Category: Sailing

  • Dun Laoghaire to Malahide

    Dun Laoghaire to Malahide

    Blue Opal needs a good scrub and antifoul, so I booked her in at Malahide Marina to be lifted this morning. Was awake at 5:30, and outside of Dun Laoghaire harbour just around 7 after tea, porridge sourdough, and two scrambled eggs. Nice morning overall, but very unpleasant sea south of the Bailey Lighthouse –…

  • Broken wind indicator

    Broken wind indicator

    Clearly on port tack, but the wind is coming from starboard 90. The wind speed indicator has been borked for a while, but direction being borked too is new. Bother.

  • Oil change

    Oil change

    As happens every year, Blue Opal’s oil needed to be changed. The club doesn’t have the vacuum pump any more (a replacement is coming), but I was able to borrow a small brass pump (archive) that did the trick. Very simple to use, just had to get the depth into the sump correct; I ended…

  • Facebook export – Bits to Fix: 2012/2013

    Facebook export – Bits to Fix: 2012/2013

    Photos exported from Aslana’s Facebook page.

  • Updating the cabin lights

    Updating the cabin lights

    Back in early 2018, I posted about the light fittings in the saloon and forward cabin, and how they were falling apart. I’ve finally found an appropriate replacement fitting, courtesy of boatlamps.co.uk (Wayback) – the Cantalupi DIANA 85. Boatlamps were able to supply both regular warm white LED lights (the default), and a red LED…

  • A weekend adventure (and a lifeboat shout)

    A weekend adventure (and a lifeboat shout)

    Earlier in the month, I had decided that I’d try a jaunt down the coast to see how far I could get on a single ebb tide, and then I’d come back up on the flood; I estimated that it’d basically be a day spent sailing, and that I could reach Wicklow Head. The forecast…