AN AUTUMN DAY

An Arrowhead of breeze spears over the water. It fans out, among glittering pin point reflections, darkening the surface of the sea.  The chime of halyard against mast, all across the marina, announces the arrival of the gust. Stargazer tugs restlessly at her lines. They stiffen, groan in protest, and then relax. Stargazer settles back alongside the pontoon, as the gust passes . The forecast Westerly 7 is building. We won’t be going out this weekend.

The wind has chased the clouds from the sky, leaving it a clear autumn royal blue; deeper and crisper than the blue of a summer sky. The sun is low. Even though it’s mid-morning it casts long shadows. Standing in the companionway, sheltered by the windscreen, I feel the sun warm my back. My coffee mug steams in my hand. I look out across the bay. The tide is low. Geese are crowded on the humped back of an exposed shoal. The black and white of their plumage is picked out by the sun; accentuated against a backcloth of glistening, grey harbour mud; and framed by the shimmering indigo of the sea.

Stargazer’s cockpit is still wet with the night’s dew. The sun bathes her decks and companionway in light, glints off her cockpit coamings; but is not yet high enough to peer into the cockpit itself. The teak is a pleasing chestnut brown. I run my eyes appreciatively down the black caulking lines. The sun peeps over the coaming and warms the aft corner of the side bench; turns it from brown to silver. The silver patch begins to spread.  The cockpit is drying. My eye returns to the cockpit sole, still in shadow. I notice tell-tale white speckles, clustered like chicken-pox, along the caulked seams. They weren’t visible when the cockpit was silver dry yesterday evening. I know that they will turn into green or black mould as winter deepens, unless I do something to protect the wood.

It’s a perfect day to give Stargazer’s teak some winter protection. Crisp,bright and breezy. Good drying weather. “Boracol 10RH” is the treatment recommended by Hallberg- Rassy. I know that it works, from conversations with the owner of a Nauticat in Poole and a Malo in Ile d’Yeu. Both boats were ten plus years old and looked as if they were newly commissioned. The downside with Boracol is that it costs about £70 for 5 litres. I read about an alternative treatment on the ybw Practical Boat Owner forum. It’s called “Patio Magic”, costs £19 for 5 litres and contains Benzalkonium Chloride, the same active ingredient as Boracol. The main difference (apart from price) is that Boracol is a 10% solution, whereas Patio Magic is 7.5%. I head for the local DIY store to get some Patio Magic while the sun gets to work drying Stargazer’s cockpit.

An hour later, I’m back aboard. The cockpit is silver and dry. I set to work. There’s something therapeutic, and conducive to reflection, in brushing the thin, clear liquid into the teak. I move round Stargazer clockwise: sugar scoop, stern gunwale, cockpit, coach roof grab rails, port gunwale, starboard gunwale. The sun is warm on my face and the breeze ruffles my hair as I work. There’s a rhythm to it. Dip brush, one long slow stroke, quick spreading strokes, stand, shift along, crouch, dip brush…..Round and round Stargazer I go. By the time I complete a circuit the solution has soaked in and the wood is thirsty for its next coat. Small wind-blown waves chase round Stargazer’s waterline, chuckling musically as I work, following me as I circle the deck. I complete four circuits before the teak’s thirst seems slaked. On the fourth the solution lies for a while on the surface, before being sipped, rather than gulped, into the wood.

I had expected the Benzalkonium Chloride solution to take some time to work. I was a pleasantly surprised to find that the Patio Magic cleared areas that were starting to “green,” instantly. By the following morning, despite an overnight downpour, the chicken-pox were gone too. Time will tell how long the treatment lasts. At about a quarter of the price of Boracol I’d feel quite happy to be applying Patio Magic twice a year to Boracol’s once – if that turns out to be necessary. Stargazer’s teak will be getting the same protection for half the cost, or less.

 As I circled the deck with brush in hand, the song of the wind in my ears and the sun on my back; a question occurred to me. It was sparked by the Patio Magic versus Boracol experience: 75% of the result (grams of Benzalkonium Chloride delivered) for 25% of the cost. 

 I asked myself: “Do I really need a marina berth? Is it value for money?  Do I need all that it offers?“ My annual marina berth contract accounts for 20% of my entire annual cost of living. This year I was away, on The Living The Dream Cruise 2012, for five months. The berth lay empty for almost half the year. Should I have a rethink about how I berth Stargazer in 2013?  I live beside Holes Bay, in the sheltered upper reaches of Poole Harbour.  There’s not a lot of water in Holes Bay, but there are some moorings deep enough for Stargazer. They are a viable all year option too. Holes Bay is closely ringed by land and so relatively sheltered. A harbour commission annual mooring in Holes Bay is one quarter of the cost of my annual marina contract.

There are some plusses to being on a mooring besides the cost.  It’s easier to pick up a mooring singlehanded, than to come alongside in a marina, for one.

 There are some hidden costs with a mooring: I’d have to buy a decent rigid dinghy; plus find a convenient place to keep the dinghy, of course - and pay for it; And it'd probably be as well to upgrade Stargazer’s solar battery charging , from one “roving” 48w panel to 80-120w permanently mounted set up. I suspect that I'd have change out of the first year's berth contract savings after the upgrades, though; and upping Stargazer's solar panel capacity would increase our fredom when cruising.

 Perhaps a more difficult hurdle to overcome is how to do without electricity to run a heater and dehumidifier. I usually run a dehumidifier to keep winter damp and at bay and a heater whenever sub-zero temperatures are forecast. I'd also need to figure out where to conveniently replenish drinking water. My habits would have to change. I wouldn’t be able to just walk down to Stargazer for a cup of coffee and a “time out” either ….although I always find a quiet row is good for my soul……

No answers on the berth question for now.  It’s a question that I’ll be teasing away at over the winter months though....