Busy January

January has been a busy month for Shamrock's crew with the heat from the wood burner allowing painting and varnishing to be completed to a high standard and harden up ready to be returned to the elements. Jobs finished include the deckhouse, forward companionway, bowsprit, mizzen mast, main plus mizzen booms and gaffs. Nancy Belle has also been rubbed down and any damaged sections of paint primed ready for a new coat of paint. Her deck boards have been removed and are being coated with anti slip paint. The star job of the month has been the design and building of a 'movable engine control housing' from pine, old bits of marine plywood and then veneered with recycled teak. The criteria being that anyone watching when Shamrock is sailing will not be able to see the controls, the housing will not look out of place and will be easily stowed out of sight, in the after cabin, when not in use. Well done Shaune.

Lots of varnish.

Paint and varnish.

Spotty Nancy Belle

Just add combined engine and gear control lever.

Matching roof lines.

Derigging Shamrock

After the crowds of the last week of the visitor season the quay has gone quiet and the crew has started removing Shamrock's rigging ready for the winter. Both gaffs and booms have been removed using their respective throat halyards to swing them onto the waiting trolley and subsequently towed into the boat shed. After removing the bowsprit any ropes that could be removed were cleared from the mizzen mast blocks. Using the deck winch the mizzen mast with blocks still in place was lowered over the stern then after removing the blocks manoeuvred onto the cargo hold hatch and left overnight. On the next morning’s high tide it was swung over the bulwark, balanced on the trolley and, using the dropping tide, lifted clear of Shamrock and taken into the boat shed. Now the boat shed is not quite so empty.

The view the crew has to endure!

Temporary Crew

Shamrock has had a temporary crew member when Henry a pupil from Callington Community Collage spent his work experience week working both on Shamrock and in the boat shed. Henry impressed the crew as he completed every job he was asked to do well and with enthusiasm. The jobs tackled ranged from reeving the mizzen throat halyard blocks, (interesting), to scraping the old bitumen paint from the edge of the combined covering board and waterway*, (not so interesting). He also had an unusual method of transport as one day he appeared on an off road unicycle and ended up doing the odd demonstration ride around the quay. The only job that he did not tackle was making the crews tea! (A very specialised job in the Boat shed)

* Combined covering and waterway is the outermost strake of shaped deck planks. Shamrock's are made from 2in (50mm) elm.

Henry.

His transport.

Shamrock news

With Shamrock back on her river mooring, in preparation this weekend’s trip to Plymouth, the river is starting to look a little crowded.

Changing Wind

Due to the lay of the land around Cotehele Quay when the wind blows from the east it keeps changing direction one minute blowing up the river from Plymouth and the next blowing down the river from Calstock.

The bending on of Shamrock's mizzen sail didn't go completely according to plan as a squally easterly wind was blowing resulting in the sail being flipped from one side of her to the other and the crew needed to be alert to the dangers of a rapidly moving boom and flapping sail. Even with just the mizzen up and Shamrock settling on the mud with the outgoing tide, the force of the sail could still be felt. As a result once the crew was happy with the set of the sail it was quickly lowered, furled and the cover fitted instead of being allowed to air first as would normally happen.