A smooth-hound hunt, a broken windlass and blackout pants 😊

Ravensdale returning to Maryport Marina after our smooth-hound hunt

The giant smooth-hound that got away last week left us dying to get out there to have another go at catching one.

Phil had upgraded his fishing gear to give him a better chance of landing a big fish, if he was lucky enough to hook another one.

But we had to wait until yesterday (Thursday) for the wind to drop so we could go out onto the Solway Firth in Cumbria, UK, on a smooth-hound hunt.

This time, Phil caught three of varying sizes but sadly nothing like the one he lost on our last outing.

As far as we’re concerned, there’s a giant smooth-hound out there with his name on it and we’ll keep going back out there until he catches it 😊

Oh well, here’s to better luck next time.

We also had a bit of a problem that will stop us going out again until it’s fixed – the windlass packed up working as Phil was bringing in the anchor.

Meanwhile, we’ve been trying to find a way to stop the sun waking us up too early in the morning and Phil’s temporary solution was hilarious 😊

The frustrating wait to go smooth-hound hunting

The massive smooth-hound that got away on our last fishing trip

The “one that got away” got away for more than a week while we waited for the winds to drop sufficiently for us to go out fishing again.

You can read about our previous fishing trip here, if you're interested.

The day after the 3-4ft long smooth-hound snapped the 20lb line on the trace Phil was using on our last fishing trip, we bought a new landing net and Phil made up plenty of new traces with 40lb line and larger hooks.

But high winds stopped us going out to have another go at catching it (or one like it 😊) until yesterday (Thursday).

Phil with the new landing net

This week, we were telling some friends, who have a boat here, the tale of “the one that got away” and they offered us a landing net that they had on their boat.

The said it had crossed the Pacific with them, but they hadn’t used it for a very long time and they offered it to us.

It was larger than the one we'd bought so we gratefully accepted it.

The only trouble with it was that it had quite a short handle, so Phil removed the stopper from the end and pushed a long stainless-steel pipe up inside the handle with some Gorilla glue.

He then forced some plastic tubing over the end to make a hand grip, so we now have a very strong, very long-handled landing net.

We also went out and bought some wire traces after hearing that fishermen were catching tope in the Solway Firth now, so we’re hopefully ready for anything 😊

We'd hoped to get out on the water again on Sunday as the forecast had been reasonable, but it changed as the day approached and it became obvious that it was going to be too windy for us.

Our neighbour in the marina decided to take his yacht out for a sail, but he returned a short time later saying it was just too rough out there making us very glad we’d decided against going out ourselves.

Phil helped Andy, who is a member of the marina staff, to catch his ropes.

Phil and Andy help moor up our next-door neighbour

Monday had also looked like a possible day for a fishing trip and we were up well before the marina gate was due to open.

However, it was just a bit too windy when the gate opened just after 9am.

The northerly wind was averaging 10-11mph, gusting 14-15mph.

We were undecided whether to go so went around to the pier to check the sea state.

There were quite a lot of white horses and the yachts and fishing boats that did go out were getting rocked around so we decided to wait and go another day.

We also know that northerlies tend to be particularly troublesome for us where we wanted to fish so we decided to wait for a better day.

Ravensdale in fishing boat mode

Ravensdale before we left on our latest fishing trip

I still love the novelty of taking our home fishing 😊

That said, Ravensdale is a bit big for fishing boat duties, but she is all we have so she has to perform that function for us.

I’d been checking the weather forecast several times a day since our last fishing trip and thankfully the forecast for yesterday (Thursday) was correct and there was very little wind when the marina gate opened soon after 11am.

As usual, we waited for the smaller fishing boats to leave the marina before throwing off our mooring ropes then headed out onto the Solway Firth.

It was a bit overcast and there was a sea mist, but it was still warm and I wasn’t even the slightest bit cold in a vest top and shorts.

Ravensdale seems to be running well. When we first started taking her out to sea, we had a bit of smoke coming from the exhausts, possibly because the previous owner seems to have used her as a holiday cottage and rarely, if ever, left the marina.

Ravensdale on the Solway Firth with Maryport pier in the distance

Whether it’s due to more frequent use or the maintenance work that's been carried out on her engines, she now produces very little smoke, even on starting.

As we were looking for the smooth-hound that got away, we went back to the spot where we'd been fishing the last time.

We dropped anchor, turned the engines off and fished for a while without success. Phil had a few bites and hooked a couple of dogfish that escaped before he could bring them up onto the boat.

We never keep dogfish and they're so prolific that they’re just a nuisance to deal with, so he was pleased they got away.

We'd been in the same spot for an hour or so when the owner of Sunrise - one of the local fishing boats that we could see anchored about half a mile further off shore - contacted us on the VHF radio to ask how we were getting on.

Anglers fishing in the mist on Sunrise

We told him we weren’t having much luck and he said they were getting plenty of bites from skate (thornback rays) and smooth-hounds where he was so Phil decided to give it another 15 minutes and, if we had nothing by then, we’d move on.

He didn’t get a single bite in that time, so he lifted the anchor, started the engines again and we moved to within a couple of hundred yards of Sunrise just before high tide.

Phil set up the rods again and the bites started coming thick and fast. In fact, at times he had to stop re-baiting one rod to deal with the other.

Waiting for a bite on Ravensdale's foredeck

Yes, I know, I should’ve jumped in and dealt with the second rod but, as I’ve said before, I prefer watching him fish and photographing his catches.

That said, I was always ready with the new, long-handled landing net to help bring the fish he caught onto the boat and found it worked perfectly so the next time we get a big one we should be able to get it on board.

Phil was also fishing from the foredeck this time, which is lower and therefore closer to the water than the aft deck, making it easier for me to get the net under the fish.

The largest of the smooth-hounds in the new net

On this outing, he caught three smooth-hounds of varying sizes ranging from about 18 inches in length to almost 3 feet. However, even the biggest of them was nothing like the size of the one that got away, which had a much larger girth.

The biggest smooth-hound we caught yesterday

As well as the three smoothies, he caught a good-sized thornback ray (AKA skate) which had a wingspan of about 18 inches.

The thornback ray before it was returned to the water

All in all, it was a good fishing trip until he was lifting the anchor to come home and the windlass packed up just as the anchor was raised out of the water.

Phil bringing up the anchor before the windlass stopped working

He pulled the last bit of chain in by hand and I helped him to bring the anchor in with a boat hook.

We were out for just five minutes short of four hours – our longest fishing trip yet 😊

As I mentioned in my last blog post, our next step is to go out on the morning tide and come back in on the next one.

But we will need to get the windlass fixed before we attempt that one.

Our photographer friend Jan Fialkowski took some lovely photos of Ravensdale coming back into Maryport for us again.

Ravensdale coming into Maryport past the old lighthouse

Ravensdale about to enter Maryport Marina 

Blackout pants

Much as we’re enjoying the lovely sunny weather we’ve been having lately; the bright morning sun has been waking us up much too early.

Sunrise is around 4.45pm at the moment, but it was starting to get very light in our bedroom from about 3.30am.

This wasn’t a problem last year when we were moored alongside the wall on the eastern side of the marina.

Now we’re on a hammerhead on the western side of the marina, the morning sun has become a problem, so we needed to do something about it.

We didn’t have any suitable material, so Phil decided to improvise and hooked the elasticated waistbands of his running pants and cycling pants around the portlights on the port side of the boat.

I wasn’t aware he'd done this until I went down into the cabin at bedtime and found two pairs of legs hanging out from under the curtain on my side of the bed.

Phil's running and cycling tights hanging out beneath our bedroom curtain

The elasticated waistbands are hooked over the portlights

It looked as though two people had become trapped while trying to climb out of the windows 😊

The experimental “blackout blinds” worked a treat, proving that finding a more permanent solution would definitely be worthwhile as, that night, we had the best night’s sleep we'd had in a long time.

We have now ordered some blackout fabric and I'm planning to make some blinds to go over the windows.

Meanwhile, we’re continuing to use the rather strange-looking running pant blinds 😊

Saloon sun shades

The sun has also been causing problems in Ravensdale’s saloon, where Phil uses his laptop.

The afternoon sun streaming through the big windows makes it impossible for him to see his laptop screen, but we don’t want to have to close the curtains on that side of the boat.

We'd bought a pair of car window sunscreens from the local Lidl supermarket.

Car sunscreens shading the windows in Ravensdale's saloon

We’d intended to try them as blackout blinds in the bedroom but, as soon as we got them home, it was obvious they weren’t going to work.

Rather than taking them back, I suggested they could solve the problem in the saloon and they seem to have done the trick, except for later in the day when the sun is too low. Unfortunately, they’re not as long as the windows, but I’m told they’ve helped a lot.

Ravensdale’s spring beauty treatment

The big spring clean-up continued this week.

Phil has been polishing and waxing Ravensdale’s port side, much of which he can reach from the pontoon, and the front of the superstructure.

Phil applying wax to the front of Ravensdale's superstructure 

He's only been able to get to part of the starboard side, so we need to turn the boat around to make the rest of it accessible.

The weather has caused two problems with the cleaning process – it has been too windy to turn Ravensdale around and the sun was so hot that Phil had to stop polishing and waxing on several occasions because it was drying too quickly.

Phil using the buffer to make Ravensdale's gelcoat shine

The areas he's done are looking good, but I can’t help thinking that if he polishes Ravensdale much more, he’ll wear her away and she’ll end up a considerably smaller boat than the one we bought 😊

On second thoughts, that could be a good thing as it’d save us money on our mooring fees 😊

Catching up with friends

We were invited onto our friends’ new boat for drinks on Sunday evening and had a lovely time admiring their boat and chatting over a glass or three of wine.

Another couple, who have become friends, were staying on their boat for a few days during the past week so it was good to catch up with them again.

Our friend's dogs waiting patiently by our steps

And a friend, who lives on his boat in Scotland, arrived unexpectedly with his two King Charles spaniels on Wednesday and came on board for a coffee and a chat.

It's amazing how much time we spend just chatting to folk in and around the marina, which is one of the many enjoyable aspects of our life afloat.

Just walking the dog…

Me and Benji

I’ve always preferred big dogs to little ones, but I’ve fallen in love with a little Chihuahua who belongs to the guy who runs the boatyard next to the marina.

We’d previously met Benji the Chihuahua so instantly recognised him when we found him wandering around the marina on his own.

He'd obviously escaped so I scooped him up and took him back to his owner, jokingly asking if I really had to give him back.

I was told I could take him for a walk first if I liked, which I did, so his owner gave me a lead and Phil and I took the little chap (the dog, not his owner 😊) for a walk down to the lighthouse and back.

Sadly, I had to give him back afterwards.

New picnic bench

This week, the marina staff assembled a large picnic table that is now sited on the paving in front of the shower and toilet block.

I’m sure it will prove popular both with boaters and the people staying at the marina’s caravan site.

The new picnic bench at Maryport Marina

The caravan site was full up over the Bank Holiday weekend and has remained busy throughout the week, possibly because the schools are currently on holiday.

This has meant the showers and toilets are much busier, so we’ve been getting up a bit earlier in an attempt to get into the showers before too many of the campers are out and about.

Stunning sunsets and colourful fishing boats

Very few days go by that I don’t take at least one photo with my camera and usually many more and I mean MANY more 😊

In fact, during May there were only three days when I didn’t take a single shot.

Last Friday, I took my camera for a walk along the shore and over the weekend I put it to good use around the harbour.

Maryport shore with the Scottish hills in the distance

Yellow wildflowers growing alongside the coastal path at Maryport

A fisherman collecting peeler crabs for bait

Maryport pier seen through an old groyne on the shore

Seagulls circling over Maryport pier

I will never tire of watching and photographing the colourful fishing boats in Maryport Harbour.

Two of the fishing boats sitting on the mud in Maryport Harbour at low tide

More colourful fishing boats in Maryport Harbour

Two more fishing boats sitting on the mud

We’ve had some fabulous sunsets here over the past week. I can’t see the point in going out every night, but I decided to take my camera around to the beach on Saturday night and was very happy with the beautiful skies that I was able to capture.

A lone figure on Maryport pier at sunset

Maryport lighthouse at sunset

Maryport pier at sunset

I can pretty much guarantee that, if I decide not to take my camera, when I go out I will wish that I had, and that’s exactly what happened when I walked over to the Lidl supermarket for some groceries on Sunday.

I spotted some large red poppies flowering by the roadside, so whipped out my phone to grab a few shots.

Poppies next to the footpath alongside the River Ellen at Maryport

And I took lots of photos while out at sea yesterday, mainly of other boats as it was too misty to take any decent landscape photos.

A powerboat shoots past local fishing boat Sunrise

Three local fishing boats on the Solway Firth

Passers-by

Ravensdale’s current mooring on the hammerhead means we see a number of boats passing by on their way in and out of the marina, including boats on their way to the MPM boatyard for work.

And, on Tuesday, Anzac of Ramsey, on the Isle of Man, passed us on her way to MPM. She left again the following day.

Anzac heading past Ravensdale on her way to the MPM boatyard

A very different type of boat passed us many times on Saturday.

It contained four Sea Cadets rowing around the marina while training for a race later this month.

The Sea Cadets rowing into a strong northerly wind

They went past fairly fast when heading towards the slipway and much slower on the return journey as they were having to work hard to row into the northerly wind.

Weather watch

Sunshine and wind have been the main elements of this week’s weather.

Last Friday continued the run of sunshine we’d enjoyed over the previous fortnight with a top daytime temperature of 18.5C (65F) but it started raining at about 6pm and we had fairly heavy rain throughout the evening. The top wind speed was 28mph, gusting 40mph.

Sun breaking through the clouds over Maryport Marina

Saturday started dry and bright but very windy. The top temperature was 21.9C (71F) but feeling much cooler in the north-east and easterly winds of up to 21mph, gusting up to 34mph.

The flags at The Aquarium getting blown by the strong north-easterly wind on Saturday

The following day was dry sunny, but it was still very windy. The highest temperature of the day was 25.1C (77F) at 4pm. The top average wind speed was 17mph.

Wildflowers blooming in the sunshine alongside the River Ellen in Maryport

Monday was warm and sunny again with a top temperature of 21.9C (71F) but it was just a bit too windy to take the boat out when the marina gate opened just after 9am. The wind dropped as the day went on, but by then the gate was closed.

We enjoyed more warm and sunny weather on Tuesday, but the wind got up again. The top temperature was 21.6C (71F) and the top average wind speed was 23mph, gusting 30mph.

Shipping Brow in Maryport basking in the sunshine on Tuesday

Wednesday started overcast and still fairly windy. The sun came out as the day went on and the wind dropped a bit, but there was a lot more cloud around. The highest daytime temperature recorded locally was 20.1C (68F) with an average wind speed of 14mph. It rained during the evening and overnight.

There was a cloudy start to the day yesterday (Thursday) but, more importantly, there was very little wind. The sun broke through but there was a sea mist much of the time we were out fishing and a southerly wind of up to around 8mph. The top temperature was 19.1C (66F).

Misty Maryport as we returned from our fishing trip on Thursday afternoon

Today (Friday) started overcast but, despite an earlier severe warning of heavy rain for this area, it has stayed dry so far.

The sun came out to give a warm start to the day. It became even warmer as day went on and I was able to finish typing up my blog on the aft deck again today, which is always nice 😊

The top temperature today was 20.2C (68F) with wind speeds averaging 1-7mph.