SB3 - Serene Affair

Whilst I know my skipper will be busying himself looking up weather predictions and pouring over surface pressure charts during the lead up to the Round the Island Race this coming Saturday  (27th June).  He's also been overlooking the whereabouts of my new sail, from the suppliers to the art workshop and somehow back to me.

Amongst all of this he and his crew, will be preparing Dagmar House and the food for the 7 guests that are about to descend for the weekend.

If there's was to be any time to sit down and take stock, then this has been used to promote the sale of his other pride and joy Serene Affair - the SB3 that used to be on the hard at Shepards for a while till he moved it to an indoor secure unit, closer to where he used to live.

My skipper had brought it down from the largest reservoir in southern England, where he used to potter about in it many years ago, in an attempt to undertake a sail for Charity.  Nothing trivial as you'd expect from my skipper, no, he was going to attempt Cowes to Cherbourg in the 6.1m dinghy !  He'd arrange a land crew to bring it back from French soil and free passage from Brittany Ferries.  He'd arranged for friends to be on board a ghost yacht that would also cross the channel and pick up  radio messages and relay them back to the coast guard to report hourly positions, as well as being first call if a problem was encountered.

So the SB3 was brought down to Warshash, in the Hamble and he signed up for three of the Spring series races, just to learn how to sail the dinghy once more, one of those was becalmed.  After that he sailed it over to Cowes, when the following year it was entered in to the Round the Island Race and crewed only by my crew, there was no third person.  That year the 80th event, the wind was far too strong for such boats so having woken early, returned home.

Now Serene Affair, is to be sold to a Danish Charity sailing school, similar to UKSA here where I'm moored close to.  My skipper has been running around unrolling sails to take pictures, up to the boat to take some more and make sure that everything is together.  I wish her well in her new home and hope she brings many years of joy to the young.

                                                  SB3 - Serene affair

Last year I too didn't make it round, not due to too much wind but due to the lack of it.  Becalmed at St Catherine's point and opting to abandon the race to get back at a reasonable time.  That year I had trouble with my fan belt, this, there should be no issues I know of.

Preparations will no doubt heat up as the day closes in. I'll be in Black group and have a start time of 0740. My skipper has been told not to put the sponsors logo on my hull, as he's still got a small patch of the old glue to remove from last time !  Hopefully my new sail will arrive, due Thursday pm now slipped till Friday morning !  I'm not aware of any last minute works he's intending to do, but that doesn't mean to say there isn't.

You can keep an eye on my progress by looking at http://ngtrack2.ngresults.co.uk/raceplayer/ find the tab for boat name and enter Norse King.

I'll let you now how my crew did after the race.

Glorious June - Part II

You have to pick your days, but there are some sunny ones in amongst the not so sunny ones and this weekend was no different.  The weekend started with a busier river than normal.  This I understand to be due to the Isle of Wight Festival being held near Newport the main town that the last of the navigable Medina flows through.

Saturday afternoon my skipper arrived and spoke to the small yacht that had been sitting in the vacated space of Polly Agatha's having lunch.  Once on board he fired up my electrics to discharge my battery bank that had been and still was, being charged by the Marlec wind generator. With the radio on and the VHF in the back ground, each of my four winches were taken apart, cleaned re-greased, re-assembled and tested. Two pins that failed to come out plus the electric winch drive gear, stopped him from getting to my parts 100%, but at least they were re-greased if not completely taken apart.  Am sure he'll not let that rest and will soon have them apart again.

Next he was in the engine bay checking the oil in my iron sail and topping up the coolant level, finishing off by cleaning around the engine.

Before he left the pontoon, he checked the Craftsmans Art, the ketch behind me. It had been pulled tighter in to the pontoon so hopefully if I was to go out it wouldn't be such an obstacle as it was last weekend.

Sunday started misty, come 1030 and my crew arrived and got me ready to slip.  With the wind to the north west and no Polly Agatha in front, my bow was soon blown off, with the stern slipped, we motored out. There were several large schooners and other wooden gaff rigged boats in full sail, shortly followed by two lound bangs from the start cannons from the Royal Yacht Squadron.  It's said that those cannons were gifted to the then newly formed RYTS and that they were the cannons from Henry VIII's childrens minature galleons he had had made for them.

The wind was coming from the north by north west and so pointing to windward, my main was raised until it reached the first reef, put in whilst on the pontoon. Once my course was set the sails were adjusted and off we went, westwards. The wind was fickle and the sun threatening to come out.  Within an hour the reef was shacken out as the wind max'd at 12 knots. Salopette's & coats too came off as the sun burned through and by the time I was crossing the paths of the Yarmouth to Lymington ferry's the wind too had dropped to between 3-5 knots.  The iron sail was re-ignited and I was motored in to Totland Bay.

With little wind and glorious sunshine my crew had lunch in the cockpit, the tranquillity only broken by a RIB towing a water skier near the beach.  They had time to relax, although my skipper chose to service the pulleys and jib furling system and did the washing up. With the last of the ebb slowly making its way between the narrows at Hurst Castle, my anchor was raised.  Whilst my skiper was stowing the anchor, a process of swing it up in an arc and down in to its locker, using the hydraulic dampers and springs, the rib appeared saying that I was dragging an orange buoy.  Once the skipper worked out what they were saying he pulled said buoy out of the bucket and showed them ! This he uses tied at the front of the anchor to show others where my anchor is and so hopefully avoid anchoring close by.  Also if the anchor fouls on something then it can be towed backwards and away from the problem.

With the anchor stowed, the main hoisted, a back eddy was used to push me in.  By the time we reached the narrow gap between Hurst Castle and Fort Albert the tide had indeed begun to flood.  The wind however was more fickle than ever in its direction and only by adjusting course could he insure that the sail didn't gybe over.  Polly Agatha  was back on her berth and I was lined up facing both wind and tied and soon was directed at my spot between the two.

Next time out is for the Round the Island Race I heard and my new sail may be ready in time !

Glorious June Part I

It has been a few weeks since my skipper last came down, the fishing vessel that had appeared at the end of the pontoon has now been oustead and replaced with the very large ketch, Craftsmen. This may only be temporary as she's been on the outside of the Yacht Haven since the begining of the year but the week just gone has been busy down there with the bicenteenary of the Royal Yacht Squadron Sailing Club, culmanating with a visit from the Duke of Kent and the Royal Yacht moored outside of the Medina, which of course meant that HMS Northumberland too has been moored outside all week, undertaking security checks in and around the area.  Although this is the place that Craftsman used to moor, so we'll see if he is moved back or stays.

Friday & Saturday were quite blustery and I'd heard one of the small privately owned cruise ships that had anchored in the Fairway outside of the harbour entrance, had dragged its anchor pulling up the gas pipe line from the mainland that serves Cowes.  So it was on Sunday my Skipper, crew and a dog arrived on the Sally taxi.  It was a sunny day and the wind had disappeared, the tide had just turned and was flooding the river once more.

I was made ready and soon the usual proceedure of turning the Marlec wind generator off, isolating the battery banks by flicking the master switch and priming the bow thruster was all done.  With the tide on my bow, the ballon fender was set up at the rear and the front line slipped. Selecting reverse the stern line pulled my back in against the fender and pontoon and the bow went out in to the tide. Once my skipper was happy that I was pointing clear of Polly Agatha in front, forward was selected and the stern line slipped. Once clear, my helm was handed over to the crew and Skipper pulled in the fenders and cleared the lines.

There were a lot of boats out there, as I past the Red Funnel car ferry, I could see two or three mini cruisers, the Royal Yacht, HMS Northumberland and two large motor cruisers all pointing towards the flood tide.  It being a sunny Sunday, the day boats were joining the race boats that were joined by the cruise boats.  A similar display of motor boats too.

Remembering to release the number one reef, but forgetting number two, my main was hoisted in to the blue clear skies, the jib too pulled and winched in on the partially serviced rear 46.  Just the wind had failed to come to the party, what wind there was, was used to set my sails, but that soon changed as the wind changed its mind and direction and eventually disappeared.  We drifted for a while in the sun, making sure that the dog had plenty of water.

My skipper did his usual trick with the fish research and by the end of the session had the same results. With nothing happening skywards, possibly too early for sea breezes and the fact that without a reasonable flow of water over my rudder, direction was optional, my engine went back on to tickover and I was put back in forward gear.  Eventually, my sails were dropped and I was turned round to head for Osborne Bay, with the tide coming in I was taken close in and the hook dropped.

After lunch and still with no signs that any sailing could be had anytime soon, they opted to head me back home.  However the Skipper ever the viglant chap had noticed a small motor boat drift past struggling to start its engine and called over to them.  Once the anchor had been stowed, he prepared towing lines using one of the warps and looped both ends around the main winch taking it over the rear winches through to the rear.  Then the 50m springing line was attached using a bowline loop and the free end passed to the motor boat to attach to the bow.  At a steady pace we trundled back to the Fairway, where the Skipper called up the Harbour Master and arranged for my new cargo to be handed over.

The Medina was busy, the swathe that the City Of Chichester had cleared in the main channel had soon been filled with boats again. My crew were soon in to their stride of making landing preparations.  The skipper sorting out the fenders where he wants them, getting the shore lines ready and priming the bow thruster.  Then once past the fuel pontoon he takes over and gets the feel for the actions of the wind and tide against my hull.  He then swings me round in a circle and adjusts steerage, throttle and checks the bow thrusters deployed and working.  Poly Agatha was out but in its place was a large RIB, the kind that deploys its own wheels and can drive up the beach. Craftsman stern was sticking quite a way out in to the river. As I approached the crew got the lines in hand and prepared to step off, but the overhang of Craftsman needed to be cleared first, with the power back on and feet to spare I was swung in to the pontoon and immediately swung out again as I came alongside, engine in reverse I slowed to a halt, bang on my mark.