Winter Work 5

 

It is New Year's Eve, in Chatham's historic dockyard. Where Nelson's Victory was built, during the great age of sail. A silhouetted crane, memento of the shipbuilding days, throws a sharp naval salute skyward.

 Christmas lights sparkle, above the decks of meticulously preserved steam tugs. Once they guided warships through the Medway's meanders. Now they are cosseted, by their erstwhile stokers and ship's boys, turned volunteer caretakers. The seafaring tugs and their crews grow old companionably. Keeping one another young at heart.

Around the three basins, with their river locks, cobbled quays and dry docks, lights glow in the windows of houses and hostelries  Which have sprung up where industrious naval workshops once stood.

The Greenpeace patrol boat Witness alights, beside Stargazer, in Basin Number One. Her sailors resting. As the brisk tempo of our bustling world is temporarily suspended. In a contemplative stillness, becalmed between the festive crescendos of Christmas and New Year.

Winter Work 4

 

If there is a chink, in Stargazer’s passage-making armour, it is her skipper. Not because of his piratical alter ego, Long John Silver. But due to the fragility of his back . Which may list, unexpectedly to port, before locking up. Occurrences can be reduced through support, by night, and exercise, by day. Life aboard reliably supplies the latter, but not always the former.

Five years ago, Stargazer's original twin 'V' berth cushions were replaced. By design, they had sported an inherently unsupportive centreline split, from new. Over their ten year life, their dual density foam filling became compressed beyond recovery. 

Their successor was a, single-piece, memory-foam mattress. It rewarded nightly, providing even support across its full width. In the mornings, my back emerged supple and refreshed, rather than stiff and injury prone.

But, over successive summer cruises, the foam has remembered my body shape all too well. Initially it 'forgot' again, during the winter lay up. But, latterly, idelibly etched furrows have formed. Which, trigger my temperamental back. Despite migrating around the mattress, in search of a supportive spot.

For the 2026 season, I have turned to motorhome specialists, Jonic. For a hybrid (pocket sprung below, foam above), single piece mattress. On the basis that a similar construction has stood the test of time at home. 

Hopes are high, that this latest upgrade will provide sweet dreams and memorable cruises in seasons to come.

Next, on the work list, is a task which must be completed before Christmas. The hanging of a stocking, at the head of Stargazer's ‘V’ berth. With which to summon Santa in from the sea, bearing a sack of boat treats (I hope!). 

May your Christmas be all that you wish for!

Picture Credits

Piratical enhancements to 'Stargazer's Skipper' and creation of 'Surfing Santa:' courtesy of Adobe AI.

Standard V berth cushions brochure shot: courtesy of Hallberg Rassy VarvsAB

Winter Work 3

 

Stargazer's domestic battery bank died, off the Cap de la Hague, as we emerged from the Alderney Race at dusk.

Fortunately, the engine start battery remained live. Enabling us to sail into Cherbourg, with Stargazer's navigation lights, chart plotter and autopilot powered directly off the alternator, with the Yanmar on tickover.

There, Stargazer's skipper was able to source direct replacements. It was only once we arrived home, to Kent, with access to the receipts file, that it became clear that the failed batteries were almost ten years old. One iteration, of our five yearly battery replacement cycle, had clearly been missed. During the disruptions of the pandemic lockdowns.

In order to increase Stargazer's off-grid independence, her domestic bank has long been expanded, from two to three batteries, through the inclusion of the original engine start battery. The Yanmar is started using an Odyssey Extreme, originally designed to fire up high-compression race cars. Although of compact dimensions, it delivers unusually high cranking power. 

It is however a specialist item. I was unable to track down a French supplier. Whilst Brexit border buffoonery prevented shipment by a UK supplier. The completion of Stargazer's belated battery replacement cycle had, therefore, to wait until our return home. Each battery indelibly marked with its installation date, this time around.

Winter Work 2

Stargazer sailed, for most of the 2025 season, with an improvised dyneema backstay. Plus its redundant predecessor, which I was loath to cut away, loosely lashed to the pushpit beside it.’Just in case.’

Stargazer's sails and spars are supported by stays and halyards made from stainless steel wire rope. Eyes are formed, in their ends, by means of crimped copper ferrules. 

These can create a point of failure, if an oblique load is applied. Acting as an anvil, which cuts the strands of the wire rope.

On the first day of the Zen Again cruise, Stargazer's rousing beat out to the North Foreland was abruptly cutailed.

When her jib tumbled to the deck, due to halyard failure. The new jib was slightly longer, in the luff, than its predecessor. Which caused an oblique pull, at the furrule, on the (also new) halyard.

With Stargazer's weather window closing fast, Alan and Sarah (aka Wilkinson Sails) pulled out all the stops. Replacing the halyard and modifying the sail, in time for us to catch our tide.

However, sobered by the jib halyard failure, Stargazer's skipper sailed south with a closer eye than usual upon her rig. And noticed that the backstay tensioner had an eye, with an obliquely loaded ferrule, where it entered its turning block.

Whilst waiting for wind, in Le Havre, a plan is hatched for a DIY solution to Stargazer's latent backstay problem. Prevention is better than cure, where the security of the rig is concerned.

A (longer) temporary backstay tensioner is fashioned from dyneema. A fibre both stronger and lighter than wire rope. But less resistant to chafe and ultraviolet degradation. 

This temporary fix sees Stargazer through the season. Albeit with signs of chafe evident, by the time we return to Chatham. Caused by the soft dyneema running on a sheave which has been roughened by abrasive wire rope. 

A November visit, to Wilkinson Sails' Faversham Creek loft, secures Stargazer a replacement backstay tensioner. It is made from wire rope and the same length as the DIY dyneema stopgap. To keep the copper ferrule well clear of the turning block.