Rotor and Tailplane

 Draft 1 Conclusion Was it worth it? Not really sure! Did I learn anything? Not really (well that is with regards sailing anyway, which is a shame as I have a lot to learn). However the skip didn’t really make an atmosphere conducive to learning, and didn’t allow us to make our own decisions and mistakes.  We should have been allowed to skipper the boat / sail the boat at some time during the second half. We should have been allowed to pass the instructions to our fellow crew members thus really could have been done on our rostered navigation days and thus really would have allowed us to learn and gain confidence, instead all we did was follow orders and be quietly barked at, admonished when we were unable to follow them either immediately or quickly enough or due to inclement weather. I cannot be sure but I genuinely believe that this is why one original crew member left on arrival at Gijón (he had skipped to watch shifts after being admonished on his last watch), and I have a lot of

  Wednesday   Today we make a long sail to Sada which is further than A Coruña yet is an inlet before it.    It dawns on me that the reason why we are anchoring here is so the paid crew can save on harbour fees which they probably trouser for themselves. If this isn’t the reason then I just don’t get it.  The sail is approximately 9 to 10 hours and ends up being a “race” at which our boat BlueJay is soundly beaten by both Oriale and Starling. Surely it had nothing to do with feint tacks which destroyed any momentum that BJ had and reduced our speed to 0kts. But I guess that is the gamble you take with well planned tactics.  Pleasant surprise of fish fingers and ice cream tonight followed by another game of Russian fool.    Thanks crew! 10 to bed with thunder and lightning in the air.  Thursday Short sail and motor to the marina with a stop for fuel. Today Linda and I are on cleaning duty which we dutifully do to only find out that it would all be done again at the dock. At the dock the

Monday Not in the best of moods today, literally got out of the wrong side of the bunk, and there is only one side, (not helped by discovering that the Shreddies I bought where frosted; damn Nestlé make the boxes different), which makes sailing to a beach just outside a marina to which we will dock in the following morning seem all the more nonsensical to me. There seems to be a lot of effort expended for little gain!   Anyway the crew seem to have fun racing with Starling, and it actually was, whilst in the cabin we keeled over 90° and were thus able to see the local fish through the cabin port hole. We also smelt what Helena was convinced was an Orca!   We made it into the beach first and Starling docked alongside and to us. We are such an accommodating boat.  The ribs were deployed so that some crew could have a 10 min paddle - lots of effort for little gain again! (although Alex did manage to get some good video).  White rice and ice cream for dinner followed by a Russian card gam

 Please see a Friday Breakfast done (bacon - hooray!) we start a new rota, myself and Linda carry out the IWOBBLED check on the engine.   Set sail at around 12:30 having completed the three S’s We sail to Artedo where we hone are incredible sailing skills.  We anchor in Artedo, a pretty little cove with an ugly two tier road bridge overhead.  “Dinner” is again served - not too bad some kind of vegetarian stew with white rice.  Saturday Breakfast of Sugar Puffs and then straight off to Ribadeo at 10:30. Another fine day of sailing had by the now well oiled crew! Today Lind and myself are the boats Chefs.    We amaze the crew with a comfort food lunch of Ham and Cheese Toasties - a truly superb dish!   After a reasonable adventurous sail we dock in Ribadeo where Linda and myself again stun everyone with a fabulous cat food stew (Tuna, pasta and the usual tomato source tin). So good that there is a rush for seconds before a birthday cake is brought out for the Helena, the birthday girl. 

Sailing log Left Monday at 14:00 BST o. BlueJay Clipper 57 (60ft) Crew : Ollie Dimitry Me (top bunk starboard) Helena Simon ( below me) Rene Dave aka Matt (California) Ian Val Linda (Austin, Tx)  Alex (videographer) Watch shifts Alpha   Me Helena Rene Bravo   Linda Ian  Dave Charlie Val Alex Simon  3 hours in 6 off We started at 18:00 hrs (?) Nice sailing Tuesday  Woke to force 8 sailing  Hard to helms But learnt a lot  People are sick and unwell.  I manage but have my moments.  Better on deck than in the galley.  Tried the pork stew stuff. Hhmmmm Wednesday  An amazing roll cloud Followed by big squalls Another tough days sailing.  At the end of the day had the veggie stew??? Today it was a starboard tack so sleeping was difficult (not help by a bird in the cabin - I thought someone was flaking the Yankee sail!!!) Thursday   On the 12:00 to 03:00 shift early morning (again great Milky Way, but alas no dolphins today due to pinger as we have crossed the continent shelf and Ollie is appr

Day 10 - 21st December 2018 - The Tooth Relic,  British Garrison Cemetery and Kandy Botanical Gardens 08:00 for The Tooth Relic; here a Tooth recovered from Buddha’s cremation pyre is preserved having been sent over from India by the king with the prince.  Sumi manages to find a perfect parking spot and shows us the temple, providing us with interesting information.  School is out so there are plenty of families with young kids and babies as well as school holiday trips; but we’re here in good time and beat most of the crowds.  Maria manages to have her photograph with a monk who has been in service since 1995 as well as a load of kids.  The temple and its surroundings are great but we never did see that allusive Tooth.    Before picking up the car we headed to the British Garrison Cemetery and walked amongst the graves and headstones of young colonialists who died mainly from jungle fever.  The average age in the cemetery was around 27 years.  The first resident was a