Portstewart Strand on pinhole

We've just had our first storm of the year (Arwen) and it was a biggie.  We had a ton of branches down around our house and a whole shed-load of detritus spread over the yard.  Thankfully no structural damage.  Hopefully we won't see too many more like that.  

A couple of days before it hit I ventured down to Portstewart Strand for a dander with the Walker 4x5 pinhole.   It was very windy, but safe enough as the tide was well out.  Anyway, I hiked all of, oh, 30 metres up the dunes and set up the tripod beside a big cactus-like plant that was, like me, getting blown about something serious.  Two sheets of film and twenty-four seconds later and I was done - camera and tripod went back in the car and I took myself down the beach for a walk.  It was bracing...but nice all the same.  Well, the hailstones weren't that nice truth be told but with the wind so strong the shower was soon over.  A rare moment of common sense came upon me shortly after and I turned for home and the relative safety and tranquility of the darkroom:

Up on the dunes of Portstewart Strand with some Foma 200 rated at 50.  Developed in HC-110, printed on Foma 133 paper.  I've the second sheet still to develop as I'm not too sure about times with HC-110 and the Uniroller yet.  This one I gave 6m 40s, with 1:50 dilution and I'm going to give the second sheet a tad longer to see if a bit more detail comes out in the foreground.  1:50 is not a normal dilution for HC-110 but it sure is easy to work out the relative quantities...6ml for 300ml in this case.  But I have a problem.  What used to be a small leak on the drum has turned into a major leak - I got about 50ml back in the measuring jug afterwards - I was surprised there was no streaking on the negative.  There are actually two gaskets in the Uniroller - a weird plastic affair which fits under the raised portion of the lid and a deeper set rubber o-ring.  I'm still trying to make sense of the various articles on 'Uniroller gasket repair' on the various forums - everyone has their own solution, it appears.  Mostly they say that over time (we're talking a tad over 40 years in this case) the plastic ring hardens and no longer does its job.  I've used a smear of petroleum jelly and up to now that's been OK but clearly there's been a fundamental change in the situation and further action is required.  I know there are many ways to develop 4x5 sheets and if I can't get the seal issue sorted then I'll have to look into what's out there.  I've tried tray processing and it's a bit painful - I'd prefer a daylight solution.

The pinhole did a decent job of capturing the movement of the grasses and shrub.  I wonder what the Hasselblad would have made of it.  Worth a return visit to find out, I reckon.