Now you see it - Now you don't

First weekend of June, saw the Round The Island race, an annual event that my skipper entered a few years ago in his SB3 a racing dinghy.  However this year unlike the previous was pleased with plenty of sunshine and a steady 15 knots north easterly wind.

All during the Friday boats kept pouring in up the Medina and I have never seen so many; rafting 5 deep in  places on the other bank at East Cowes marina, even on my pontoon, boats were rafting where they could and still more kept coming in.  Unbeknown to me, my skipper had already arranged with the harbour commission to move me, allowing at least four boats to raft in my spot.  It wasn't till 1600, that he and his crew arrived and even by this time, a queue was building ready to take my space.

But where was I going to go, I hadn't been told, nor had I heard anything.  Once ready, I took my crew at a steady pace down stream to the open waters of the Solent, except nowhere was that open, with yachts everywhere.  Even more seemed to cram the sides as we passed Shepard's and Yacht Haven and the mooring buoy's to the east too were full.  Every boat seemed to have a battle flag of some description so the area was a sea of fluttering colour, all in unison with the steady breeze.  Pointing to windward the main went out and the jib unfurled and my sails filled as we bore away in a Westerly direction, leaving the mayhem behind me.

Soon in a steady rhythm, I was broad reaching an a starboard reach, but unfortunately one of the galley cupboard doors had become unlocked and deposited its contents all over the floor, smashing wine vinegar bottles and a cafetiere.  An hour later and I was through past Hurst Castle, passing on old Thames Barge heading for Yarmouth where even more boats had mustered, although these were a different age to those I left behind in Cowes.  I was swung back in to Totland Bay and soon the sails were down and I was edged closer to the shore line than I had been before.  Not offering much protection from the north to north easterly wind, the anchor was set in about 3.00m of water below my keel, with the tide having another 3 hours to ebb.  The sky varied from dark to pastel blue and I was all alone, no other vessel was here, just the on lookers on the beach, what a lovely way to spend an evening.  My skipper before sun down did raise two 'Sail 4 Cancer' flags either side and went below to read, whilst my deck & anchor lights burned in the darkness, until tiredness too got him and he turned them off leaving the anchor light glowing in the dark.

The first start time for the race is 0500 and with the constant north easterly wind it wasn't long before boats streamed past, like a trail of working ants going about their business.  Unfortunately the first movement of my crew was at 0600, when the kettle went on, by 0700 when a head appeared out of the companion way, most had gone through.  In fact this year record times were set.  I stayed put throughout the day, swaying in the wind more than the tide.  A few boats appeared and went again and my crew busied themselves cleaning, changing the fan belt and generally chilled under the sun.

During the evening the wind dropped completely and soon everything was quiet, bar the odd Oyster Catchers.

All quiet except - My skipper had, in order to prevent wind reverberation through, lazy jacks, halyards and topping lift, eased all the lines, except this time he was woken by the creaking noise coming as the weight of the boom & main rested on the vang and gooseneck.  Just enough to keep him awake but not enough to get him out of bed to sort it out.  Totland Bay become Totland Creek !

Sunday and after a brief breakfast, my crew weighed anchor and we headed east back past Hurst and in amongst the fleet of Gaff rigged boats.  The wind light the tide still strong, I was lead to the island side of the channel and tacked back & forth, in amongst the eddy, till that ran out and headed across towards Lymington.  Where eventually the wind too died and my donk (engine) had to go on to make head way back to Cowes.

Within 30 mins the wind returned and with a similar class yacht in front my crew did all they could to tweak the sails etc., to try to catch and pass.  Catch they did but not before it was time to swing in to wind and drop everything and head back up the Medina and home.  With one straggler still on my berth, the harbour master soon had a quite word and they moved off, working against the tide I glided slowly in and was secured another satisfactory weekend .

Third Time Lucky ?

Following my skippers last two attempts to get me over to France was thwarted by the good old British weather, I was surprised to see him back on board this Bank Holiday.  Surely the same bad weather during Bank Holiday Act would apply as before and scupper his plans, but no this was somehow different.

Instead of an early start at the first opportunity to go, he didn't arrive on board until 0930, no provisions to speak of, neither warm clothing other than those already in the cabin below.  He also turned up with a third member again, I'd seen him before, a long while ago, when I was taken out and back under engine only.  He had a huge bag with him, which was odd when he came on deck sporting an unusual attire for sailing, a pair of shorts, T-shirt and flip flops, to match the similar unusual weather for such a weekend, sunshine & light winds.

So light in fact that once out and in to the Solent, the tide was the only driving force and it was necessary to keep tight in to get the back eddy and make way, away from the main channel.  Within the hour and my ticking engine was turned off as the wind filled.  Soon trousers replaced shorts, shoes & socks replaced flip flops and even a jacket went over the jumper.  My skipper on the other hand being used to this sort of thing just put his shoes back on, but he too soon added a coat as the wind increased to 22 knots.  My main was reduced by a single reef and I sailed 30 degrees off it, which was now coming from where I was heading, the Needles.

At least by now the tide had turned in our favour and I was heading out to sea in a south westerly direction, so maybe France was not my destination afterall.   A discussion on deck and my skipper took a different heading I was going toStudland Bay for a late lunch before continuing to Poole.  I had been in there before but not the Bay.  I found out that the intended destination was Weymouth but with the direction of the wind it had taken longer to make way, so an alternative harbour was sort.

Studland Bay was full of all sorts of boats so I was taken straight down the outer channel into Poole harbour instead, following the huge Condor Catamaran, although tide was against us and progress was slow, but after another hour I was tied up, shore power on and my water tanks replenished.  During the evening the wind died down.

In the early hours I was woken by a rather annoying home made bird scarer that had been fitted to one of the huge gin palaces (motor cruisers) near by.  A twine stretched from the bow to the uppermost part of the super-structure hummed in an irregular way as the winds strength increased.  In fact the wind had increased to where it had left yesterday, which would make leaving this leeward berth an interesting exercise.  With my skipper at the controls and his crew standing by with fenders, I slipped out of the tightest of spaces and had a hairs breath between me and the ominous CQR anchors sticking out of the bows of motor cruisers on the other side.  With the wind blowing my skipper opted to bring me out in reverse, which he did with absolute control, even the presents of another huge motor cruiser manoeuvring in the entrance didn't phase him, he just shouted as it was clear the skipper on board the other vessel had no idea we were looming on them.

At least it proved one thing there is room for two in the entrance to Town Quay Marina.  There happened to be a freighter outside manoeuvring too, but at least he was going no where quickly and appeared to have his stern sorted, just waiting for his bow thruster to bite and push against the wind.  Once out of Poole Harbour and outer channel, no shallow north channel this time, my sails were set heading back to the island.  The clouds somewhere along the line had disappeared and the wind dropped to a steady 15 knots south by south westerly.  The tide too was running with me and 8 - 9 knots was not an uncommon speed over the ground.

The Shingles bank soon loomed up and I was held north of it, till such time as my crew were happy that there would be enough depth to cross over and pass Hurst Castle.  The Western Solent around Yarmouth & Lymington was busy, somebody must have spotted a shoal of fish, as there where a number of fishing boats anchored up looking like Porcupines with their spines sticking out at the back.

The spring tide was strong as I approached Cowes and it took a while to make progress, however this was a small price to pay and is always going to happen somewhere after six hours.  Better here than when approaching the Needles channel !  A successful few days, without it being uncommonly cold, wet or windy.

May Day !

After the disappointment of the weather at Easter, my skipper had set his sites on heading to Cherbourg over the May Bank Holiday.  According to his studies the weather was looking remarkably favourable,- a north westerly on Saturday blowing me down there, some confusion over Sunday whilst the centre of the pressure zone moved eastward across the UK, which didn't matter as I wasn't going anywhere and then a southerly on Monday blowing me back. Sorted.

So he arrives with provisions a day beforehand and as usual and stows them away.  Come  0900 on Saturday a reasonable hour and  my crew arrive and get me prepared.  The day started promisingly as the sun was out, and although difficult to tell on my berth, but the wind appeared to be more westerly than expected, but that's fine, a close haul up to the Needles and then a beam reach all the way to France, I should get them there quicker than the 10 hours my skipper had envisaged.

On leaving the Medina for the Solent, the wind appeared much stronger than expected, a single reef was left in my main as it went up and I was soon heading across to Beaulieu at good speed.  The wind kept rising, 20  gusting 25 knots went up to 25 gusting 30 knots and after a couple of tacks, the second reef was put in and control of the main was returned, the main sheet played to ease out the gusts.  My bows by now digging in to the oncoming waves would at least smother the green algae on my decks which would soon disappear from the salt in the water washing over it.  Eventually though my crew had had enough, this is not why they were out sailing and so another trip to France was thwarted by the weather and they returned me back to my pontoon.

My skipper radio'd the Harbour Master as we came in to let him know of our return, he came to see us later, apparently the weather deteriorated.  A text later and plans were change.

My skipper and crew remained on board Saturday night and then slipped my lines to head to Totland Bay for lunch the following day.  The weather couldn't be any different, sunshine, decent winds which brought a good sail up to drop the hook.  It was as if we'd put out a board advertising the Totland Bay was now open as boat after boat came in presumably to do the same thing.  With only just the jib we made our way over to Lymington and a chance for my crew to re-fill my water tanks and also get a much needed shower in the marina's exquisite facilities.

Monday came and one of my skippers friends turned up with his daughter and so lunch was served under blissful sunshine before they had to disappear, my lines were slipped once more and we headed for home.  Not quite the weekend planned, but none the less, out on one of the busiest stretches of water, able to stretch my legs and show that the money spent on my copper bottom was money well spent, as I slipped through the water unhindered by living organisms, cadging a ride.

Mad as March Hares

For the last few weeks my owners have turned up, pumped out my bilges and gone again. More recently  they've been bringing a few bits & pieces back on board and spending a bit more time before leaving.  The other day my skipper even turned up and spent all afternoon doing various bits to me, whilst working remotely on his lap top.  There seemed to be an issue with my GPS system and armed with the correct flash card - the last was a micro chip - far too small for my E series Raymarine, however, the unit still refused to read the information.  A phone call later to Navionics and the decision was that the software on the unit needed upgrading to enable the material on the flash card to be read and so, yet another chip was to be in the post.

With the plotter upgraded, the next  issue was the repeater in the cockpit, it refused to work with the plotter down stairs.  It was also becoming obvious to me, that there was a reason that all what was going on. Despite the cold weather something had been planned and I was about to head out for the first time this year.  It was early on the Thursday morning my crew arrived and I was moved over to Shepard's marina, but another problem became apparent, the shore power kept tripping out !  That was the whole thinking of moving me off the remote pontoon, to enable the 240v heaters and dehumidifier to run and make me all toasty for the night and with a scheduled early start of 0600, I was to be taken to Honfleur, France.

An electrician arrived during the day and put the repeater in step with the plotter, but as for the shore power, well the battery charger had developed a fault and so it was isolated from the system.  My skipper was quite pleased it was nothing more sinister, my batteries are well looked after by the alternator or the wind generator, so a third system was not necessary for now at least.

Honfleur, is on the southern banks of the River Seine, apparently my skipper doesn't like Le Harvre to the north, a destination he's raced to several times.  It was to be an early start on Good Friday and arrival would be around 2130, tides appeared favourable, and the lock would open for inward bound traffic every hour, which meant only 30 minutes of hanging around if all went to plan and this too gave me more water to get over the mud at the entrance to the lock.

As dawn broke, it revealed a crisp clear sunny morning with gentle winds, but the forecast was to be Force 4 or 5, easterly, may be with a touch of north in it.  My lines were slipped and we headed out to the Solent.  There was a third person on board, whom I've seen once before, a former racing colleague from the '09 Fastnet campaign, Jeff.  Turning east in to the wind, my main was raised leaving a single reef in it, just in case things were slightly different once round Bembridge and out into the Channel.  It was good to have the wind blow over the sails once again but it was certainly cold, my jib was gleaming white since being laundered and with a few minor repairs in including new leech lines, it made my main look a little tired if nothing else.

Tacking back and forth down the Solent, the temperature from the bright sunshine failed to make less headway to the temperature, in fact a weather front could clearly be seen about to cover the wispy sun completely.  My skipper watched it carefully, as he felt it may contain gusts and even snow.  By the time we'd reached Ryde pier, the cold was bitter, a quick check on the phone revealed a figure from the internet of -8C including wind chill. Despite many cups of tea, the thoughts of my crew appeared unanimous.  The skipper, thinking about the other end of the journey, was wondering how his crew would fare when they arrived in the dark, to a place they've never been before, having spent 15.5 hrs sitting in these freezing conditions.  So a decision was made to turn round and head for Yarmouth instead the western end of the island and re-think their weekend.

On arrival I was directed to G5 a remote pontoon alas with out power, so no electric heaters and as the Webasto diesel unit was not working, my lot were in for a cold night.  At least a sensible decision to go out first, then have dinner on board, which meant that the cooker had been on, heating my insides before they retired.  The marina was filling with loads of huge motor cruisers, Gin Palaces, I think I heard my crew mutter.   It was possible I would be heading to Studland or Swanage the following day but it was dependant on the what the weather was going to do.  The weather didn't change one iota, which meant that it could possibly be a cracking sail west, but then a long cold slog back and a repeat of the previous day which they didn't fancy. Whilst Yarmouth is a quaint little town, you've seen most of it in one evening apparently.  So they set off for a wander and my skipper came back with 3 charts for Northern Brittany, a hand pump and a length of pipe.  The fuel pump of the Webasto heater was by-passed and the guys tried to fire up the heater and run it by hand.  More use of the internet and a pdf of the instruction manual, more thorough than the one on board, soon established that two flashes on the controls meant that it was failing to light.  Think they'd already worked that one out.

The following morning and a decision had been made to head straight over the Solent to Lymington, the wind still strong and gusty, we set off.  All was ok, reversing off and down to the end of the pontoon till forward was selected, a gust of wind hit my sides and stopped me dead. Then blew me towards the fuel pontoon.  With full power forward to try to gain steerage, I started to move forward at speed, but the wind had won the day and my bow still faced the wrong way.  There was nothing for it but to go hard in reverse try to pull me away but my momentum pushed my bow into the ladder at the end of the pontoon.  Now my skipper raced to the helm as I was now heading in reverse at speed at one of these huge £5M Gin Palaces.  At least crews of other boats had woken up to the fact there was a problem and I've never seen such smartly dressed crew scramble on deck with huge bulbous fenders.  By now I was being blown sideways between them all and the room to manoeuvre was diminishing fast.

My skipper was working hard with the helm and the throttle and eventually managed to get my nose turned and head were he wanted me to go, but only after my nose clouted the pontoon once more.  I'm not sure if this was to ensure that maximum room was fully utilised or to temporary stop the bow allowing the stern to overtake it assisting in the turn.   Either way, he had control and I hadn't hit any of the multi-million pound boats, no body was hurt and I had an embarrassing scuff on the nose but no real damage.

The wind didn't let up all the way across the Solent until I was heading up the river to Lymington.  E10 was my berth for the night, before the fuel pontoon and close to the car park, my skipper brought me in, as Jeff leaped off the side and secure me on.  We had shore power at last, so heaters, dehumidifier, everything was plugged in.

My skipper and Jeff set too and soon had the Webasto diesel oil fired heater out of my stern locker and had it stripped down to its bear elements.  Once each element had been meticulously cleaned, whether in petrol or just by hand, it was re-assembled, the electric pump once reconnected started working again and so, fingers crossed the system was primed once more and fired up.  The pump ticked away, the fan whirred and the whole process increased in tension as their speeds increased as if take off was imminent.  Hot air started  to ooze from the vents once more and this time, no lights flashed, no pumped stopped, no fan died.  My heater was back in action.

It was also noticed previously that a wind vane had gone missing at the top of the mast, this was an integral unit with the VHF aerial, had this not been replaced or had it been broken during the re-stepping of the mast ?  Either way it wasn't there and more importantly, my VHF radio aerial which is part of it was missing too.  Just as well they didn't attempt crossing the Channel !  My skipper popped into the local chandlery and soon he was up the mast again securing a new aerial and wind vane where the old one once was. However the reception on the VHF still didn't improve, so more work needed there. I was enjoying this, apart from a bloody nose, I was having more attention spent on me than I had in a long time.

I was now the warmest I have ever been in a long while and my crew, despite losing an hour due to BST, had the warmest night of the weekend.  My lines were cast at just passed 1100 and I took my crew down the river back to the Solent and with the single reef still in my main, we headed back to Cowes with the last two hours of tide. The sea had a slight chop to it but I was loving it, powering my way through it at nothing less than 6 knots. We arrived at my berth at around 1300, no room at the Inn at Shepard's so hopefully the Webasto would keep me warm inside, through another bitter night.

Mast to See You !

My skipper had sent a message to the riggers to say that as far as he could tell, the weather was not looking good for the planned Friday and that should it be delayed till the following week !  No came back the answer all will be fine.

So my skipper had arranged his time such that he was around on Friday, however on arrival at Yacht Haven he had the sense to ring round.  The office at the riggers said all was ok and everything was set to go ahead, so he rung the river taxi and the marine electrician.  His first mate was sent to the marina office, to ask where they wanted me only to be told that the riggers had called it off !

Sure enough my skippers phone rang, and the voice was from the guy who was to put me together again, my skipper was right it was too windy.  However rather than let the taxi go he came over to me and run my engine for a while and checked everything over.  All was good and he left me with a promise that I'd be back together again the following week.

Sure enough with a keen eye on the weather Wednesday was chosen and his decision wasn't wrong, a beautiful calm day and a spring tide saw me enter the marina and head for the holding pontoon, or would've done if a rib hadn't decided to tie up there.  I was swung round on to a clear pontoon and waited for the rib to move, along with a motor cruiser that happen to want to do a few manoeuvres.

I was eventually tied up and left for the riggers to get on with it while my skipper went to the mainland.

On his return, he set up both of my oil filled radiators and dehumidifier and reset my warps, then left for home. My crew returned on Thursday afternoon to find that the riggers hadn't quite finished, in fact there was a 56' yacht having her mast removed and causing logistical issues as she wouldn't fit in the pen (bit too much round the middle !).  My skipper remained on board and worked in the saloon, whilst his mate returned an hour or so later.  Eventually the mast of the 56' was off and being stored so the riggers came back to complete the outstanding bits.

Due to the low spring tide, the plan to moor me port side was omitted so I went my usual starboard side to, the fact that my depth transducer may be dirty and probably giving false readings didn't help the cause.  But I'm back now all together again just need to have my cleaned jib back and that I think is it.

Frost

Well its been nearly two months since I've been out of the water to have my hull Coppercoated, but also two months since I parted company with my mast.  I understand that the issue with the spreader has now been sorted, although the French company Sparcraft washed their hands of it, since they changed their design some four years ago !  So this Friday I shall return to the Cowes Yacht Haven and be re-acquainted with it and have all the standing rigging tensioned up and feel whole again.

Hopefully my jib will have come back from being laundered with an all new UV strip and I shall once again be ready to take my crew out should a crisp winters weekend look promising.  There's all sort of engine spares in my saloon, so assume my skipper is looking to give my engine a complete service some time soon. That will be good it has been quite a few years since I've had one of those.  If only he could shift the air lock in the heating systems fuel line then both he and I will be cosy whilst he works on it, or more importantly if we go out for a weekend.

Frost has fallen a couple of times during the clear nights, but no way is it like it used to be in Inverkip, Scotland, snow now is a distant memory, lets hope it stays that way !

Copper Coloured Bottom !

On Friday I am going to have, like my skipper, something in common with Lord Nelson or rather his fleet.

Last Saturday so my crew come on board, measuring a few things then took down my jib & folded it neatly up on the pontoon to be bagged up & took it away. Why, well on Friday they will be moving me to the Yacht Haven marina where I'm to be lifted out and stored on the hard for two weeks. Apparently I'm to have all the muck I've accumulated on my hull down here, plus the remaining anti-fouling pressure washed off by a specialist team from the Anti-foul Removal Company. I shall be left to dry off for a few days before the team from ARC return to give my hull below the water line a good rubbing down with sand paper or similar. Once wiped down to remove all dust particles I, like Lord Nelson's fleet will have four coats of specialist copper infused resin applied, which should keep me free of nasty's for, according to the manufacturer 10 years, although reports from others that have had it applied are saying 15 years before any significant cleaning has been required. I suppose it depends on where you're kept, sea temperatures etc.

Lord Nelson's fleet of course didn't have this modern technology but used copper sheets brought up from Cornwall to be pinned to their hulls. Nelson knew of the magical properties and more importantly that most living organisms dislike to copper so moved swiftly on, presumably to the fishing fleet or the French who were less manoeuvrable and slower than the English. As for my skipper's link we'll he suffers from 'Mal de Mere', sea sickness to you or I as did his Lordship. It's when the brain receives conflicting signals from the ears mainly, fooling it into thinking that  neurotoxins have been deposited in the stomach, thus making the sailor retch to discharge its contents ! Still at least my cavernous space in the saloon coupled with good ventilation, has not given my skipper any cause to suffer from this, sometimes disabilitating condition. Long may he be free of it whilst looking after me and his crew.

Also apparently my mast is to be un-stepped and that spreader that gave concern before my summer holiday replaced.  My skipper also wants to check the VHF aerial and Windex at the top making sure all is clean & well.  He's also going to replace the standard tricolour with a new LED same for the steaming light and a loud hailer under the radar so that the VHF set can make the appropriate sounds in foggy conditions.  All good stuff lets hope he has the time to fit everything in.

As for my jib, well assume it'll get a good inspection, maybe some repairs if necessary and possibly a good wash. I will be back in the water once the resin has gone hard ready to have my engine serviced which is next on my skippers list.