We need a Windlass

During the years spent sailing around the South coast of England and Northern France the need for a windlass was never uppermost in our thoughts. The ready availability of mooring buoys, mooring piles, and marina berths has caused us to anchor only rarely. Chione's Builder had suggested at the outset that an electric windlass would be a good idea but we spurned the suggestion at the time. On the few occasions we have used the anchor we began to see the error of our ways.

So, with an increased reliance upon this form of mooring on the West Coast of Scotland, and considering the longer scope required for the deeper waters up there, an electric windlass has become a necessity. However the restricted room in the anchor well beneath her bowsprit does not make this a particularly easy job. A review of the available options has lead us the Lewmar Pro-700 horizontal windlass, which we have now acquired. All we need to do now is put our heads together with the nice people in Ardfern's workshop to figure out how best to fit it in.

The parts list from Lewmar runs as follows:

• Pro 700 windlass with 7mm chain/rope gypsy (Part #6656011197).
• The 50A circuit breaker included with the windlass (Part #68000348).
• Contactor dual (i.e. Up & Down) 12v (Part #0052531)
• Hand held Control (Part #68000599) - these last two items being used in place of the Toggle Switch provided with the windlass.

More to follow on this topic, I'm sure...

To whom should we entrust our Pride & Joy?

Ok, first things first, we are going to need to engage a specialist boat transport company to get "Chione" the 600 miles from Northney to Ardfern. Time to reach for Google...

...I established a list of likely contractors to do the job and set about getting some quotes. As you can see from the above table, these covered a considerable range, from under £1000 to £1750 (all excluding VAT). Having established some sort of baseline I contacted the company, run by Malcolm Elvy, which had first transported Chione from the boatyard were she was built to the Solent. Although this wasn't really the job for him, Malcolm was extremely helpful in providing some "inside information" on the boat transporting business. He also recommended a Scottish company: John Shepherd Boat Transport. Now this was quite a coincidence, since one of our friends in Argyll had also had his boat moved up from Northney a couple of years ago. He had been impressed with the service he had received and was happy to recommend: John Shepherd Boat Transport.

Job done!

Time for a Move

"Chione T", our noble Tradewind 25 gaff cutter, has spent the first 9 years of her life based at Northney Marina in Chichester Harbour. However the time has come for a change. Both she and her proud owners (Ann & Geoff Johnson) will be moving to the West Coast of Scotland during the course of 2007.

So, no more for Chione the soft mud of the Solent, it will be "hello" the hard rocky coastline of Argyll. (Which reminds me, I must get a copy of the Admiralty folio SC5611 as soon as the new edition is published in March/April.)

This blog has been set up to follow this next stage in the life of Chione and the Johnsons. This is the first time that we have changed cruising grounds, so the subsequent events are all new territory to us. We had often considered what an adventure it would be to sail her from Chichester to Argyll. However, at a time when so much is about to happen in our lives, and due to a distinct lack of sailing over the last couple of years, prudence has come to the fore. We have decided to have her transported by road. More of that and other events to follow. Do stay tuned...