Mariposa

• Wind Weaver 1994-99

  A few pages devoted to the cruises of Wind Weaver.

August 2009
I have decided to put Mariposa on the market. I've turned her around from being a very dubious project into a tidy wee pocket sailing cruiser, but now I want something a little larger and a little faster. She is a snug, dry little boat ideal for pottering. If you are looking for a small wooden classic that won't break your heart or the bank, and you have a modicum of woodworking skills, then here is your chance. Asking price is £3,500. Contact Mariposa for sale

July 2009
Managed to grab a few daysails out into the Clyde and even took Victoria and my granddaughter, Skye, out for a sail. Poor Skye wasn't feeling so good. She had a the beginning of what turned out to be a stinking cold and just wasn't really interested. She perked up when we were visited by a pod of harbour porpoises though. I don't know who was more excited, Skye or her mother.

June 2009
Well I got a little sailing in this summer. Mariposa's new mainsail has transformed her performance. She points better and sails faster than she ever could with the old baggy main.
With daughter Siobhan fresh back from Kenya we set off down the Clyde for a long weekend. I even bought a new inflatable so we could row ashore should the fancy take us. We drifted off in very light airs as far as the entrance to the Holy Loch before the wind picked up. We then beat all the way to the Gantochs before calling it quits and ran back up Loch Long to Loch Goil. We anchored close to Carrick Castle and rowed ashore for a look around.
There wasn't much to see and even less to do. We saw seals basking on rocks, dolphins feeding and gannets diving into mirror calm water. The silence was wonderful.
We lay about 50 yards off the beach and not a single midge came to disturb us. When we went for a walk ashore it was a different story though, we were eaten alive. Back on board we cooked up on Mariposa's brand new fifty year old gimballed primus stove, talked about previous voyages then crawled into our sleeping bags.
The next day we motored all the way to the entrance to Loch Long before finding a wind which took us to Kip marina in grand style. The staff here are very helpful and one of the lads even took my jerrycans into town for petrol, there being none at the marina.
We were planning on a run to the Kyles but a nasty forecast kept us tucked up in our pontoon while the wind roared overhead. So after two nights we crept out and had an amazing run all the way back to the Gareloch in a little over 2 1/12 hours. Full main to port, big genny poled out to starboard and hull speed all the way. Mariposa can move when she feels like it!

24th May 2009
The weather was kind enough to let me sail down to the Holy Loch today. It was pretty busy out there and I spent a pleasant couple of hours dodging traffic. There was the crane barge carrying piles to the new floating submarine dock at the top end of the Gareloch, and a submarine with its attendant tugs, warships, police boats and ribs making its way home.
Mariposa had to tack between the Rosneath peninsula and Greenock a couple of times before finishing off with a nice reach towards the Holy Loch Marina. Tied up to the visitor's pontoon I had a chance to try out Mariposa's 'new' gimballed primus (now gleaming like new) and had a bowl of soup and a cuppa.
The trip back started off with a light airs reach out of the Holy Loch, but by the time Mariposa was off Kilgreggan the wind had dropped to zero. Committed to taking SWMBO to the pictures that evening I had little choice but to fire up the Stuart Turner and motor the rest of the way home. The new fuel pipe installation proved its worth and the engine started and ran without any problems at all.

21st May 2009
The fuel line on Mariposa runs from the bottom of the aft locker in a fairly gentle slope to the bottom of the carburettor. I've always had trouble getting the carb to fill quickly as vapour was getting trapped in the fuel line. Today I routed the fuel pipe in a conduit straight to the bottom of the bilge under the engine and then brought it vertically up to the carburettor. Vapour can now make its way back to the tank far easier than before, and any vapour in the relatively short length below the carb is easily displaced.
Murray Caldwell of Nicholson's Sails came down and took some final measurements for Mariposa's new mainsail.

14th May 2009
Louise and I spent a couple of hours beating out towards the Sugar Ship until the spray coming over the bows made us decide to return to the mooring.

3rd May 2009
Went to the Irvine boat jumble, but the organisers must have picked the wrong date as it turned out to be the only nice day sandwiched between days of heavy rain! It was a good jumble and I picked up a number of items for Mariposa. I got a new Bruce anchor, chain and warp; a selection of tufnol blocks; and wonders of wonders, a genuine gimbal mounted Primus stove. This little gem dates from 1956 so is of just the right vintage to grace Mariposa's miniscule galley. If you ever see a soot stained individual with singed eyebrows stalking the harbours and marinas of the Clyde, that'll be me.

2nd May 2009
I moved Mariposa from a pontoon at Rhu out to her mooring. It's a miserable wet blustery day so never bothered with a sail. I did however spend some time hand-stitching some repairs to Mariposa's old working jib. It's an old sail with more repairs to its seams than original thread, but it does set well. I'll get Mariposa new headsails when I convert her to cutter rig.
Contacted a couple of sailmakers to quote for a new mainsail.

1st May 2009
That's the mast up and the rigging sorted out.

Mariposa , which means 'butterfly' in Spanish, is a 2 1/2 ton Hillyard designed and built by David Hillyard of Littlehampton. She was probably built late 1951 as Hillyards took delivery of the engine in February 1952.

Mariposa still has her original Stuart Turner PM5 marine engine. I know this, as Fairways Marine, before they went bust, sent me the original factory test certificate! Originally fitted with a Wipac magneto my Stuart Turner now has a Lucas SR1 magneto.

I have a small charcoal heater to fit sometime this season. It's a Pansy charcoal heater, still manufactured by Pascal Atkey on the Isle of White.