Boats in a Hout Bay fog

A reminder of the winter thats past.

Photo by R McBride,the camera was a Canon G11 on an auto setting.

Taken on July 2nd 2011 at 9.22am,shutter used was F/4.5 and speed was 1/800 sec.

HBYC Marina gets a 60 knot wind speed indicator

We often have members asking what our wind speed is recording,seems to me if its windy on the marina,its a sight more so out in Hout Bay,so to enable any member or visitor to see the wind speed,the club now has a B & G mast head unit in place,its the C type and with  a matching 4" (100mm) gauge,which has a bonus in that it reads to 60 knots,as the later series Syncro types only  read to 50 knots. (only?)

The mast and MHU is on the seaward end of the Marina Managers office,the read out is in a window just before the office door.

The end mounts are a little on the butch side but I reckon rather that, than see the entire lot fly off in some future breeze?

The 316 stainless steel mast head plate is fitted to a thick wall 63mm alloy pole,the top of which has a meranti plug epoxied in place,the two stainless 6mm studs have been fitted with Loctite and should last some while.

The B & G Hornet computer box,its a circa 1975 set but works a treat!

The C type mast head unit also gives wind direction,this will not be displayed as we hope folk know where the winds coming from.

The B & G (brookes and gatehouse) Hornet display,its a really nice easy to read unit,they still sell the same size today.

R McB

Reliant Robin

Why would I want to post a blog on a three wheeled car,is it a car,or is it a motor bike? For sure its origins start as a three wheeled motor bike,as the front wheel and suspension was just pure motor bike,with the driver/rider sitting inside an enclosed cabin.

Seen here at the local shops and opposite Maghulls Meadows Hotel,the driver told me he gets about 48mpg,thats not bad,the motor may be the Reliant 748cc all alloy unit,its in the front,which leaves a huge amount of space for two and rear lugage.

The body is all GRP so is rust free,check the large loading rear door,what a gem to park and collect the shopping with.

A carfull owner,not too sure as the car has signs of a bump on the other side and I note some overspray on the drivers door.Insurance wise though,the Reliant Robin drivers return some of the lowest in claims each year.Can you believe its as low as 0.9 % a year with over 1100 similar cars being insured.

Cruising the Coast of Brasil by Marcal Ceccon

We met Marcal and his family about fifteen years back,they had just sailed around the world,almost,as all they had to do was sail back home to Sao Paulo,in Brasil.Their boats name was and still is Rapunzel,they were moored right next to us. Before sailing off and back home I purchased a copy of volume one of Marcals cruising guide of the coast of brasil.

Rapunzels crew.

I now have stocks of the 2010 and updated version (on line updates exist too) they will cost you U$40 only (R320) plus postage etc,this price will increase for the next order due to shipping.

Easy to use,the pages can be turned and left open as pairs or folded underneath,so just one A4 page is visible.

The guide covers from all the way south to the north,thats over 4000 miles in one guide.

Contact me now for the special price,there are only five at that offer.

R McB

 Do not forget to take the national flag of Brasil when you go there,all boats seem to carry one,even small ones.

Tims car,a most collectable Imp

Tim Fry was the designer of the Hillman Imp for the Rootes Motor Comany,he did of course own one himself,this is it below.

Very much a nice car and I wonder who owns it now,his family possibly?

R McB

B & G Hornet output cable still wanted!

Since the entry was posted yesterday,I have been able to make a temporary connection to at least test what we have works,by inspecting inside the computer box, I could trace down the required pins that need hooking up to the B & G sixty knot display.We still would like the correct plug,so please do contact us if you have one to spare.

With a decent readout from the type C mast head unit and a breeze supplied by a hot air gun set on low,we get a steady read out at 14 knots.

Heath Robinson would be quite at home in this workshop,the cups on the MHU are actually spinning very well,the camera has just frozen the action.

The Hout Bay Yacht Club needs a wind speed display down on the marina,this will indicate what the wind speed is down there and if we add a factor of 20% give the sailing fleet a good idea of what the wind speed is in the bay? I have the main parts of the system,this includes the original C type MHU ( mast head unit) and cable.There is also a wind speed indicator which reads to 60 mph (miles per hour) and we see that now and again in Hout Bay.

The owners hand book,do you have a set of this type hidden away and doing nothing,if so can we have it as spares,we really just require the ten pin female plug and wire that fits the grey control box and feeds the instrument displays,have you got one,can the HBYC have it please?

The insides look really good,the fuse works and I hope the system does too,I am busy drying out the desicator tube on the left of the board,it unscrews and needs drying when it shows pink,its dry when its blue.

The owners hand book says it was printed in 1975,so we are looking at equipment that is now some 36 years old,will it work,time will tell.

The plug we need is the missing one on the left,its for the output cables, externally it looks exactly the same as the one next to it,which is a male pin with 10 pins inside it,we need the female plug with 10 holes instead,have you got one,if so can we have it please! (we will pay postage of course)

Phone on Cape Town,South Africa 021 790-3859 or by email.

Roy

http://www.hbyc.co.za/

Bokke & Blomme,is back by popular demand

Grand re opening on Saturday next.

After a few weeks hic ups due to certain requirments, the market in Hout Bays old harbour building is to re open and be better than ever before.Seen as the most exciting thing since sliced bread hit our shores,we hope to see you all there soon!

Be sure to search out the specials at Bokke & Blomme,known for quality signage work,ask them to do you specials for your christmas brunch and corporate functions,you can surprise your guests.

News flash from the management:

Hello All!

Herewith an emailer for you to send on to your networks! I have also attached this in other formats, should you choose to rather use these??

Let’s get the word out urgently....as far and as wide as possible!!

We have a wide spectrum of online media that we are contacting as we speak.

Let’s rock this joint...come on Summer.

Viva Republica!

R McB

Stornaway 14 boat mast set

Just about ready for collection,the spars are hand sanded with a long board using an action that prevents a flat spot,thats the idea anyway.The customer will complete the finishing work such as fittings and fastening the special white ash cheeks to the boom.

The Stornaway 14 is not one of our regular kits but I guess we can cut one for you easy enough,it will save many (very) hours of jig saw cutting for you too.

Christians two children try their dads new boat build for size.

It looks like a lot of boat in just 14 feet.

R McB

Lets fly to St Helena Island!

We talked about this idea even back in 1976 when we sailed those 1740 miles From Cape Towns RCYC  to the island of St Helena on Brer Terrapin,there is a sort of flat part of the island where a runway of a reasonable size can land. Later in 1982 we discussed the same idea having done the same voyage on Ocean Cloud.

http://travel.aol.co.uk/2011/11/07/new-airport-set-to-boost-tourism-at-remote-british-island-of-st-helena/?a_dgi=aolshare_email

Travel

New airport set to boost tourism at remote British island of St Helena

• By Ruth Doherty, Nov 7, 2011
• Filed under: Travel News

This certainally makes the yacht race from the FBYC to St Helena a very much more possible trip,race there and fly home,while the RMS St Helena brings your yacht back by sea on her decks,sign up soon,it will soon be oversubscribed?
http://wikitravel.org/en/Saint_Helena_(island) open to read the islands history and more about the island today.
R McB

Lotus F1 team job position

This is the way it was done back in the seventies,did anyone you know get the job?

Left click for a larger view,this was published in Autosport magazine.

R McB

About time,ours is increasing!

With Britains clocks all going back last week one hour its lighter for them in the morning now but quite dark by 4.30pm,here we just get more and more day light time,its about fourteen hours now?

The sun rise and sunset care of Garmins GPS 192c chart plotter and on a boat in Hout Bay Harbour,South Africa.

R McB

Mark three wheel bearing sets to the Toylander

Development has not been as easy as I hoped,the main issue being to make the parts as drawn,that was the easy part but then sourcing the other bits was the main issue.Its all coming together now though and stocks to the mark three ball bearing axles are now in stock.

Bumpers,front and rear axles,wind screen brackets and steering columns.

The new axles,this is a front stub axle,have ball bearings on a specially machined solid bar,use Fluid Film to prevent rust at a later stage.

A rear axle tube,again specially machined to take a sealed ball bearing set.

R McB

Nandi wins!

I am back from my various trips down memory lane and a part survey of a classic motor launch said to belong to the King of Denmark,plus  sanding a set of mast and spars to a Stornaway 14 for a customer.
I find that one of our customers who built himself a Dix 34 from one of our kits is out there mixing it with the HBYC race fleet  and winning too.

The Dix 34,Nandi,at launch time is now winning races.

Wednesday Night Sailing results

1 Nandi (Dix 34, Nick Fairley)
2 Megafreight (S imonis 35, J Ocenasek)
3 Aquamaniac (Pacer 27 CR, J Roux)

Cool weather and a bit of a chop on the water, and a mild Westerly, enabled the fleet to manage a traingle and a sausage in the bay, followed by usual bar and galley fare. Another good mid-week break!

Its nice to see genuine competition for the podium from all boats, using pure club handicap ratings.

R McB

Scenic Hout Bay from above

Not the worst place to arrive at by yacht and it gets better when you dock at the friendly HBYC marina.Vulcan Rock is probably just out of view on the extreme left hand side of the picture,its position has been added next to its picture below.

Pictures by R McBride

The harbour is to Port,the port entrance lights can only be seen once past the entry,as long as you stay clear of the drying reef just past the Sentinal and before the start of the harbour wall,there are no sunken dangers in the bay but off the large peak named The Sentinal lies Vulcan Rock.That breaks in most weather and is best left well alone.

A crusing guide gives the rocks poistion as 34 03,9s and 18 18,6e,its best you check your own chart to ensure this is in fact correct?

An unusual calm day,In Chapmans Bay and looking towards The Sentinal rock and with Vulcan Rock in the foreground,normally this rock is awash,so easy to spot.It is not marked except on the chart.

The main area of Hout Bay and looking towards the harbour entrance,left click to enlarge pictures and see more detail.

R McB

The Jaguar mirror page,Du Ponts New Red painted Jaguar 3.8 S type

The 1967 Jaguar 3.8 S type I found on a dealers web site looks just like my own,in fact so alike it could be a mirror view,excepting its left hand drive,the only differences are the spot light centers and a rather handy rear view drivers mirror.

Pictures taken from the Sunset Classics web pages,my thanks to them,the car is now sold?

Why bother mentioning the car looks just like my own? Well for very many years the annual Cape Jaguar Drivers Club concours event would see my own car loose around 60 points due to a None Jaguar Paint Colour,one judge (dave price) docked 20 points of the engine bay alone one year,the reds wrong he told me (so much for being an expert) I still managed to win the S Type concours five times in spite of the dropped points.

So here we are,the same model Jaguar as my own and in the same paint colour,whats so special about that? Well one car and it may even be this car,went through a full rebuild,the paint shade was known to be a Du Pont paint used by Jaguar.Du Pont checked thier records and found it was indeed their paint and was named New Red.

How close a match can this be! this picture was taken here about a month back.

The lights in the garage and the Canon G11 camera have made the paint shade look

as brite as they have.

R McB