyped as typing was not one of Martin's forte's and it is full of penned in corrections so cannot easily be scanned with Optical Text Reading program.

One thing I noted, was that in 1980, the Bradwell Marina totally dried out, boats up on the mud everywhere. Not like that today, annual dredging seen to that. The spoil being pumped onto Pewit Island so the birds can nest on it, it is a special 'Little Tern' colony.

Hope you are managing to get afloat, and if you do, do not forget to write up that log! We will publish them and there are trophies too!

Good sailing,

John

Monday 1st July 2024.

Marked similarity to Ukraine colours!

https://unitewithukraine.com/donate?_kx=0bqf_hkfGscFpmJ6NV8SMjAAYlj8YuaEJlQUfn4Xn1RV3HlKELtKVsJtyirZjpwD.U99MWX

(Above link allows you to donate for medical supplies.)

Eventide News.

No more enrolments but we have had an enquiry for drawings that will involve an enrolment first. An interesting enquirer, lots of deep sea sailing experience. Knows a sea kindly vessel when he sees one!

Also had a contact from years ago mail me, he has a log by the sadly missed, Martin Lewis, who sailed his little Senior 'Pau Amma' round all the tiny creeks of the Thames estuary. They were given to a friend of ours years ago and his widow has passed them onto my contact, who is sending them to us.

We will print the log on our logs page! So nice when things like this come out of the woodwork.

So pleased we did not just throw the towel in 21 years back, but fought to keep the designs in the public eye. Has paid dividends.

I have now put in a claim for the repair and updating of the EOG machine. I waited a while to be certain all was operating as it should be. It is!

Personal boating, no not done any this last week, most days the forecast of F5 or more has been correct, so no boats visible on the Blackwater or Colne, from my study window. In stead I have been re-planking my upside down boat.. sorry my cottage! I have repainted 95% of our cottage, a job I have to do every two or three years, but this year found many planks had reached the end of their life. The planking was put on during the last major 'refit', about 1990 or just before. Bet the timber was not pressure treated though. Todays new planking is pressure treated and properly maintained will last another 30 years or more! I do not think I will be having to replace the ones I have just nailed up!

Just like wooden Eventides, wooden houses need TLC, but as our place has been here since before 1650, and looks amazing still, no reason why a properly maintained Eventide cannot still be in use in 375 years time!

Had an update on the Swin Spitway come through, twice.. Here is the latest one, thanks to friend Roger Gasper for this..

You can visit his site to upload a good copy to print out for your nav table.

https://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/page29.html

Well that is all for now, and for the next three weeks, as we are once more swanning off to our favourite islands, the Scillies. House and cat sitter in charge back at base and we will not be back here until 22nd July, a new Stoppress page when we return

John

Monday 24th June 2024.

Pleased to see our navy training the Ukrainians on the ships we donated to them.

Eventide news:- No new enrolments, but one member has just made a generous donation for sets of building plans. I will be burning CD's later to send to Australia! Barry is at present cruising American Samoa waters.. Hope the CD's get there for his return.

Bede with 'Le Papillion' made it to Lowestoft and yesterday sailed back to Shotley, today he is sailing south again, last seen having sailed down the Wallet, and crossed the sands heading towards North Foreland. Bon Voyage. Sadly had to motor a lot, but treated this as a shake down for him and the crew, next time! I am seriously thinking of investing in one of these £75 to £80 AIS transmitters. They work!

We have had the longest day, the nights will be drawing in all too quickly, so have to get some quality sailing time in!

Yesterday, we were joined on board by Darian's daughter Carol and her fiancée Darren. With F2/3 forecast I expected a light weather sail, but at times F1 was as much as it could muster.. Difficult conditions for novice Darren to try and sail in! Hopefully more breeze next time! Eventually we gave up half way up the river, and slowly puttered up towards Maldon, anchoring in a couple of metres of water an hour before HW, just below Maldon. After lunch with half an hour or more of tide left, we slowly motored past the barges on the Maldon Hythe and past the boatyards, to turn before the bridge and come back down.. Of course by then the wind had done a 180 and we had it right on the nose all the way back!

Spotted several MG boats...

The Steel Vulcan with Malcolm at the helm, 'Auberge', a 25ft Medusa and a steel Eventide 26.

Once again we commented on the lack of boats afloat. A few dozen wet bikes and speed boats, but few sails. Two dozen on the horizon most of the time, augmented by a few dozen dinghies aimlessly drifting about!! Where was everyone?

Pleased to say F.G. performed as she was expected to, all kit and gear worked, that was until we ran over one of the huge patches of floating weed, and the paddlewheel log stopped! So much weed! I will clear it when I pop down in the week, the paddlewheel transducer pulls out from inside the boat and a flap valve shuts to stop water coming in, clever, 30 years old and still working well. Huge rafts of weed, hundreds of yards long covered the surface of the river, and through the clear water, (yes our river is clean now they have stopped dumping sewage sludge from London in the Black deep, instead the farmers spread it on the fields in front of us, nice!), we could see a couple of feet of trailing weed under it all. Best avoided. I am pleased I fitted the exhaust temperature alarm to warn me if the intake blocked again... Watched the gauge read a steady 45C all day!

The temperature is 24 today and likely to rise over the next few days, summer has really arrived.

good sailing

John

Tuesday 18th June 2024.

This pair of photos say it all, 'good v evil'.

Eventide News. Good news here, I am writing this on the EOG computer again, it is fixed and updated! Sadly lost some old archived mails, but I have all the photos that were sent in saved and the enrolments filed away!

John Stevens, the Database Manager, tells me he has nearly transferred all the database material onto his new laptop and will soon have the amended totals for the website.

This week two more enrolments, welcome to Nigel in Gillingham, Kent who is looking at a GH. At present he sails a Memory 19, joined as a friend for now.

Welcome also to Wallace in Brazil. He has joined as a friend with an interest in obtaining a set of plans...

Had an interesting mail from another 'Friend', ex Eventide owner Bede, who told me today he was sailing a Westerly Konsort and on his way round the UK.!! I looked him up on AIS, thinking, as I know him a little, I bet he may well have fitted the boat with a transponder. Yes! I found 'Le Papillion' off Foulness heading for the Swin Spitway! Look him up on AIS! Hope to meet up with him if he pops into Bradwell.

Looks as though the weather is improving, we have had a lot of F5's here recently, and easterlies. It is still easterly, but just F3 today. I am painting the cottage at the moment, over 3/4 done, up the ladder again shortly, by the time the weather settles down I should be done and ready to take advantage of it on Fiddler's Green.

Good sailing.

John

Post Script. Followed 'Le Papillion' on AIS from off Foulness to Brightlingsea and a day later, up the Blackwater and into Bradwell. Met Bede and Crew on board. Hope to meet again for a meal in the Green Man later..

Isn't this technology clever! And when I was shown the transmitter I was amazed to see a small orange waterproof tube at the stern £75.!!!

These are designed to mark fishing net floats, for fishermen to locate them easily!

Only down side so far is made and available only from China! Sure that will change but so will the price...

See https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386029243415?var=653623080237

Footnote, longest Day on 20th, all downhill from then on....

Wednesday 12th June 2024.

A pair of hero's! Each calling the other the real hero. D-Day veteran and Zelensky.

Eventide news.. Sadly the Eventide P.C. still in the menders.... Got it back Monday and it was 95% correct, however during the alterations, some of the files were put into different drives and various programs could not find the operating files, so refused to work. A tedious job to find and reroute these files, but they say a couple of days.... Then I will start answering the backlog of mails, must be huge by now!

Other news, well not a lot really. The few days the sun shone, it was far too windy to sail, so I have been cracking on with painting the cottage. Living in a wooden shed in the country is great, but maintenance has to be done and every 2 or 3 years I have to prepare and paint the whole of the outside woodwork. As it is white I have needed dark sunglasses to see what I am doing! Sadly overdid it and pulled a muscle, so the wet dismal weather since Sunday has given me a chance to recover. Not more than one hardy soul seen under sail on the Blackwater for a week!

I checked the boat yesterday and had the motor running in gear to triple check the cooling system. My repair to the header tank is holding up thank goodness! However after 10 or 15 minutes running, the motor died???? I restarted in neutral and it only ran a few moments before again stopping, as if it was out of fuel?? With a 3/4 full tank I guessed it was a trifle more serious. I could not see any obvious leaks or issues... With my arm out of action, I asked Steve the engineer at Bradwell to take a look and change the fuel filters for me, as I had not done that for 3 years. My reasoning was that I had only done 50 hours motoring in the last 3 years and the filters should be like new. Blocked filters was my thought.

I always try to use good white diesel purchased in cans from the local garage, but even then it goes from can to tank through a filter funnel. I keep the tank topped up over winter, to prevent condensation in the tank that might encourage the dreaded 'diesel bug', and I use a fuel additive to prevent bugs and keep it fresher. (If you had seen the black stringy sludge we removed from the tanks of our police boats years ago, you would be concerned about the fuel in your tanks too, you should be!)

Heard this morning that filters have been changed and fuel lines all checked OK, a little sediment found in the primary filter, that's all.. Boat had been running in gear for 25 minutes when he spoke to me, so whatever the issue was, it appears to have been resolved.

Anyone else had similar issues??

Heard from Roger with an update to the Thames Estuary pilotage..

https://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/page29.html

All for now, off to check boat and waiting for the call to collect computer....

John

Tuesday 4th June 2024.

Lest we forget. 6th June 1944.

I do not think I have to remind you of the task that our formost designer, Maurice Griffiths, G.M., ARINA. was involved in at that time.

Maurices 'Corncobs', as they were code named, formed the outer breakwater for the subsequent Mulberry Harbour off those beaches.

The full story can be found eleswhere on these pages or in Dick Durham's excellent Biography of Maurice. 'The Magician of the Swatchways'.

Other news. Sadly the EOG e-mail is still down as the EOG P.C. is still undergoing repair. Last I heard, yesterday, was that I could expect it back later this week... Fully restored and with an updated hard drive. Cost now over £200!!

Not heard from anyone of course, as mail is down, and not had any recent phone calls.

I was hoping to be out afloat again next Sunday, but winds look a little lively for taking the boss afloat! Instead think I am going to have to do a boot sale, to clear a space or two in our sheds!

In the meantime I am busy repairing and repainting our little white, wooden shed, here in Essex.. Keeps me busy.

Did hear back from Nasa Marine re my defunct Navtext. Sadly beyond repair! The internal battery burst and corroded the motherboard... (I have had it on board for 30 years, so it has given sterling service!).

They offered me a 'discounted' replacement of the later 'Version 2', but the price was not that 'discounted' as I can buy it on eBay for the same money, (£220.00) and if I buy through our eBay page, I can get a few shillings back..

At this stage though, I am not planning doing any more offshore sailing in the near future..., so will be removing the bracket and antenna next time I go aboard. However if a good Navtext Pro (plus) comes up....

Hoping the warm weather comes back next week, this week the temperatures dropping again... Was summer on a Wednesday in May this year??

Lastly if the skies clear, watch out for the 'Northern Lights' over the next night or two.... with the deminishing of the Earth's magnetism they could be visible again in Essex. Last time we had red streaks in the sky. Of course if the Magnetic North and South poles flip, as I predict they will one day, we might see these every night!

John

Monday 27th May 2024.

Well done to UK farmers. Just donated the 100th 4x4 to Ukraine!

Eventide news.

The EOG computer still in bits! Got it back last week, but it has been crippled. I managed to get e-mail working and with it reboot a couple of programs. As a result it is now back at TDR in Maldon along with the NAS machine, and they hope to reload a back up copy onto it so it will be as before, but only after they have changed the C Drive for one much larger! Hopefully later this week.....

Whilst I had the compiuter up and running for 24 hours here, I managed to down load and answer a few mails.

Great news from Scotland. Graham has the trailer roadworthy and has delivered the historic 'Borer Bee' to a boatyard in Girvan. Here they have started stripping the rotten decks off her, along with multiple deck fittings that were badly sealed and have let the rain in. When she is thouroughly dried out, further investigations will start!

Borer Bee on her way to Nobles boatyard, Girvan. The extent of the damage being investigated..

Good luck with her Graham, you are to be congratulated for caring for her.

Other news, had an enquiry regarding plans from Brazil, in fact two separate enquiries strangely, has there been an article on us in a local magazine again?

Also a mail from the owner of a Senior wishing to advertise on our pages... a member. More later we hope.

'Fiddler's Green' left her mooring again, twice in just over a week! This time just Darian and myself aboard. With a very gentle Variable F3 and we half drifted, half sailed, up river on the tide, to the other side of Osea, to anchor off Northey Island, then putter slowly back with the afternoon ebb against the normal afternoon easterly! (Sea breezes!). Very civilised weather for a change.

Barge Thistle, passed us heading back on the tide with a gentle following sea breeze.

Yours truly relaxing in the sunshine, makes a change!

Typically for a bank holiday, it poured on and off the next two days and blew F5/6, no sails visible on the Blackwater Sunday or Monday. We did do a boat count on Saturday, at HW, and between Heybridge basin and Bradwell power station, the visible horizon, we counted just 40 boats on the move, many were dinghies racing, this was the largest number of boats seen afloat for some while. Where is everyone??

Also alarmingly we noted a distinct absence of wildlife, few birds, no seals or porpoises.. Has everyone left the country?

Do hope you manage to get afloat, not long till the longest day!!

John

Tuesday 21st May 2024.

For a country without a Navy, they are doing well, another terrorist missile ship sunk.

Eventide News. Sadly if you have been trying to mail us since last Wednesday, we are having computer issues. E-mail is down. The EOG computer is now in the menders! Windows crashed and I could not restore it. Appears the solid state hard drive was full.

It is a half Tb drive and should only have had the operating programs on it, all data being saved to a seperate 1Tb hard. When they looked, the second drive was empty and all the data on the solid state drive!

This is something the suppliers were supposed to have set up when we bought the machine many years ago.

I bought a near identical machine for me and my Seagull business and that they did get right.

Hope to be back up and running by the end of the week. However as is always the case when a machine gets 'tinkered with', I bet I will spend another fortnight trying to get it back to something resembling the EOG machine!

So cannot report on any new enrolments or anything, please bear with us.

I can tell you that Fiddler's Green left her mooring Sunday and with 6 of us on board, we had a wonderful sunny day sail with F3's for most of it, exploring the Blackwater!

About to leave,not a breath of wind and no one about, and it was nigh on High Water? Where is everyone..?

Crew draped on deck or pretending to steer!

Sailed down wind up river to the Thirstlet and Radio Caroline, then beat back against a strengthening breeze, with the tide, past the Nass with a nod to the MG buoy, then over to Sales Point to anchor in 2m for lunch.

We all commented. So few boats!!!

The views up and down the river, barely any other craft visible. Why??

Only counted 12 on the whole of the area we could see, from the Colne to Osea Island???? What is happening? Each time we get out these days, this is what we find. Loads of boats on moorings and in marina but few move. Only 5 came out of Bradwell that we could see. Out of 250?

After lunch we run up river under genoa, very gentle… F2. 2 knots over the last of the tide… Back to Thirstlet but on the south shore, there I crept into St. Lawrence creek under motor. It was LW. Neap tide, scraped in with 0.1 under the keel.

Behind Pewit Island, the back way into Bradwell Marina. Atmospheric pic by Darren.

Then gently puttered the 2 miles round the back of Pewit Island, off Bradwell, to enter Bradwell from the opposite way to normal.. I was hoping to show them loads of wildlife.

Not one seal, a few dozen gulls, one cormorant and 2 Shelduck, the area was a desert. Normally thousands of birds and lots of seals…

Most unreal. Bird flu has decimated the birds here.

Back in marina 2 hours later. Most of that 2 hours spent aground putting the kettle on, waiting for the tide!

Learning to relax and wait for the tide!

The passage round the back of Pewit not attempted by many except dinghies these days, must be the first cruiser through there in a while, channel now silted and tortuous, I had no worries but one of the crew was concerned. He had a lesson on tides from Darian. I have taught her well!

Weather today, tipping it down!

Back soon
John

Monday 13th May 2024.

Pleased to say we have stepped up again to help Ukraine! Hope it is time....

Eventide News.

One of my round UK crew got married last Monday! We drove to Lancashire for Brandon and Holly's wedding, and it was a great day. Despite earlier forecasts of dire weather with thunderstorms, we had wall to wall sunshine and smiles!

Photo by budding photographer, Carter, 13!

Great day. Lots of navy personnel present!

I was there also flying the flag for Ukraine!

Not had any more enrolments this week.

News just in. 'Wedjit' the Waterwitch built by Peter North, is back on the Blackwater! Peter's grandson Simon has bought the boat back into the family and she is now berthed here pending work being done in a yard.

Just off to the boat to try and sort the lazy jacks out, last job before we cast off. Cancelled, too windy, I would be knitting all night!

Was hoping to get out at the weekend, but the F5 easterlies meant plan 'B'.

Instead I attended the huge classic motorcycle gathering for charity, at Blackmore village green. over 200 bikes of all ages, from 1940's to modern, plus scooters and mopeds and even a Bond Mini car! Got sunburnt as well as dead flies on the teeth! (1958 BSA Bantam). Looking around the average age of bikers was about the same as the average age of people we see sailing, 70 plus! (The Golden Generation!).

Typical British weather, a few days of brilliant weather, then thunderstorms and rain for another week!

It does appear people are beginning to wake up to climate change though! Bit late maybe, but hey, better late than never... I hope... Been harping on about this for 30 years or more, but are we too late?? Hope not.. Today really is the next best time, instead of20 years back, to plant a tree. If enough do it we may have a chance! That is if we want our grandchildren to have a planet to live on. If only they could stop the planes dumping noxious fumes overhead... no never going to happen.

If only we could just enjoy our simple pleasures... Leave nothing but your wake and take nothing but your memories... Have we really been the 'Golden Generation'? Beginning to look like it.

John

Saturday 4th May 2024.

UK standing by Ukraine with more assistance this week, glad we are stepping up!

Eventide News.

No more new enrolments this week. Couple of mails re boats that are likely to come on the market soon, details when I have them, a GH 31 and an Eventide 26.

Not figured out how to contact Paul with the Tidewater, 'Brego' as yet, John Stevens searching Database. Trouble often is people changing mail providers and not telling us.

Removed a Senior from the 'For Sale' page as well, we found out from a prospective purchaser that it had been sold, but we were not informed...

I have finished sorting FG, changed oils and filters etc. filled freshwater tank and changed the galley water filter. All the sails and running rigging sorted, except the lazy jacks. Need a really calm quiet day to do that, a three dimensional rope jigsaw!

Hoping to have a new crew to sail with me, going to chat to him next week.

Will make it easier to get afloat more often I hope!

Big family event this weekend, more about it later!

All for now

John

Sunday 28th April 2024.

These are the creations of the Ukrainian Navy, that have defeated the terrorists in the Black Sea. Ingenious!

Eventide News. Was about to say no new enrolments, when this one came through as I was working. Welcome to Nigel from Gillingham, Kent, looking to buy a GH 31. Hope to have more info shortly..

Heard from Roy, he is building a Wild Duck from a kit. Not a full size one, but a model! Says he had noticed some WD's had bowsprits? Yes one or two have had them, not I think to lessen weather helm, but to just be able to fly more kites! Roy not fitting one to his model. Photos shortly.

Had an enquiry about the Tidewater 'Brega'. Trying to find the current owner of this boat which was built at Eyemouth Boatyard in 1967. Yard No:167. For P.C. Plumtree, Walton-on-Sea. Any help gratefully received. Thanks, Ian Whittaker.

John Stevens is looking the owner up on the Database, last I heard it was Paul Calvert. He sent in many photos for the Gallery, with her sailing Irish water and west of Scotland. Hope to be able to put Paul in touch with Ian.

Heard from Chris who sails the Mediterranean, re insurance. Since Brexit for some reason he cannot get full insurance?? So instead he pays £150 a year for 3rd Party only, through either Haven or Pantaneous. Neither ask for a survey, which suits him.

Personally I pay a little extra, £230, for fully comp via 'Craftinsure' covering me for all of UK and Irish waters, plus the continent. I like to have the survey every 5 years, as it is a double check on my preparation and care for the boat.

Had a further message from Chris saying it was not because of Brexit he cannot get full insurance, but he then goes on to explain that because Brexit has altered the rules about who can do what in the insurance industry, he, as a resident of France, UK companies cannot insure his boat as they used to?? Suppose a French company would...

Personally I feel this is a sad downside to Brexit and one I doubt any of us could predict. Still as he says his boat is low value and the 3rd party suits him. He tells us that Craftinsure do actually offer it, something I was not aware of.

Anther company in Leigh on Sea did offer it but needed a hull condition report, just to make sure the boat was basically sea worthy, not a floating wreck! Justifiable I think, if the decks were that rotten and a visitor was injured falling through and claimed, well you can see their concerns.

I'm having a quiet day today, we had the new Moderna WhuFlu jab Saturday and for the first time after one, I felt bad. Maybe did not help that I worked hard on the boat during the week and bent all the sails on the spars, not an easy task, or that I spent several hours Saturday fighting to get an old motor bike going, but last night it caught up with me, could not move! Man flu! Better now, but was a surprise to be effected..

Yes 'Fiddler's Green' is back in her natural environment! Chose a good day to do on too, it did not rain, and that makes a change!

On the hoist being lowered in. Note the shiny prop!

Back in her berth.

Very pleased to say the motor started on the key, batteries all topped up from the solar panels over winter.. and I could putter to her berth and easily pick up the mooring ropes, as they were hanging on those 'Mr. Mooring' devices. Clever.

'Mr. Mooring'

I have fitted two of these to my pontoon, one aft so I can grab the stern rope from the cockpit as I come in, the other for reaching from the deck forward, on the stbd side, to take the forward spring and the stbd bow rope. So much easier to grab the lines!

Also fitted mooring ropes with protectors to prevent chafe.

A day later I was on board again, and it was so warm I was soon stripped to Tee shirt in the sun, to bend sails to genoa reefing spar and the boom. Still got the lazy jacks to untangle and fit and the staysail to pop on the staysail boom, easy jobs.

Hoping to find time to get down during the week to run up the motor and change oils and filters.

Then change the water filter in the galley and fill the water tanks, lift my trusty Seagull onto the stern rail mounted stowage bracket, (and chain it on!). Then all we need is sunshine, F3's and a crew!

Hope your 'fitting out' going apace!

John

Monday 22nd April 2024.

Life goes on, this couple both serve in Ukraine, and are now married!

Eventide news. No new enrolments this week, but we have had an enquiry from Zak in Canada, who has just acquired a Waterwitch. Waiting to hear back from him.

After the balmy weather two weeks back, winter has returned, danger of overnight frosts for the gardeners and snow in the forecast for Scotland! Northerly winds have dropped the temperatures so they barely make double figures.

I was fortunate to be able to take advantage of the warm spell to get the boat ready to go and with any luck she will be afloat this week.

I will have to have the winter snow suit on that day, will be cold on the water.

I have been loading a few bits of kit on board, sails and the like etc. Today got to check the Seagull and chain that to the outboard bracket on the stern rail.

Spent a few days checking lifejackets, I normally do this annually, blow them up and leave them for 12 hours to ensure they do not deflate and removing and weighing all the CO2 bottles. Used to have to borrow the post office scales, but now the boss has a new whizzy set of scales that accurately weigh them, when filled they come in at about 140 grams. You can see what each should weigh by checking the stampings on the bottles.

When she is back afloat I will run the motor up to warm oils and change oils and filters.

Was down there yesterday, in the cold, and fitted a pair of mooring rope holders, 'Mr. Mooring' they are called. When we leave the berth the ropes are hung on these, keeps them out of the water and should make picking them up easier!

'Fiddler's Green' ready to launch, only just noticed the car and antifouling same colour! At first glance I thought FG had a bulbous bow!

Hope you are well advanced with the fitting out. Seasons so odd now, with climate change, that we have to grab every opportunity we can to get afloat! With any luck I should be ready to take advantage of those fleeting summer days!

John

Monday 15th April 2024.

The two ex RN mine sweepers donated to Ukraine in Portsmouth to exercise with the Royal Navy.

Eventide news.

No new enrolments this week. Maybe people are just too busy taking advantage of the warm dry weather, (a rarity recently), fitting out!

Had a mail in from Alan with his beautiful Storm 26. He is wanting to sell her, advert on the way shortly.

Had a mail from the grandson of Jack Spoor, the builder of the Eventide 26, 'Boreal'. He has now sent in a few photos that I will add to the Gallery, another boat we had never heard of, which is odd as she was launched here in Essex, at Leigh on Sea. We wonder where she is now?

An unusual cabin top and a wheel steering device I have never seen on an Eventide before, this should make her stick out, so where is she??

This last 5 days have been super productive for me. On Thursday I spent 2 hours grappling with the heavy tarps on 'Fiddler's Green', to remove them. Not an easy task. Went home exhausted.

Returned Friday to wash the dust off the cabin top and deck and wash down the hull. Then polish the topsides from gunwale to waterline. I use 'Mer' polish, results stunning!

Polished.

Saturday, back again to rubdown and re paint the Sikkens stain on the Afromosia woodwork. Then retreat under her to try to get any flaky antifoul off and sand the exposed epoxy hull coating to get a key. A swift dab of underwater undercoat here and there, then home.

All the Sikkens on the woodwork re applied and the bottom prepared for antifouling.

Sunday morning armed with rolls of masking tape, the anodes covered and the waterline masked. All apart from 4ft at the stbd bow, when the roll of masking tape ended and the the two new unopened rolls of tape refused to unroll, the sticky gone off.

Home for lunch and I find another couple of rolls of tape, hoping they are ok, they seem to be. They are! Wait for helper to arrive, so busy myself on mower.

Then with Darren, the newest member of the family, my step daughters Fiancée, we set off and 2 hours later the boat is antifouled.! The girls arrive with coffee! Celebrate the tape coming off to reveal the finished effect fully!

All done!

Marclear or EU45, (Same stuff). Work boat red. I think it looks great. Nearly matches the tan of the sails! Very fortunate the weather gods gave me this short window, having the boat in the marina instead of sheltered in the barn, you need a little luck with the weather!

The pair of 20w solar panels you see kept the 500Amphr batteries all topped up to 13.3v over winter. Far easier than carting the 5 batteries off the boat to charge them at home.

Only down side to having boat on the hard, is the hard! I brought a load of old cardboard boxes down for the last day, for antifouling, I have gravel bruises from the day before!

Now got a week of rainy weather to sort out the gear in the stores and transport it aboard in between the rain showers! Need a week to recover!

All for now.

John

Sunday 7th April 2024.

Storm Kathleen.

The latest storm to hit, after storm Nelson last week, Kathleen has wrought havoc on the west coast and in Ireland, and brought us gales on the east coast for a few days now, but amazingly temperatures in the high teens! At the moment, late afternoon, 16 degrees and F8!

For a navy without any ships, Ukraine has chased all the ruzzian terrorists out of the Black Sea!

This is how!

Clever!

Eventide news.

Not heard any more from Philippe with the Golden Hind in Belgium yet, hoping to get some photos and more info.

Heard from Graham with the historic 24ft Eventide, 'Borer Bee'. The advert has been altered slightly. The price is now £1000 and she is in Scotland, but on a trailer you could arrange to hire/borrow. Would be great to find an enthusiast able to do the work entailed to get her back to looking as splendid as she did a little while ago. See the photo on last weeks entry.

With the wind howling yesterday I checked the boat covers again, all good. We have had a little rain but it is just the constant high winds that are preventing me removing the tarpaulins, I don't want to end up in the Blackwater attached to a rope end! At the moment Friday looks like the best day to uncover her! I hope to be down in between and scrape a few flaky bits of antifoul off, touch up the antifouling bare patches... plus wire brush the zinc anodes etc. Hoping for a quick wash down when the covers are off, then a whip round touching up the Sikkens on the handrails and gunwales, rubbing strakes, then a quick polish of the topsides. (I know it will take longer than I want it to!) Then it is grovelling under the boat with the antifouling roller. Marclear or EU45 again! I hope to service the motor afloat, change the filters, oils etc.. Always better if the motor can be run up to warm the oils up.

How often do you change the oil in the gearbox? Seen gearboxes suffer and fail, from old oil... I try to change it every year, it is only 1/3 of a litre of ATF oil. I have a neat vacuum pump to suck the gearbox oil out these days, I used to use a long thin see through pvc pipe and suck it out by mouth, stopping when i could see it was close to me... but after tasting the stuff once decided to invest in an oversized bicycle pump device, neat and simple, sucks it all out in one go.

Insurance.

Had a mail from David with a Waterwitch. Said he was having problems obtaining insurance. I did respond, but have not heard back as yet. I recommended 'Craftinsure' who will cover our type of craft. but there is a catch, you must have a valid survey. Not sure if this was the issue or maybe the age of the boat. 'Fiddler's Green' is now in her 34th year and they are still happy to insure her, provided I have a survey every 5 years and all work suggested in the survey is completed to the satisfaction of surveyor. Not had an issue with this, as I like to think my boat is up to scratch and as safe as I can make her, for me and all my crew. Worth it for the peace of mind!

It was possible to obtain just 'Third Party' insurance, or it was possible a few years back. This paid not a penny to you if your boat sank on her mooring, but covered you if she went adrift and damaged someone else's property.. I have not heard of anyone recently having this. Is your boat 'fully' insured, in case of a total loss, as well covering for damage to other boats or marina berths etc. Maybe you just have 3rd Party? I have only ever been asked for a 'declaration' of insurance, not to see the actual certificate, so some could abuse that..

All marinas ask for 3rd party cover from berth holders and of course it then covers you for any claims against you..

If you have found a company offering 3rd Party at reasonable rates perhaps you could share the information with other members.??

Finally Nigel with the Eventide 'Pegasus' asked about bobstays. How to protect the mooring ropes from a chain bobstay. Though my bobstay is a 3/8th solid stainless rod now I did have a 1/4 inch chain bobstay on 'Bluenose' decades ago.. I had a polythene pipe covering the chain, but I had to split the pipe and thread it on, then secure it in place, was not very tidy. Sliding a stout uncut poly pipe over the chain would have looked neater, but my chain and the end fittings had been re-galvanised and could not be easily stripped to do that..

However during my time patrolling the 'London River', I have rescued many craft, adrift after a blow, all were moored on rope that chaffed through! The tattered remains hanging forlornly at their bows! Rope warps, some were quite heavy, but in a blow, they do not last long. OK if your mooring is at the end of the garden and you can get out in a blow to check her, but most leave their craft moored, un-watched, for weeks!

I never left my boat unattended, on her swinging mooring, on rope, even with chaff guards in place. Instead I had a length of 5/16 chain made up with loops on the ends, that I would use to secure her to the mooring buoy, far safer.

The other issue many also had with mooring buoys was the large galvanised steel ring on the top, and it fouling and damaging the topsides at the bow. I was shown a simple remedy for this years ago, and have always used it. Reeve a length of thin 1/4 inch 'parachute cord' from the end of the bowsprit, (Assuming you have one!!), with a snap hook at the end, big enough to fit the ring on the buoy. When moored to buoy slack this thin line off and reach down to snap the hook on the ring on the buoy, then heave on the line gently to pull the errant mooring buoy away from the hull. When not in use it can clip onto a deck fitting and the tail secured out of the way. As there is never any real weight on this line, it is strong enough and prevents any damage to the boat. Mine never parted. Easily unhooked before removing the chain strop from the buoy. The chain was kept on board for just this purpose so never got solid salt water on it and so lasts..

Today I am spoilt as we moor alongside a pontoon, but if I pick up a mooring when cruising, it takes but moments to rig a line to the sprit end.. The shiny topsides are worth protecting.

Hope you are afloat or working towards it.

John

Monday 1st April 2024.

Easter Monday.

25 years ago this week, the British Antarctic Base was handed to our friends, the Ukrainians! For £1.00

They have even kept the little museum in it going, complete with Seagulls!

Antarctic Seagull!

Eventide news. Another new enrolment. Philippe from Belgium with the GH31 'Robert Crespin III'. waiting for photos of this one. Sails from Blankenburge. Many of the boat in there visit the UK, not sure if this one has as yet.

'Borer Bee'. Heard from a former owner and restorer. Tony is interested in taking her on. Hoping she can be preserved. Tony sent in a photo taken some time ago whilst he was owner. Be great to think she could be brought back to this condition again..

Looks a picture here!

Putting together an advert for 'Glasstide'. Keep having to edit it as more gear in storage is uncovered. When John is happy he has listed all he is letting go with her I will publish the advert. Big project but big rewards.

I hinted a week or two back that I did not think the winter had entirely gone and as it happens I was proven correct. Snow in many parts of the UK, including Devon, albeit on Dartmoor! A suitably nautical sounding named storm 'Nelson' treated us to 50 knot winds and chilly temperatures for a day or two. My covers are still on!

However the sun came out Saturday and we toddled across to a remote Essex pub for a 'Steam Up' event, great fun. 6 traction engines, steam lorries etc., all puffing smoke and oily fumes! Plus a load of interesting classic vehicles. We took my old Morris van, met sister and brother in law in their 'Naylor' sports car. (look it up, its special!).

You can see the back of my Moggy van in the first pic and the black sooty smoke filling the air in the second!

RN Bomb disposal truck in the last one!

All done in a good cause, Farleigh Hospice.. Pub did a roaring trade and the charity buckets were filled with coins!

Sunday was damp and miserable, but bucked up enough for me to venture down to the boat. Armed with all my polishing kit and descaler fluids, I attacked my prop, removing the lime scale deposit and after 2 hours leaving the prop shiny. Today may go down later to clean off a little of the loose antifouling...

I love a polished prop. As an ex professional boatman I know they are more efficient and get less fouling too. Cannot under stand those that paint props. With soft eroding antifoul, after a few hours running all the biocide has washed away leaving a perfect foundation for fouling.... You are better off with hard stuff, but that often reacts with the bronze...

Leaving the covers on for another week I think, then it is wash down and give the Sikkens on the gunwales a quick once over and then polish the paint work, last job, antifouling. EU45 or Marclear again!

Now the lawn mower calling, grass growing!

Good luck with the fitting out.

John

Tuesday 26th March 2024.

Latest news, this boat is coming up for sale.. more below.

Heard back from new member William, from Southampton. He is looking for an Eventide, one he can trail home at the end of the season. Not sure if a 24 or a 26 version would fit the bill, but he is looking...

Not yet heard back from the chap in Brazil, interested in building a Mouette, early days.

Weather here has been a tad chilly of late, after that false promise of summer a week back, temperature not getting above 12 degrees, bit chilly for outside work. We had a frost here a couple of days back, sadly after my greengage trees came into flower, so betting I will not be seeing many gages again this summer...

Re the Eventide pictured atop the page..

After a great deal of deliberation John Stevens our 'Database Manager' has reluctantly decided to part with his boat. Some may recall John bought the rather unique, GRP moulded, 'Glasstide' back in 2010. Together with the then 'Fund Manager' Brian West, we sailed over the Estuary in his Catalac with a couple of extra crew, across from Tollesbury to Conyer creek in Kent, where John, with me and other friends, had been spending time, preparing 'Glasstide', for the return trip to Tollesbury. You can read all about that trip in a page from the old Newsletter.

After a few years John needed to bring her ashore to do a few much needed jobs on her and she was moved to Frost and Drakes Yard Tollesbury. I, (John W.) then assisted him with the renovations. We found the rudder, an inboard version, was seized solid, immoveable, not the first time we had found this problem. Last time I managed to force the blade back and forth by kicking it and applied copious quantities of WD40! This time it could not be freed and we took the drastic but necessary step to saw the whole thing out of the boat. It was a mess. Cannot imagine how the builder thought a steel shaft, as an interference fit, in a steel tube, with no bearings and no means of greasing, would work. It did not. Eventually I found a brand new set of transom fittings for sale, for a new transom hung rudder, a mod I had done to great effect on my two Eventides, first 'Bluenose' then my present boat, 'Fiddler's Green'. We cut out a cardboard mock up to Maurice's rudder design, but sadly John became so ill that it got no further.

We had already removed the rusted bilge plates and had these restored, and remove the ancient 5hp Volvo to replace it with a nice 9hp GM10, that went off to be serviced.

Fast forward many years and the boat is still at Tollesbury, half the kit at Johns place in Milton Keynes, and a good deal her with me in Tillingham, including things like a new Teak bowsprit I fashioned for him, the bilge keels and the motor .

So now John is looking to recoup a little of his costs, £1500, and pass the project on to a younger, fitter person.

A few years ago I had figured it would have taken me a full year to refurbish her, on my own, had I trailed her here and got her into my garden. Sadly the years have passed and so has my strength, so I have been told, forcibly, by my better half, not to offer to buy it! I was sorely tempted!

After all if I restored it, just did her up as a creek crawler, I could pass this on to a younger member of the family, safe in the knowledge it was not going to rot away with any rainwater leaks, unlike the perennial problem all timber Eventides have.. and sail the Blackwater for decades.

So if you are interested in a unique Eventide 26, and have the expertise, the time and the space, plus some funds, to be able re-assemble her, do please contact me. Mail me at :- enquiries@eventides.org.uk and I will pass your information on.

Chris in the Netherlands spotted this one on 'Lonely Boats' website! It's 'Wine Knot', Robin's boat. An early GH 31. She is in Poole harbour, saw her back in 2018 as I was going west. Nice looking boat but maybe old fashioned, if sound she could be a bargain.

Heard more about an MG design we have on our pages, 'Moala'. New owner in New Zealand may be interested in some of her history, so was spotted decades ago sailing round the Pacific! I will be adding more to her page on the Gallery. The person writing in found her on the site and is writing a book about these wandering boats!

Again I have heard that there is a chance of colder weather encroaching from the north for Easter, so not removing my covers as yet!

More power to the elbow for fitting out.

John

Sunday 17th March 2024.

Yes its St. Patrick's day!

But did you also know it was St. Gertrude's Day too? The Patron saint of cats.

Those that know me, know I am a cat lover. Lost my best cat ever last year... Maybe I'll adopt a Ukrainian one?

Writing this to the lilting tones of the Irish band, 'The Fureys', with fond memories of the time I spent in Ireland during my round UK trip.

And this page had to be green!

Eventide News.

Welcome to William of Southampton, who has just enrolled. Yet to hear back from him as to why, as not much info on the enrollment form...

Welcome to Thiago in Brazil. He has joined us with intention of obtaining the drawings of one of our more unusual designs, the 'Mouette'. Might be an interesting project.

I have spent a little time updating the members page of the forum this week, added the annual report and the accounts.

There has been a suggestion from the Database Manager that maybe we should have a presence on social Media? Maybe What's App?? Now I am not a social media person, but I know many of my family cannot seem to exist without it. As I understand it it is possible to make a 'Closed' group where all invited can openly chat to one another. Only enrolled members would be eligible.. Anyone know if this is possible?

Is there a member who has knowledge of this sort of thing and could start it off?

Just sticking a tentative toe in the water here!

With a week or so to Easter I am still waiting for winter to arrive, or is it time to remove those covers and start antifouling??

As it is tipping it down it won't be today!

All for now

John

Sunday 10th March 2024.

Happy mother's Day to all the mums out there!

Eventide News.

Only one new enrolment this week, but a very welcome one! Welcome to Harvey with a Goosander 23! There are not that many of these fine ships about. Designed by Colin Faggetter as a fast cruiser/racer, she also had a larger sister ship, the 27. Sadly, for Colin, many looking at plans, opted to build the roomier Eventide. Those that own and sail them, the few, speak highly of their sailing abilities. Colin, who was also an accomplished professional boat builder, went on to build his own 27 and like so many owners, altered the drawings to make a retroussé stern! (So if the designer can alter drawings for his own purposes we can be forgiven for doing the same!) Colin sailed his to the Mediterranean and kept her out there for many years..

'Aeda'.

Harvey sails his G23 in the west country, out of Plymouth and is keen to meet other Goosander owners, sadly though these are thin on the ground, but if you have one, get in touch with us, we will put you in touch with Harvey. He tells us he also has crewed on a Golden Hind and a Barbican so knows our sort of boats well.

Had some feedback from the questionnaire sent out on behalf of the owners associations. Seems that most, like ourselves, have no clubhouse or facilities and are just web based, so do not carry insurance. Few are as large as the EOG though! Any events that are large enough to warrant insurance normally come under the cover of the local sailing club hosting gatherings. Though it has made a few organizations think and consider insurance, those that hold 'events' on their own.

I know from the few Seagull meets I organised, that it has now got the the stage where all harbour masters were asking for not only proof of individuals insurance, but 'block insurance' for gatherings, third party insurance. Very expensive.. Sadly this has curtailed all such events.... so unless it is, just a few mates are meeting somewhere, by chance, these jolly get togethers no longer happen! Elf and Safty rules now, jobsworths, no common sense any more...

We have just had the wettest and warmest February on record. (What climate change!??) And drought in the Amazon????. As a result my covers have been doing a sterling job keeping the boat dry! Trouble is yesterday I just had to cut the grass here, it was getting silly long, but with all the wet I nearly got the lawnmower set! Hoping it will dry out one day, at the moment it is tipping it down again. Hovercraft needed!

So check your boat covers! Oh and there is still time for snow!

Had some great news from grandson in Royal Navy, he has made 'Killick' (leading Hand).. Proud of him here. He has ambitions to go to Dartmouth Naval college and train to be an officer, a sub lieutenant. Hope to see that happen. I listen to the Navy Lark, repeats from the 1960's, and just hope he does better than the hapless Sub Lieutenant Phillips on 'Troutbridge'!!

Not had any joy trying to trace 'Captain Nancy' as yet. Anyone know anything about her? 25 years ago she sailed (and raced!), out of Pin Mill. Where is she now?? She may well have changed her name, but that would be a shame, for anyone that has read 'Swallows and Amazons'! But we do know her sail number was 957, she may have kept that.

Member of the family was doing a long distance riverside walk round London recently, and came across the building where I worked. Sent me this. I had long argued there should be some recognition of the first ever police force in the world.! Add to that the RNLI 200 year anniversary last week, lists where I worked as the busiest lifeboat in the whole UK. They put the lifeboat there just as I retired! Used to say it was busy, but no one took a lot of notice.. We knew what we did mattered.... saved a few...

Cannot leave without mentioning that brave country that is under constant missile attack, that, without a navy, has done it again.

'Bravo Zulu' Ukraine.

One ruzzian missile ship not going to kill innocents again!

Never thought I'd be praising wet bike types of craft!

All for now,

John

Sunday 3rd March 2024.

Missed St David's Day! Marked similarity to Ukraine colours!

https://unitewithukraine.com/donate?_kx=0bqf_hkfGscFpmJ6NV8SMjAAYlj8YuaEJlQUfn4Xn1RV3HlKELtKVsJtyirZjpwD.U99MWX

(Above link allows you to donate for medical supplies.)

Eventide News.

Another enrollment. This time from Brazil. Welcome to Fernando who is thinking of building either a Riptide or an Eventide 26!

I nipped down the boat again after all that rain, all appears OK. However the fields around here have been awash and some roads turned into lakes. Apparently we have had record rainfall, certainly tested the ditches!

Had an enquiry re an Eventide built by Charles Moss's father. Sailed the coast of Essex. I am sure this is going to prove to be Keith Moss's boat and I recall that one, 'Captain Nancy', after the heroine of Swallows and Amazons fame.

Not heard of her for a while, but as always, she may be sailing under a different name. However now we know the sail number was :- 957.

If it is the same Eventide, she sailed from Pin Mill. Recall she had her mast stepped further forward to offset weather helm and she was raced at Pin Mill Sailing club, to good effect!

Hope we can track her down for the family.. Hoping she is still about....

We had a mail in from Iceland, no not the shop....!

I am owner of one YM Junior which I call Félaginn (eng. Camerat).

Built 1990 in SW Iceland and I am the third owner of boat.

It is in good condition and I will sail it again this summer.

I want to send you some pictures of it to just let you know that YM Junior is still alive.

est regards.

Jon Magg.

Akureyri

Iceland.

Jon has sent in an article and photos, trouble is the language! Not that many can read Icelandic I suspect. I will add the article and the photos to the 'Junior' pages!

Y.M. Junior 'Félaginn'

The observant may notice the sail insignia is that of a Graduate dinghy, but it is a Y.M. Junior!

There are three more pics and the article to add.! Not often we get pictures of a Y.M. Junior sailing! Thanks Jon

Some have had snow in the last couple of days, although we have just had the warmest and wettest February on record! Not sure the cold weather has finished with us as yet! So check those covers.

John

Monday 26th February 2024.

2 years into the ruzzian invasion, but over 10 since ruzzia began the attacks, remember the terrorists shooting down the Dutch airliner?

We must stand by them and try and support them, or I can see our carefree way of life in the UK rapidly disappearing.

https://donation.dec.org.uk/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal

Eventide news. No new enrolments this week.

I have added a few photos to the gallery though. Still got a few more to add too.

Had one mail re another possible advert... plywood construction, Golden Hind 31, Name of Trigger, Sail number 128, built 1973 by Terry Erskine, excellent structural condition... We await details.

After a week or so of unseasonably warm weather here in Essex, and another 20mm of rain, today we have gale 8! NE, not the normal wind direction, and that's a cold wind!

Our little Spinney is being renamed 'The Swamp', expect to see Shrek when I venture out there! I was in the spinney yesterday with youngest grandson and we found tracks in the muddy ground. Quite pleased, they were of a Muntjac deer. Nice to have the wildlife finding the cover, drawback is the need to put sturdier protectors on new saplings! Found the tiny Larch saplings that were to supply the deck planking for that Eventide build in 50 years, chewed !

Time to check the cover on the boat again. Still time for snow...

John

Monday 19th February 2024.

After Ukraine downs 5 ruzzian fighters in last week, looking forward to them getting and using the F16 against them, soon!

Eventide news.

More enrollments and more info from Adam.

Welcome to Adam in Ontario, Canada, he was enquiring re the Levanter, but sails a 29ft Ericson. I thought I had been in contact with Adam in the past and yes, many moons ago in the old assoc. days I sent him drawings of other boats. He says that at 80 it is just wishful thinking now, but does like the MG designs..

Welcome too to another Canadian, Todd, also from Ontario... Wonder if there is a connection or has there been a mention of us in a local sailing mag maybe.. Todd is interested in building a 3 tonner and as a boat builder he has all the knowledge and kit to be able to pull it off. hope to hear more from him.

Look forward to sending drawings of both the Levanter and the 3 tonner out on CD.

Took a drive to check the boat cover Saturday, replaced a couple of the thin parachute cord lashings it is secured with. All safe and sound. Just as well as we had 18.5mm of rain Saturday evening!

Whilst out we had a drive down to Bradwell Bay aerodrome, or where it had been, to look again at the Mosquito memorial at the side of the road.

Bradwell Bay was a WWII air strip and the memorial is sobering reading. To our amazement there was a new addition to the floral tributes etc. that are left. A touching poem in a frame and a plate depicting the Mosquito. The amazement was because of the authors name, our own Jack Shenfield! Jack left us some years ago now but during his lifetime we were often in touch and indeed 27 years ago when we moved here, he presented us with a lovely watercolour and a sketch of our cottage. It has always had pride of place in our living room..

Jack was the life and soul of the party and often sang and played his guitar at meetings. He and son Steve, sadly also no longer with us, built their Eventide 26 'Serenity' and for a time we were berthed side by side. Some of his songs were ripe to say the least, but everyone loved them.

What we did not know is that he was also ex RAF! He like so many others of that era, never mentioned it. (MG was the same.)

The plate and framed poem at the memorial.

Like so many boys in the 1950's, my ceiling had Airfix kit planes hanging on fishing line! My all time favourite was the Mosquito!

Little did I know that the technology developed in the building of that iconic plane would be used to make the material I ended up building our 'Dream ship' from, all those years later! Marine ply.

We have heard from Owain in Wales, that the steel Golden Hind 34, 'Jua' has a new owner. We wish them well with the project, and a big project it will be, but if done well, so rewarding.!

Also heard from Paul, that he has sold the Eventide 26 'Fram'. So two boats to remove from our 'For Sale' pages later..

The weather is still silly, 15 degrees plus Saturday, just before the rain, and even after it on Sunday it was 14 degrees. At the moment, late afternoon, it is 12 degrees here.

As I have a few hours of daylight, I'm off to do some gardening, spreading wood chip on the new flower beds made to camouflage our drainage work here. Hope to hide the scars left by the digger and create something beautiful for later in the year, to admire, when we are not sailing, hopefully!

John

Monday 12th February 2024.

Support Ukraine!

I honestly feel if we do not support them, we should be learning ruzzian! If they prevail they will not stop at Ukraine....

That will sure make a mess of your sailing!

https://donation.dec.org.uk/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal

Eventide News.

Two new enrolments in the last week and one enquiry for drawings.

Welcome to Dr. Buchanan and other half, in Down, Northern Ireland. This couple have a beautiful Barbican, 'Barberry' and have cruised extensively with her. At present moored in Greece. Pleased to say they have fitted a bow thruster for safe maneuvering in tight quarters, to great success. The plate may be removed at some time in the future, MG would have approved! I have added more pics to the Barbican page of the Gallery.

Welcome too to John in New South Wales. He has joined us with the Barrier Reef 'Liquid Amber'. She is moored at Greenwell point.

John tells us he found her languishing and has become part owner, restoring the coachroof and decks and all, bringing her back to sailing condition. At 38ft and ferro-cement build , she is a fine looking ship.

I will be putting more photos on the gallery, showing 'Liquid Amber' as she was being renovated.

She is a credit to you John.

We have had an enquiry this last week, regarding the plans of the steel 'Levanter', that we have. Not sure yet if the enquirer was an owner doing a renovation, or a prospective builder. We await a response from Adam. We are waiting for him to enroll so we can pass drawings on to him.

Other news.

Golly it has been warm here! We have had temperatures of 15C! The Bumble bees are totally confused! Sadly as our planet warms this sort of weird weather is going to increase. More extremes. We have now officially breached the 1.5C temperature rise they were saying was a sort of threshold. With planes still flying all over the world and some countries still building coal fires power stations, it is going to get a lot worse. When will people wake up?

Still time to get out there and plant a tree! Every one helps. Even better if you can grow it from seed, so get those youngsters planting any seeds you can pick up! We have a small tree nursery here, with oaks, hazels, chestnuts and pines all growing from seed!

With any luck in 50 years time there will be enough wood to build an Eventide!

John

Monday 5th February 2024.

Not often I applaud the sinking of a ship, but this ruzzian terrorist ship had been firing missiles at civilians and hospitals.

Not any more it wont! Well done Ukraine!

Eventide news.

With temperatures peaking at 15 degrees the other day and now only dropped to 12C, does feel as if fitting out time is near! To that end I had 3 cans of Marclear/EU45 delivered Saturday. Hope you ordered yours when it was on offer! I have enough in stock now for another 2 years!

Had no enrolments this last week but two enquiries from people trying to trace boats their parents built!

Rob is trying to trace Eventide 24 'Karelia'. Sail number 443. Sailed from Maldon for a while, then from Kent, lower Halstow, later Medway Bridge marina. He says she was built in Kent the in the 1970's and explored the Essex rivers. Built by John Mead. Sold in the late 1970's. Where is she now?

John Stevens our Database Manager is searching the records, but she may well have changed names since then..

And another search for a Eventide.. from Robert Keppel-Spoor. His Granddad built an Eventide 26 some time in the 60s, possibly early 70s, in his back garden. He lived in Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea.. His dad has got some pictures of Granddad and him building it. It was called Boreal, or Borial ( he is not sure of the spelling). His name was John Spoor, but he was known as Jack. He'd love to know if it's still around, or what happened to it.

I was sailing the Essex rivers then and cannot recall either of these boats? Anyone out there know where either of them are now? I am trying to ascertain the sail number of the last one, Bob has some photos and he is going to check.

I recently reminded an owner he was going to send me details of a boat he would like to sell, he told me he had been rather snowed under and it has been put to the back of the 'job list'! However today he has sent a load of information in, so I will be placing an advert on the 'Boats for Sale' page shortly.

She is a boat I have had the pleasure in sailing on, a 34ft steel Golden Hind! I was an examiner at the time, for the International Helmsman's Certificate. The owners were hoping to set off on a big adventure! They needed to pass the exam and get the ticket before setting off. Needless to say they flew through the test with flying colours!

The GH was 'Jua'. Many may recall her as the 'Bright Yellow Butterfly,' with stunning twin Yellow Junk sails! Often seen off the Essex coast and in the Blackwater River. She was expertly sailed far and wide, round the south coast of the UK, to the Med and across to America. Roger and Kathy eventually sold her when they swallowed the anchor and settled down in Spain. They bought a farm half way up a mountain, growing olives and nuts! We have stayed in touch occasionally over the decades. She has had a couple of owners since then but sadly fallen on hard times. She is ashore in Wales now and in need of a new caring owner! A lot of ocean going boat up for sale here. For not much money. Will take a determined DIY person to bring her back to her former glory, but she is well worth the effort. I will be posting details later.

Jua.

I wonder if the climate changes will mean we may not get a 'proper' winter. This last few months have seen ice on the garden pond for the first time in years, but it did not last long. Sadly ice and snow seen to have been replaced with frequent violent storms, with winds exceeding records every time...

We still have a way to go until it may be wise to remove those winter covers, so just keep checking them, as a flapping eyelet can wreak havoc on the topsides! A visit after or during these latest blows has revealed a lot of boats with shredded covers at Bradwell. There is no substitute for a real good quality heavy tarp cover, those mickey mouse cheap tarps are a waste of time in the winter..

Roll on fitting out.

John

Monday January 29th 2024.

Two ex Royal Navy Mine hunters for Ukraine.

If they can get them past Turkey's blockade! And they are supposed to be on our side??

Eventide News.

Heard from Tony with a GH, looking for general construction details in timber. Sadly though promised to assist owners with restorations, they have not been forthcoming. Can anyone assist? Tony has taken on the restoration of a GH that sadly has suffered serious neglect in the past. Hope he can resurrect her to her former glory. He has renamed her 'Scapino', to hide her history! She was 'shipped' from the Netherlands to Wales, where she will now be based.

Mails slow, as we expect this time of the year but the days are getting perceptibly longer, so not long now till fitting out.

With that in mind I have contacted Marclear to take delivery of the 3 cans of EU45 I ordered last year, in the darker, more suitable 'workboat red' shade.

Talking of red shades.... Had this in from the grandson, his new ship badge!

Checked the boats covers again after the last blow, all secure. For the next week or so the temperatures here are staying in double figures, not right this time of the year, should be chilly. Hope we do not pay for it in March!

John

Tuesday 23rd January 2014.

https://donation.dec.org.uk/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal

Eventide News.

Mails have been quiet for a few days. The only mail of note was from Paul Usher the owner of 'Fram'. She is up for sale. I will be adding an advert for her shortly. See Boats for Sale. I was tempted to think about her myself, as she has a Beta 20 inboard with less than 200hrs on her! Would be a direct swap for my Beta 17, with well over 2500hrs on it! New Beta 20 replacement £5k!

However sense prevailed, (No pennies in my piggy bank!). I will stick with our tried and tested Beta 17!

Weather wise, the country has had a buffeting, what with storm Henk and then Isha, and now we are warned about Jocelyn. We are heading for a record, the most number of damaging storms to hit the UK within a month! And still there are some that deny climate change... I have been harping on about the increasing winds for 25 years!

I hope your covers fared OK. Checking mine after Isha, I only lost one pulled out eyelet. Not the end of the world. Repairable. Noticed some boats stored ashore near 'Fiddler's Green' had just the tattered remains of covers over them. Spoke to a fellow berth holder who lives aboard, he had a natty 'Habi-tent' over his, I say had, as it is now torn to shreds..

Hope you have been able to check on your boats.

John

Thursday 18th January 2024.

Lucky rescued cat in Ukraine, after ruzzians bombed more houses.

Eventide News. Heard back from Carles in Barcelona. He is building a 27ft wooden boat, not one of our designs, but a wooden boat none the less, and guess he would like to be associated with others with similar built boats..

He also sent a clip of video, of him sailing a very fast catamaran. Not that long, 5.7m, but with no rudders?!??! Steered rather like the way you steer a windsurfer, by applying lee and weather helm! Looked exciting, one hull in the water only, most of the time!

Sorry the Stoppress has been a little late this week, I have been spending a lot of time elsewhere on the website. I have updated the Owners Tips pages and several pages on the gallery. I am no expert at this so it tends to take me several attempts to post items, normally after several failed attempts!

I'm told the last few nights have been the coldest nights for at least 20 years, and the north of the UK has had heavy snow. I was down at the marina checking covers the other day and replaced a couple of frayed lashings. Hope your covers OK.

Whilst it is cold and there is little incentive to go to our boats, a reminder that there are a couple of trophies to be awarded. So now is a good time to type up that log up and send it in! Send to:- enquiries@eventides.org.uk

This cold weather reminded me of the days when the old assoc. was flourishing. 35 years ago plus.. We always held our AGM at St. Katherine's Dock in the Cruising Assoc., at this time of the year, and so many times we travelled there in snow! Climate change has meant this is the first time in decades it has really been cold and in some places, snowy again, this time of year. It is the first in five years that our garden pond has fully frozen over. I see the forecast for the weekend is for much warmer weather, double figures... Topsy turvey weather. At least we are not suffering the same severe cold that they are getting the other side of the pond, yet.... Give it a couple of weeks.

Stay warm and send in those logs, I'm about to toss a different sort of log on the fire!

John

Tuesday 9th January 2024.

Sad to have to announce the passing of dear friend and supporter, Peter North. Peter passed away on Christmas day. He had been very ill for years with Altzimers. Sad loss.

I first met Peter in 1976, when I had my arm bent to edit the 'Bulletin'. Peter introduced me to the art of the newsletter editor. If you have ever read, 'The Art of Sailing' you will know that is the perfect job! (recommended reading!) In those days it was sticking bits of typed material and black and white photos onto card, to be photographed to make an 'offset litho' plate. then collating loads of pages into a giant stapler! A bit of a dark art!

Peter was heavy involved in the acquisition of the YM drawings. On a visit to YM office on another matter, they were offered to him unconditionally, if we could pass them on at cost. We have been doing that ever since!

Of course, as he was building his Waterwitch 'Wedjit' and I was restoring an Eventide 24, 'Bluenose', we swapped notes and later when I was building my Eventide 26, 'Fiddler's Green', we became firm friends. We went to the unveiling party in his back garden, pictured above. I helped him sell her many years later and the left hand picture shows him on board at that time. The right hand picture, the cover shot of the cover of 'Classic Boat', shortly after, when in Tim Fenner's caring hands.

I can now reveal that 'Wedjit' is actually back in Peter's family's hands, as his Grandson Simon is now the owner. We have been in discussions for some months and could not reveal all until it was signed and sealed. 'Wedjit' will be coming back to the Blackwater sometime this spring, to be brought ashore for a few bits of remedial work, before eventually sailing to the south coast to be close to Simon's home in Sussex.

We look forward to seeing her sailing here again.

Welcome to new member. We have had an enrolment from Carles in Barcelona. At the moment I do not know if he is a prospective builder or owner, or just interested in the designs, I await a reply.

Had an interesting mail from the Fisher Owners Association. Seems they were having to pay too large a premium for RYA recommended insurance. We do not have any premises, like them, and do not carry 'club' insurance, as do not feel we need it for what we do. We no longer have the silver trophies, they all 'disappeared' with the old assoc.. The only assets we have are our knowledge! Plus some signed Yachting Monthlies and a couple of simple trophies. These are covered on my home insurance, though if the YM's were lost they could never be replaced.. Years ago i was on the RYA cruising committee, looking after the interests of cruising yachtsmen. When they shifted to racing and ditched the cruising side I left, I thought the Cruising Association a much more receptive organisation. Still use their Handbook! I was a member there for many years, now long lapsed though. They had no idea there was ever an RYA cruising section. Thought is was all racing, and always had been...

Not much else to report, Storm Henk raged through here, but apart from the flooded fields we escaped unscathed. Apparently the strongest recorded winds for years. It was certainly howling when I was down the boat rechecking the securing lines on my covers! Since then we have had even more rain.

At the moment we have cold NE winds on the east coast, and coming back from a brisk walk to my post office I needed half an hour in front of the log fire to thaw out! though we only saw a flurry or two of snow bet we get more inside three weeks as the snow is falling thick and fast the other side of the 'pond'!

So check those covers!

John

(Thanks to Keith for spotting the gaffs I made in this one!)

Monday 1st January 2024!

Support Ukraine!

Honestly feel if we do not support them, we should be learning ruzzian!

https://donation.dec.org.uk/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal

Eventide news.

As you would expect it has been rather quiet for the last few days, save the flurry of mails from me to the Steering Group and back. I have just renewed the Eventide website for the next year. Fortunately we have just about covered the cost with the donations that have come in over 2023.

Off to boat later to check covers after the F8 and 9 we have had over the last day or two...

I hope to collect my EU45 antifouling, that I ordered earlier, to get the discount, in the next few weeks, already looking ahead to 'Fitting Out'! Grandson already volunteered to assist, so long as he is not deployed overseas!!

John

Tower bridge and fireworks, my old 'patch'.
Happy New Year, Eventiders, here comes 2024! Hope it brings peace and happiness to all.

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nday 21st October 2024.