Tae a Bridge

A great deal has been said about the Forth Bridge in the 118 years since it was completed (there's a good overview in the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Railway_Bridge). We have to add though, that it's probably best appreciated from the water below. A truly monumental structure!
The idiot politician who suggested a few years ago that the bridge should be scrapped to save on maintenance costs should have been hung.

Drying out on the harbour floor?

Granton harbour at low water. The first time we heard about boats with only one keel in drying harbours ("they all lie down when the tide is out, but stand up again when the water returns"), the notion seemed pretty alarming. In fact, it's not so bad. After all, the boat reaches those sort of angles at sea often enough so things belowdecks are stowed securely enough to stand it.

We had a nice little north Edinburgh holiday this weekend. The original plan was to head out Friday evening and anchor off Inchcolm Island but, after moving the boat from the mooring to the pontoon, we were just too lazy to go further and decided to spend the night there. The decision was made easier by the vicinity of the Starbank Inn - a superb real ale pub just by Newhaven harbour. We haven't spent much time in this part of town in the past but enjoy it now, particularly as it has quite a different feel to central Edinburgh.

Saturday morning was a low, low tide and we found ourselves stuck in the mud even on the pontoon (where there is a dredged channel). No matter, there was breakfast to be gone out for and jobs to do on the boat so it was easy to pass the time until the tide floated us again and we could head out for a fantastic day's sailing.

Sallying Forth

As promised, two of the last three weekends have been pleasantly passed on the waters of the Forth. On our first excursion since arriving home we took Martin along with us to Aberdour, on the Fife coast opposite Edinburgh, spending a peaceful night at anchor before cruising out towards the Bass Rock the following morning.

That was when I discovered that the clamp that secures the tiller to the rudderstock was fractured. Fortunately the assembly still held together thanks to the bolt that had formerly clamped it tight. Thinking back, I knew it to have been in one piece when we left the Azores, as I had removed the tiller then, but noticed sometime during the crossing that there was more play than usual on it. At the time, I put this down to wear on the fitting, as it had been difficult to get it tight in the first place (in fact this tightening must have precipitated the breakage). Still, the part was likely original and 40 years of stress and strain will take their toll.

Back in the harbour, I started asking around to find out where we could get a new clamp made - it's not the sort of thing one can find off the shelf. The first person I asked (Robin, a fellow member of the Forth Corinthian Yacht Club) mentioned a foundry in Powderhall (an Edinburgh district) where other club members had work done in the past. He couldn't remember the name of the place but it was easy to find on the net (http://www.laingsfoundry.co.uk/index.htm).

I removed the broken clamp the following Friday and we went along to the foundry where the friendly, helpful and informative Andrew Laing agreed to take on the job for the very reasonable sum of £25. First though, he asked me to check with an engineering firm down in Leith (George Brown & Sons) whether they could/would machine out the various holes as it would be cast in solid bronze. George Brown turned out to be very helpful as well (possibly because he's a fellow sailor?) and by the end of the next week (that's last Friday) we had the new part.

We were very pleased to find that these old firms of traditional craftsmen are still going strong and will still take on small one-off jobs without charging the Earth.