I had a good time on the Isle of Man and tracked down a long lost cousin, then stayed on to do the tourist stuff. I took the lovely little train up to the summit of Snaefell, where it was very misty so there was no view at all.

 On the sea front at Douglas I met a horse called Charles, who didn't say much and couldn't make eye contact on account of the blinkers he is made to wear. He pulls a tram and the blinkers mean he is not distracted.

Peel Harbour was very pleasant and picturesque.

My immediate neighbours were a bit chavtastic. Your eyes do not deceive you - that really is a domestic TV satellite dish strapped to the rail at the stern. Goes well with the subtle lighting effects.

I left Peel on Friday in the middle of the day once the tide was high enough for the harbour gate to open. I was thinking of going to the south of the island to anchor overnight but there was a big swell running from the east and my proposed anchorages were a bit open to it, so as the weather was good I decided to crack on to Wales.

I was approaching the Welsh coast when the engine overheated. I managed to sort it but half an hour later it did it again.

Now I was in a fast tide off Holyhead, in a shipping separation zone, at midnight, pitch dark, and not even enough wind to out-sail the tide. Prudence required that I call the coastguard and just let them know what was going on, and they took matters out of my hands. They weren't having a drifting boat in their shipping lanes, so they called up the lifeboat to escort me. Well, I was making 2 knots and the lifeboat wasn't happy with that - they wanted me out of the way more quickly, which I can understand. So they took me in tow. Unfortunately the tow revealed a bit of a problem on the foredeck, and there was quite a bit of damage. Here's the lifeboat - big beast.

Saturday was spent getting some stuff to make a fix to get me back home, and Sunday in making the repairs to the deck. One of the lifeboat engineers has looked at the engine and fixed a tiny fault on the water pump, which may have been the cause of the problem.  It was the only thing he could find. Engine seems fine, but I will only know for sure when I have done a few hours on it.

Here's the damage and the repair.

 The mooring bollard and anchor winch both ripped out. The bolts below are a centimetre thick!

  The pulpit took the weight but is now bent. Thankfully it did not pull out, otherwise the forestay and sail furler might have been damaged.

By Sunday afternoon it was all looking a bit better.

In the winter I will have it all apart again for a permanent fix, but this will get me home. The bollard is fixed through a relatively undamaged bit of the deck and there's another plate of ply on the underside, and the bolts go through the lot. It will be fine for mooring ropes but I'm not sure I'd risk it on the anchor in any sort of blow.