Lesson Learned - Not all Cardinal Marks Are Lit
Lesson Learned - Not all Cardinal Marks Are Lit

Just because Navionics says its so doesn’t mean to say it is.

Seventh or eighth mark of the course, I lost track, was the South Cardinal off Boscombe Pier, Bournemouth. Our part of the fleet reached the mark in close company about midnight on a dark, starry, moonless night. The cardinal is off Bournemouth seafront and marks Boscombe Pier and an artificial reef.

Navionics marks the cardinal as being lit with the standard combination of white lights. The reality is that the mark is unlit.

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Bill Stock
The Rock - Part Two - To Furl Or Not To Furl
The Rock - Part Two - To Furl Or Not To Furl

….stupid title must think of a better one for the next article…

So in the last article I talked about the Fastnet Race and what was involved for the crew. We are now one month into our campaign. Our boat is back in the water and we have had a couple of weekends out on the water so we know what does and doesn’t work.

We have been sailing Jengu now for 7 seasons; albeit with two COVID disrupted years in the middle. Each year we learn a little more and become a little more sophisticated in our sailing. Some weeks it might not look like that but we try to repeat the things that work and understand why the things that don’t work don’t. We strongly believe that it’s foolish to expect a different result if you keep doing the same thing.

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Bill Stock
The Rock - Part One
The Rock - Part One

This year is the 50th edition of the Fastnet race. Its run every two years. The first race was won by Jolie Brise in 1925. Jolie Breeze is still very actively sailed on the UK South Coast.

This will be the second time that the race has been sailed from Cowes to Cherbourg via the Fastnet rather than finishing in Plymouth.

Our test boat Jengu will be doing the Fastnet race this year; so it seems appropriate to document some of that journey.

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Bill Stock
On The Importance Of Keeping Slime Away
On The Importance Of Keeping Slime Away

Weed and other marine wildlife, whose main aim in life sometimes seems to be to slow us down, grow at different rates depending on a whole host of variables, everything from how sunny a spot the boat is parked in to the time of year.

Even over the course of a day marine life will start to stick to the bottom of your boat.

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Bill Stock