| Ameera |
The Beginning.... of this blog anyway. Not the beginning for Ameera, but every story must have a beginning, a middle and an end.Ameera is a PaceSetter 28, one of 10 built by Wilson & Richardson, sometime around the beginning of the '80s. She was bought and fitted out by her first owner, and was apparently launched c. 1982. She is unusual amongst PaceSetter 28's in that she has a lifting keel - of the variety that winches almost vertically up into the hull. Designed as a moderately quick cruiser, she has berths for five, and a generous cockpit. Ameera's first owner clearly treasured her, and was not intending to sell her, but tragically he died in an accident during 1999. In 2001 Ameera was, after standing on the hard in the intervening period, bought by a semi-retired fellow, a keen dinghy racer who wanted to take up yacht racing with the additional time that retirement afforded to him. He raced her enthusiastically out of Liverpool Yacht Club for five years, and lavished a considerable sum of money on those things which needed doing - new motor, new sails, new rudder etc., before deciding that to be more competitive he should buy a yacht with a little more racing in its pedigree, and putting her up for sale. I bought Ameera at the end of 2006, taking her over on 1st December. She was in the water, and in active use, so little needed doing to her, except to move her from Liverpool Marina where she was berthed at the time, to Fleetwood, which I planned to use as my sailing base. I live in West Yorkshire, not ideal for a sailor but never mind, meaning that Liverpool and Fleetwood are near as damn equal in travelling time from my home. Fleetwood Marina is a lot cheaper than Liverpool, and provides better access to the Irish Sea - hence my decision to move her. Anyway, pause for breath - here she is,at Liverpool.  Having taken possession I did the usual thing, and spent a day mooching around exploring her nooks and crannies. I took some photos of bits that needed research, and some general photos of her innards. Not very polite maybe, but useful as an aide-memoir. This bit needed investigating - the electrical supply for it was labelled "Decca", it looked like some sort of GPS display, but apparently the antenna was missing.  Investigation on the YBW forums revealed that it was indeed a "Decca" location display, and also that the Decca system had been switched off in 2000, so its presence was for decorative purposes only - oh well. Perusing through the photos at home I found that there was some chunk of electronics attached to the rudder stock tube, which led me to wonder whether it was part of the autopilot system that had apparently been fitted, but never seen by the last owner.  More investigation revealed that it was not - it was the control unit for a diesel-fueled Eberspacher heater - a bonus feature not mentioned by the vendor. Further investigation and fiddling rapidly turned it into a working heater - Oh Joy. Eberspachers are not cheap - this was a real and unexpected bonus! The weather in December was foul. Gale upon gale. Liverpool Marina suffered some damage, thankfully Ameera escaped unscathed, but it meant that conditions were not ideal for the voyage up the coast to Fleetwood. I solicited the assistance of an experienced skipper (one who knew the Mersey) via the YBW forums, and wound up in contact with Andy Trowler, an ex-fireman in a mid-life crisis, a YM who had sailed the Mersey for most of his life and fancied a trip out, if the weather ever abated. Finally it broke, we got a decent spell - at Christmas! Everyone was of course involved in jollies, family etc., not the best of times. Andy kindly agreed to go for it on the 28th, I'm not sure I would have been so accomodating in the middle of the festive season, but sure enough, 6AM on the 28th saw us slipping out and into the Liverpool Marina lock, through, and into the Mersey, lit only by the reflections of the lights ashore (and the odd buoy here & there). It's winter, so however we did it, one end of the trip was going to be in the dark. Andy's knowledge of the Mersey was invaluable, I have never tried to navigate in the dark before, and on a misty night it wasn't going to be easy shuttling from buoy to buoy. Andy got us out of the Mersey, along the Crosby and Queens Channels, then we turned due North. "Liverpool Coastguard, Liverpool Coastguard, shipping forecast on Channel 67" - or something like that. We tuned the radio to the prescribed channel, and listened to the weather forecast - a Gale Warning. From the way the forecast was written it sounded as though the gale should already be upon us. Joy, and slightly edgy looks passed between us. We had known that the weather was due to turn bad again soon, and the early morning shipping forecast had indicated the gales were coming back, but it hadn't sounded as bad as this forecast. We decided to stay on the motor, and get North to Fleetwood as quickly as possible. The gales would be coming from the south anyway, so we were running ahead of them. Dawn broke slowly, turning the mist from black to grey. "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" - the VHF squawked again. The coastguard was repeating the Mayday, already in place, for the helicopter that had crashed just off one of the Morecambe gas rigs the previous evening. One passenger was still unaccounted for and the search was continuing. We carried on motoring North through the gloomy mist. With visibility below a kilometre there was nothing to see except the occasional gaggle of geese coming within range. The gloom broke shortly after midday. Glorious sunshine on a calm sea, looking south there was, thankfully, still no sign of the gales that were supposed to be pursueing us. We had, in our haste, made good time, and the extended visibility was just in time for us to start looking for the buoys marking the approaches to Fleetwood. We raced a trawler for the channel, but he turned away, and we realised that it was so soon after low water that he couldn't approach yet. We decided to risk it though, according to the chart we would have a metre or two to spare, so we throttled right back and almost drifted down the channel on the tide, with just enough power to keep our steerage. My first trip in an untried boat, under the threat of yet more gales - Fleetwood was a welcome sight.  We picked up one of the visitors' moorings at Knott End, outside the entrance to Fleetwood dock, and waited for the gates to open. Andy, who had steadfastly refused all offerings of food and drink except a little hot water, enthusiastically accepted a beer - at least I had got something right, the boat was loaded to the gunwales with food and drink in consideration for this stranger who had so put himself out for me, it was a relief when he finally accepted some small token of hospitality. Fleetwood opened early, at least an hour ahead of schedule, so we motored in and picked a berth, expecting to wait a while for my son-in-law to arrive, who was providing the transport back to Liverpool. But there was his car, parked up by the dock, he'd decided to get out early as well, so we didn't even have time for another beer. 6:48 PM - Dec. 29, 2006 - post comment
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