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Me at the helm of Ravensdale in the Solway Firth |
At long last our Neptunus 133 motor cruiser has made her
maiden voyage as Ravensdale.
Yesterday (Thursday August 10) she made her first trip out of
Maryport Marina in Cumbria and into the Solway Firth since we bought her more
than nine months ago.
And the long-awaited excursion proved well worth the wait. It
was everything we’d hoped it would be – and more.
When we decided to sell our house to move onto a boat, we never
expected we would have to wait so long to take her out to sea.
She was called Candlelight when we bought her, but we were
not fond of the name and replaced it with “Ravensdale” – the name of the road
in Corpach, Fort William, where we were living when we made the momentous
decision to sell up and for me to take early retirement.
Since then, unforeseen problems (as well as a few we’d known
about before making the purchase) delayed the outing for weeks, then months. So
much so that I was beginning to think it could be a year or more before we’d
actually get her out of the marina.
However, yesterday the weather was perfect – dry and sunny
with very little wind – and high tide was at 14.01, which meant the marina gate
would be open from around 11.30am to 4.30pm.
Although we’d decided to put off going to sea due to
instrument problems, we’d still been checking the weather and tide times and
agreed that yesterday would probably be the day to do it if the instruments
were sorted.
We’d bought new navigation software for our laptops and tablets
as back up for Ravensdale’s plotters, but the new depth sounder/log that we
fitted in the spring was still away with the manufacturer after it suddenly
stopped working.
There was still a gaping hole in Ravensdale’s instrument
panel where it should be, but we decided it was too good an opportunity to miss
and, anyway, we weren’t planning on going far or to be out for very long.
It was also quite a high spring tide at 8.2m and we’d
checked the depth of this area of the Solway Firth before we went.
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Straps were fastened around the microwave and freezer |
When Phil announced that we were going, I was both excited
and a little bit nervous. We’d done a lot of work on Ravensdale since we bought
her and were really hoping the first outing would go well.
Phil removed the cover from the fly bridge and started
removing some of the ropes while I packed away our ornaments, plants and other
loose items that could be thrown around inside. We also strapped up the freezer
and microwave to make sure they couldn’t move.
Phil started up Ravensdale’s twin 300hp Volvo Penta engines,
which both appeared to be working fine, but we discovered the rev counter on
the port engine wasn’t registering the revs.
We made a mental note that this needed fixing, but did not
feel it affected our decision to go.
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Ravensdale leaving the marina |
A friend offered to come along if we thought an extra pair
of hands would help, but this was going to be a very special experience and we
really wanted it to be just us. Thankfully, he understood.
We then called up the marina on the VHF radio to check we
were clear to leave. We were asked if we needed any help from marina staff but
said we’d be OK to do it on our own.
Now came the scary bit – leaving our berth and heading out
between the pontoons and then towards the gate that opens out into the outer
harbour.
But there was very little wind and Phil was easily able to
control our progress towards the open sea.
I tidied away the mooring ropes and pulled the fenders in as
we headed out past the pier and into the firth, trying to take a few photos at
the same time.
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Leaving the harbour and heading out into the Solway Firth |
Then the real fun began. Once we were well clear of the pier
and lighthouse, Phil opened up the throttles to see what she would do.
I was stood on the aft deck with my camera taking
photographs of Ravensdale’s wake. Phil warned me to hang on before increasing
her speed and the power surge was very obvious as her bow lifted and she accelerated
forward, churning up the water astern.
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Ravensdale's wake as she speeded up |
This was purely an experiment to see how she behaves at
speed and definitely not the way we plan to travel around in the future – not least
because of the amount of diesel it would use J
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Phil keeps an eye out ahead while turning the wheel |
We then pottered around for an hour or so, turning her
around to see how she reacted to the tide and discovered that, despite it
being a fairly calm day, she still rolled around a good bit with a beam sea.
Again, this was just an experiment, whenever possible we’ll avoid crossing the
tide, except when necessary.
Phil slowed her down considerably so I could go forward onto
the fore deck to get some photos from a different perspective.
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Yes, I know I should've been looking where I was going :-) |
I also took a turn at the helm and was surprised at how long
it took for the boat to change direction after I’d turned the wheel and that I
needed to stop turning and to steer the other way before she had completed a
turn.
I wasn’t really expecting her to handle like a car, but think it could
take me a while to really get the hang of it.
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Cormorants build their nests on this navigational buoy |
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Most of the cormorants flew away as we approached |
We also went to take a look at the navigational buoy where I’d
photographed nesting cormorants when we went out on a friend’s yacht in June.
The babies had obviously flown their nests, but there were
still a number of cormorants perched on the top as we approached.
Unfortunately, even at a slow speed, we made considerably
more noise than a yacht and most flew away before we got close enough for me to
take photos and those I did take were not great as the boat was rolling around
quite a lot, which made it difficult to focus properly.
Eventually we both decided that we’d spent long enough out
for our first trip, especially as we had no idea what speed we were doing
without our depth sounder/log. We later realised that we could’ve set up a GPS
for this purpose.
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Heading back towards Maryport |
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Ravensdale approaches the marina gate |
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A selfie taken on the way back to the marina |
Our return to the marina went smoothly and it was great to
see Maryport and then the marina gate from the seaward side for a change.
And Phil managed to reverse her into the mooring very
smoothly while I threw the mooring ropes ashore for Mic, who is a member of the
marina staff, to tie up to the cleats on the pontoons.
All in all, Ravensdale’s maiden voyage since we bought and
renamed her, went very well and, unsurprisingly, we had a few glasses of wine to celebrate last night :-)
We have a few things to do before her next outing, such as
fixing the rev counter and hopefully fitting the depth sounder/log when we get
it back, but we won’t think twice about going out again and next time we’ll
probably plot a route and follow it rather than just pootling around.
Meanwhile, it’s been an eventful week in Maryport - and not
in a good way.
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The road closure on Senhouse Street, Maryport |
When I walked up to town for a hair appointment on Tuesday,
I discovered a section of the main street was closed with police officers at
either end. It later emerged that a local man had been seriously assaulted
during the night.
A man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder as the victim
was critically ill in hospital, but he later died so police are now treating it
as a murder inquiry.
On a happier note, last Sunday, the new RNLI lifeboat from nearby Workington
visited the marina to give locals a chance to see what their fundraising
efforts had helped to purchase and we took the opportunity to take a look
on board.
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The new Workington lifeboat at Maryport Marina |
The £2.1 million all-weather Shannon class Dorothy May White
is an impressive vessel.
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The navigator's desk on the new lifeboat |
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The new vessel's pristine engine room |
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The accommodation provided for survivors |
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Admiring the equipment on the Dorothy May White |
We really enjoyed viewing the interior, including her state
of the art electronic equipment, the engine room and the survivor
accommodation.
And that is the only way I ever want to see the inside of a
lifeboat.
That said, anyone would be very pleased to see it coming to
their assistance if they were in difficulty at sea.
The Dorothy May White – named after a woman who left a
substantial sum of money towards the new vessel in her will – has everything
you could want to see on a rescue boat.
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The new lifeboat leaving Maryport Marina |
