Ship's Log .... Andy's Footnote

Castanet is now safely back on her home berth and after a couple of hours cleaning is looking rather splendid - she scrubs up quite well really! At one point this week I thought we would have to rename her 'Muddy Paws' as, much as Bustaaar enjoyed his walks through the sand dunes and across the common in Bembridge, the once-white deck of the boat took on a slightly more earthly colour. Not only this but the sand, as it does, got EVERYWHERE - it felt like we were sleeping in a sandpit! So a trip to the marina launderette accompanied the boat cleaning and to finish a shave and a shower (for me that is, not Angela!) so we're all looking and feeling like new (apart from the aching muscles, arms, legs and back from all that cleaning .... sorry Angela, but you did a great job!)

We dined aboard for our final evening of the cruise (big thumbs up for Angela, she's a great ship's chef) and we sit, as I type, watching the sun set on another hot and sunny day, so while the wind may have put paid to our plans to cruise along the south coast, the sunshine has not let us down (much better than being calm, grey and wet).

I usually provide a summary of our trip and will do so here, though the figures are somewhat less impressive than previous excursions. We travelled a total of 116 nautical miles, which is about 133 statute miles, cruising for about 10 hours. Anyone who can do simple maths can work out this averages 13mph which, to say the least, isn't very fast! This does include a fair bit of time cruising at 6 knots (nautical miles per hour so about 7mph), entering and leaving rivers and harbours, and then time with the engine running while we moor up and cast off is also counted which is why it looks so low. Castanet will cruise quite happily at around 20 knots (23mph) though we did hit 31.1 knots (36mph) on a stretch of smooth, flat water. Of course actual speed can be measured as either speed through water, which is usually shown on a speedometer fitted to the boat (we don't have one!), or speed over ground, which is shown on the GPS or Chart Plotter ["Uh Oh" says Angela, "I can feel one of Andy's lectures coming on ..."!!]. Unlike a road, water is always moving so if you're going WITH the current your 'speed over ground' will be higher, AGAINST the current it will be slower, but your speed through water will remain the same, so to get a true speed you need to .... "Andy, shut up" .... but I haven't finished explaining yet, nor had chance to talk about anchors ... "SHUT UP" .... oh, OK.

Until next time ....