Another Surprise

With the onset of the winter months, November has been pretty mild and skipper made use of another bright and sunny day to take me out, not just me either.

Early Thursday morning (16th) skip and his crew turned up with bags of food, prepared me and slipped my lines and we headed down river.  I thought it odd that the fenders had been left out but that was soon explained by landing at Shepards once more.  Within 30 minutes four more people turned up plus two dogs and once aboard, a quick safety talk with tea and we set off.  Winds were slightly stronger than skip had expected but still light.  The new crew consisted of two elderly people, one of which didn't have sea legs, so skippers thoughts of flying Thor Junior upwind was not going to happen. The second was in remission, which is why they had come down for a week to stay with their son.  However, with the main sheeted into the centre, healing reasonably, I was achieving a healthy 7-8kts, with the tide mind but it only took six tacks to be heading directly into Totland Bay where we were to anchor for lunch. My AIS on Marine Traffic showed almost identical taking angles all the way up the Western Solent.

Lunch consisted of another homemade beetroot Gravlax, crusty bread and salad and of course Prosecco (orange juice for the ex-patient).

Despite it being sunny the temperature was reflecting more the time of year and the elderly couple had to sit inside my saloon to stay warm.

A crisp evening

In order to get the visitors back in time to enable them to open up their restaurant for the evening, as soon as lunch was over, the anchor was raised and we headed back, leaving the boys downstairs washing & drying up.  The main was raised and sheeted in tight but with a complete lack of wind the engine was left to do the work. Skipper kept me over to the mainland side to pick up the stronger tidal stream home.  A quick call to the Yacht Haven suggested there was a space to drop off our guests, as this is a shorter walk to their place than Shepards, but on arrival, space wasn't great and skip spotted much more room inside. So he took me past the entrance to the north basin and reversed me in, enabling the passengers to disembark. With the folks gone and making the way out, my crew took me back to my pontoon once more.  Skip dropped off his crew member shortly after landing to catch up with the builders before they left for the day and returned to sort me out as usual clearly pleased with the way the day had panned out.

A brief but enjoyable runout.

Corporate Day !

Well, I'm surprised.  On Friday (06/10/17), my skipper turned up early in the day which was unusual, but more strangely he set about bringing in the wheel & winch covers, unzipped the main attached the halyard and set the warps to slips.  Strange as he was on his own and no signs of his crew or anyone else turning up.

With my engine now running, gas on and a brew going, it was just after 0915 when he slipped my lines and pointed me down river on his own!  Most strange.  Autopilot on he busied himself and brought the fenders and warps in, even stranger was that we passed Sheppards and the Yacht Haven without stopping and continued out into the Solent.  We were obviously meeting somebody as he kept looking at the time and my speed, not great given that the tide was on the way out and was on the nose as we continued to head across the Solent passing the Bramble Bank. Engine revs increased and as appears to be common now, the rev counter dropped away despite skipper taking all the connections off at the back of it and cleaning them, still, the alternator was doing its thing.  His phone went about 3 times as we crossed over into Southampton water and at least the same again as we passed the Hamble and the Itchen to finally stop at Town Quay, where five people were standing waiting.

With fenders set high skip brought me along the outside of the wave break and one chap took the midship line and to be quite honest didn't quite know what to do with it.  After it was secured, I had drifted someway of the pontoon and it took two of them to pull me in against the wind and tie up my bow & stern.  With that done, the people came on board and skip made them a cup of tea and explained all my safety features and handed out lifejackets.

Once the Red Jet had left its terminal, my lines were slipped and I was pointed back out into Southampton Water once more.  We headed out and turned the nose in towards the Itchen and skipper got the new crew to raise the main, with that done and a quick check on the other vessels, out came the jib and off went the engine. We were sailing at last.

We tacked our way down to the Solent, skip giving different people a chance to helm and reminded them to keep out of the way of the traffic.  As we approached the Hamble River the new 585 was being tested by Inspiration Marine with Phil on the helm and Yachting Monthly on board.  Phil & my skipper have known each other since I was brought down South and so an exchange of pleasantry's was had.  On leaving Southampton Water we headed West, but the wind was starting to disappear and time was moving on and by the time we passed the West Bramble Cardinal Buoy skipper decided that it was time to turn round.  Not before lunch was served, a case of handing out baguettes plus one salad and a few drinks.  With the jib rolled and the main pulled in, on went the donk and off we motored back to Town Quay.  With everyone dropped off, skip pulled me off the pontoon and we headed home under engine.

His next timeline was to get back to Cowes where he met his usual crew member at the Yacht Haven to take my lines, then it was a case of the two of them taking me back to my usual pontoon and tidy me up maybe for another much-needed surprise trip.