Julian Megson Ocean Ventures

My Wife Fiona, my Parents and Sister had travelled down to Bangor to see Ragamuffin being launched.  With her safely moored after the launch, they had chance to have a  good look around the boat.  Duncan and I were still checking for leaks and doing various other checks.  We had previously overhauled the seacocks and so this was the first opportunity to see if they were watertight.  Everything seemed to be ok, so we decided that we would just go for it and head towards our home port of Fleetwood, about 80 miles away.  We had made contingency plans and would stop at Conwy, Liverpool or Preston if it all started to go wrong.

Oilies on and farewells said, we motored out of Bangor and in to the Menai Straits towards our first waypoint, Puffin Island.  We were away!

Twilight in the Irish Sea

It didn’t take long to get settled in and it certainly didn’t feel like months had passed since I was last on a boat.  I was feeling right at home.  Once we were out of the Menai Straits and passed Puffin Island we hoisted the sails and for the first time we were under way without the engine ringing on our ears.  It was then that it all came back to me.  That wonderful silence after the engine has been shut off and the amazing feeling of being pushed along purely by the wind.  Ragamuffin heeled over a little, tightened up and she began to push through the sea.  It wasn’t exactly a white knuckle ride, just gently does it as there wasn’t much wind.  But for me it was a marvelous feeling.

Unfortunately, what little wind there was didn’t last long.  To reach Fleetwood in time for high tide the next day, we had to make an average of 3 knots.  This should have been easy but with no wind at all we were getting nowhere.  So we started the engine and probably motored for around 7 hours before eventually the wind picked up and we could finally make way and switch the engine off again.  It was not a moment too soon either.  As pleased as I was with the performance of the engine and its amazing fuel efficiency – it was doing my head in!

As it started to get dark we decided it was good practice to take in a reef just in case it began to blow a hoolie during the night.  Funds haven’t yet allowed for the equipment I need to run the mainsail halyard and reefing lines back to the cockpit, so trimming the mainsail means I have to climb on to the coach roof.  Although I do manage this task ok, I have to accept that I would be more at risk than someone who doesn’t have difficulty with their legs.  So because of this I prefer to try and avoid that risk at night during my watch.  Anyway, this particular night, taking in a reef turned out to be completely unnecessary because the wind barely got above a gentle breeze.

Then whole trip was memorable but two things in particular will stick in my mind.  The first was the bitter cold temperature during the night.  I can’t remember ever being that cold.  Although it probably wasn’t really too bad, I think the lack of sleep made it appear much worse.  I only had about 1 or 2 hours sleep in 36 hours which I know is ridiculous, but I had waited over 8 months to sail Ragamuffin and no way was I going to waste this time by being asleep.

Julian aboard Ragamuffin

The second moment I will remember was off the coast of Liverpool, again in the middle of the night. We could see lots of big boats anchored in the distance waiting for enough tide to get up the River Mersey. Duncan and I were practicing our RYA training and identifying ships by their arrangement of lights.  A second later, Duncan told me to look over my shoulder.  I nearly choked on my coffee.  About 300 yards away, there loomed this colossal tanker!  Thank goodness it was on a parallel course and moving slowly.  But I was stunned as to how silently and without notice it appeared.  I mean, how can something the size of a tower block sneak up on you like that!  All I will say is it was  a good job for us they they didn’t to turn to starboard.

Dawn broke, and we began to warm up a little.  We also had a reasonable amount of wind for once.  The motion of the boat however was very uncomfortable because of the confused sea state. I decided to shake out the reef and unfurl the genoa and the speed picked up.  This pretty much fixed the pitching and rolling.  We also decided we would have a bit of fun and try and get the toe rail in the water but there was not quite enough wind for that.

A few hours later we sighted Fleetwood.  We followed the Isle of Man ferry through the channel marker buoys (we thought it best to let it go first!).  When we reached the marina we were greated by some friends and family – a really nice surprise. They still had the same fresh faces as the day before, but unlike me, they had been to bed the night before.

I have really enjoyed my first sail in Ragamuffin and was sad  it was all over.   But, looking forward, its just the begining of some great adventures with her.

Here is some video of my maiden voyage in Ragamuffin.

Cheers, Julian

PS. I’m sorry for the long post. I just couldnt stop!

Ragamuffin being launched in Bangor, North Wales

Last Saturday 25 April, Ragamuffin finally hit the water for the first time since I bought her in August last year. For over 8 months we’ve been working to make her ship shape and for a long time it felt like this day was never going to come. But now it has. It was an awesome couple of days for me from launching Ragamuffin on the Saturday, to sailing her around the clock to my home port of Fleetwood, arriving on the Sunday.

We arrived at the Boat Yard in Bangor at about 9:30am and in time to do some final preparations before the launch at 11:30am. We had only been there 10 minutes when some guy came up to us and said we could go in the water now if we like. I wasn’t really ready for that to be honest and I went from feeling quite calm to full on panick stations. But as we had a long sail back to Fleetwood, we thought it was better to be in the water sooner rather than later.

Before I knew it, 2 men had removed the two forward oil drums that were holding Ragamuffin upright – leaving only 2 drums either side of the stern – and they reversed in with a tractor and hydraulic trailor. In no time at all, Ragamuffin was on her way through the boat yard to the waters edge to be next in the queue to go into the slings. I didn’t really know what to expect because I’ve never done this before, but I imagined it was going to be some huge operation to get her in the water. The whole thing left me a little stunned. I just about had enough time to slap some antifoul on the areas where the oil drums had been before she was loaded into the slings and chucked in the water.

First job was to have a good look around for any leaks and to make sure the engine was running and cooling properly, then the slings were released. We tied up around the corner whilst we got ourselves prepared and to give my family, who had driven down to watch the launch, a chance to have a good look around the boat – she’s only small, it didn’t take long.

My good friend Duncan had kindly offered to help sail Ragamuffin back to Fleetwood with me (not much arm twisting required). So once he and I had got ourselves organised, we jumped aboard, bid farewell to those who had travelled far to see us off (or to make sure we left!) and cast off for a 24 hour sail back to Fleetwood.

Part 2 coming soon…

Thanks to a superb surprise from my wife Fiona, I will be sailing as part of a number of professional and amateur crew on the second leg of a Transatlantic crossing. My journey will take me non-stop from the The Azores to Portsmouth, a total of 1200 nautical miles.  Far from being just a passenger, I will be a fully working member of crew.  I intend to work hard and do all that would be expected of a professional crew and more.  Its not often that an opportunity like this comes along so I’m not going to waste it.  I just can’t wait to learn and absorb what it takes to sail a boat on a non-stop ocean crossing.

The organisers of the trip are ‘Ondeck‘.  Ondeck offer adventure sailing with a difference in that they aim to make the adventure of long haul sailing accessible and affordable to both novice sailors and highly experienced crews alike.  They own a fleet of Farr 65s ocean going yachts.  Farr 65s are unique in that they were designed by the world renowned Bruce Farr to be de-tuned versions of the famous Whitbread 60 for the ‘Millennium Round the World Yacht Race’ and with amateur crews in mind.  Although they have the performance of a fast racing yacht, they are extremely safe and user friendly for even the most novice of crews.

Needless to say this adventure is going to provide valuable experience crucial for my Single Handed Transatlantic voyage.  Firstly it will go a long way to teach me what it takes to sail a boat long haul.  The journey is non stop and as such means that the boat needs to be sailed 24 hours a day for almost 2 weeks.  There will be a watch system onboard where work is shared between teams, but never the less the boat will need constant attention for the whole journey.  Secondly this experience will allow me to be much more of a realistic proposition in terms of finding sponsorship.  If I’m honest this is the part of the whole venture that leaves me lacking in confidence.  Where as I can go out in my boat as often as I like to gain the skills I need and to acclimatise to life at sea, having the confidence to believe that anyone is going to be interested enough in me and basically beg for money in order to realise my dream, is another matter.  So it will be a great relief to me to have this journey under my belt and I will at last feel I have something tangible to offer in terms of having some of the experience required to be able to see this venture through.

If you want to know more about Ondeck, you can visit there website here.