The Winklebrig Forum

Joe tells me that Martha is now sold.

Gosh - that looks easy! Your mast seems to be made out of balsa wood compared to mine. But I shall have a go with your set-up and see how I get on - it's far better than all my tackles and A-frames.

Just for interest, I've weighed my mast and it seems to be just over 19 kgs with the shrouds and halyards.

Another video from our Ireland trip showing how easy recovering a Winkle Brig can be with a breakback trailer arrangement.  No wet feet and no dunking wheel bearings in water.  Also the tow car is kept well up the slip.
Search youtube for 'VID 20170918 101523'

WB25 "Rogue" SHAKEDOWN TRIP TO NORFOLK BROADS September 2017

This was the first time I've put my pride and joy in the water (in fact, the first time I've put any boat in the water off a trailer) so I chose the Norfolk Broads for its large bodies of non-tidal fresh water. Slipways with adjacent trailer parking are few and far between on the NBs so I based myself at Whispering Reeds boatyard on Hickling Water. There is a public staithe and slipway with parking only 100 m round the corner but this is for dinghies only and charges apply.

The charges at Whispering Reeds were:
Use of the slipway, £10 each way.
Trailer parking for one week, £15.
Car parking for one week, £15.
There was also a one week Broads Authority visitors license which I bought through them at about £25.

CONS
* Plenty of low overhead wires (see photo) means that you have to put the mast up immediately before entering the water and put it down again immediately after leaving the water. Fortunately the boatyard was, in mid-September, fairly quiet so this wasn't a bit problem.
* The boatyard is open from 8:30am till 5pm. There is no access to the slipway outside these times. However the parking area and pedestrian access to the private staithe is available at all hours.
* There's a very tight angle to get onto the slipway (about 70 degrees) (see photo). I didn't find it a problem with the front tow hitch fitted to my Land Rover Defender but another guy launching there took several shuffles in his brand new Land Rover Discovery to get it right.

PROS
* I don't have much experience but the prices seemed reasonable to me.
* The boatyard is very laid-back, it's quiet, and there's plenty of room to faff about getting sorted out. This results in low stress levels.
* 100 m from the boatyard and you're on the largest broad. There's a marked channel but I sailed all over the broad with both boards down and never ran aground.

Most important of all, I got in two launches and two recoveries with some good sailing in between.

Yes, it was a wet and windy week and I'd have liked to have done more sailing. But the boat is safely tucked up for the winter now and I can get on with a few minor jobs knowing that next season I'm all "good to go".

The only way to do it safely single handed is to moor up before and after the two Potter Heigham bridges.  There are dedicated moorings for yachts which are raising/lowering masts, west bank downstream (south west) by Herbert Woods quay and upstream (north east) on the east or west bank.  With experience, shooting Potter Heigham (with a motor) is no problem with two on board.  We do a lot of mast lowering and raising when on canals for bridges, power lines and tunnels and it only takes 5 seconds to lower and less than 10 seconds to raise with the boom and gaff jaws safely stored away from the mast.
Sorry my video has got well and truly lost with time, but it did show how holding the running forstay halyard with your teeth and taking up the slack whilst simply pushing up the mast comes in handy.  I will try and make a new video when we are next out on Markie, September in Northern Ireland.