Recent content by BobnLesley

I'd assumed 50% behind so 15 days

Many years ago when I regularly made the overnight Felixstowe/Zeebrugge ferry crossing for motorbike rallies in mainland Europe we invariably ran a sweepstake on how many sick bags puker-Dave would use during the passage. I don't remember it ever being less than a dozen; fair does to him though...

Doesn't make much odds, it's really not about the boat; more important to have the right crew on board.

While we tended to heave to in heavy weather there's no reason you can't practice in lighter winds and we've often hove to for real in light winds to delay an arrival until daylight or make a meal in confused seas. We roo always chose starboard until one night in the Med port gave us a...

San Carles had a seriously good Fiesta sometime in August too, complete with bulls (only young ones) loose in the streets

Both our Vega and Trident Challenger would heave to under jib alone, but you drifted a little faster than you did with the main too, so depending upon the course you were making/wanting to make that could be a good or a bad thing

Which was the Plymouth marina that had the baths and do they still have them? That was a wonderful discovery when we arrived there 20+ years ago, p1ss wet through and freezing cold after an unpleasant passage from the Helford River.

Enquire at your nearest agricultural supplies store, I've bought several strong plastic 60ml syringes with large nozzles from ours for about fifty pence apiece

Not a glass one, look around for one with a s/steel pot. Lakeland Plastics and hopefully others - LP's were crazy expensive - make plastic one-cup cafetieres which are brilliant for on passage night watch brews

A mere bagatelle: We got chatting with a mainiero at the Porto Cervo Marina in Sardinia during the 'good old days' when you could anchor within the harbour, clear of the marina's pontoons for free; you could get water and use the marina showers for free too - who advised that an overnight high...

No. If you suffer 'a big tear' you can (back on the boat or ashore) sew the rip before patching over it, this will give you a better chance of success.

Both our 3.3hp Mercury and 3.5hp Nissan 2T engines were able to get a 2 4m rib up onto the plane; that said we rarely bothered as the noise levels when we did were horrendous.

I wouldn't fit one if you paid me! Over the years that we were full time cruising we must've come across ten or a dozen people who suffered from swivel failures, while I can only recall one guy whose shackle let go and he didn't get a sympathetic hearing: the lad who snorkelled down to recover...

Based on actual experience: As suggested by julian, bike helmets are lined with foam and want to float, so in calm waters they are 'more hassle than they're worth'. That said, the water doesn't need to be much beyond 'glass-flat' before that aggravation is offset by the protection they provide...

Reassuring to know; I haven't used them yet, but our local Lidl was doing a special offer on those at only £4.99 last week, then with a 10% monthly discount I'll have got another fifty pence of them too; I didn't actually need them, but at that price... That's a gift worth having! We have a...