Harrythefishmonger and Spencer

Having sold the various bits of the original navigation electronics that was on Blue Star when we bought her, boxed them all up and posted them off....... I then received a message from a chap whose ebay name is Harrythefishmonger. (I don't think that is his real name by the way). Anyway, Harrythefishmonger wanted know where his lead was for his chartplotter, which I had said was included in the sale. To be quite honest, I really don't know where the lead went. It must have existed for me to mention it, so I was a bit surprised when Harrythefishmonger said it hadn't arrived with his chartplotter. I can only think it must have been despatched with a different bit of kit, which isn't very clever of me. I suggested that Harrythefishmonger acquired a lead from elsewhere, and we would then agree on recompense for that. Shortly later a reply came back saying that Harrythefishmoner appreciated that this kit had come off Blue Star and was part of a project to raise money for a very worthy cause, and therefore I did not need to worry about the lead! Well! Top marks to Harrythefishmonger for a) his detective work in figuring out who he was buying kit off, and b) being so very magnanimous about the lead! To show my gratitude to Harrythefishmonger, and as a way of atoning for my sin, I have resolved to donate a further £10 to the CF Trust via my blog link!

I can also report that another kind soul, Spencer (I think that is his real name), who recently visited Stafford Coastal Cruising Club was giving up sailing (sharp intake of breath!) and giving away some sailing kit. I duly acquired some spare sailing clothes that might be useful for crew sailing on Blue Star, and resolved to donate a further £20 to the cause in recognition of the donation from Spencer! Thus, £30 in total is now added to donations!

Jokes:
* Noah started building several arks for various parts of animal kingdom. One was a split level job for all the fish – a multi-storey carp ark
* What do you call a fish with no eyes?…Fsh
* How do fish go into business?…They start on a small scale
* A fish swam into a wall and said, “Dam!”
* Why are fish so smart?…They are always in schools

Does not include yacht........

Roger and I have finally got around to selling (on ebay) some of the 'old' electronic navigation kit that was on Blue Star when we bought her. We managed to work out how to use ebay and got all of the kit advertised. For most of the kit there have been a number of enquiries, which is great. This is the first time I have used the ebay site to sell things, and I must say once you have worked it out it is very easy to use. There is scope for potential buyers to ask questions too, which I suppose is good, but it has meant that I had to keep on checking various details about the bits of kit:

What is the model number?
What leads does it come with?
How do you connect it up?
Can you send it to Timbuktu? (How much will that cost?)
Does it have any marks on it?
Does it have an internal thingamy?
Does it come with all of the other gubbins?
Does it include the rest of the yacht? :-\

You get the picture, I'm sure! I imagined that once you posted your adverts, that was it, you just got paid and sent off the stuff. Now I'm not quite so sure? Anyway, hopefully some sailors will be very pleased with the old kit and get it at a good price with several more years of service.

Happy New Year to everyone who is following our blog!

Joke:
Salesman: This computer will cut your workload by 50%.
Office Manager: That's great, I'll take two of them.

Blue Star Raffle prize winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Blue Star raffle! The winners were drawn recently and were as follows:
1st prize, the Blue Star quilt, was won by Lisa from Peggs Lane, Leicestershire (we are still trying to find out Lisa's surname!)
2nd prize, 4 Emma Bridgewater mugs in Starry Night design (ie. lots of blue stars), was won by Martin Fiddler of Wolverhampton and Staffordshire University
3rd prize, a Knot Toys Blue Star Yacht, was won by Ruth Martin of Eccleshall, Staffordshire

We are especially grateful to Susan Oakley who came up with the idea of making a quilt and to everyone who bought or sold draw tickets! Many thanks also to Emma Bridgewater and to Knot Toys for donating prizes. Thank you everyone! The raffle raised £1400 for the CF Trust, which is absolutely brilliant!

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads our blog and to everyone who is following the progress of yacht Blue Star!

Susan and I with the raffle first prize

 Joke:
A yacht skipper from Staffordshire bought a donkey from an old farmer
for £100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The
next day the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry, but I have some bad
news. The donkey died."
"Well, then, just give me my money back."
"Can't do that. I've spent it already."
"OK, then. Just unload the donkey."
"What are you going to do with him?"
"I'm going to raffle him off."
"You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"
"Oh I think I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."
A month later the farmer met up with the yacht skipper and asked, "What
happened with that dead donkey?"
"I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at £2 each and I
made a profit of £898."
"Didn't anyone complain?"
"Oh yes, but only the person who won. So I gave him back his £2."

Merry Christmas!

A Christmas card for you!

OK, I know its not quite Christmas yet, but it is time to start thinking about it, and time to hand out cards to your friends and family etc. So here is a card for everyone who reads this blog, from and on behalf of GBchallengecrew (who, I hear you ask? You know, GBchallengecrew, the team involved with Blue Star's circumnavigation of GB and for raising funds for the CF Trust!). I hope you like it. I have been trying to find a cost effective (ie. free) way of producing an e-Christmas card, and this is it! There must be a way of animating it perhaps, and getting it to play a Christmas tune too, but I haven't figured that out yet. Do you know how?

Joke:
The Christmas marina berth
Two weary sailors (a man and a woman) who have never met before found themselves assigned to the same sleeping cabin on overnight when their yacht was berthed in a marina during the Christmas period. It was snowing outside, and rather cold inside. After finding out that no other accommodations could be made, they agreed that they were both professional and capable of getting past the man woman thing. They decided to simply go to sleep, the man in the upper berth and the woman in the lower berth. In the middle of the night the man leans over, wakes the woman and says, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm awfully cold and I was wondering if you could possibly reach over and get me another blanket?" The woman leans out and, and with a glint in her eye says, "I have a better idea. Just for tonight let's pretend that we are married." The man , more than a little surprised at the turn of events but very agreeable to the idea winks and says, "OK, that sounds great!" The woman says "Good...get your own blanket"

Blue Star Quilt and other things

The quilt made by Susan as a raffle prize to raise funds for the CF Trust is currently receiving much attention and praise whilst it is on display at Angie's in Cheadle. You can see it also at: http://www.angiequilts.blogspot.co.uk/
The draw for the raffle will be made on 19 December, so if you need to buy some more tickets you'd better get your skates on! Good luck!

We had another meeting of SCCC this week. Chris and Viv Shelley and their friend Mike gave a great talk about sailing the Beneteau Oceanis, Big Blue, around the Western Isles of Scotland, and I realised immediately that Roger and I had sailed Blue Star right past their front door earlier this year, off Bute! Tom Cunliffe also starred in their presentation! They came across Tom whilst in Lochaline and went aboard his boat Constance and discussed Antares charts. The presentation included a photo of them all aboard Constance!

Jokes:
Quilting is where you take a number of pieces of lovely fabric and then cut them into pieces, and then sew them back together again. Susan makes a marvellous job of it.

Tom Cunliffe at the Gatehouse

We had a great evening last night when Tom Cunliffe gave a presentation to Stafford Coastal Crusing Club at the Gatehouse Theatre in Stafford. This must have been Tom at his best, as we heard about the sailing pilot cutters and their crew of long ago, how they sailed their boats, how they lived and how they earned their crust! We also heard about some of Tom's tales in his life of sailing. After the talk many guests bought one of Tom's books, had it signed by the man himself, and had their photograph taken with Tom! Later, Tom and his wife Ros came to stay with Diane and I before driving home this morning to the New Forest.

Joke:
From a sailing cruise ship, everyone onboard spots a long bearded old man a way away who is yelling and wildly waving his curved arms like a crazy fool. “Who is that there?” one of the passengers asks the captain. The cruise ship captain replied, “Sorry, I never figured that out. For the past 10 years when we pass that tiny island, he seems to show off more and more.”

Tom in discussion with a member of SCCC

Tom and Ros before leaving this morning

Stafford Coastal Crusing Club

SCCC are hosting a visit of Yachting Monthly columnist and TV presenter Tom Cunliffe next week on the evening of 10 November. Tom's YM column to be hugely entertaining, witty and informative, so I'm expecting his presentation to SCCC to be equally enjoyable. His talk, 'what ship, where bound?', is partly a look back at the history of sailing craft and partly a recollection by Tom of his own sailing adventures. The event is being hosted at Stafford's Gatehouse Theatre which will comfortably accommodate more guests than SCCC's usual venue at Stafford Boat Club. Tickets for the event are available to the general public from the Gatehouse Theatre in Stafford at £10 each, so do buy one! You won't be disappointed!

(....and if you would like to know more about SCCC just visit our website at www.staffordcoastalcruisingclub.org)

Joke:
Why did the motor boat sink when it was moored against the pontoon?
It gave in to pier pressure!