Kingfisher Yacht Cyprus

Wind at last… we (Sheila, Katie, Elizabeth and me) went out for a brief sail yesterday and there was wind. Sheila remarked how different the helm felt with wind. The Kingfisher has a relatively large rudder so even very small movements make a significant difference to the direction. About 5 nautical miles sailed. Not far but good to be out on the water. And still relatively warm. What was surprising to us was that since it was glorious sailing weather and the previous weekend almost no wind at all… there were almost no sailing boats out sailing (I counted 3 others, and none when we started.)

 So time to chill out after a lot of work… in other words time for a sail. 09:30 we put the new straps on the bimini (yes, this works really well now) and motored out of the marina and put up the sails. Wow… we're sailing along at 0.9 knots… then 1.1 knots… trim the sails and we're speeding along at maybe 2.1 knots. And it looks like it's race day for the local sailing club. A dozen boats on the water all trying to get the speed they need to beat the others. And then the wind dies. Well… it does where we are, about a mile or two out from the shore. Along the shore they are still trying to race and going nowhere.  So what to do when you're going nowhere? Get out the paddles for the dinghy and paddle! And it's the first of December… …and it's hot enough to be in a shirt and no sweater! Even me!

One of my friends, Peter, has been asking to sail for months, nay, years and it has never worked out. So on Friday, when we were at a meeting together I said 'How about Monday?' and so yesterday we went out for a sail in Liza . The track in green shows where we went. There was almost no wind. We sailed, but barely. But it was great to be out on the water again. Helen, my new 10-year-old crew member, learned some new knots (well, hitch actually, but we'll call it a knot) and how helming a sailing boat with almost no wind is really not that easy to keep the sails full of the non-existent wind!

Wind? Hmmm... no. Other sailing friends suggested it wasn't worth going out yesterday with Melvin, Asa and Kate. I guess it's as much an excuse for sunbathing and having a meal together on the water as anything else. Kate had sailed Toppers and other small boats and found that yacht sailing is the same, just bigger! I remember the first time I went from dinghy to yacht I was almost frightened by the size of the sails… and Liza isn't a big yacht by any stretch of the imagination. And with a very big rudder, she is light and handles almost like a big dinghy.

This was a very gentle 8 mile sail up the coast this morning. To start with there was almost no wind at all, so we slightly more than drifted up the coast. I was thinking about trying to get to the Dhekelia Sailing Club to see what they were doing, but we didn't get quite there! The bolt that allows you to fix the speed of the ouboard had broken on the last sail -- the plastic outer knob had sheered off -- so I attached a Jubilee Clip to the bolt head to enable me to turn it without needing pliers. I hate bodging things, and I'll replace it correctly ASAP, but this enabled me to get out and sail and that was important for chilling out time (for both me and Claire for different reasons). This was Elliott's first time sailing… sometimes smiles and sometimes intense concentration! I was actually most worried about… him getting sunburnt! The Cyprus sun is intense and people who are unused to it can burn easily. When sailing I even use high protection factor sunscreen. M...

We went out for a brief sail today. Last sail for the next month. Helen wanted another sail and I wanted to check the mainsail. Mainsail was great except that I had the topping lift and the halyard the wrong way round so it wouldn't go to the very top of the mast. But she sailed well balanced. I do like Crusader Sails !

Today was first trial sail in Liza . I had problems with the outboard motor. It is a Selva 6HP, supposedly fairly new, but a 2 stroke not 4 stroke. So not sure how fairly new is fairly new! Anyhow it tended to stall whenever I put it into reverse and was difficult to start. So I took it to the local Suzuki dealership and they gave it a complete overhaul. It came back starting perfectly and going into gear easily. But Saturday was a day of sea fog. So we started later. The outboard started fine and we motored out of the marina without a problem, though it did sound a bit rougher and not quite so smooth as when I tested it. Sailing Liza was great with the new sails from Crusader Sails I thought I'd test the genoa alone to start with. How would she perform in light airs? She sailed amazingly well. Pointed well and could tack easily with just the genoa. My experience with Crusaders Sails is that their genoas are really nice sails! I had a friend and her daughter with m...

I ordered a new main sail and new genoa from Crusader Sails in the UK. They are great people to deal with and can ship anywhere in the world. So today's task was to replace the main sail. Being as Liza is relatively light I wasn't sure if it would remain stable with me in a bosuns chair to add two blocks for the stack pack. Hence, the daughter of a friend of ours, half my weight volunteered. You can see from her expressions that it didn't take much arm twisting to get her to do it! In reality we found although Liza moves when you move around on her, being light, the centre of gravity is still such that an adult can easily go up the mast in a bosun's chair without any problems. What we also learnt… the leg straps on the Kaya Safety bosuns chair hold you firmly but can dig in a little if you have short shorts. Also learnt that forgetting to pick up a Kaya work positioning lanyard was a mistake. We ended up tieing a rope as a work positioni...

I saw this on  Boaters Resources  which is pretty close to what I am thinking of doing inside Liza: Wood paneling and a couple of trays. I'm not sure what I will do for the roof though. I suspect that all wood inside may make her feel a little heavy (aesthetically not physically). And this trailer… (https://www.adverts.ie/boats/20ft-bilge-keel-yacht/6086255). With something like that I would not need lift out crane each year.

I had a good conversation with Andy Cross at Crusader Sails today. They are making the new sails and lazybag for Liza . So I was checking over the measurement sheet I had sent them. Some years back Paul & Vicky Lees from Crusader Sails had come out to Cyprus to teach me & Tim Price how to measure yachts for new sails, but it's always better to re-confirm everything before the sails are made rather than find they don't fit afterwards! Alongside the measurement sheet, there is also a series of photographs they like to see to show them the various places where the sails interface with the rigging. One of those was the furler and the linkage to the hull. The forestay hadn't looked quite right but I wasn't sure why. The brass shackle was due for replacement whatever happened. Andy had noticed it from the photo and said that as well as the turnbuckle there should be a double jaw toggle… he said that loads of boats are like mine, but it's not right and c...

This is Liza's berth… at the moment. Next to Blue Angel owned by Costas. I sat with him and had frapé, nice to get to know your neighbours! So today I washed the deck, fixed the pin in the mast (that turned out to be a lot more effort than we expected!) fixed the boom, fixed the bimini and did the measuring for the new sails. Still a few things to do before she is sailable again. One of the shrouds got damaged in the move and the outboard is not as reliable as I would like. Fixing the mast proved that I needed to just think about it -- I used one of the winches to put rotational pressure on the mast, then pushed a couple of screwdrivers into the seat to move it round. We had three people trying to rotate the mast (and failing) a few days back when we stepped the mast. What I liked was that I could actually fix the problem alone. I just needed to think about it!

Nothing with boats is ever as easy as it might seem. The low-loader from Pekris Brothers (thanks Joseph and everyone for all your help) could not get in through the main entrance or the back entrance to the marina. So it had to come through the port and in through the port-marina gate, which has separate gates and keys on both sides. Which meant that an official letter from Christos Petrides at the marina had to go to the Cyprus Ports Authority. Which he very helpfully did immediately for me! Once through Liza could be put into the crane and moved into the water! So now she is in her berth. We haven't stepped the mast yet. Later today, hopefully. 

Two coats of Nautix. Now she's ready for going back in the water. Tomorrow… hopefully!

Having finished the sanding down I did the first coat of paint -- a primer because I didn't know what the anti-fouling was before. I'm trying Nautix A3 on Liza. Previously we had used one of the International Paints anti-fouling on King Malu. I am interested to see how well it works. It's significantly cheaper!

You might not believe it but I was wearing a face mask during the process… I spent most of the day cleaning the hull!

I hadn't been able to do a full hull inspection from the outside. So today was really the first time. OK, so there is growth, but the bilge keels are sound (I'd checked the bolts inside and they are fibreglass covered) and it all looks great. Someone said that the Kingfishers were built like tanks and certainly the bilge keels look like that!

Moored other side of the marina. Today I went down to Latchi to pick up the new boat… though I should call her Liza not just 'the new boat' from now on I guess. Mostly went smoothly, the outboard was a little temperamental and getting the mast down longer than I hoped, but overall a good day. She is now in Larnaca, and tomorrow will arrive in her new home in Larnaca Marina. After a couple of problems with the outboard we managed to move bring her over and get the mast down.  First sight of the keels. Not as clean as I might have hoped, but seen a lot worse! Ready to go

Sue and I went down to Latchi to look at a boat. Well… I went to look at a boat and she came too! I had decided that I need something a little larger than the Wayfarer. Something I could sail myself and afford to run myself though. So in the range of 20-25ft. Very few of those in Cyprus so I had been looking in the UK with the possibility of bringing over from there. But then suddenly saw a Kingfisher 20+ in Bazaraki . So we went to look… The cabin is interesting: It has 2 seven ft berths and a double 6 ft berth. It has a sea toilet, wet locker and then basin and cooker in the main saloon. Like the Tiny House Movement , this is a tiny yacht! Needs some TLC but basically sound. Woodwork and TLC I can do, but other than a new set of sails she's sailable this year! The for'ard cabin has storage space and a double 6 ft berth. Cozy but good. The wet locker is a bit of a mess, I will actually convert this to the galley. Needs rewiring! Missing a door: There are (s...