Our first full day at sea and the arrival of Storm Hector

Phil fishing from Ravensdale's foredeck in the sunshine

The sea gate at our marina is closed for around seven hours between tides as it only opens for about two and half hours either side of high water.

Until last weekend, we’d only been out and back on the same tide.

We’d been planning to go out on the morning tide and return on the evening tide for some time and we did it for the first time on Saturday.

It was a strange feeling knowing the gate to Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK, was closed and that we had to wait at least another seven hours before it would open to let us back in again.

Overnight Wednesday into Thursday we were battered by strong winds as a result of Storm Hector. This was the first named storm here since Storm Georgina on January 23.

Meanwhile, the pair of swans that used to be regular visitors to the marina returned this week with their young.

First trip out over two tides

I keep a regular watch on the tides and the weather looking for the best opportunities to take Ravensdale out to sea and the forecast for Saturday was dry, warm and, most importantly, fairly calm.

The marina gate opening times also meant it was a good opportunity to try going out over two tides for the first time.

Phil at Ravensdale's helm during our fishing trip on Saturday

Until Saturday, the longest period we'd spent out at sea was three hours and 55 minutes (yes, I keep a record of every minute we're out there 😊)

There was no more preparation needed than for any other outing except for making sure we had plenty of fishing bait.

When your boat is your home, you can’t accidentally leave anything behind. Everything we could possibly want is always with us 😊

Surprisingly, for a weekend, we could only see one fishing boat, Sunrise, when we arrived at our usual fishing location.

We spoke to Steve, who operates Sunrise as an angling club, on the VHF radio to compare notes on how the fishing was going, but he moved on soon after we arrived.

For a while, we couldn’t see another boat then Maryport trawler Winsome came into view.

Soon afterwards, I received a Facebook message from Tom, who owns the boat, and we had a bit of a chat about the fact he’d lost the side gear from one side of his boat.

Winsome on the Solway Firth

Winsome trawling for shrimps with one net

We were sorry to hear he was having problems, but it was sort of comforting knowing he was out there too.

We had quite a good day’s fishing even if Phil still didn’t manage to catch the massive smooth-hound that got away a few weeks ago.

Within minutes of putting out the first rod, he got what felt like quite a heavy fish. However, when he reeled it in, it turned out to be two dogfish.

Phil’s best catch of the day was a tope weighing just over 4lb.

Phil with his best catch of the day

Tope are slim and powerful members of the shark family prized by anglers for their fighting power and, even at this size, they really do put up a good fight.

Unlike smooth-hounds, which are known as “gummy sharks” because they have no teeth, tope have very sharp teeth so you really wouldn’t want to put your hand in its mouth while retrieving a hook.

Phil also caught four further tope and six smooth-hounds varying in size up to about 3lb.

Phil with one of the smooth-hounds he caught on Saturday

And we’ve got netting the larger fish down to a fine art now so, when he does catch “the one that got away”, we will hopefully be able to land it.

As always, dogfish were a total menace. Some dropped off, which Phil is always pleased to see happen, but a lot more had to be unhooked and thrown back.

The weather was warm and sunny - so much so that I had to put on a long-sleeved shirt to stop my shoulders and arms from getting burnt.

Me wearing a long-sleeved shirt and cap to stop me getting sunburnt

The wind was around 6-8mph when we left the marina and a bit lower on our return.

However, it got stronger around the time the tide turned so we pulled up the anchor and headed off towards the area where we know the local fishermen go in search of mackerel. 

As we passed Maryport on the way down to Workington, it was getting very misty and considerably less sunny, so we turned around and headed back to our regular fishing ground.

Maryport through the sea mist at low tide when the basin and harbour dry out

This time, we went a bit further along the coast, but soon found the water was getting shallower so returned to our previous location as Phil had put a marker on the chart plotter.

We ran up the generator to top up the domestic batteries and to keep the freezer, which is on the 240V system, cold, although I’d moved most of the contents of the freezer into the ice box of the fridge before we went out as the fridge operates on the 24V system.

Our generator providing power for the freezer and coffeemaker

And I took advantage of the generator being on to make us a cappuccino with our coffee maker. The rest of the time we were out we drank tea from a flask I’d made up before we left.

Phil was still catching fish, but they were less frequent and smaller than his catches during the morning.

We didn’t come back to the marina the minute the gate opened as we were still happy fishing and we didn’t want to look as though we’d been sitting out there waiting to get back into the marina as that would’ve looked a bit desperate 😊

Phil decided to use up the last two squid then call it a day and the last dogfish he caught took the bait then came off the hook. Result! 😊

For the first time in the 19 months we’ve been moored in Maryport Marina, the marina staff didn’t come to catch our ropes after we’d called up to say we were coming in.

Me preparing a docking stick as we approach the marina. Photo by Ronnie Bell

A docking stick in use

I wasn’t too bothered as I had our docking sticks handy and had them all set up ready to do the job myself when our friend Traver, who has two boats in the marina, quickly made his way to the pontoon to meet us.

By then, I wanted to practice using the docking sticks again, so I used one to secure a bow line then threw him the stern line, which he tied up for us.

We easily broke our previous record for our longest time at sea on Saturday with nine hours and 35 minutes.

And staying out for that long has given us the confidence to travel a bit further afield at some point in the future – the only things we need to decide now are where and when 😊

Short outing on “the posh boat”

We were about to have breakfast on Sunday morning when Phil noticed that Traver and his wife Julie were taking their Sealine 42 Statesman Andromeda around to the fuel pontoon, so he headed over there to help catch their ropes.

He was gone some time and we ate when he got back.

We were just finishing our breakfast when Traver and Julie knocked on the side of the boat and asked if we’d like a ride out on Andromeda as they’d decided to take her for a spin on the Solway Firth before returning to their mooring.

Andromeda on the Solway Firth

Andromeda really is a lovely boat. Phil calls her “the posh boat”.

She’s much the same length as ours but laid out very differently and beautifully fitted out.

We all sat up on the flybridge while Traver showed us what she could do.

Phil and Traver on Andromeda's flybridge as we passed Ravensdale

Phil chatting with Traver and Julie on Andromeda's flybridge

Her acceleration was amazing.

Andromeda was travelling at 27 knots in no time, which was a bit different to the 8-10 knots we do most of the time in Ravensdale. Our boat can go faster than that, but we tend to keep the speed down to conserve fuel.

Andromeda's wake

We were only out at sea for just over half an hour, but it was a fun experience and certainly not something we’d even anticipated when we got up that morning.

Returning to Maryport Marina

As I’ve said before, I just love the randomness of our liveaboard lifestyle.

We never know what’s going to happen next 😊

Still hunting the elusive giant smoothie

The weather forecast was fairly calm for Monday, so we decided to go out and have another hunt for the smooth-hound with Phil’s name on it.

Leaving Maryport

We decided against staying out all day again so got up early to go out and back on the morning tide.

It was a lovely morning, bright and sunny with very little wind so we were expecting a nice smooth ride, but it was not to be.

As we left Maryport basin and headed out between the two piers, we immediately discovered the sea was much lumpier than it had been on our previous outing.

We headed back to our usual fishing spot and dropped anchor in search of the one that got away.

Phil set up his fishing gear and started catching almost immediately while I took photographs of a large boat passing the Robin Rigg wind farm on its way to nearby Silloth.

A ship passing Robin Rigg wind farm

He caught five smooth-hounds, the largest of which was probably around 3lb, a small tope and a small thornback ray.

One of the smooth-hounds Phil caught on our latest fishing trip

We decided to keep one of the smooth-hounds this time as we've never tried eating them.

Phil's "rockling"

Phil also caught what we jokingly called a rockling. It was a small, seaweed-covered rock that he pulled in with a tiny starfish clinging onto it.

The weather remained fairly sunny while we were out on the Solway Firth, but the south westerly wind was keeping us facing the wrong direction when the tide turned, so the boat sat across the tide giving us a very bumpy ride.

Phil attempted to use the engines to turn her around, but she kept returning to the same position.

He eventually decided to head home a bit sooner than planned as the fairly severe rocking was making fishing less fun.

I drove Ravensdale back trying to follow the route Phil had taken on the way out, but I handed the wheel back over to him as we approached Maryport, so he could bring her into the marina.

Me driving Ravensdale back to Maryport

I know I need to learn to do that too, but that’s still a little way down the line.

As we came into the marina, there was no one waiting to catch our ropes again, but it didn’t matter as I had the docking sticks ready.

A docking stick in use

I then saw Pauline, the marina manager, running down the ramp and heading down the pontoon towards us as she wasn’t aware we were now able to moor up unaided.

I called to her not to rush and hooked the bow line on with the docking stick, then threw her the stern line and stepped off onto our steps to line Ravensdale up with the steps and secure the stern line.

We have yet to taste the smooth-hound we kept.

Phil gutted, skinned and filleted it when we got back but read that the meat should be frozen for a couple of weeks before eating to get rid of the ammonia.

I’ll let you know what it was like when we get to eat it.

Shrimping

We made the decision on Friday afternoon to spend a full day out fishing the following day, so we needed to make sure we had plenty of bait.

Phil catching shrimps in Maryport Marina

Our new live bait bucket

We went to the bait shop for squid and blueys (Pacific saury) then went for another shrimp hunt around the marina on Friday evening.

This time, we were much more successful as Phil discovered the shrimps were hiding in the weed growing on the sides of the pontoon floats.

Our next problem was how to keep them alive until they were needed, so we went over to the Aquarium by the harbour and bought a live bait bucket, which has a battery-operated pump that aerates the water.

We also bought a small bucket to collect the shrimps in.

And we discovered they worked well as bait during Saturday’s outing.

Some of the shrimps we caught being used as bait

Another very successful shrimp hunt in the marina on Sunday afternoon provided plenty of bait for Monday’s fishing trip when they proved to be the most successful bait of the lot.

We will definitely be going on regular shrimp hunts from now on.

The clean-up continues

Every time we get back from a fishing trip, Phil hoses Ravensdale down to clean off the salt spray and the marks left by the fish.

Phil washing Ravensdale after our latest fishing trip

We bought a large plastic laundry basket for him to put the fish in while removing his hooks in the hope that would help, but they still manage to make a mess of the deck.

And something more powerful than boat wash is needed to get rid of the stains.

Previously, Phil has used stain removal products bought from chandleries, but recently learned that it would be a lot cheaper to buy oxalic acid crystals and mix them up himself.

Phil applying oxalic acid to Ravensdale's foredeck

He tried it for the first time on Wednesday and it did a great job of getting rid of any yellowing on the gel coat around the foredeck.

However, more effort and/or another product is going to be required to totally get rid of the fishy stains.

Storm Hector

The Met Office issued a yellow “be aware” weather warning for high winds in this area from 3am to 3pm yesterday (Thursday) and the storm that was due to bring us these conditions was named Hector.

We were being warned to expect gusts of up to 60mph, so Phil checked all our ropes and added an extra spring line.

The longer spring line is the extra one added in preparation for Storm Hector

We stowed away or tied down anything that could catch the wind and Phil checked our TV aerial was as secure as it could be as it’s become dislodged during previous storms.

It got pretty windy during Wednesday afternoon and the rain arrived at around 5pm by which time we had 23mph winds, gusting to 33mph.

We had heavy rain with high winds during the evening and discovered that we have a leak somewhere around our door which was allowing water to drip through onto the steps to the aft cabin.

A giant wave breaks on the shore at Maryport during Storm Hector

Ravensdale was rocking well when we went to bed, but we somehow managed to sleep through the turbulent weather conditions during the night.

We awoke to discover that the top wind speed overnight had been 38mph, gusting to 55mph, in the early hours of the morning.

We watched the rest of the storm from Ravensdale and could see that the yachts seemed to be rolling around far more than we were.

The marina gate wasn’t opened yesterday morning so we went down to that end of the marina to see the water pouring over the gate and the foam that was being whipped up by the strong winds.

Water pours in over the marina gate and foam is blown around by the wind

We took a trip over to the shore just before high tide to see the giant waves breaking on the shore, then moved over to the promenade to see the powerful sea crashing against the sea wall.

Waves crashing onto Maryport promenade

Storm Hector had just about blown itself out by early afternoon and Ravensdale escaped unscathed other than the leak, which will be fixed asap.

Photography problems

I was delighted to see the swans that used to be regular visitors to the marina return on Saturday morning with their three cygnets.

The only trouble was that they entered the marina as we were leaving on Ravensdale, so all I could do was to grab a couple of shots from the boat as we passed them.

I wished I’d had a longer lens on my camera to get a better view of them but there was no time to change my lens so I had to make do with what I had.

Swans and their cygnets in Maryport Marina

A family of swans looking for food in Maryport Marina

Sadly, my photography has been limited since the weekend due to a photo storage problem.

On Sunday, I discovered that the disk on my laptop on which my photos are stored was full.

I couldn’t finish importing my photos from our trip out on Andromeda until I’d deleted enough images to make sufficient space.

I spent quite a lot of time on Sunday and Monday afternoon deleting photos, then filled up much of the space I’d freed up with images from our fishing trip on Monday and the pigeons we found nesting in a hole in the marina wall.

A pigeon guarding the entrance to the hole in the wall where they are nesting

These are not the pigeons in the hole near Ravensdale. They’re on the other side of the marina close to where our boat was previously moored.

A pigeon looking after her brood

This hole is much more accessible, so I could get close enough to try to take a few shots of the babies inside.

I didn’t use flash as I didn’t want to upset them, but I don’t think their Mum was very impressed with me being there at all as she came to the entrance and gave me the evil eye 😊

Mrs Pigeon warns me off

Phil helped me to move some of my older images onto another disk on my laptop taking the full disk out of the red zone.

Storm Hector meant I took many more photos than even I would usually take so I’m going to have to do something more dramatic to clear some more space on my photo storage disk.

My earlier images were already backed up onto an external hard drive and we’ve moved them into separate folders, so they won’t get overwritten during future back-ups.

We’re going to have to move some more very soon or I won’t be able to take any more photos, which would mean the end of life as I know it ☹

A fishing boat in Maryport Harbour at high tide just after Storm Hector

More fishing boats at high tide

Colourful fishing boats almost level with the top of the dock

The Ellenfoot Bridge at Maryport Harbour at high tide

Step count

My step count for June 7-13

My mobile phone keeps track of how many steps I take each day.

I know my target should probably be 10,000, but I’ve set it at 6,000 to make it achievable.

If I find I’m falling short of the 6,000, I try to get out for a walk to up my step count.

However, I’ve now discovered that I do as many steps during a day spent at sea on Ravensdale as I do when we’re “at home” - walking around the marina and going out shopping and for walks.

On Saturday (June 9) , we were out on the water for more than nine and a half hours and I never left the marina on foot, so I was amazed to discover that I’d still done 7,652 steps.

Docking sticks

Jimmy's version of our docking sticks

We showed a friend, who has a small fishing boat in the marina, our docking sticks and he thought they were brilliant.

We ordered ours from the States because we couldn’t find anything similar in the UK, but Jimmy was convinced they would be simple to make himself.

And he came back a couple of days later with his version, which is made from an extending paint roller handle with two plastic clips attached.

He said he was still perfecting the design so I’m looking forward to seeing what he comes up with, but the prototype seemed to work well enough to me.

A change in the weather 

The long run of warm, sunny weather came to a dramatic end on Wednesday evening with the arrival of Storm Hector.

Saturday was another sunny day with a top temperature of 19C (66F) and a sea mist at times. The south-westerly wind reached a top average speed of 11mph, gusting to 14mph.

The following day felt even hotter and sunnier even though the top temperature of 19.5C (67C) was much the same. The highest average wind speed recorded locally was 9mph, but it was only around 5-7mph for most of the day.

Calm and sunny weather on Sunday morning

Monday started bright, sunny and calm, but became overcast and the wind blew up to around 10-14mph while we were out at sea. The temperature peaked at 17.3C (63F).

A mackerel sky on Monday afternoon

The weather started to change on Tuesday. It was dull and overcast first thing and cooler than of late, but it brightened up and warmed up during the morning.

The top daytime temperature was 16.4C (62F). It was fairly calm in the morning when wind speeds were 7-9mph winds rising to 15mph during the afternoon.

Phil awoke early on Wednesday and woke me to tell me there was a colourful sunrise developing.

I really didn’t feel like getting dressed and going out, so I took a couple of snaps out of the boat window.  

Maryport Marina before sunrise on Wednesday

I took my photos at 4.12am and later discovered that sunrise was 4.37am. I would probably have got much more dramatic images if I’d stayed up, but I was feeling tired, so I went straight back to bed.

The day started dry and bright, but there was a fair bit of cloud around. The top daytime temperature was 15.3C (60F).

It started calm with 6mph southerly winds building to 23mph, gusting 33mph, by 5pm and the rain arrived at around 5pm.

The rain arrives on Wednesday afternoon

This was followed by heavy rain and high winds during the evening as Storm Hector started to make his presence known.

The top wind speed during the storm was 38mph, gusting 55mph, in the early hours of yesterday (Thursday) morning.

A giant wave smashes against Maryport Promenade at the tail end of Storm Hector

The wind was southerly first thing but moved around to a westerly direction by late morning.

The high winds dropped off soon after lunchtime and the sun came out later in the afternoon giving us a top temperature of 16C (61F).

And, so far, today (Friday) has been overcast and considerably cooler than recent weeks with a moderate wind and a top temperature of just 12.6C (55F).