Civil Service Sailing Association – Channel Sailing Division
SKIPPERS NEWSLETTER – Yacht Sea Essay of Hamble
Newsletter No 04/12

Introduction

This is an occasional document issued by the Yacht Secretary, which will be placed on the CSD website and/or sent to all CSSA approved Skippers in CSD when there is new and/or important operational information to promulgate.  There is no intention to produce newsletters on a regular basis.  Each one is numbered in sequence every year so recipients can identify if any are missing.

This newsletter is issued just prior to the Summer Cruise to highlight points to assist whilst Sea Essay is away from base as follows:-

Ventilation

Solar powered ventilators have been fitted in place of the static ones in the saloon and forecabin overhead deck hatches.  These are rechargeable and should be switched on at all times.  However there have been reports of leakage in rain or rough weather at sea – to minimise this it is suggested that the vents are closed in rough weather by turning the baseplate anti-clockwise and pulling it down.

Reefing Lines

Stiff Reef Lines have been reported and in order to avoid pulling the leech of the sail it is recommended that all reef lines are fully slackened off and pulled through when lowering the main.  Please check that the reefing lines are slack when hoisting the mainsail.

Mainsail Damage

One crew recently tore the luff of the mainsail by a combination of poor planning, poor briefing and overenthusiastic winching for putting in Reef 3.  Do remember that winches can induce very high loads and cause damage unless the reason for the load is understood and is appropriate for the intended function.

Portholes

Both aft cabin portholes have been replaced with new Lewmar units which have locking catches which are easier to use and hopefully will not leak rainwater into the bilge.

Oil Changes

The Volvo engine fitted to Sea Essay has a 200 hour oil change interval and we estimate that this should be sufficient to return to Mercury from the Summer Cruise without exceeding this figure.  If it is exceeded by, say, 10% there will be no adverse effect.

Anchor Chain Marking

We have several times marked the anchor chain colour marking code on the underside of the anchor well hatch. Every time this has washed off despite using a ‘permanent’ marker. The code is as follows and will in due course be put into the O & TM:-

Single red:                     5 metres
Double red:                 10 metres
Single green:               15 metres
Double green:             20 metres
Single blue:                 25 metres
End of chain:               30 metres

Fuel Receipts

The Chart Table Folder Part 1 now includes a sleeve for fuel receipts in case customs require these.  Skippers should make their own arrangements for copying receipts so that fuel cost can be reclaimed.

Martin Bellamy

CSD Yacht Secretary
1 June 2012