All Out !

Boat and Rig are now out and work is steaming away full pelt on fitting Cat 1 gear as well as watermaker, Sat mast etc. Long list of stuff to do.

AZAB Hotels

They have now removed the limit on the number of competitors for the AZAB so I booked up some hotels. Not much availability left - looks like it should be pretty popular!!

Time to mend

Rainmaker is back in her berth but now the hard work starts for the AZAB. We also pulled the top off the genoa and smashed the deck light on our last outing so need to get those sorted as well.

Silicon Cup Results

A set of results has now been published but I have no idea how these were arrived at; given the circumstances. For what it's worth we seem to have come fouth in class.

Silicon Cup Fiasco

I would like to be able to let you know how we did but ssince no results are available I'm afraid I can't do that. The racing on the first day was good fun and we had the ususal amount of merriment on Rainmaker but the organisers made an extreemly strange and illegal change to the Sailing Instructions on the final day (not allowing spinnakers in all classes even though there was a white sails class provided) that the racing tuned into a farce. I'm still  not sure how they had a prize giving without any results - very strange indeed. We won't be back.

Silicon cup

Ok to just off to do battle at the silicon cup. We have a great bunch of guys on board and plenty of local knowledge so let's hope we have a good one.

Round the Island Video

Hi all - the Round the Island Video is now posted - http://www.rainmakersailing.com/page80aaaa.html

Round the Island

A successful round the island. We came 10th in a class of 54 and 85th out of about 550. We all had a great time - the craic was 90 and we beat the people we wanted to beat ...... you know who you are!!
Have taken more video and will post it up as soon as I get a chance to edit.

Rainmaker press coverage

Press interest remains strong. We were recently featured on NEWSLINE on BBC
Northern Ireland and the County Down Spectator has published a piece on our
AZAB preparations and Round the Island entry. The BBC is also still
interested in following our progress and we hope to have more video footage
available shortly.

Video of Rainmaker at the Scottish Series

Just posted the compilation video of our exploits at the Scottish Series.
The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2ADvPMpaXo
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2ADvPMpaXo&layer_token=15b99e1b32866fe1>
&layer_token=15b99e1b32866fe1

Weather Mark fun

Short video of Tiggs , our tactician for the Scottish Series, explaining the
rules at the weather mark to one of our competitors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyx23SCepNw

Home at last

The boat is tied up in the hamble and a shower and good nights sleep has been had. Fantastic to see Grainne and Finn again!! After being the only yacht around for a while the Solent looked a bit like boat soup!! Now to prepare for the round the Island race.

Coming up to Poole

Just coming up to Poole and pointing for the needles - looking like we should be in late aftn. Whoopee !! Lumpy is then off testing sails on a J - glutton for punishment!

Qualifying distance

Just passed the 500 mile mark so have completed the qualifying distance for azab - yipee!

Start point

Just coming up to Start Point and slipping along nicely. Once we' re round its a straight run to the needles. The sun is setting and I'm looking forward to home and seeing Grainne and Finn. Lumpys off watch and thermals are on.

Bacon

Lumpy has successfully cooked bacon without burning the boat! .........close call though

sunrise and sunset

We are just passed Falmouth and finally got a gsm signal. Light winds so quite frustrating but making good progress. Thought I’d include a sun up sun down sequence in celebration of an underwear change. We are wondering if Findus frozen lasagne counts as one of our 5 a day !! Lumpy threatening to cook bacon !!

 

 

Approaching lizard

Winds annoyingly light about ten miles from the lizard. Some great sunsets and quite a few dolphins so that was good. Will be over 600 miles when we finish which looks like saturday night or sunday morning so it into the hamble in the dark again.

Heading Back from Tarbert

Heading back at the minute and thought I would include a pic of the traffic around Dublin. Thank goodness for AIS !

 

 

Scottish series results

Rainmaker came in 7th overall in a fleet of 20 with one 2nd and a third. We really seem to have the boat going now but we need 10 knots at least. We leave tomorrow for the Hamble.

Scottish series update

Results so far :
6th,15th,3rd and 7th - lying 6th overall and only one crew hospitalised!

Scottish weather

Hail stones and sun and rain and no wind and lots of wind - another scottish series

Arrived in Tarbert

After a cold delivery we are now installed in Tarbert for the scottish series. It has stopped raining and the sun has actually poked its head out - I hope the forcast for snow doesn't materialise!

On route to Tarbert

Currently in the north channel on our way to Tarbert - 25 knots right on the nose, typical !!

14-16 May - Ireland Trip

Drove up to Stranraer and took the ferry over to Belfast where I roped my brother in to help. We loaded up all the extraneous gear into the truck as well as the following jobs:

* Fittted new wheel
* Re-led the clew outhaul (one had been fitted which was too short. - Lots of frustrating mousing and messing about with a torch up the boom!!)
* Re positioned the Vang Strut on the new boom
* Put the sails on - incl new headsail
* Put stack pack on
* Fitted new purchase on Back Stay
* Replaced radar pole and unit
* Took a load of stuff off
and a load of other stuff!!

Rainmaker to make TV debut

I am happy to be able to confirm that the BBC in Northern Ireland will begin following our exploits in our preparation for the AZAB next year.  Some initial filming will begin in May with sporadic updates througout the year and especially during the race itself.  Obvioulsy we will have to talk to the rating office as I believe television puts pounds on  you !! Maybe we an get the rating down.

Update

We have now cleaned the boat up and removed the deadly green slime. Still lots to do with the sails coming back from Owen Sails in Scotland and lots of new bits and pieces to screw back on. Whilst we were in Ireland we spent a delightful night on the boat and I can report that Finn really enjoyed his cabin , sleeping till 08:40! which I have to say is pretty fab.

Furler

Nial from Irish Spars and Rigging has done a fab job and we are back in business with the furler.  Working in conjunction with Brian Hannah all appears to be well althouh I think Nial is a little too well aquainted with the anchor Locker.  Thanks also to Steve Bruce fro Special Boat Services who liaised with seldon inthe UK to get a resolution.

Furlex

HMMM, it seems that the electric Furlex is drawing 40Amps with no load when it actually decides to work! Irish Spars are on the case and we hope for a speedy resolution. There’s always something! Currently working on getting the radar pole back and various other chickens herded so we can do some sailing quite soon!

 

 

 

Blast from the past

I was just contacted by an old mate I used to sail with on the Maxi Helizara up in Soctland back in my late teens/early twenties. It was great to hear from Rod again and he kindly attached an old picture of me.

Who was that handsome bloke!

Rainmaker out of the water

Rainmaker is now out of the water at Carrick Marine Services having a few
bits and pieces done. The engine and saildrive has been serviced and a leaky
anti-siphon valve replaced. The rudder is having a small "fence" fitted to
help prevent stalling and a second water tank to meet ISAF cat 1 is being
installed. The anodes will be changed and the leg antifouled.

The electrics are being examined as a small voltage drop was detected at
the plotter which caused it to reboot occasionally under low engine revs. We
are also fitting an isolator to one of the batteries to provide a completely
separate backup and an isolator to the fusion sound system to allow reboot
(the unit had a software jam last season which meant we had to disconnect it
to reboot).

The hull will also be cleaned and polished.

Then its sails back, fit the satellite phone and re-rate.

Tarbert looms

Just confirmed the booking at the Tarbert and Oily Frigate - can't wait

Water Calcs

Just chattting to Lumpy and he mentioned whether I had considered a watermaker. At first I thought this was a bit OTT on a 33 footer but when you do the calculations it starts to make some sense.  If we carry 2l each drinking water a day and fill the tanks we probably end up with c130l of water which is 130KG we don't need. The watermaker is roughly 25KG so its starts to make sense. It also means we can use dehydrated food if needed. We have plenty of Battery power so I gues it depends on whether funds are available or not. Currently looking at Spectra racing 150. Might get a good price at the boat show.