Alistair Tyrrell

28 August 2022 Remembering the hot engine after the last race, I tipped about two litres of coolant into the heat exchanger last week. I wonder where the fluid is going, it doesn't seem to be leaking into the bilge and the oil looks fine. I also took out and tested the thermostat using Bay Leaf's cooker and her best non-stick saucepan. The engine now runs fine and without overheating.  On Sunday I had Jonathan Webb and Sue Berry with me for the final race of the club's Bank Holiday Series. We struggled to get off the berth due to the mud and the race officer had already mentioned that he'd be starting on time at 1130, luckily the tide began to lift us and we got off just in time, motoring to the start area just as he called the 10 minute countdown.  Like last time, the wind was from the SE and the course was set into the wind and into the tide, but perhaps a bit more wind. We only just had time to set the sails properly before we had to make our reach towards the start ...

13 August 2022 Great to have George with me again for today's cruiser race. Five boats signed on and we got off the berth at 1120 for the 1200 start. Blistering heatwave here at the moment, almost 30 Celcius, we were looking forward to cooler air at sea. Wind from the SE F2-3, bright sky. Lots of boats around Littlehampton today - Zap Cat powerboat racing off East Beach, lots of leisure traffic, beaches crowded with people on this mid-August very hot weekend.  A very strong incoming tide meant we had to run the engine on full power to get out of the river into the open sea, we were glad to shut it off as the temperature needle had gone up to the red. Need to check that later but we were under sail now so plenty of time for it to cool down.  Avoiding those powerboats, the race officer Nick set us a start area to the west and we made a good practice start at the 10 minute signal so we could get an idea of how to attack the start. Coming from the south with the wind behind us, th...

3rd August 2022 Bay Leaf had a fairly tatty tiller, dark wood, with an elbow bend made of metal to which the tiller extension was attached. On our recent sail we noticed that this elbow joint was failing resulting in a wobbly tiller which felt like it might break. The previous owner had left a brand new tiller in the boat, apparently custom made, beautifully laminated, but raw (unvarnished) and it would need to be cut and fitted into the stainless steel / chrome piece that bolts on top of the rudder post. I have been putting this off for about two years now. My friend Charles Taylor at the club is very good with wood and he agreed to sort this out for me - cut and fit the new tiller into the metal fitting, make sure the angle was correct, buff up the metal piece, and apply some oil and varnish. We met at the boat on Wednesday evening and it looked great, much admired by other sailors as we carried it to the boat. Charles also found, loose inside Bay Leaf near the rudder post, a couple ...