River Song

I had planned that we were to go to the boat early Saturday and anchor at an SXK-buoy about 2 NM north east of Dyrön and then sail home on Sunday. Hopefully we could also test to sail and trim the crew. 🙂

This did not end up being the case. Annika wanted to sleep in the boat from Friday and I am just happy with that.
Albert, our son, also wanted to tag along but couldn't come until Saturday lunch. This just became better and better. We went directly after our jobs to RS and started putting in food and clothes, making some food and assemble Stormageddon, our small dinghy with its 2.5 hp outboard engine. After all this, we sat down and ate some grilled chicken and potato sallad.

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Woke up early, at like 06.10 am and the harbour was still asleep and it was completely windless.
It was going to be a good day, I could feel it already.

We had a proper breakfast with cereals, rolls and coffee. Imagine Nescafe being that tasty!
Then we went out from the harbour. Right outside there is a big space which is not disturbing any sea lanes.
So here I thought that we would get to know River. Annika, who has never had a boat before, was a bit worried that it would be hard but since there was hardly any wind it was perfect to practice.
Also, this is not far from Stenungsund where we were to pick up Albert.
Annika learnt quickly how it all worked and was really good for a beginner.
After keeping at it for a couple of hours we steered towards Stenungsund guest harbour. We would get Albert and have lunch onboard.

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After trimming Annika it was now time to give the deck hand the task as helmsman.
This was done with honours and he wanted to check the charts to see where we were and have a good view forward.
We went slowly but surely by motor towards Kärrsön, where we were going to lie at a buoy for the night.
The wind picked up and I asked Annika wether she wanted to do some more training. Yes, please! So we raised the genoa, which by the way goes by the name Jenny (from Dr Who's daughter), and we quickly reached 5.2 knots and then started tilting, which Annika thought was a little bit too much for her as a beginner. A short while late I wondered what was floating in the water and asked Annika to take a look. A seal! It's a seal! Look Albert, do you see the seal? Lovely when nature gives us joy. We steamed on towards the buoy and I changed the plans. We would only be staying at the buoy to eat and then we would go to Dyrön for night harbour. It is still cold during the night so we like to have land power for our small heater fan (we are getting a Wallas 1300). Some comforts are ok! 🙂

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When we had arrived at Dyrön's south harbour we could chill and take a walk, and then sit down and watch the sun disappear.
Life when it is at it's best, no need for more. 🙂

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We went to bed pretty early which resulted in us waking up very early, namely at 06.30 am!
Albert needed to be at his Tae kwon do-practice so since we nevertheless had planned an early start to the day we got up but didn't need to stress. After some breakfast and Nescafe we left for Almösund and our home port.
It was dead calm seas, no discernable wind. We saw seals today too. Two outside Låka and one by the Tjörn bridge.

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Of course we wanted to send a greeting to Maya and Aladino onboard Magic Carpet. They are a young couple who sail a Vindö 32 who we hope we will meet if they can come up here as planned. Right now they are stuck in France due to quarantine and social distancing. Watch them on their YouTube-channel "Sailing Magic Carpet."

Once we had arrived and was moored it was time for lunch and after that a clean, loading the car and wash RS who btw was the saltiest of us all. You could tell that everyone was a little tired but Annika didn't want to go home. It is wonderful when your family share your interest. This weekend has been the best in a long time.

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Why does it have to be so long to the next weekend? Then there will be day cruises and sail training.
Captain The Beard Hasselblad. Over and out.

Annika became creative in the evening and made this little film.

Today we were to go out in the boat, going round Stenungsön. This is a good get-the-feel-of-it-tour of approx 8 NM. We would go by motor because it was blowing 20-30 knots so sailing was unthinkable. We would get out of the port. This should be wonderful, despite the wind and the chill in the air. We started our trip in Uddevalla to get new Genoa sheets, in red of course 😊 and then to Båttema to buy a soft schakle and breakfast.

After having assembled the new sheet and done a few other smaller things it was time to start the engine. This went just great! For those of you who don't know, my last boat almost managed to sink me completely because of its motor that never was ok and that almost never started. So I was so happy when the little MD5 diesel engine started up purring. I had missed the fact that the clutch was in idle but it still started! We were chugging nicely out of the harbour and set course for 30 degrees NNE and then towards the inlet to Stenungsund.

After passing Stenungs Torg and passing under the Stenungsö bridge we aimed for Låka until we saw the waterway mark on the south side of the Tjörn bridge and passed underneath without scraping.

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As we passed under the Tjörn bridge there was snow in the air. It was now blowing at least 30 knots and the wind was cold. It was blowing north eastly winds so we had up wind and pretty rough seas straight towards us. I was really impressed with the crew. After having rounded the Almö beach the wind died down and it became almost windless. This is because Almösund marina lies like a lagoon, protected by hills and forests all around. The crew made everything ready on deck and hung out the fenders. This docking went just as smoothly as the last one. When we had moored we both needed coffee so cook went into the galley and handed out sandwiches and sailing rye bread. Soon coffee was done as well and the sun started shining.

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The sky started turning dark in places so after we had finished our coffee we hurried to get ready so that we could go home.

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Today was the biggest day in our boat life. We came out early and quickly got all preparations done. After having talked to the crane operator Leif (whom I bought the boat from) it didn't take long until Berntsson came in his front loader and picked up RS.

After checking the bushings and the bellow we were released and the time for masting had come.

The feeling is just so great, so close now.

When the mast was on and secured we of course wanted to test out how her engine was. She had stood on land for two years after all.

Overjoyed when we had moored at our place it was time for something to eat. Pizza, sweets, pop and YouTube!

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Crikey! We started the day with a double gym work out. Could that be called morning gymnastics? Then off to the ship yard of course. We have had top gear allthrough the day and didn't take any pictures until everything was done. Now RS is almost ready for launching. We hope for tomorrow. What have we done today then, this Good Friday? We have polished the hull, scraped the drive and painted it with drive paint. After polishing we oiled the rubber list. The name was put in place. We washed the mast and the head foil profile and put on paraffin oil. The whole rigg with the stays, shrouds and spreaders was assembled. Then the clock turned five pm. Here are some pictures.

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Hi everyone. Today we worked hard from the start. Almost all of RS things was with us from the storage. The first thing to do is to wash the deck and the cockpit for the polishing to come. This means that we need to remove the spray hood as well as the cock pit cover. We managed to put them away into the cabin, after a lot of tinkering. Then we rinsed and scrubbed everything thoroughly until Annika became hungry (blood sugar level drop) 😊 so we had a fika when we were done washing.

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While we had out fika the boat dried in the sun and heat. Spring weather for sure! When the coffee cups were empty Annika removed the last few drops on the hull and I put on new masking tape. It was time for a second coat of antifouling. I still cannot stop bragging about the work Annika put into scraping the hull. Then we started painting.

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This turned out bloody wonderful. Now we only have the polishing and that we will do on Good Friday before the launching, rigging and starting up of the engine. So, if we are darn lucky and the opportunity arises we might chug around Stenungs Island on Sunday.

When we came home it was still wonderfully nice weather so we took the opportunity to air our motorbikes.

Ahoy! Anders and Annika

At home I wanted to go through the outboard engine. I got a barrel and "drove" it a little in there. The pressure in the cooling outlet wasn't up to par so a change of impeller and oil is needed.

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Full with energy we drive to "The Yard" to get as much done as possible. Annika did the last scraping and I started painting the underside of the hull.

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Because we felt that we would be able to polish and wash her during Easter I went down to find Berntsson, my dad's friend who owns the yard. I found him in his yellow truck and asked wether we could be moved indoors. This is because it feels nice to stand indoors to polish, but perhaps we could stay just outside the hall while we were washing RS? "If you have the time during the week, you are more than welcome to move her down to outside the hall", I said. "We can do that now, at once", he said. So I had to run up to Annika and gather our things and the paint stuff. Only the starboard side was done painting.

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Then we had to finish painting the port side before we drove home. But there is a day tomorrow too. Five litres anitfouling and two coats. I have done one coat so far.

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Me and Annika have been busy prepping RS fo spring and therefore we have missed to two reports here. Let's summarize! Annika has admittedly done notning else but scraped the bottom of the hull. But by jove, she does a great job. I am particularly fortunate. I have done maintenence on the engine and got some new battry cables while also cleaning put the cabin.. Here are some photos from earlier today.

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Today we stripped her naked, RS of course.
When we arrived we had a fika with Dad. We stand one to two metres apart and do not touch each other but only drink coffee and chat. Then it was time.
Annika more or less threw herself into her task and she is fast, I have to say.
Myself, I flystarted but tearing down the tarpaulin and disassembling the stand. A laguna table mount was to be mounted and a captain's table on top. This wasn't the easiest because I had forgotten my spirit level at home and I didn't dare only using the naked eye. So I took a bottle of distilled water and put it on the mount and measured how high the water level was on the right and left sides. A home made spirit level. 🙂 I also took the opportunity to put up the flag and the sprayhood. Now it was time for lunch.

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Then we started working again, Annika with the bottom of the hull and I with this and that.
I changed the water intake hose, assembled the propeller, fetched the cockpit tent and assembled it.
It turned out darn well, and it became warm quickly too. Time for a fika.

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Time had flown by very fast. Four and a half hours disappeared like nothing We started feeling that we needed to go home, so while I gathered the rubbish to put in the container, Annika collected our things. Check out her great job!

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The best of all: Annika asked pleadingly if we could continue tomorrow!!!
Well, I am not the one who says no. 🙂 So there might be a post tomorrow too.
Tootle pip!
Capt. Hasselblad

I had an idea to create a stand to have in the inner compartment in the galley. When the prototype was done I saw that I have missed that a fan and a pipe for the fridge were in the way. So it turned into a stand which also works as a lid for the compartment and therefore will not move. 🙂 Imagine what you can do in the garage when it's raining.

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Because of Corona making a mess we filled a day with boat work. Annika continued with her gigantic project of scraping away old anti fouling.

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Myself, I had some jobs to do in the boat. The ingnition moves around when you start the engine so I had to remove the panel and tighten the bolt. I also changed the pull switches which were a bit patinad.

Time for a fika. Since we didn't want to expose Dad to anything we sat outside by RS and enjoyed the sun. Admittedly, it was only 4 degrees, but sunny.

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I took the opportunity to measure and finsh a lot of small tasks, and made a little movie. Could be a both before and after one.

After this it was time to go home. We were going to collect a chart which we had bought on FB Marketplace. I also took a trip with the motorcycle to fetch a Helly Hansen life vest for Annika.

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