New Windows

Friday the 21st and my crew came to collect me from Hamble Point Marina, all my deck windows finally replaced & I should now be water tight from the water line up.  The weather was glorious with sunshine & light winds, although as the Hamble disappeared behind me the sky darkened above Southampton skies.  We waited for another boat to head to wind off my starboard quarter behind me before following suit, my main went out as the jib already out flapped with impatience before bearing away and filling my canvas with what wind was available.

There were a few boats out with me but which always surprises me how busy this area generally is.  A beautiful sunset was looming to the West as was a typical large ugly car transporter heading down Southampton Water on its way to the Channel.  The wind very light, my skipper opted to go in under engine and ensure I wasn't going to impede her safe passage, nor put me in any kind of risk.

Sunset in the Solent

The tide in the Medina was strong but we arrived at my berth as the light was failing and my crew packed me up and headed off in to the darkness.

A Year

Its been a year almost to the day that I was woken up and moved from my home port of Inverkip some 800nm to my new home of the Medina River in Cowes, the hub of the sailing world, at the other end of the country.

Its been an interesting year, in that following my travels down repairs to replace a port side port hole (window) to the master cabin were needed, the electric winch stopped working as had the windex instruments, both rear speakers in the cock pit port side, the oiled fired heating stopped working and every pulley or spinlock was either seized or tight with salt deposits.

In additional to this 'maintainance', a new wind generator has been fitted & wired in; a switch to increase my amp hours for longer passages joining two banks of batteries together when needed; a new halyard; a gybe preventor, a 'flopper stopper' and a 32amp to 16amp socket convertor for when I'm put on a pontoon where only 32amp sockets are available plus I'm wearing a mesh between the rails, abaft the beam as they say (more to prevent people pinching the odd instrument cover) but it is safer

The wind generator is a Marlec 914i the new generation of equipment and works very well toppoing up the batteries 24/7.  Although during windy nights the transfer of vibration can be heard throughout my cabins, worst obviously in the rear port side where it has been fitted above.  A rubber matting is being sourced to counteract that before finally securing everything down.

The simple switch matches those I already have under the chart table and links the three service batteries with the bank of four used for the winch, bow thruster & windlas, which to be honest is mainly used when the engine is on & so the 85Ah alternator is supplying the power.

A new halyard was fitted to provide a spare for now, but then the riggers who were called in to check the tension of my shrouds may have spotted a crack in one of the pins that hold a spreader to the mast.  Although my skipper has since been up and challenged this with them, so we'll see what the outcome of that will be.

The gybe preventor is a simple line with a quick release shackle on the end so it can be unclipped and secured to a warp and lead back to a winch as required, without putting the crew at risk in a rolling sea.

The 'flopper stopper' is genius, a simple triangular piece of marine ply with an anode fitted to the front & three lines brought up to a swivel.  This when under anchor is lowered over the side acts as a hyraulic brake to ease the rolling motion.  As I roll to the side where it's deployed at the end of my boom it dives down, then as I try to roll back with the next wave it flattens off and the water captured across its width tries to push up against that above it and so slows the rolling process, clever.

So lots of things have been going on especially during my summer trip and there's more on the way.  I've heard of talk about Copper Coating to replace my wearing out anti-fouling.  So I am being looked after and used although the summer hasn't been a great one weather wise plus theyhave Dagmar House to renovate too.  I'm off to the main dealers again to have the deck windows replaced this week, so after a year I'll finally be fully water tight once more !

Just the windex instruments and the VHF radio that keeps cutting out at the rear despite replacing the speaker, but the Southampton boat show is about to commence, so you just know who my skipper has on his list of people to see !

Summer Holidays

I knew something was going on, I did say didn't I, things were being done food stuffs were being brought on board.  Well come the 2nd August the rest of the bits came on board along with my crew and my lines were cast & we set off, where - I had no idea.

I hadn't been feeling quite myself & as we left the Medina to head west all was not well, I was hot and what water was cooling my engine was bellowing steam, a check on the temperature light didn't reveal anything untoward but all the same steam it was & lots of it.  My crew readied me to sail & to get the main up quickly and so enable my engine to be rested, however it took a while to get me on song the wind was strong the waves a tad angry and my crew probably a little rusty.

In fact the wind was strong enough for my skipper to call an early stop over and a call was made to Yarmouth, I haven't been in there just passed it several times.  The action of the waves had cleared my head it also cleared what ever had gave me indigestion as the engine was back on song and its tune was back to its usual self and I was eventually rafted next to a Benetteau to rest for the night.  The following morning I was moved out to pick up a moring buoy whilst my skipper waited for the tide to be right, when it was off we went again and I felt my crew had come on song also and we sailed west with ease.

                                       Sunset in Swanage Bay
                                 
By mid afternoon my anchor was out and released in Swanage Bay a busy little place full of holiday makers.  I was mooved again the following day as I was going to be in the middle of some races, unfortunately the weather seemed reluctant to be in any hurry to change so a second night was had.  In the morning I was soon under sail round Anvil Point light house & with the Olympics in full swing, Weymouth Bay was out of bounds, in fact two frigates where patrolling round when I passed.  It may have slipped my skippers mind or a fact time had moved quicker or slower than anticipated but the breaking waves in front meant that the Portland races which are alive for 10 hours out of 12 were now coming my way.  My speed a good 6 knots had increased to 9 and the sea became incredibly confused but my rudder was biting so my course was altered to a more southerly one and after about 5 minutes the sea became flatter and the race appeared to have been won.  Within 20 minutes it was clear blue skies flat seas and you could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was !

Lyme Regis in the middle of Lyme Bay was the next stop and a call ahead suggested an outside buoy would have enough depth, my skipper woke early in the morning just to check & with 0.5m & calm seas he went back to bed although the swell was something that had to get used to.

The wind came & went but my crew kept my sails up all the way to Torquay, although the engine came on for a while as speed dropped as would've the light.

Torquay

Torquay, was ok but the area has suffered from recession according to my skipper.  My water tanks were duly filled and we left about lunchtime, the weather not great, drizzly and the wind, the Achilles heal of August had built up.  I was guided around the Cornish Riviera and headed out to sea before tacking back towards Dartmouth.  This was probably the first time my crew had put wet gear on but I was flying on a single reef with some jib pulled in.

Dartmouth was beautiful and my crew took me all the way up river to Dittersham, but unfortunately all of the 5 buoys that are capable of taking 12m + boats had been taken so I was turned round & headed back to look for a suitable visitors mooring.  I was cheekily parked on an MOD buoy for the night and it wasn't long before I was moved on in the morning but at least it was a free night.  A visitors pontoon was soon located for deep draught vessels and my crew went ashore to explore the town & settle up with the harbour authority.

Lovely Dartmouth

Typical British Summer

More of Dartmouth

After leaving the valley I was taken out into the bright sunshine, with all sails out the wind was very fickle, some boats around me turned back.  Eventually the donk came on as I headed to Salcombe, now this isn't an easy entry for a deep draught vessel like me as there's a quite shallow bar at the entrance unless you come in close to the cliff.  As I was heading there close to low water my skipper was checking the charts and called the shots all the way in.

Whilst the whole inlet is another gem on the south coast it was rammed every possible buoy had been taken, apparently it was their regatta week complete with fireworks.  We ambled up the river and tried to anchor mid river but couldn't get the anchor to hold, however I was moved on to a spot where anchoring was permitted in a beautiful spot in a nature reserve and watched from a distance the fireworks

Fireworks from the Barge

Spectacular if some what distant

The hill separating the town from my quiet anchorage

A couple of nights were spent here with the crew disappearing for a while whilst my skipper plugged in his lap top to undertake some work.  The following day I was surrounded by fleets of boats sailing various races around me.

From Salcombe, I started to head back east and called in to Brixham once over the bar.  Prices didn't vary much but what you paid for was, the pontoon, called the events pontoon had no water or power.  Brixham itself was marginely better than Torquay and my crew caught the diving finals that was coming from the Olympic village in Stratford.

Brixham at night

As the Olympics were still on at Weymouth till the final closing ceremony on Sunday, my crew had decided to go back to Lyme Regis & see the event from a local pub.  Only problem with this was that the south to south westerly winds had caused quite a swell in the bay and climbing on board the dingy from the swimming platform was more than interesting at the best of times.  Occasionally the boat would dip beneath the platform & try to spring board any body who happened to be standing on it in to the water.  Fortunately no body succumbed and they headed off.

Instead of mooring the dingy where they called in before, the skipper took the little rubber boat into the old harbour itself.  He took a strange route squeezing between other boats until the outboard grounded.  So armed with paddles as punt sticks worked his way to the side & tied up the boat.

On their return the tide had come in slightly and he opted to go via the more normal access route.  On arrival and with my deck lights & cockpit lights on to provide light on the proceedings, still the action of the waves were trying to make things difficult for them.  There was no getting away with dilly dallying you had to be bold & expect that something was going to get wet, fortunately this was mainly limited to shoes.

The weather in the morning wasn't great the wind was blowing 25-30 knots, but there was a window in which my skipper wanted to arrive at Portland.  He didn't want to go through that episode again.  So for the first time I sailed with a second reef and half the jib out, it was easy & I felt comfortable never over powered and reactive to the commands from the helm.  The wind eased & the second reef was shaken out, the drizzle stopped and the wind dropped further all reefs were taken out and the sun now dried my sails.  We sailed all along Chesil Beach and had to tack out to clear Portland itself, my skipper got the timings spot on this time and with about 2-3 mins of non breaking waves we entered the inner passage and lost the wind till out of Portland's shadow.

It was a beautiful late afternoon and as the wind returned we sailed slowly towards Weymouth, where mooring fees had dropped from £252 during the Olympics to £36 for a night.

All club boats festooned with Olympic flags

in Weymouth

I've been here before this is where my water pump was replaced last time & so as to remind them my water pump again was playing up.  Was it that muck had entered the pipe work when I was shaken up during the Portland races the first time ? It was discovered that if you shook the sink tap in the galley it would work but slowly this got worse.  My skipper took the hose from the pontoon and connected it directly to my pipe work & turned it full on together with all my taps after all the air had cleared, all the nozzles where taken off to clear debris from behind the mesh grilles, however this didn't cure the problem.

It was my skipper intention to stop off in Lulworth Cove & he contacted a former Fastnet team member who worked near by.  Coincidently he was taking a group by sea kyacks in to the Cove himself the same day, but with the wind too much in the southerly point of the compass he sailed on by as entry & exit would be dangerous to attempt.  It was commented that it was great to surf in on the sea kyacks so I am glad my skipper thought better of it.

So it was back to Swanage Bay and the anchor, however after several attempt were the weed got the better of us.  We weighed anchor for the last time & picked up a mooring buoy instead, as the sea was still fairly lively at least a buoy would give piece of mind but the droug deployed before had been lost in Lyme Regis.  This was less of a swell than the night before & I can reasonably sit out in these seas without too much discomfort down below.

With my next destination Poole only round the corner of Studland Bay, we left Swanage under sail & sail out to enable a single tack back.  A freighter was leaving as we came in, the small entrance opened up into a huge expanse of water and my crew lead me all the way down to Town Quay & I was parked right by the promenade.  My skipper had my water pump apart the following day having searched for a blow up diagram from the internet they worked out that there was a pressure switch that was either blocked or malfunctioning.  It had come out of adjustment and soon I had the best water pressure I had ever had before and with shore power & fresh water in my tanks I could provide at last no reason to ever want to visit marina showers again.

A few people arrived the following day and were shown around, they soon left after lunch and my crew had their first meal ashore so far, fish & chips.  My galley had up to then had some lovely smells coming from the cooker but not today.

When we left Poole my skipper opted to take the north channel which had altered as a pair of additional channel buoys had appeared and with a careful eye on the depth & the charts.  0.1m separated my keel from the sea bed 

Buy now my team had confidence about all the races that they had come across but still that had taught them to respect them so the Needles another notoriously dangerous stretch of water was on the cards.  Again timings were such that the tide had turned drawing me in while my skipper was studying charts at where to anchor for the night.  As we past Totland Bay they noted a number of boats at anchor so with a quick recce of the charts I was turned round and headed to a suitable spot where I had enough depth at low tide & out came the anchor once more.  The anchor bit immediately and the sails were stowed in case the wind picked up over night.  In fact the reverse happened, fog rolled in as the wind died and the sea flattened, soon we were in an eerie seascape.  It was the quietest night for a long time, apart from the distant sound of the fog horn from the Needles light house nothing else disturbed me.

Fog rolling in

Totland shoreline

Due to the son & his partner of my crew arriving in Britain, my skipper had arranged for a pick up at Ocean Village in Southampton and so the next morning still with little wind, off we set with the tide & tick over from the engine.  My skipper took the opportunity with little in the way of other boats to undertake two 360 spins to try to get the Windex to play ball but to no avail.  Eventually the wind picked up and we were able to sail up Southampton Water before dropping the sails & entering the marina.

One of their suitcases was still in Turkey so a delay in their arrival was inevitable, but they did arrive without case.  Jonathan had been on me before but was very wary of my every move, so my skipper had planned not to go too far the following day and in fact set up the day to finish at Gun Wharf around the corner so that the girls could go shopping.  We actually visit the three forts in the east of the Solent, these were built by King Henry VIII to protect his armada from attack by the French.

The wind had again built up & I was put behind a Thames barge with a huge rudder to the rear with two smaller yachts in front.  My skipper took the helm & after abandoning the first attempt took two more goes before getting me in stern first before leaping off to tie me up and haul the bow in.

                

            Gun Wharf by Day                                       Gun Wharf by Night

After getting permission from the Queens Harbour Master we left to cross the channel and cut the bank before the Swashway & headed towards Ryde where a huge motor cruiser had anchored.  The wind was such that I was cruising at 7 knots at 300 degrees but around 4 at 180.  We soon reached Cowes where my crew jumped ship leaving my skipper & the two new arrivals to take me up to Yarmouth.  They attempted to haul up the main but the wind was picking up and with a new person on the helm I had started to turn.  Skip decided to drop the main again & as I was already at 6 knots with the tide he'd leave me ticking over in gear and we'd motor on up.

Once in Yarmouth & secured my crew arrived surprised to see that everything was in order, so with bags packed the two new arrivals left to see what works had been done at Dagmar House.

My team arrived back a couple of days later and picked up one of my skippers friends from the ferry, the forecast was not good again the plan to circumnavigate the island & finish at Studland Bay didn't look likely even plan B to go to Brighton was not likely either.  In the end a powerful sail in the conditions ending anchoring in Osborne Bay as the weather moved in.  It wasn't the only thing to move, come high tide my anchor became loose and my skipper queried the fact that a ketch anchored near by was passing by got everyone on their feet.  I was taken back around and anchored again at the same spot this time with a bit more chain out the anchor took hold, all could rest for the night.

Queen Victoria's retreat - Osborne House

& beach

In the morning the forecast was for more bad weather, my skipper took me over Ryde Middle & Bramble bank to pick up the north channel and head back up Southampton water.  With the wind gusting & a single reef in I was slightly over powered for a while but my skipper recognised this and reefed the jib further & eased the main and I settled down again.  He took the helm and another freighter opted to head towards us it is so busy in the Solent, skip dropped my to the southern side of the channel to give enough room for it to pass safely.  We sailed passed Town Quay and went up river to the freighter terminal before turning round & heading in.

I was left here with my crew whilst my skipper & his friend left in the morning to head up for his sons 21st birthday.

On his return on the Monday morning the wind hadn't abated any and he decided that he was not really in any shape to take on Mother nature and his crew wasn't feeling great either, so after a spot of lunch we all headed back to my home in the Medina to see if my berth was free, it was & I was slotted back in. My colleagues were all there as if nothing had happen for the whole month, but it was good to be back.

The last week or so was a bit hectic not helped by the weather, but my crew & skipper had grown in confidence with me and could sort me out in all weathers.  They'd learned more about my make up and sorted out some niggling problems including finding that the selonoid that controlled the electric winch was at fault.

It was a good month and look forward to next years trip.