The Sailing Bug

Welcome to thesailingbug.com. I have registered this site as myself and some friends of mine are planning to embark on a sailing trip around the world and this site will document the planning and preperation of the trip as well as all the things we get up to on our voyage. There will be many changes to this site over the comming weeks and months so keep an eye out.

Now that we have decided to go on the trip I have started to compile a small list of things to do and research for the trip. This is by no means a complete list but just some things to get on with for the next week or so.

Draft a budget to figure out how much money I can save and how much I will need before leaving.
Research first aid and lifesaving courses.
Research sailing qualifications such as day skipper and ocean skipper.
Research options for SCUBA diving qualification so that I can go SCUBA diving when away.
Research VHF radio operators course.
Get pricing for Hummer mountain bikes from Ebay or anywhere that sells them.
Research solar panels and other forms of providing electricity for all the electronics we are going to be taking with us.
Check out boat prices to help with budgeting.
Source musical instruments (more to follow on this one ïŠ)
Read stories of other people who have been on sailing trips and find more things to add to this list and see if there is any useful tips or information.
Chat with everyone else going and pencil in a departure date.
Devise a list of things to do whilst at sea to alleviate the boredom.
Consider how to earn money whilst travelling to support ourselves.

Phrixus has come across the perfect soloution for a bit of off road fun when we get into port. It is the Hummer tactical mountain bike. It folds up in less than 30 seconds by releasing just one lever. It was desigined for the American millitary to use in off road situations. I am not sure if this means we are going to run into each other whilst riding, frequently get lost or feel the need to ride around shouting loudly but its inbulit navagation system will always ensure we are never far from a McDonalds!

I was thinking this morning “why do I want to go on this trip and what do I want to get out of it? After a quick think I have thought of a few things. I want to see the world and visit places I have never been before – there are so many different cultures, places and people out there beyond the rock I live on that I would hate to grow old without exploring the world I live in beyond Guernsey. The idea of SCUBA diving in crystal clear Mediterranean water, anchoring up off a remote Caribbean Island and taking my mountain bike to the island to explore the sights, earning money by taking up jobs in ports and other places we stay and being able to pass on the stories of the trip for may years to come is what is driving me to go on this trip. This is my dream – this is what I want to get from the trip.

I can see nothing worse than growing old regretting lost opportunities or reflecting on what I could have done when I was younger but no longer have the time, money or ability to pursue.

Right so I have decided to start looking at doing some qualifications for the trip. After having a look around I decided to have a go at the Coastal skipper course offered by the National Marine Corespondance School as it covers the RYA dayskipper course material as well as the RYA yachtmaster course and some other useful stuff. That should keep me busy for a few weeks! I have also emailed the local PADI dive centre in Guernsey about PADI courses so that I can become certified to do some SCUBA diving on the trip.

Unfortulatly the NMCS website is broken and wont let me enrol and I have not heard back yet about the PADI course! Looks liek some phone calls are in order tommorow.

I finally managed to sign up for my correspondence course with the National Marine Correspondence School last night. I will be studying for their coastal cruising course that incorporates all aspects of the RYA day skipper and Yachtmaster courses and includes the Yachtmaster shore based certificate. The course consists of 31 modules and NMCS claim that it can be completed in as little as 4 weeks but at an average of 4 hours a week it could take 8 - 9 months to complete. Phrixus has also signed up for the Yachtmaster course which consists of 18 modules so it looks like we will be meeting up for a beer and a bit of study for the next few months.

Myself and Phrixus took a trip down to the local chandlery this lunchtime to pick up some replacement rope for the spinnaker sheet which we lost during the sailing race last Saturday. After a ten minute discussion on which colour and size of rope we settled on some bright yellow rope that should do the job nicely. At least if we loose this rope then should be able to find it in the sea again! One thing that really surprised me was the cost of the shackle for connecting the rope to the spinnaker - over £30 a shackle! Next task for me is to find a decent online chandlery with more competitive pricing otherwise boat ownership is going to cost a fortune.

We also popped into the local PADI dive centre just opposite the chandlery and got some information on SCUBA diving courses. It consists of a book to read followed by 5 classroom sessions and then 4 dives in the pool and open sea. It sounds like a good course and I will probably head back there in a few months to sign up for the course.

Just as I was about to leave for work this morning the postman dropped off a couple of parcels for me. They contained the NMCS course and equipment I ordered which is pretty good service seeing as I only confirmed my place Wednesday evening. I did not have time to have a close look at all the items but it seems like they have included about 6 of the course modules (most of which appear to be navigation based) and at least 1 exam along with some charts and books. I will post more later when I get home and have a chance to have a proper look at everything.

I have just got in from a long day of boat repairs and improvements aboard Mystere. Mystere is the 25ft MG Spring that is owned by Phrixus and Phocus that I crew on during local races. We got some useful things done including mounting the autohelm correctly and wiring it in, complete tidy up of the wiring cupboard, reattached the door below the cooker and a few other minor things. Unfortunately in trying to get the GPS, Navtex, auto helm and instruments talking via the NMEA protocol we managed to get something a bit wrong with one of the above not working in whatever wiring configuration. Despite a good few hours of head scratching and de-soldering and re-soldering it still was not working. The evening was topped off by a chinese takeaway and a bottle of Tiger beer kindly brought by H. Looks like a case of RTFM for the problems we are still having and another attempt at fixing it next weekend.

As my first post on this site, I have decided to focus on the most fundamental technical side of sailing… the sails!! Proper sail trim is as important as making sure an engine is firing on all cylinders… one bad connection and you will get backfires and look really silly trying to get along!! Quantum Sails have a number of downloads available on their site that cover some very in-depth and technical aspects of sailing. I have copied 2 of the documents to this site as they offer some very good information in a very readable form which is exactly what I was looking for. If you want to learn about sail trim, have a look at these;

Main sail trimming guide
Head sail trimming guide

If you have problems because the files are PDFs… please leave a comment on this post and I will look for other ways to get the information to you.
I am aiming to cover some more of the technical areas of sailing in the future as the site develops so please keep coming back to see what’s new!!!