You may have noticed

[Arghiro]

I'm posting a little more than usual. There is a reason for this.

Two weeks ago, trying to push the wife's car (don't ask) I did my leg in. After a late night visit to A&E this was diagnosed as a muscle tear, I was given some Ibuprofen sent home & told to use an ice pack & rest it. After 10 days with the swelling so bad I couldn't wear a shoe & my skin so tight it was shiny, I went to the GP. She gave me something to reduce the inflamation & arranged for a Physio appointment.

Went to see tha Physio today & after some carefull prodding, he pointed out thatthe treatment for a torn muscle was completely different from that for a ripped Achilles & he wanted me to have a scan. After the Ultrasound scan, I'm told that it isn't the muscle, I have done in my Achilles & I need a plaster cast! So now I am stuck with a plaster cast for the next 13 weeks, with my foot in a "toes down" position that means I can't use that foot at all.

So I am bored & will continue to annoy you all for some time to come.

[Nick]

So I am bored & will continue to annoy you all for some time to come.

Sorry to hear about the tendon, it's a bit of a blimey of an injury. Look on the bright side though, it gives you an opportunity to keep us entertained

[Mark]

I admit I was wearing my mistress's stilettos when the hamster we were oiling up bit my finger. This caused me to trip and scald my ankle with the candle wax. By the time the wife got home and cut me out of the gimp suit it had gone septic.

So I am bored & will continue to annoy you all for some time to come.

Well, it's very brave of you to be so open about your lifestyle choices. Hang in there and Trixie from the Green Grocers will be walking up and down your back again in no time!

[Arghiro]

I admit I was wearing my mistress's stilettos when the hamster we were oiling up bit my finger. This caused me to trip and scald my ankle with the candle wax. By the time the wife got home and cut me out of the gimp suit it had gone septic.

So I am bored & will continue to annoy you all for some time to come.

Well, it's very brave of you to be so open about your lifestyle choices. Hang in there and Trixie from the Green Grocers will be walking up and down your back again in no time!

You've clearly lead a very sheltered life, despite your over worked imagination.

Candle wax isn't likely to scald unless in very large quantities. Must try harder.

[Mark]

Candle wax isn't likely to scald unless in very large quantities. Must try harder.

I'll bow to the greater experience of someone who so obviously pre-dates Mr Edison's new fangled electric light bulbs!

[Alan_D]

After the Ultrasound scan, I'm told that it isn't the muscle, I have done in my Achilles & I need a plaster cast! So now I am stuck with a plaster cast for the next 13 weeks, with my foot in a "toes down" position that means I can't use that foot at all.

Sorry to hear that - thirteen weeks is a real bummer, and it sounds as though your movements will be significantly restricted.

Tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner.

[aquaplane]

Ouch!

13 weeks, that's June, if you aren't carefull you may miss the good day this year.

I hope you are soon better.

[Arghiro]

Mark, You are quite correct we regularly use oil lamps & candles in the house & an oil lamp on the boat. Following Dylan's recent posts I may even get some candles for the boat once I am up & about again.

Alan D, Merci beaucoup, mon sewer. There may be more to forgive when this starts getting me down.

Bob, Thanks for that. I don't know how yet, but I am determined to speed the process up some how. Time to train no1 son to sail with me as passenger perhaps.

[Julian]

blimey, and there was me hoping you might nip into the HM and state my case for a mooring. He was very nice but unsure about allowing a cat into the harbour.

I think I have almost convinced him that I will be able to split the tie-line so I sit square between the buoys and remake it each time I leave. I even have a pair of chain links in the shed that will do the job nicely.

I tried to convince him I am an anal-retentive about things like this and will never leave the trot unconnected. I think I am almost there, but may need one last push to get me in.

I really need to leave Porthmadog, they have ruined the place with the new sailing club marina extension and my current mooring is now untenable. I am also getting rather bored of the area and weather.

EDIT>> Blimey, Blimey??! I didn't write that, c'mon Nick, your filter is a bit Presbyterian.. all I wrote was boooger!

[Arghiro]

Well, there was a cat against the quay behind Canta Libre (the steel ketch with black masts & enclosed doghouse) for several years, but left for the Med about 2004 -ish. Quay wall berths have a long waiting list tho', I am still a few years down the list & people don't often leave.

The current is always down river & out, whiich is why everyone moors facing up river. I can see his concerns if you were to moor up on the Starboard side only as there would be a fair bit of leverage from the port hull. Do your rudders lift? Are the keels small? If so you may be able to cross the spacer line.

I'd be inclined to offer to take up the first trot & then you could just straddle the line with a warp to each hull for & aft. It should be relatively easy then to drift back on the current to leave.

TBH I doubt I would have much weight with Richard and he is a little conservative & risk averse. Why not just try stopping over a couple of nights & then ask if you can have the end trot for "a few weeks" & then extend it for the season? Might be a little dearer initially as you will be paying visitor rates but it gets your foot in the door.

[Julian]

We don't have the clearance to straddle a hippo buoy and I am not sure I would want to purposely run over a line in the water.

I have never seen a trot mooring where the trots are held permanently with their tie lines, on all the trots I have used we either lash the dinghy or pick-up line between the strops only using tie lines if the mooring is vacated.

I did wonder from a distance, are they using rope risers, it was difficult to decide if it was manky rope or weed covered chain?

[Arghiro]

It is a heavy ground chain with rope risers to the trot buoys & a floating spacer line to hold them no more than 36' apart & a pick-up buoy in the middle of the spacer.

Provided you have a strop to each hull fore & aft, and your strops are suitable lengths, I think it would be OK to just tie up like all the others then. I doubt you ever have problems on quaysides or in the middle of a classic stacked trot off a quay wall.

[marisca]

Back to your stookie...... If you can persuade them to use a resin cast rather than plaster then a wee bit dampness ceases to be so problematic. Then it's up to you how you interpret the "don't use" instruction. A bicycle spoke with its turned over button end makes an awfy good scratcher - and you'll need one.

[Arghiro]

Back to your stookie...... If you can persuade them to use a resin cast rather than plaster then a wee bit dampness ceases to be so problematic. Then it's up to you how you interpret the "don't use" instruction. A bicycle spoke with its turned over button end makes an awfy good scratcher - and you'll need one.

That's exactly what they made for me. Well impressed with the kit, a sealed package opened to reveal a roll of webbing, dipped in water as a catalyst & then wrapped around a stockingette tube on me leg. Two more the same & a nurse pulling my foot down to allow the tendon to reknit & it set in a few minutes. Light & strong, it looks a great method for boat construction!

My problem is that, because they have pointed my foot down (I couldn't move it myself, but it needs to be held in that position) I cannot put it down, I can't put any weight on the toes without the plaster crushing them! I need both crutches to get around at all, I can't even use the stookie as a peg leg. I'm keeping an eye open for a cheap wheelchair for a few months. So it goes!

[Mark]

because they have pointed my foot down (I couldn't move it myself, but it needs to be held in that position) I cannot put it down, I can't put any weight on the toes without the plaster crushing them! I need both crutches to get around at all, I can't even use the stookie as a peg leg.

There is another option:

http://www.dignitas.ch/index.php?id=117 ... &task=view


I know we've had this conversation by PM, but I know nobody on BM wants to see you suffer a day longer than you have to!