In one of those inexplicable turns of the weather, unlike last year when I was unable to get to Naiad due to unfavourable weather conditions, this year I have already been to Naiad thrice !

Okay, so one of those was to launch her, but even so.

I think I managed to get onto Naiad 6 times last year and this year so far has been an entirely different story. Launched on 11th April, visit to compete the rigging on Easter Monday (21st April) and another visit this weekend.

This last visit was either to be a trip to Tollesbury and a night on board or just a night on board. Which of the two depended mainly on the weather. But I've never been to Tollesbury so I don't know what it is like and I felt that it would be a good idea to pay a visit by land first as 'case the joint' as the saying goes. That mean leaving quite early in the morning so that I was at the water's edge at low water but that made for a very easy drive down. Virtually no traffic despite being a Friday morning. 

I had used the InterWeb to find photos and maps and reviews of Tollesbury and from those I had identified a few places that I might be able to beach Naiad since there was little or no chance of easily getting Naiad into the marina and out again.

This is the second spot, the first can be seen about 100m away where the blue-hulled boat is on the mud and you can see that it is quite steep there. This spot is a possibility although getting ashore might be difficult as the metal pole in the bank to which the rope is tied has come loose and any pull from the seaward side would pull it out completely.

Just to the right of that spot is another candidate. I looks like someone has been out there judging by the footprints in the mud.

Here's another view and you can see that the mud is fairly flat and the rope, although covered in weed, is intact and well secured. So this was going to be the spot where I would try to beach, assuming that I could get round here of course.

This is part of the hard at Tollesbury and the post in the mud painted green at the top marks one end of the concrete sill that prevents the water from completely flowing out of the marina.

Here's a closer look at the sill and it's not something that I would like to hit. I did find a photo on the InterWeb of a small boat stranded on the sill. Presumably they had hit the sill on a falling tide and got stuck.

This is the view up the creek towards the River Blackwater. My beach candidate is just the other side of the first boat you can just see to the right of the centre of the photo.

As it happened I was not able to get around to Tollesbury, there was too little wind and too much tide. By the time the onshore breeze had filled in it was nearly High Water and if I had set of then I would have been facing an ebb tide out of the creek to Tollesbury, so I stayed on board and had a restful day and a good night's sleep instead.

The photo above shows the tide rushing past Naiad on her mooring that day and here is a short video of the same thing.

The weather over the last few weeks has been absolutely brilliant for both sailing, painting and varnishing and since Naiad has been out of the water since last November for maintenance, I had to get on with the painting and varnishing which I don't really enjoy, but if I'm to sail in Naiad ever again, I have to complete that.

So, with that in mind I made a start.

Only that cause a bit of a problem since in order to varnish the spars I have to suspend them from the roof trusses in the workshop and then I had to be careful what I did in there so as not to get dust and shavings all over the varnish.

Here's what I mean This is the mast and not only do I have to worry about dust and shavings, but it's completely in the way. Meaning that when the varnish is wet, I have to make sure that i don't bump into the mast as I pass by and get varnish all over my clothes. The other two spars are on the other side of the work table and just as much in the way.

Still, the good weather did mean tat on some days I could get two coats applied. I aimed for six coats on each spar and then I had to wait for a few weeks for the varnish to harden sufficiently such that moving the spars out into the Hay Barn wouldn't damage the varnish.

I also repainted and revarnished Naiad's topsides, deck and cabin structure. The paint dried even faster than the varnish!

Here she is with the topsides done. I had to put a tarpaulin over the boat since in the early morning the dew formed on the boat and if it were cold enough during the hight for ice to form on the underside of the roof, it then dripped all over everywhere once the ice melted !

One thing I had on my todo list was to put blocks on the gooseneck fitting for the reefing lines. This is what I started with. I noted at this time that the gooseneck pin needed to be treated to remove the rust and should be galvanised. I tried to use zinc paint the last time Naiad was out of the water but, as you can see, it didn't work that well.

So, I purchased some blocks and sundry metal bits to make the brackets and looked up in the InterWeb on how to remove rust and galvanised steel at home. It's surprisingly easy.

Here is everything ready to assemble for the reefing line blocks.

And this is the electro-galvanising setup that I put together to deal with the rusty bits once the rust had been removed.

For a first time event, the results were surprisingly good and I was happy with the results.

Next up was to replace the standing rigging. That is, the forestay and the shrouds and I decided to use High Molecular weight Polyethylene also known as HMPE and sold also as Dyneema. This is stronger that steel size for size, much lighter, easier to splice and to manage but more expensive.

We also made a new cockpit cover to replace the agéd canvas one and I was able to find suitable material in Naiad's colours.

Then it was off to the mooring and to put her in the water.

The morning was bright and sunny but chilly in the shade. There was a little wind but not enough to case problems.

We were not the only ones taking advantage of the tide and good weather. We soon had Naiad rigged and pushed her out as far as we could before retreating to the cafe for a drink and a bite to eat.

It wasn't long before the tide floated Naiad off the trailer and the next part of the process could begin.

With little wind and no mainsail, we had little choice but to row Naiad out to the mooring. Fortunately, this is only around 600m but it was just after High Water so at least it wasn't also against the tide.

I was out of shape after the Winter and was fairly knackered by the time the deed was done.