Racing#2

Hello , sorry for not posting for a while,

As said before I was intending to race pandemonium
In the Felixstowe regatta 2010 non IRC class , the first day
consisted of no wind and a rather large course to start with
Then a shorter one to finish :) that day we came out with
A 2nd , the second day had quite alot more wind and many waves
And a massive 8 and a half knots :)

So that's the racing done and lots more to come :)

Pandemonium out !

racing

i have decided to race pandemonium in the non IRC class at felixstowe regatta 2010 . if this all goes well haven series 2011 but will keep you posted

berth

pandemonium is in a proper berth in the marina now !! makes life so much easier!!

appologies

hi everyone , i very sorry that there hasnt been much news lately but i have had exams ect. to deal with but . the news for pandemonium is that she will be going into her berth this friday the 18th and be doing lots of sailing from then on , i am also hoping to do the felixstowe regatta cruiser class in her just for a bit of fun :)but dont know if she is eligable.

more as it happens

berth

as from june 2010 pandemonium will have a marina berth this will make life easier for evening sailing after work

bone dry

i went out on saturday evening to check on dear old pandemonium and to my suprize she was completley dry and there was no water anywere inside !!! im soo happy :)

first solo mission !!!!

Friday the 23rd of april i launched pandemonium once again !! but on Saturday the 24th of april 2010 . pandemonium and i embarked on my first every solo voyage !! i was a lengthy 5 and a half hours. we set off at about half past nine , quarter to ten and thought i would do everything very slowly and gently but when i got out there i had to get the sails up straight away and turn the outboard off because i was so exited (and a little nervous) to get going. i started with full main and no.2 jib as it was only slightly overlapping so i could get used to tacking upwind . there was a steady breeze and the sun was beginning to shine and everything felt a little warmer :P i was tacking upwind happily until i got closer to felixstowe docks at this point i decided to do a headsail change !! i was quite impressed i managed to do it and not drift in to the bank or hit anything !! go me !! after this we were flying . as i entered the docks the was an Oceanis 310 alongside sailing in the same direction as me ... the race was on ! we were tacking upwind (the oceanis completely oblivious that we were racing) and by the time we go to harwich shelf i was leading , by quite a long way at this point i felt quite at home on my boat. but in all previous crewed voyages we hadn't ventured past fagbury which is at the start of the docks . i was determined to make it to a significant navigational mark .. so i decided to go to languard i was now properly at sea once i got there i took a picture on my phone for proof that i made it there (unfortunately i cant get it on to the computer)but once i got there it was a lovely day and i didnt want to go in yet so i had a quick scan left and right .. on my left a massive ship on it way to felixstowe out to my right i spyed a red and white striped buoy .. this was pye-end .. this was to be today's voyage (Sunday) but i thought why not go now . at this point i had rigged my spinnaker and really wanted to launch it so i plucked up some courage and pulled on the halyard and sheeted in .. and the it was i had launched and was sailing with my spinnaker on my own !! getting it down hadn't crossed my mind yet but anyway . i decided to put some gybes in . as it an asymmetric cruising chute it was quite easy .. after this i met up with my brother and his friends who were racing . i decided to head back in as it would take me a while ... on the way i met up with my dad and eldest brother and sister , and done some up wind sailing to show them i could do it . on the way back through the docks i put the spinnaker up again and goose winged it to go dead down wind and it worked surprisingly well . i then parked up to end an amazing day !!

winter sailing on pandemonium !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5mdvdXdl24

the first ever video footage of pandemonium

new look

i decided to give the blog a new look .. i thought i should mondernize it !

winter

long time no chat !! sorry i have had alot on my plate . anyway back to the topic in hand ; it is winter , boat jobs time. this is the time when every yachtsman has mixed feelings about , firstly its the winter ,the boat is coming out and there is no more sailing for a couple of months but then it is also the time to repair, re-clean , or refit !!! (Mr B). for me it is a part of all of them. i have to repair a crack i have found in my inner lining of the cabin :( i have to re-clean the whole boat again (this time may involve some polish) and there are som aspects of refitting as well.

i went down on sunday and was very happy about getting on my boat and seeing her again !! i opened her up looked inside i was astonished at what a state i had left her in after the final sail and that had to be changed immediately!!!! and found a great deal of water in the compartment under the companion way which i wasn't surprised about after the great deal of rain we have had recently.

when i was tiding up and waiting for my father to come and give me some guidance i noticed that my port bulkhead was covered in mold and thought this was from the existing deck leak but when i looked at the top of my bulk head u discovered a crack in the inner lining of my cabin , the crack is about 3-4 inches long and has a gap of about 3-5mm between each edge. i immediately went on deck to see if there was anything on the deck but there was nothing and a big sigh of relief from me.

when father arrived he was holding a very big polishing machine ( obviously i couldn't wait to get my hands on it ) and we started to use the polisher to clean the combings and toe-rails. we weren't polishing , we were cleaning with a heavy duty cleaner. i was only able to do one side as there are boats around me and i couldn't physically get to the other sides.

after polishing and after an amazing sail on my fathers first 310 i went back to pandemonium , to do some final tiding of the weekend so it is easier to do a thorough clean of the cabin. i remembered that Paul had given me a spinnaker bag as i didn't have one , obviously it was rather over sized because of the different sizes of spinnakers. but i took it anyway because i thought i could use it for storage. then i realized if i folded all of my sails carefully i could fit them all in the same bag !!!! after that i had loads more room inside.

the final job of the day was removing my old compass and wood mounting. the wood mounting had become rotten and the compass was getting very difficult to see and which later discovered had been put on upside down !!! (not by me) .. this space will be filled with a newer compass which has been very kindly donated by a very good friend.

Winter Sailing

although it is winter , i am not sure why people aren't sailing in the early new year! i was out on the Orwell today with my brother and there was sunshine and a perfect wind speed ,12-15kts. there was a strong tide running but this didn't stop us proceeding on a foul tide beat because we were just happy being out there. while we were on our little outing we spotted a little sail coming down wind under just jib alone. this jib was white with a blue u.v strip. as we got a little closer i realized that it was another Pandora international which is based at Suffolk yacht harbor as well . but we were going in opposite directions . we were out for about 2hrs just sailing around and we just had the best day ever . . . even though we were blue by the end of it.