A panarama of a Wardleys boat sailing away from Walney Island with ‘Black Coomb’ and ‘Lake District’ hills beyond. Click on this photo and it should open full screen!Jay was one of a group of Wardley’s sailiors who sailed over the bay on the last two days of April. Jay is the new skipper of ‘Thunderball’. Here, he is kindly crewing for for Darren on ‘Rivendale’.WMYC yacht ‘NIMROD’ safely moored up in Piel Harbour. Her skipper Nick is either tucked up away in her spacious open plan cabin or in the Ship Inn getting well earned refreshments. On the skyline in the background sits the enormous Vicker’s ship yard facility.WMYC members Nick and John. They both sailed over on Nimrod earlier in the day. John being a Piel Island veteran, was able to guide Nick through the sand-banks and sand-bars right up to, yes you guessed it, the bar in the Ship Inn. As can be seen, no time was wasted getting down to business.Steve and Ginette join Nick and John for an aperitif. Steve is one of Wardley’s most prolific sailors. Last year he sailed his 27′ yacht ‘Moonshine’ up to ‘Stornoway’ in the very north of Scotland. This, an impressive round trip of 600 or so nautical miles. On a previous year both of them circumnavigated Britain during a four month sabbatical!Jay on Darren’s yacht ‘Rivendale’. Darren assures me he is just behind the camera. In the backdrop, a long stretch of the Fylde coast from Fleetwood (left) to Blackpool can be seen. Due to domestic arrangements, on the following day Jay left the island on the Piel ferry towards Roe Island, where his wife collected him by car. Jay will be skippering ‘Thunderball’ on this well trodden route out of Fleetwood Marina in the months to come.‘Rivendale’s skipper enjoying a pint ensconced in the Ship Inn.Things don’t always go to plan. The following weekend, after heading out to Piel in the skipper of ‘Jamila’ found himself sliding about in the cabin as if on ice skates! A quick peak in the bilges revealed a lake of diesel sloshing about. After anchoring up for the night, an inspection of the engine revealed that the ‘second stage’ diesel filter had parted from the engine and was hanging by two fuel pipes. A small stream of Diesel was trickling into the bottom of the boat, and had been doing so for sometime. Following a number of urgent calls to through to WMYC senior members, Jamila’s skipper learnt that there was a fuel cock under the tank. This was quickly shut-off and a large cup placed under the unit for good measure. This at least stemmed the leak! Later on, a good half cup was fed back into the tank.
Once the regular sailors at the Ship Inn learnt about the problem Jamila’s skipper was far from being alone! There were many sympathetic ears to hear the story, and smart phone photos of the broken engine quickly circulated around the pub. Steve & Shelia Chattaway, the Ship Inn’s landlords, rallied the troops. Local skippers Alan, Tony and Ash offered to come an take a look at around 11 O’clock the following morning. Before this time they had some early morning ‘Mooring maintenance’ jobs to expedite, which involved diving to the bottom of the harbour using scuba diving gear.For a time that morning a crowd of inflatable dinghies surrounded Jamila’s stern. Very soon the errant oil filter was re-attached to the the starboard side of the engine with ‘Ash’ acting as the diesel fitter and Tony coordinating from the cockpit. Most importantly, the engine was thoroughly tested and given a clean bill of heath for use out at sea.There was one little job left over due to damage done during the crane-in nearly three weeks previously, which was to fix the VHF aerial. One of the dinghies crowding around the stern of Jamila shot-off to its mother ship and came back with a bosun’s chair. One of the three skippers went high aloft (Alan). Tools and self tapping stainless steel screws were sent up in a small sack via the topping-lift, and after fifteen minutes or so of ‘lofty toil’ a successful radio check was finally requested from ‘Holyhead’ coast guard. Thanks guys!!Glasson SC, Roger Pierce’s RedFox 20.Met up with Roger Pierce, the ‘Commodore’ of the Glasson Sailing Club. He showed me around his RedFox 20. A fast impressive boat that showed ‘Peter Duck’ a very clean pair of heals once when sailing out of Piel. This lifting keeler is quipped with a water ballast and two lee boards instead of the usual centrally located keel.A close study of ‘Lighting Knoll’ buoy, with ‘Black Coombe’ hill lying several miles beyond. On a light wind’ed day, by setting-off from Piel an hour before low water on the ebb tide, Jamila was able to sail back to Fleetwood using the tides and without burning any fuel.
A friendly base for Yacht Cruising on Morecambe Bay
