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.
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