Forward Planning

[No Idea]

Hi Swyn

Further to the Mirror dinghy pics Ive put up,

I thought the rest might be boring, but they are online, awaiting my Biggests efforts at editing them and writing up the story.

If you are interested in just the pics, they are here , and here , and er...here and here, and er....over here, and here Sorry thats a bit disjointed. It hasnt even got a menu or any links yet.

 

[swyn]

Yes. I'm Looking forward to that. Normal sailing in in our Wayfarer but both he and his sister (no 6) are now ready for independant sailing without input from dad! I will be in the canoe just in case. B'sea is a cinque port so v safe.
I will try, yet again to post pictures, but I have always failed in this area.
I've just seen your extra pics......mmmm some work to do! Ours isn't quite in that state, but not far off. Still it's a very goodexcersise to do that work. Gives you confidence to do other things.

 

[No Idea]

Wed 27th July

Still no sign of our missing visitors.

Wife rang. Seems Stepkid is still whingeing about his back. Hospital xray said hes slipped several disks.

It will be several months before they can give him any treatment.

I know it was stupid. But I suggested a visit to an osteopath.

I was immediately volunteered as driver.

I insisted early, about 9 am, so we had the day free.

Nearest they could get -2pm.

Grrr...

Still... The wife arranged the time, so...she could babysit.

Picked up her and a step grand kid, dropped them off with the kids and the canoes at the slip.

Returned and grabbed stepkid. Took him to the Osteopath and then went to wait in the only available place - a pub.

Newspaper, quiet, nice pub lunch and a pint of coke. Bliss.

He arrived back just as I finished.

Headed back to see how the wife and boyfriend were doing with the kids.

 

[No Idea]

Seems the wife set up an armchair on the beach, wrapped herself in a big coat and practiced her zzzz's

The boyfriend, the one recovering from a collarbone and some ribs, loaded the step grand kid into my canoe and had a go at keeping up with my two.

Seems they went to Whitecliff for an Ice cream.

Biggest decided to walk, instead of get his canoe wet.

He is a teenager, so Im taking that as reason why I didnt understand.

By the time we got back, boyfriend was practically on his knees, littlest was still jumping up and down, as usual, biggest was happily pulverizing rocks with his new hammer, the step grand was throwing pebbles at the sea and missing, and the wife was still snoring.

 

[No Idea]

So...

As I was feeling bored, but not bored enough to wake her up and get the usual abuse that follows...

I loaded the sail, much to the surprise of the boyfriend

Set up and paddled off to go test some stuff.

Instead of tying the bottom corners of the spinnaker sail to the outrigger arm, I decided to try using it as a front sail, by tying just one end to the front of my canoe and using the other on a line to either side.

With the mast supported in one hand, and the extra rope in the other....

Steering became er...critical.

Discovered I could sort of steer it by tipping the mast forwards or backwards as on a windsurfer.

It was a bit hit and miss, but worked.

Set up like this, I was sailing across the wind, instead of only down wind.

Its a bit horrible, and I wouldnt like to try it in anything more than 4 or 5 mph of wind.

Still, some steering would help.

 

[No Idea]

THe step grand kid was bored, so bored he looked like he might wake her up.

I quickly grabbed him and took him for a paddle.

When he had had enough, I dropped him off and decided to see how far the outrigger would go towards stopping the side of the boat from sinking.

It was a lot more buoyant than I expected.

However....

So...

I paddled it out and back, just to see what would happen with it completely swamped.

10 mins later, I was still paddling around, It sank to the point the water was washing completely over the boat, then stayed there.

Moving the seat and sitting on the floor to displace some of the water would probably raise the canoe far enough to support my gear too.

With the boat full of water, it is still stable, although its a lot harder to paddle.

I emptied it again and got the kids to swim out and had them practice "swimming onto the ends of the canoe.

We discovered that it will just support all 3 of us with about 3 inches of freeboard (amount of side sticking out of the water), left.

Not much good in waves, but useful to know.

 

[No Idea]

The wife woke up...

We loaded her onto the canoe with Little Idea to paddle and sent them out.

She never starts arguments when she is moving. Dont know why.

We got an extra 15 mins before she got back and started shouting again.

Hot chocolate on the beach, made on our meths stoves while she settled down again, then time to load up and go home.

 

[No Idea]

Thurs 28th July

Discovered one of the canoes had a broken rubrail

So..

Breakfast at the Greasy Spoon, then repairs time..

He is cleaning out the dried glue from behind it with the saw

He soon discovered he needed to unscrew the screw a bit - just after the tips of the teeth came off my saw..

New glue...

Making sure the glue goes all the way through the joint by spreading it with a lolly stick - which he had to eat first.

It then got clamped and left to dry.

Cleared up, mptied our packs and restocked ready to go again...

Obviously, as the kids hadnt done anything all day, they had to go to the gym and the swimming pool in the afternoon.

BBQ supper, then hammocks in the dark.

 

[No Idea]

Friday 29th July

Not sure what my mothers sisters eldest daughter is in relation to me. However she is Swedish, as is her 16 yr old kid.

He didnt have much english, although mother is fluent.

They arrived and were staying at my mums.

THey wanted to see us, so we got them to meet us at the pier.

THey arrived looking bored.

We arrived with canoes and windsurf boards and paddles.

I threw my canoe together, the kids sorted out theirs.

I taught the kid how to use a canoe as he hadnt been on one before, and sent the 3 kids to Rockley - a mile away over 3 ft of water.

I discussed things in broken english with his mother.

She was starting to look a bit bored.

I opened the car, gave her two empty tango cans and a pair of mole grips with a nail in it....

While she was cutting the tins up and crimping them before joining them...

THe kids got back.

Seems he had made the mistake of trying to keep up with my two...

His arms were a foot or so longer than normal.

So he ended up with the mole grips and cutting up some more cans...

 

[No Idea]

He struggled a bit getting one in the other. Maybe he didnt crimp them enough.

They were utterly astonished when they ended up cooking hot chocolate on them.

Mum looked a bit bored, so she ended up going for a paddle...

albeit a short one

Seems they really didnt expect to go boating or building or using coke can stoves

Trip to pizza hut and a fill up on ice cream, and then visiting friends in the evening.

Busy day, but good. Kids got loads of praise for their skills and tenacity in building and using their canoes.

Also, paddling with a complete beginner showed them just how far they have travelled in their journey.

Good day.

 

[No Idea]

Some of Little Ideas from the day..

 

[No Idea]

Sat 30th July

Kids wernt up to anything technical, so I took them to the beach to break rocks and then sent them to Whitecliff on foot.

I saw this sign. Ive probably seen it a hundred times.

 

[No Idea]

Maybe I just never looked at it closely, but...

Whoever made it, didnt cut out the letters then back fill with paint,

they actually cut the boards back from the letters to leave them raised, and then painted the tops.

I was astonished when I worked that out.

They wernt stuck on. I had a really good look.

Time for shoppin and to work out what to do next over lunch.

Admin afternoon. grr...

 

[No Idea]

Sun 31 July

Clear up, then Asdas for lunch, then swimming, then visited mothers, then into the forest with our hammocks.

Nothing unusual for a Sunday, except somehow I didnt take any pics.

Strange!

 

[No Idea]

Mon 1 August

JUst got the bits in the post for the trailer.

Unfortunately, Im not going to get to play with it.

My new toy - a grease gun.

My gruntager er....fixed my old one.

Obviously, you must hammer out the old bearings - carefully with a hammer and a maleable drift ( blunt chisel usually made of brass).

As I do not possess a drift....

Hes beating it out with one of my few unpainted screwdrivers!

He worked the screwdriver around the bearing so it came out flat. If you just beat one side, it tries to flip over and smashes the hub.

Its out.

Cleaning it...

Lining up the new bearing...

 

[No Idea]

You should never beat the new bearing in with a hammer and screwdriver either. If you slip, you can damage the bearing face.

Unless of course, you are Little Idea and you dont have a drift.

You can just see the marks where hes been hitting it.

Hes turned the wheel over and now hes cleaning the other side.

I would have preffered he cleaned both sides before he fitted either bearing, but then....

New outer ring going in...

 

[No Idea]

Hes getting it level before he starts applying the hammer.

You shouldnt beat the inner bearing with a hammer and screwdriver either.

The seal is a soft plastic thing that should be gently knocked in with a hammer and large socket....

Or in this case belted in with a panel beaters hammer.

Using the square end of the panel beaters hammer on it is also a big no no too.

 

[No Idea]

Wheel going back on....

Bearing going in...

Wiggling the wheel to get it to go in...

Washer and nut and lots of grunting.

I got to check it by half a turn or so before....

Split pin...

Bending the pin over the end of the sub axle...

Its done to his complete satisfaction.

Im pretty sure it gained some grease and came off the blocks etc... when he wasnt looking.

 

[No Idea]

Tue 2 August....

It should have happened yesterday.

The tide was at its longest yesterday.

Biggest exploded, the trailer bearings wernt finished in time, I was having multiple meltdowns...

Didnt happen.

So.....

Staggered out of my hammock at the crack of 8am.

I realised it was a niced day as soon as I unglued an eye.

Checked the forecast, checked the tide table - just in case they had all changed overnight...

Then checked the electric. I always check the electric before I shower or turn the kettle on.

I had £6.66 on the meter.

Hmmmm....

Im not superstitious, honest.

But that did make a shiver down my back as I had just decided that today was probably the day to let the kids loose.

 

[No Idea]

Still....

There were a thousand little things that could make this trip a No Go.

THey need to get up when I yell and get showered and dressed and sort out their kit without any hitches....

They did. No problems whatsoever.

Sort of frightening in its own right.

Told them to go load the trailer for the canoes. Paddles, jackets, kit, the 3 canoes on top.

This all happened with no problems at all, no fuss, nothing mysteriously broken.

Downright spooky.

This can all take a couple of hours.

An hour and a half, we were eating breakfast in the greasy spoon.

They didnt know where we were going, or that we had a 12.00hrs deadline.

They dont do deadlines, so they would have freaked if they had known.

I didnt tell them.

Spent some time breaking rocks and jumping up and down as we had some time to kill.

Half way to Wareham, we had plenty of time.

3/4 of the way to Wareham, we were running out of time.

I had forgotten about that carpark called Holton Heath / Sandford. We crawled through at a staggered 5mph between stops.

WHen we got to the front of the queue, there wernt even any traffic lights, so No Idea why.

Got to Wareham with minutes to spare.

Might still have to stop it if the kids lose it or anything else goes wrong.

Tide was almost in, wind in the right direction and nice and light, nice sunny day...

Kids had been guessing about the trip all the way and had settled on the Idea that they would be going upriver as Biggest did some months ago.

I didnt correct them.

They might if anything went wrong. That way they wouldnt end up being disapointed.