Our roughest day out on the water so far

Ravensdale out on the Solway Firth on Saturday

We were delighted to be able to take Ravensdale out of the marina for a full day's fishing trip last weekend.

But what promised to be a nice, calm day out on the Solway Firth in Cumbria, UK, proved to be a very different experience.

The forecast was totally wrong resulting in the bumpiest conditions we've experienced at sea so far.

Items inside our 43ft Neptunus 133 motor cruiser, which haven't moved at all on previous outings, were flying around as Ravensdale rocked violently when she got stuck across the tide while we were at anchor.

We ended up bringing up the anchor long before we could get back into our marina and cruising up and down the coast while waiting for the marina gate to open so we could go home.

Saturday’s fishing trip

The weather was fairly calm last Friday but the forecast was for an even better day on Saturday.

Ravensdale heading towards the gate to leave Maryport Marina

The marina gate, which is only open for about two and a half hours on either side of high tide, wasn’t going to be open at a suitable time for going out and coming back on the same tide so we decided to make a full day of it.

The gate was due to close at around 9.15am on Saturday morning and to open for the evening tide at about 4.40pm, which would be after sunset but not too late.

We left the marina at around 8.20am and headed out onto the Solway Firth.

Ravensdale leaving Maryport Marina on Saturday morning

This was not long after sunrise and it was a bit misty but a beautiful morning.

Leaving Maryport as we headed down to North Workington

We quickly discovered the firth was much bumpier than we’d been expecting.

The wind wasn’t too bad but there was a good swell, which became even more noticeable when we dropped anchor off north Workington, just under four nautical miles south of Maryport.

Phil set up two fishing rods on Ravensdale's aft deck and we waited for the fish to bite.

It wasn’t long before he caught his first dogfish of the day, followed by another and another and so on…

Phil about to remove the hook from another troublesome dogfish

They really are a total menace! ☹

As Phil wasn’t catching anything worthwhile and the bumpy conditions weren’t particularly pleasant, we decided to move on at around 11am.

By this time, the marina gate had closed so going home was not an option and we knew it would be almost six hours before it reopened.

We set off for Three Fathoms Bank, about five miles out from where we were but turned back after a couple of miles because the water was getting even more choppy.

Phil at the helm as we headed out towards Three Fathoms Bank

Phil kept the speed down to about eight knots, but it was still pretty bumpy and a lot of water was being thrown up over the bow and foredeck, so we gave up on our plans and headed back towards Maryport.

We anchored a few hundred yards from the pier, close to the spot where Phil had caught his best cod of the season.

Phil setting up one of his fishing rods on Ravensdale's aft deck

He set up his rods again and we waited in the hope he might actually catch something to make all the rocking and rolling worthwhile.

At least he did catch a cod – just the one and it was too small to keep.

Phil with the small cod he caught - the only one of the day ☹

Other than that, all he reeled in were two crabs - again not big enough to keep - and more annoying dogfish ☹

We put our portable generator on for a while after lunch and I took the opportunity to use our coffee maker to make us cappuccinos. It is exactly the same make we always have but it tasted amazing. I’ve yet to work out why everything always tastes so much better at sea 😊

After the tide turned, the wind got up, the waves got bigger with more and more white horses and Ravensdale ended up sitting across the tide.

Our fishfinder trying to show us where the fish were

It was so frustrating not catching any decent fish when the fishfinder kept beeping to let us know there were fish under the boat and lots of little fishes were swimming across the screen. I guess they were all blasted dogfish.

As the day went on, the boat was rolling more and more.

It was becoming unsafe to fish, so Phil reeled his lines in and said he thought we should bring the anchor up before it got any worse in case it became too rough to get it up later.

Phil has to stand on the bow and lean over the guardrail to check on the chain direction during the process while I operate the engines to bring the boat around so the chain is in line with the windlass.

It was only about 3pm and I was a bit bothered that it would mean motoring for almost two hours and using a lot more diesel than intended but, if that was safer, it had to be done.

We’ve also learnt that motoring is so much more comfortable than sitting at anchor in choppy conditions.

While Phil was on the bow bringing up the anchor, the boat started rolling even more. It looked as though it was going over to about 45 degrees in each direction, but it probably wasn’t as much as that in reality.

Phil bringing up the anchor in better conditions in the summer - Saturday was nothing like this

The coffee table and stools in the saloon, which have never moved while we’ve been out on the water even when we thought it was pretty choppy, started sliding around the saloon behind me and it sounded as though all the china in a cupboard by the galley was being smashed to pieces.

I heard a loud bang as something was thrown around in the aft cabin but couldn’t go to check what it was because I needed to be at the helm to help Phil bring the anchor up.

I was so pleased to see the anchor back on board and even more pleased when Phil made it safely along the side of the boat and back into the saloon.

He took over at the helm and started steering Ravensdale up and down the coast while I went to investigate what had been happening elsewhere in the boat when we were rolling so violently.

The dehumidifier in the aft cabin had fallen off the deep shelf on which it lives and has never fallen from before.

The dehumidifier and tea-maker live on a shelf by the bed in the aft cabin

It was face down on the carpet with the filter cover off. Unfortunately, it had been full of water so the carpet was very wet.

Our tea-making machine was on our bed – thankfully that was empty so the bedding didn’t get a soaking.

The dehumidifier in the forward cabin had also fallen over pouring water all over the carpet but thankfully that one was already on the floor.

I didn’t attempt to do anything with them at that point except for making sure everything was safely laying on the floor and couldn’t move any further.

Ravensdale motoring while we waited for the marina gate to open

We just kept moving until close to the time the gate was due to open when I called the marina on the VHF radio to ask them to let us know as soon as it opened as were waiting to get in.

We were back in the marina just before 5pm after eight hours and 40 minutes out on the water, during which time we’d travelled 22.9 nautical miles.

And, this time, we were very glad to be safely back at our mooring.

We then had to check whether any damage had been done when things were being flung around by the rough conditions.

Amazingly, there was no serious damage at all.

Both dehumidifiers still worked. The water reservoir on the one in the aft cabin had cracked but that has been repaired and seems to be fine now.

Even the china that I’d heard rattling around in the cupboard while we were lifting the anchor was still intact.

The loo roll that unrolled itself

We discovered that the hatch had also fallen off the chain locker in the forward cabin and the chain had spilled out onto the higher of the two V-berths.

And the drop-down hatch that provides access to the underside of the console at the helm had dropped down, despite being held in place by a bolt on either side. It was sitting on the top of our wall-mounted TV but had thankfully not damaged it.

The loo roll in the ensuite heads for the aft cabin had also unrolled itself and I was pleased to discover that it hadn't emptied the whole roll.

I think we were very lucky to have got off so lightly and have definitely learned that, for future trips, we need to secure more things than we’ve so far considered necessary.

At the very least, we need to make sure anything that could possibly fall over is already on the floor.

We were really pleased that friends, who were also out fishing on Saturday, took some photos of Ravensdale out on the water for us. I’m sure they must have found taking photos of us as difficult as I found taking photos of them while both boats were rolling around on the waves. Many thanks Richie and Carl 😊

Ravensdale out on the Solway Firth

Another photo of Ravensdale on Saturday

Richie and Carl heading towards us on Bethany Sheila

The forecast had been for wind speeds of only 5-8mph throughout the day.

We later discovered that the highest average wind speed recorded at St. Bees Head, which is our nearest weather station, was 7mph but it was considerably more than that where we were on the Solway Firth.

Cleaning Ravensdale

Cleaning Ravensdale appears to be rather like painting the Forth Bridge - a never-ending task.

It’s always necessary when we return from a trip out on the water and, on this occasion, this was particularly true because she’d been covered by salt water and spray while we were driving through the waves.

Phil washing Ravensdale after our last outing

As it was dark when we got back on Saturday, Phil gave her a good wash down with Starbrite Boat Wash the following day and now she’s looking beautiful again – or at least I think so but then I could be biased 😊

Storage wars

Our table and chairs on Ravensdale's aft deck during the summer

Now the weather is so much colder here, we decided that we wouldn’t need our aft deck table and chairs until next summer.

So, we took them over to our shore-based storage unit on Tuesday afternoon, along with our summer clothes that had been packed up and waiting to go for a couple of weeks.

I had hoped to find my favourite woolly winter hat while there as it doesn’t appear to be on the boat.

I have plenty of other woolly hats but really want the missing one because it’s really warm and has ear flaps with ties that I can fasten under my chin to stop it blowing away when it’s really windy.

Sadly, the hat wasn’t there so the search continues…

Swan family

Me feeding the swans on one of their regular visits to Ravensdale

The swans and cygnets have continued to turn up regularly for food, but they don’t seem to stay together as much now.

On one occasion, two of the cygnets came to Ravensdale for food while the adults and other cygnet were elsewhere in the marina.

Feeding time

I saw them all together again later the same day when they were eating weed off the harbour wall opposite our boat.

And they have returned at some stage on most days over the past week.

We had to order some more floating swan and duck food for them this week as the bags of food we inherited from the berth holder who used to feed them here were running out. He left us several bags of food when he died earlier this year.

I searched online for the best deal but couldn’t find anything that looked to be as good for less than the brand we’ve been giving them so I ordered the same one.

Photography

As usual, a full day at sea meant I took literally hundreds of photos of the coast, the sky and other boats that we saw while out on the Solway Firth.

A local fisherman tending his nets

Maryport from the Solway Firth

Cormorants on a navigation marker in the Solway Firth

The sun going down over the Solway Firth

I’ve also taken my camera out for walks around the harbour and have taken photos of the marina when there were good reflections or interesting skies.

Fishing boats in Maryport Harbour

Boat reflections in Maryport Harbour

Another view of Maryport Harbour

Ellenfoot Bridge across Maryport Harbour

Looking down the River Ellen to Christ Church, Maryport

Weather watch

We’ve had fairly mixed weather this week with varying degrees of sunshine, cloud and wind, but thankfully we've had very little rain.

Saturday started with misty sunshine. It was fairly calm first thing, but the wind got up while we were out at sea.

A sunny start to Saturday at Maryport Marina

The top temp was 9.7C (49F) and the highest average wind speed recorded at St Bees Head was 7mph but it was considerably more than that much of the time we were out on the water.

Sunday was sunny and dry with a cool breeze. The top average wind speed was 7mph but again it seemed more than that here. The top temperature recorded locally was 14.1C (57F) but I really don’t think it was that high here.

We had an overcast but dry start to Monday morning with the sun manging to break through the clouds from time to time during the day. The temperature reached 9C (48F) and the average wind speed peaked at 15mph.

Sun breaking through the clouds over Maryport harbour on Monday

Tuesday was dry, cloudy and bright with small patches of blue sky and some heavy-looking clouds. It was a lot colder than of late with the temperature not getting higher than 6.7C (44F). It was also fairly windy, which made it feel even colder, with a top average wind speed of 19mph, gusting 36mph.

Cool, cloudy conditions at Maryport Marina on Tuesday

A calm period at Maryport Marina on Wednesday

Wednesday was an even colder day. It started dry, bright and fairly calm. 

The wind got up a bit around lunchtime when we had a little bit of rain. The wind then dropped again. 

The daytime temperature only reached 5.4C (42F) and the top average wind speed was 26mph, gusting 38mph.

Overnight Wednesday into yesterday (Thursday) was a very cold night with the thermometer falling to 1.2C (34F) and we awoke to slippery frost on the pontoons yesterday morning.

The day started fairly sunny and calm with the wind getting up a bit later in the day. It also became more overcast as the day went on. 

The top temperature was 5.8C (42F) and the top average wind speed was 9mph.

The weather, so far, today (Friday) has been dry, fairly bright and very calm.

Calm conditions at Maryport Marina this morning (Friday)

Lessons learned during our first two years as liveaboards

Ravensdale reflected in the still water at Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK

The second anniversary of moving on board Ravensdale seemed a good time to reconsider the lessons we’ve learned since selling our house to buy our 43ft seagoing cruiser.

I undertook this exercise after our first anniversary so thought it was worth revisiting one year on to see whether there was anything new I could add.

It seems the lessons learned remain much the same, but some have been proved to be even more true after year two than we thought after our first year.

The main thing we discovered during year one remains unchanged – you need much less stuff than you think when living on a boat.

And I’m ashamed to admit that we still have way too much stuff.

As before, the other big one is the cost of maintaining a boat of this size although we haven’t had to spend anywhere near as much on her this year as we did in our first year as liveaboards.

I know there are plenty of people out there who have been doing this for much longer than us, who will have far more knowledge than we’ve managed to glean so far.

However, I hope our experiences may help others in a similar situation to us and those trying to decide whether they would enjoy life aboard.

Lessons we’ve learnt over the first two years

1. You need to get rid of a lot more stuff than you think

Phil tearing his hair out while trying to sort storage on Ravensdale

We got rid of almost everything we owned between agreeing the sale of our house and the day we moved out – or so I thought.

But it seems we didn’t get rid of anywhere near enough stuff.

When we first moved on board, we rented a 75sqft shore-based storage unit, which we downsized to 50sqft and 25sqft over the first six months or so.

The aim was to get rid of it altogether within a year.

We didn’t manage to achieve that and we’re still paying for it a year later.

We rarely go there – usually only to get the Christmas decorations before the festive season and to return them afterwards or when we can’t find something we want on the boat and think it could be hiding in storage.

One day, I’m determined to go over there and be totally ruthless with the contents as most of it hasn’t been touched since the day we put it there, so I can’t help thinking that means we no longer need it.

We also have a smaller area of storage at the marina, but this is mainly stuff we use more often.

Phil putting stuff in the marina storage container

And, we’re only allowed to buy anything new for the boat if it’s useful or attractive (preferably both) and, most importantly, we know we’re going to keep it.

2. Maintaining a boat costs more than you expect

Ravensdale during her lift-out for antifouling, replacing the anodes and stern gland repacking 

There were things we needed or wanted to do to Ravensdale when we first bought her that we knew would cost us money – such as having a holding tank fitted.

There were also a number of other things that needed sorting that we had no idea were going to be needed.

And we were well aware that there would always be ongoing maintenance costs.

But we really didn’t realise just how often she would expect us to shell out for various things that break or just pack up working, but then she is 34 years old, so I guess we should have realised that.

We now know that it really is true that BOAT stands for Break Out Another Thousand 😊

3. Identify local engineers, electricians, etc. before you need them

Phil helping Norman removed the heat exchanger from Ravensdale's starboard engine for cleaning

Life has been much easier over the past year than it was when we first moved on board because, when something goes wrong that we can’t fix ourselves, we now know who to go to for help.

If we ever decide to relocate to another marina, we’ll make sure we find folk able to do these things before we need them.

4. You need to be able to do as much maintenance as possible yourself

Phil removing the heat exchanger from Ravensdale's port engine for cleaning

This is probably a no-brainer really and it’s something we always intended to do but living on Ravensdale has made us realise just how important it is.

You need a full set of tools, a multimeter to measure electric current and a comprehensive collection of spares.

We’re learning more about the boat all the time.

When a job presents itself that Phil can’t do himself, we get someone to do it and, if possible, get them to show us how it’s done so we can deal with it ourselves the next time.

Doing our own maintenance not only keeps the costs down a bit, but more importantly, means that if something goes wrong when we’re out on the water, we will hopefully be able to fix it ourselves.

5. Dehumidifiers are worth their weight in gold

One of our two dehumidifiers

This became apparent very early on but the longer we’ve been living on Ravensdale the more convinced I’ve become that we couldn’t live on a boat without them.

We have two powerful dehumidifiers – each of them is supposed to be able to cope with a five-bedroom house.

We keep one in the aft cabin, which is where we sleep, and one in the forward cabin.

Both are used daily except during periods of warm, dry weather when opening the windows is all that’s needed to air the boat.

The dehumidifier in the aft cabin runs on high for about an hour before we go to bed at night and an hour after we get up in the morning and this seems to be sufficient to keep the cabin dry.

And the one in the forward cabin is run on a low setting all night with the door to the cabin left open so it can also draw any moisture from the galley, dinette and saloon.

This one is moved up into the saloon during the day if the windows start to get condensation on them – usually while cooking or washing up and sometimes when it rains.

Using our dehumidifiers in this way means we never get a damp problem on board.

6. Use the marina showers as much as possible

(This point is linked to the one above)

We have an en suite shower on Ravensdale, which is in its own little room off the aft cabin.

It’s an excellent shower and there’s plenty of room to use it in comfort, but we tend to only use it when the weather’s warm and dry as using it in cold or damp weather makes it more difficult to keep the boat dry.

We would obviously use it if either of us was unable to go up to the marina shower block for any reason but, when we can, we use the marina showers.

Our marina has excellent facilities and we can use as much hot water as we want, whereas showering on the boat means we need to restrict the amount of hot water we use.

That said, the marina facilities can get busy in the summer when the marina’s caravan site is open so that’s another good reason to use our own shower even if it does mean running the dehumidifier afterwards.

7. It’s worth getting a slow cooker

(Also linked to the two points above)

Our slow cooker

We were given a slow cooker a few months ago and wish we’d got one sooner.

Not only does it mean we can cook our food on low power, it also seems to eliminate the condensation caused by cooking on the top of the stove.

8. You will lose more stuff in the water than you can imagine

The nylon roller that was lost to the water while changing the pin holding it in place 

If you drop anything on a boat, it will end up in the water and the chances of retrieving it are virtually nil or at least that’s what seems to happen to us.

I still haven’t worked out how anything dropped on deck will always manage to find its way off the boat and into the water.

So far, we’ve lost Phil’s favourite filleting knife, various nuts and bolts, catches and a nylon roller that holds the end of the anchor and chain in place when it’s on board.

Those are just the things I can think of off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many more 😊

I guess the lesson learnt on this one is, if you can tie it on or put a float on it, then do so – my keys have a float on them and are always clipped to a belt loop.

Thankfully, neither of us have managed to lose a mobile phone into the water yet but we know plenty of people who have.

Often this has been due to them falling out of top pockets while the owner was bending over so we try to make sure that ours are always in zipped pockets or, at least, in pockets from which they are unlikely to fall out.

9. A diesel fund is a top priority

Ravensdale out on the Solway Firth. Photo by Ronnie Bell

We set up a separate bank account for a diesel fund before we moved on board and set up a standing order to pay a regular amount into it every month.

We’ve continued doing this and it has proved invaluable as it ensures we always have funds available to pay for fuel for both heating and propulsion.

Keeping the money in a separate account also means that it never feels as bad having to pay out hundreds of pounds to fill our 1200 litre fuel tank when the money has already been set aside for the purpose.

10. Consider dropping a stone or two if you’re overweight

Before and after - me last September (left) and me earlier this month (right)

I added this one as a bit of a joke after my list of lessons learned at the end of our first year but, having lost the best part of a stone and half in the past four or five months, I no longer consider it to be a joke.

It’s made a huge difference to my enjoyment of life on board.

Even on our 43ft Neptunus 133 there’s less space to move around than in most houses and being bigger makes life more difficult than it needs to be.

This is true both in terms of space and ease of movement as there seems to be a lot bending down involved, such as using low drawers under seating.

I could do with losing a bit more so will continue to stick to the diet until I get to my ideal boat weight 😊

Other first-year lessons learned

Our bed with the new, comfortable mattress we ordered to replace the existing thin, hard one

Other things I included in last year’s “lessons learned” list were the importance of fitting the biggest holding tank you have room for and buying the most comfortable mattress you can afford.

Both things are still equally true another year down the line.

We’d also discovered that we didn’t miss having a washing machine as our marina has a good launderette. However, I guess I may think differently if we weren’t in a marina or if there was no launderette nearby.

And I can’t even believe I mentioned not missing a dishwasher. Hand washing dishes really isn’t the most difficult task ever 😊

This week

The first half of this week was very wet and windy, which meant a lot of time spent inside Ravensdale.

But at least it gave me time to put together a photo book of the past year as a Christmas present for my elderly parents, who’ve never seen Ravensdale or the area in which we live and are never going to be able to get here now.

The cover of the photo book I've made for my Mum and Dad for Christmas

I made one of our first year afloat for them for last Christmas and they loved it so much that I decided to make it an annual thing.

Thankfully, the weather has been a lot better over the last couple of days.

However, the marina gate hasn’t been open at a suitable time for going out fishing on a single tide and the gate timings haven’t been great for going out over two tides.

Broken light

One of the long cushions from the seating in the saloon touched one of the two ceiling lights while we had it off to get to the storage under the seats and the glass bowl split in two and fell to the ground, smashing as it hit the floor.

As this was caused by a slight touch by a soft seat cushion, we can only think that the glass bowl was already cracked so I suppose it was lucky it didn't fall out when someone was sitting or standing underneath it.

The light fitting in Ravensdale's saloon that got broken this week

We’ve been trying to find an identical lamp to replace it, but without success.

Similar lamps are available, but we haven’t found one as big as the one that was broken.

As there are two lights in the saloon and they need to match, we’ve decided to move the identical light from the dinette up into the saloon.

We can then get a new light to go over our dining table as it doesn’t really matter if it doesn’t match those in the saloon.

Swan family

We didn’t see the swan family for much of last week, but they turned up looking for food on Saturday morning and have returned every afternoon or evening this week.

The swans and cygnets on one of their visits for food this week

They always seemed to arrive when it was wet and windy, so I ended up having to put on a waterproof jacket to go out and feed them.

Photography

The bad weather didn’t really encourage me to spend too much time out taking photos.

However, I took full advantage of the times when the weather was better and took my camera out for a few walks along the shore and around the marina.

Maryport Lighthouse with the town in the background

Looking out along Maryport Pier at dusk

Maryport Marina sea gate from the basin

Maryport Marina gate closing

Waves whipped up by high winds by Maryport Pier

Another image of the big waves crashing onto the shore at Maryport

A wider view of the waves on the shore at Maryport

An interesting cloud formation over Maryport Marina

And I headed over to the beach for the sunset last night (Thursday).

Sunset on Maryport beach

Another view of last night's (Thursday) sunset

The golden light reflected on the sea

Weather watch

Overnight Friday into Saturday was a very windy night with a top average wind speed of 47mph, gusting 68mph.

Saturday morning started dry and cloudy with sunny intervals. It was also much calmer than overnight. It started raining mid-afternoon and kept it up for the rest of the day.

Soggy Saturday on Ravensdale at Maryport Marina

The highest temperature recorded locally was 10.2C (50F) and the top average wind speed during the day was 23mph, gusting 31mph.

We had a miserable wet start to the day on Sunday and it carried on raining all morning.

The sun came out during the afternoon, but the wind and rain returned in the evening. The temperature only reached 9.5C (49F) and the wind speed peaked at 19mph, gusting 31mph.

A dry spell on Sunday afternoon

It was raining when we got up on Monday morning after another windy night with wind speeds of up to 25mph, gusting 37mph. The weather brightened up a bit late morning before the rain returned around lunchtime and continued for most of the rest of the day. The top temperature was 9.8C (50F) and the top average wind speed was 25mph, gusting 37mph.

Monday night into Tuesday morning was another windy night.

Tuesday was a better day with less rain but there was still plenty of wind around. The temperature reached 10.5C (51F).

Towels blowing around in the wind on Ravensdale's aft deck on Tuesday

The wind dropped off a little during the day building up again during the evening giving a top average wind speed of 23mph with gusts of up to 32 mph.

Tuesday/Wednesday night was wettest and windiest of the past week with a top overnight wind speed of 32mph, gusting 43mph. It was followed by an equally wet and windy morning with the weather clearing later in the afternoon.

Wet Wednesday at Maryport Marina

Yesterday (Thursday) turned out to be much better than was forecast.

It was cloudy with sunny intervals and much calmer than expected.

The highest temperature recorded at St Bees Head, which is the nearest location at which weather data is collected, was 11.5C (53F) and the top average wind speed was given as 25mph, gusting 37mph, but it was definitely much lower than that here.

And, so far, today (Friday) it has been dry, calm and overcast. The top temperature was 12.3C (54F) and the top wind speed was given as 19mph but again it seemed much lower here in Maryport.

Calm, sunny conditions at Maryport Harbour this afternoon (Friday)