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In Charge

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Today's voyage was from Hartlepool to Blyth and had the added spice that Jenny had suggested I be skipper for the day. So I had to plan the route and then tell her what to do. That bit I was OK with. The bit which did slightly worry me, to say the least, was "parking" Serenity against the guest pontoon at Bylth marina. As we crawled in I realised that the wind was blowing us sideways towards the other boats moored there ... but also towards the pontoon. So all I had to do was get close enough and let the wind drift us down onto it. Result!

Serenity on the guest pontoon at Blyth
Serenity on the pontoon at Blyth

We discovered that the two boats rafted up behind us in my photo are also on around UK voyages. The one of the outside has a female skipper and a temporary male crew just like us while the other boat's home port is Pin Mill just up river from where Jenny keeps her boat. Small world etc etc.

The excitement of the day was when we realised we appeared to be putting oil into the exhaust output when the engine was running. Initially I thought "head gasket" as these engines use sea water cooling rather than having a radiator and the exhaust includes the warmed water. But when we looked more carefully the "oil" was dripping from another drain hole and further digging about revealed it was coming from the gas locker and was petrol from a can of petrol which had ended up inverted and when it got hot and vented it had started to leak petrol. Jenny swabbed it out while I stood by with a fire extinguisher and we then sailed for an hour or so in light winds until we were sure the fumes had all gone.

Tags: sailing Written 08/06/08

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