Windlass Installation - Update

I have updated the Windlass Installation Page so read away.

Link to Winlass Upgrade page

Windlass Installation

I have taken the plunge and will be replacing the Manual Goiot Windlass with a Quick Hector 1000 Horizontal Electric Windlass.
I have set up a separate page to contain the work / notes etc

The old and new
Manual Goiot and Electric Quick Windlasses


Link to Winlass Upgrade page

Opening Remarks

This is going to be the blog of Nimrod of Beaulieu, an original Dufour 35 sloop built in 1972 and loving restored and sailed by her current owner.

What did you do last weekend !

Please click on any picture to enlarge

So you drive to the marina (Dun Laoghaire) and the weather looks fine for a nice long yacht!

Wind picks up but not as forecast. every forecast tells me the wind is from the North and I am getting a Southerly 10-12 kts.

Local weather I hear you say. Well so local it spread across the entire Irish Sea from IRL to Wales!

So some time later (10 hrs) arriving just as darkness has descended I arrived into Llandwynn Island, situated near the southern entrance to the Menai Strait.

Now entering an anchorage after dark is tricky but if you have been there some many times its etched in to your brain, you should be ok!

Anchor down, hot shower a bit of grub and a well-earned beer later a great nights sleep was had.

And this is what awakens you if your lucky!

Just look at that sky

When you pop ashore the picture is just as good

Then your friends arrive from Conway

 

And obviously on a night like this that has to be a BBQ while we watch the sun go down like perfection.

Now off for home.

Forecast if for light winds from the North (again) with a clear warm day for the Irish Sea.

MMMMMM, not at 06:30 it wasn't!.

Damp and slightly foggy I can tell you.

But still. Quiet and light winds prevailed, and yes from the North.

As I cleared Anglesey the view around me and ahead was surprisingly different to that which I was leaving

 

Isn't there a rule about right of way? This chap made me alter corse. Not an issue on a clear settled day but makes you wonder...

Had a great sail home, wind again 10-12 kts from the North most of the way which helped clock off those miles.

Finally Dun Laoghaire and Dalkey in sight!

Well the forecast did say that a front would be passing over Ireland during the evening!

And that is a front if I have ever seen one!

Arriving into Dun Laoghaire. Just look at the front approaching.

Navionics tracks for the trip

Outbound 

Dun Laoghaire to Llandwynn

Start Time: 24 Aug 2013 10:31
End Time: 24 Aug 2013 21:27

Active track info:

Distance: 64.7 NM
Total time: 10H 55M
Average Speed: 5.9 kts
Max Speed: 8.3 kts

Inbound

Return from Llandwynn

Start Time: 26 Aug 2013 06:22
End Time: 26 Aug 2013 17:08

Active track info:

Distance: 63.8 NM
Total time: 10H 46M
Average Speed: 5.9 kts
Max Speed: 8.1 its

Google Earth Track