But first we had to lay up Cyclone for the winter - this time at Thornham Marina on Thorney Island.
So on Wednesday 14th September Jo and I stripped her of anything that might catch the wind whilst she was stored ashore. She looks a bit naked without her sails, sprayhood, liferaft and lifebuoy on deck, but better safe than sorry!
The following day I changed her engine oil and filter, gearbox oil and fuel filters. It's better to over-winter the engine with fresh oil in it, rather than with oil contaminated by the products of combustion.
On Saturday 17th it was time to fill her fuel tank (in a bid to keep the dreaded fuel bug at bay) before motoring her from Chichester marina to Thornham Marina - a distance of 7 miles.
The final approach to Thornham Marina was made "interesting" by the knowledge that we'd only just have enough water to float there at, or very near to, high water on a big spring tide. Going seriously aground wasn't an attractive option, as we could be there for some time!
In the event, we got to within about 5 metres of Thornham's deep water pool - from where Cyclone would be lifted - before getting (briefly) stuck in the mud. After about 5 minutes the depth increased sufficiently to allow us to motor through the narrow entrance to the pool. Phew!
We were seriously impressed by the welcome we got at Thornham Marina. What a friendly place! We were also very pleased to be offered an unexpected £75 discount on our storage charge because we were members of the Westerly Owners Association. The winter storage package even included a taxi back to Chichester Marina to pick up our car. Highly recommended.
I wanted to see Cyclone lifted out because I was curious about how dirty her hull would be and also wanted to check the state of her anodes, P bracket and cutlass bearing. Thankfully the Thornham team were happy to indulge me and they brought forward their planned lift of Cyclone from Tuesday to Saturday so I could watch.
They used a really impressive bit of kit to lift Cyclone and took real care of her whilst doing so. The photos show the process:
 |
| The lifting equipment is prepared, with the strops being cleaned and positioned to suit Cyclone's dimensions |
 |
| The whole lift is then driven by remote control into the water... |
 |
| ... and underneath Cyclone. The lift is almost completely submerged - including its engine! That's the engine's air intake and exhaust at the front left of the picture |
 |
| Once everything's been carefully positioned. the lift - complete with Cyclone aboard - is driven out of the pool |
 |
| There she is... |
 |
| ... ready for a jet wash |
I had expected Cyclone to have far more weed and slime on her than she had. She was actually remarkably clean considering that the antifoul paint had been on for 2 seasons. We'd obviously washed off the beard she'd had on her waterline earlier in the season whilst sailing - surprisingly, as I couldn't shift it with my broom whilst swimming off the Iles de Glenans!
Sadly my suspicion that her cutlass bearing was worn (a plain bearing in the P bracket that supports the shaft just forward of the propeller) proved to be accurate. Unfortunately the rudder has to be removed to allow the shaft to be withdrawn before the bearing can be replaced. The P bracket itself may be in need of some reinforcement too (I'll need to take advice on that one).
As for the anodes, there was no sign of the one that should have been on the propeller shaft. The main one was still there, but badly eroded (a good thing, as it means it was doing its job).
So that's it until April 2017.
But first a summary of our trip:
Facts and figures
Total distance travelled (through the water): 1466 Nm (1663 miles)
Total number of places visited: 51
Total fuel used: 238 litres (52.3 imperial gallons)
Total cruising expenditure: £6500 approx.
There's not a lot to say about the distance travelled except that we used tides wherever possible to speed us on our way, so the actual distance over the ground would have been greater. Over 1000 Nm less than in 2015 though!
We actually moored up or anchored a total of 60 times, but we stayed in some places more than once and anchored close to a marina that we later visited on occasions too. Our longest stays were in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, Camaret and Audierne - about a week in each case.
We motored more than we would have liked - a total of 187 hours. We just didn't seem to get the good sailing winds we'd enjoyed last year.
I was surprised when I totalled up our expenditure as I thought it would have come to more than that. It's actually less than the £8000 we spent last year and yet it seemed like things were more expensive - particularly once Brexit had compromised the exchange rate. I suppose last year's figure included nearly £500 for the Gota canal and a total of about £100 for the other canals. It also included around £1000 for charts, a new autopilot and a device to make picking up stern buoys easier; as well as an extra 80 litres of fuel.
Both figures include about £600 worth of wine (at UK prices) that we brought back to keep us warm over the winter, but neither include the cost of leaving our house idle - over £350 per month for council tax and utilities payments alone (we really must rent it out soon!).
Wear and tear
The only actual breakage we had this year was the starter motor, but there is wear and tear that will need to be attended to over the winter. As well as the cutlass bearing and P bracket mentioned earlier, we will have to replace the headsail and that won't be cheap. Then there's the cost of antifouling and storing Cyclone while we're not using her (about £1500) that always gets conveniently forgotten!
Jo's made further repairs to our stackpack and sprayhood but both really need to be replaced now. We'll see if it's practical to get them re-stitched first though, as it's UV damage to the stitching rather than the material itself that's the problem. We replaced the standing rigging at the end of last year (at a cost of over £2000) so at least that should be OK for another 9 years!
France as a cruising destination
We saw many beautiful places on our travels as I hope is evident from the photos we've posted. Brittany has a particularly attractive coastline and we'd certainly recommend a holiday there - by boat or by car.
I know we shouldn't complain(!) but we often found it too hot for us - so much so that we've abandoned (for the time being at least) our plans to head further south and into the Mediterranean.
In our opinion, France can't match the Baltic as a cruising destination. This isn't a criticism of the place as, in all probability, no single country could. We like France. We've visited it many times in the past and wouldn't hesitate to go again - although we'll probably fly or get the ferry next time!
After more than 5 months in France we were ready to come home. We'd still recommend it as a great place for an extended cruise, but maybe for 3 months rather than 5 plus.
Cruising in general
At the end of our Baltic cruise last year we summarised how we felt about longer term cruising. Looking back at what we wrote I think the balance has shifted a little.
We didn't get the same stimulation, variety or sense of adventure/achievement from this year's cruise that we got from last year's and maybe we're missing some of the trappings of a decent income more than we did before!
Still, you can't have everything and I'm in no rush to go out and get another job just yet.
If we head to the Baltic again next year - we'd like to visit Poland, the Baltic States and maybe even Russia - that will probably be the decider for us. If we have a great time we'll carry on. If we're all cruised out, then maybe it will be time for us to do something else.
We hope you've found this blog useful and/or entertaining.
All the best,
Rob and Jo
