Animal Rescue

 We found this large beetle tangled up in some garden netting this morning.  After carefully cutting it free, I couldn't resist taking a few photographs before setting it free to continue on it's way.

Ship-shape.......nearly.

It's been a busy period as far as Brown Eyes in concerned....

Some very old, tired ropes.

I've now also taken off both the main sail and foresail, cleaned and refitted them.  The postman has been kept busy delivering all my Ebay purchases, a great source for ropes, other fittings and tools.  Cleaning above and below deck also continues and I have an expert sorting out some of the paintwork that needs attention. I have also refitted a few deck fittings to stop some tiny leaks that were only apparent when it rained.

40 Horsepower Volvo Penta 

The engine and sail-drive have also been serviced and I should thank Mark at this point for his patient tuition of me whilst he carried out that task. The knowledge gained from him will be of great use in the future, I have no doubt. (Note to the other Steve - you have to have the camshaft in a certain position for that little fuel primer to work - now we know!)

The Impeller housing - we all know what that is!

There is still plenty of work left to do, however, I can really see the change taking place as the work progresses and hope to have her out sailing again in the near future.

Top Five

The Ipswich Star newspaper is running a Suffolk Show 2012 photo competition and I am pleased to say that I have 2 of my photographs in the top 5!!


You can see the article and the 5 top shots here (as well as in the Thursday edition of the paper copy):

Ipswich Star

Please feel free to vote for my photos - that £25 Jessops voucher could change my life!!

You can see some of my other Suffolk Show photos in an earlier blog entry..........

Another Birthday

For regular readers of this blog, you may have remembered that it was my birthday on Friday and whilst it was lovely to receive so many great cards and presents the highlight came on Saturday, when Anita had arranged a surprise luncheon for me with so many of our family and friends joining us on the waterfront at Ipswich.


Evidently there is photographic evidence of the look of surprise on my face when I realised that I knew everyone in the restaurant and once I have a copy of that photo then I will add it on here.  I had no idea that so much planning had been going on without me knowing a single thing about it!!

Not something I normally wear!

As well as celebrating my birthday yesterday we also celebrated (a little after the event) my retirement with cake and champagne on 'Brown Eyes' - could life get much better??


A  big, big "Thank you" to everyone.......especially Anita.


Here's the update;

The moment the penny dropped!!

Worth a read:

Click on this link: RAF Airman Blog

Work Begins....

Things are going well with getting Brown Eyes ‘ship-shape’, even though the to-do list seems to be getting longer rather than shorter.

A winch half stripped.

Lots of cleaning is going on below, whilst up on deck I decided to start aft and work my way forward.  Earlier last week I stripped the mizzen of it’s sail, stack-pack and running rigging and today, I am pleased to report, put it all back in place.  This has served two purposes, first of all it all runs a little more smoothly than before and also, I now know how it all goes together.

All the bits

Over the weekend I took my first winch to pieces and serviced it and more importantly successfully put it back together.  One down, 7 to go!

I have also started to reseal some of the deck fitting, as there are a few signs of water ingress below deck....but nothing serious.

It’s engine and mainsail next.

Rain and Wind Stops Play.

I was sorry to hear that the Suffolk Show in Ipswich was cancelled due to the bad weather today.  Fortunately I was able to go yesterday and despite the heavy rain in the afternoon it was lovely to see so much going on.  Here is a taster of the show and I have more shots at:

http://suffolk.iwitness24.co.uk/

Steady!!

 

A Familiar Face

Racing Hat

Fetch

The Chelsea Flower Show 2012

A few weeks back we were lucky enough to get invited by some friends to the Chelsea Flower Show on members’ day, but as I have been busy with Brown Eyes recently I haven’t really had a chance to sort out the photographs I took there - until now.  It was a great day out and very much worth a visit if you get the chance to go.

 The BBC coverage would have told you all about the event so once again I will just the photos speak for themselves: