What a great feeling......

to finally get Our Daddy sailing. After all the hard work of the last few months to get the bowsprit and the bumpkin rebuilt, all of the pile of blocks we had that were seized up repaired and rebuilt. All of the missing lines and purchases replaced, making various parts to make the launching of the 'sprit and bumpkin easier. It was time to go sailing!!!!

We perhaps could have chosen a better day for it but hey the thought of getting Our Daddy out to air her canvas was to much. The weather had been blowing a good F5-6 easterly, north easterly for a good few days, those of you who klnow the Bay will now that that means swell!!

Our D's bobstay sything through the waves

Our good friend Fred came out to give us a hand while Steve and I worked out how this did that and so on, thanks Freddy. We slipped off her mooring and set off down the fairway so that we could get the bowsprit launched having already set the small mizzen sail, Steve shouted up from the stern to hurry up as his steerage was a bit iffy! or was that no existant? Fred and I tensioned the sprit and hoisted the Jib, with the jib unfurled the old girl answered the helm and her head started to come round in the right direction, out into the Bay we headed. Within a few cables of exiting the fairway the bowsprit was disapperaing into the swell.... we ll it needed a wash. Next up was the mainsail! between Fred and I ut went up... sort of! we decided on a reef as it was still pretty gust out there, being used to single line slab reefing it was a wake up call to tie in every pennant on the main to reef it, it is a big sail. Reefing done we set the main, you could feel the power as we came onto the wind even with reef two in. We set off across the Bay towards Ore stone, as her head came down into the waves the bobstay sythed a cut into the water, it was great to watch, but we needed more sail. Fred was now on the helm as Steve and I set up the Staysail, up that went, a couple of adjustments of the sheets and that too was set....... god she was looking good! Vigilance popped her head out for her thursday afternoon sail it was a call of "lets gybe her over and say hello"... Had any of us ever gybed such an achreage of sail? No! oh well in for a penny in for a pound! She came round beautifully and we headed off towards Viggy at an impressive 6.5knots, not bad for virgin gaffer sailors, another gybe and we were above and slightly ahead of Viggy and that is where she stayed, we matched her speed and held her off. Mind you with all the hands she had on deck it would have been light work. Mentioning light work we decided it was probably a good call to head in for the day as we still had all this sail to put away and the sprit and bumpkin so in we headed.

The debrief was in the 'Blue' a well deserved pint and a discussion on what went well and 'what is a work in progress' there was definately more of the later. We al agreed that she is a magnificent lady, beautiful to look at, wonderful to sail, we can't wait to take her out again and are looking forward to ther 2015 season and all the trips we have planned.

I will put the other photographs we have on the website when I get time, have a look at the OUr Daddy Classic Sailing Facebook page as I have uploaded a timelapse video of one of our slick tacks.

Blog soon

The day has come....... We are going sailing

After weeks of work we have now got a fully working boat. Our friend Tom went up the main mast today to return the jib halyard to it's rightful place... Not the deck! After a few failed attempts to launch it properly we have the furling gear all set up and ready to go. We have set up the staysail halyards and sheets and even better it all works.

We just need to lash on the small mizzen sail to the yard and we are go..... The forecast is giving us F4 - 5 from the east so it will be sloppy but hey who cares. I am taking timelapse photos and videomso will try to hash them together and put them on our FB page and website.

Wish us Luck.  

Blog soon

New images added of relaunch day.... Latest Update!

It has taken a little while but here are some of the photos of Our Daddy's relaunch day back in april, complete with it's motley crew. I hope you will agree that she looks beautiful on the water in Galmpton Creek. You can view all of them on the website HERE, thanks to Sylvia and Dennis for the images.

Latest news is that we have about two days work to go to have her ready for her first sail with us and we will be able to put up the lot, after months of stripping and rebuilding blocks we are getting very close to Sailing day. If it goes well we will be out as often as possible getting some air in her lungs to make sure that she is ready for when we hope to take her down to Looe in October to meet some of the Pengelly family who actually used to own her. We will be posting up dates for the 2015 season very soon so do keep checking the website.

Blog soon.

We have been a bit lax in our updaes....

Apologies for that..... Work has been progressing on 'Our D' after we bought her back round to Brixham in April.... has it been that long! Unfortunately as we also run an RYA training centre the work has been a little slow but we are getting there. When we took Our D over she was in a pretty sorry state, unloved for a few years and blocks were seized up, ropes were chafed through or that full of salt you could do the Indian rope trick with them, or poke someone in the eye from 10m...

A lot of the work we have had to do is time consuming, such as stripping the seized blocks down, turning new pins, bushing some of the badly worn sheaves, the refinished blocks are looking smart I think. We have both had to work on our spicing skills which have been long forgotten as we had a box of seized blocks and very little information on how the bowsprit was set up, some head scratching was done and trawling across the internet to find any old images of how she was set up, we found a lot of great pictures from a french photographer called Francois Madic, we are trying to contact him so that we can use some of them on the website, but they were good enough for us to see the way that the bowsprit was set up, well we got it all sorted a couple of weeks ago after having to have some new parts made.

All in all with the Sea school, which has been really busy this season and working on Our D it has been a hectic few months but we are really close to getting her ready to sail, maybe next week!! so if you are around Torbay and you see her blue hull and red sails out there give us a wave.

Blog soon....

Relaunch day is getting ever closer.....

Our Daddy is to be relaunched on Good Friday next week, after a, to say moist winter, we have a weather window for a few days to hopefully get the painting completed before she is relaunched. Steve is out on the water training so it is up Tim and our band of helpers to get it done. No pressure then.

Tim is concentrating on getting the stem scarf completed by the end of this week so that it can be sealed, painted and capped with the bronze alloy bow protector, this has got to be polished and lacquered before refitting. The baby bowsprit can then be fitted and the main forestay attached and tensioned. All the spars which we have not managed to varnish because of the awful weather will re put back on deck and the engine test run innthe yard before launch day.

There is still a mountain of work to do but at least our lovely Lugger will look great in her new colours, keep your eyes peeled for the gleaming Daddy coming round the breakwater at about lunchtime on Good Friday. She will be alongside the Heritage pontoon in the near future as the new generator needs to be fitted and a few other bits and peices need to be done while alongside.

It has been a journey of discovery for Steve and I and the weather gods have not been kind to us, but we hope to have Our Daddy ready for the summer holidays and will be involving her in Brixham's Pirate Thursday's and running half day and full day sailing trips around the Bay. We will also betaking her down to her original home port of Looe hopefully to show her off to the locals who love her dearly.

Apologies for the delay in the blogs but they will be coming thick and fast as we near relaunch day. Wish us Luck!!

Blog soon

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas & a Prosperous New Year....

It is our final office day today before Steve and I head off the 'alternative office' to debrief on the year 2013........... Well that's the theory!!

It has been a short year in the life of Our Daddy with us, but eventful, her renovation/rejuvenation is coming along. The weather is now a huge player in the equation, we shall overcome it somehow and carry on.

In the short few months we have been working on Our Daddy there have been triumphs and the odd setback..... as everyone in the Heritage fleet in Brixham keep telling us "that's wooden boats for you", thanks fellas. We are happy to say that this beautiful old Lugger has not given us any major surprises.

From both Steve and myself we wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year and hope to see you aboard Our Daddy FY7 when she is working next year. A Special thanks go to our helpers who turn up regardless of the weather, Andy, Cameron, Kate Chan and Tim, without these guys help we would not be where we are now.

Blog soon

Tim

Well it had to happen........

Our Daddy is 92 years old and we have been happily stripping, rubbish, ropes, blocks, redundant kit, sails, paint, varnish, barnacles etc from her over the last few weeks. We have a shed bulging full of sails, ropes, blocks, various iron pieces and other sundry items.

Mmmm 92 year old kindling anybody?

We were advised by the surveyor to have a look at the stem of the boat, to the uninitiated that is the large timber which helps to form the bows of the boat, so check it we did. Tim started "checking" it last Friday and found the odd soft patch!! to say the least, weetabix was stronger, "Checking" was being done with a 1" chisel and a 1lb hammer, this meant Our D had a stem which looked more like a
game of Tetris with square, rectangular chunks missing. Well after Steve and Tim had a discussion about 'scarfing' in several new pieces of wood to strengthen the stem, they came to the conclusion that the best and long term repair was to be undertaken........ you can see the results of the decision to the right here..

The stem has now been cut back to good solid wood and a we are in the process of sourcing a replacement piece of seasoned hardwood which will be cut and shaped to fit the gaping hole we now have in Our Daddy's bow section. We are pleased however, that this is the only major area

Definitely something missing.....

of rot that we have found on her, a testimony to the build quality by the Cornish shipwrights of Looe that built her back in 1921. Not quite a triumph this one but of sorts it is, as we now know how solid Our Daddy actually is!

Other triumphs of the past couple of days, the hydraulic windlass on deck was looking decidedly corroded and tired, well a few of the nuts and bolts had succumbed to the ravages of time and the sea and were just a mound of iron oxide roughly shaped like a stud and nut. They were duly ground off and the weighty windlass removed. The corrosion on parts of it were very bad so we have had a new top plate made, new hydraulic coupling plate made and the whole thing has beed stripped down and serviced, We will add photos as soon as it is refitted. Not so much of a triumph! we also repainted the boot top line on the hull....... Shame most of it came off when Steve started stripping the paint off the topsides...Oops sorry Andy.

Our thanks again to all our willing helpers without which we would not be as far forward with the Our Daddy project. Role call this week, Cameron, Tim, Andy and Chan, thanks guys we hope you are not getting bored and continue to lend us a very welcome hand in renovating Our Daddy to her former glory. Well that's it for now, more photos on our Facebook and twitter pages.

Blog soon!!