16 June 2012 – Falmouth

16 June 2012 – Falmouth

I am afraid that I have not updated the blog for some time for which I am duly sorry.  I just seem to be stuck in marinas while the boat rolls about like a drunken sailor on pay night.  I don’t suffer from seasickness normally but I have found being below sitting at a computer, reading, cooking or even sleeping I have felt a bit queasy.  Indeed there have been the odd meals times which I have not bothered with. 

Fortunately over the past few weeks I have moved towards Wales so I have been able to get home when the weather looks bad for a number of days and, hopefully, over the next week I should be in Milford Haven (Cardiff adds 50 miles an already long trip!)

17 May 2012 – Brighton to Gosport

A nice easy departure at 07:00 with, once I got out of the harbour, a nice breeze just aft of the port quarter. Pulled out the foresail; switched off the engine and set off for Gosport.  Unfortunately the sea state was very confused which resulted in a very uncomfortable ride until I got round Selsey Bill but after that it was a very pleasant sail.

The Solent was very quiet so I didn’t have any problems missing tankers, container ships, warships etc.  A straight motor into Gosport Marina and I was tied up and drinking coffee by 5pm.

The next day (Friday 18 May) was spent tidying the boat and getting everything sorted out for Tim and Tony (old friends of mine) to have some where to sleep for the weekend.  While they were getting sorted out and settled in I abandoned them and went to see Laura and James for the evening (somewhat unkind of me but I enjoyed the evening)

19 May 2012 – Gosport to Yarmouth

The plan for the weekend was to meet up with a friend (Nigel) from the Isle of Wight who we had not seen for a year or so.  He arrived about 9 and, after coffee, we set off.  Unfortunately there was very little wind and what there was came straight down the Solent.  After some discussion we decide to just motor to Yarmouth so we arrived about 2pm.

At this point things became “interesting”.  Yachts from two races staying were staying overnight in Yarmouth harbour and they had arrived well before us. As a result it was full of Junior Offshore Group boats (these are big boats – anywhere from 45 to 60 feet long) all rafted up. The Berthing Master had it all under control and pointed us to a vacant area outside a 45 footer moored to the pontoon.  The only problem was there were 3 very large racing rafted up in front of our ‘target boat’ and 4 behind it!  Remembering Stuart's advice (or was it instructions?) about speed we crept in to the gap and, with the help of Tony, Tim and the crew of the boat we were going to raft up against, we manhandled the boat in without destroying any of the very expensive equipment surrounding us.

Once we were rafted alongside the skipper of the boat inside us informed me that they would have to go at 8am the next day! I decided that tomorrow could take care of its self so we headed into Yarmouth and the pub.  When we returned we found 2 additional cruising boats rafted outside us!

20 May 2012 Yarmouth to Poole

We dragged ourselves out of bed about 7am.  Our plan to sail to Poole meant we had to leave at 11 but we had to move the boat so the racing boat could get out.  There was little or no activity until 7:45 when suddenly all the racing boats exploded with activity with people attaching sail halyards, sheets and god knows what else.  The two boas outside us got away easily but for us to do the same we would have to go sideways.  Fortunately the smaller boats in front had an earlier start time so they shot off leaving us space to pull ourselves onto the pontoon.

At 8am all hell let loose – all the engines started and racing boats started to charge about.  The helmsmen only had 2 speeds – flat out or stop!  Amazingly they all vacated the harbour in 15 minutes without anybody hitting anything.

We set out at 11 so that we could get the tide through the Needles Channel.  A gentle motor out, sails up and off we went.  A really lovely day and great sailing.  The tides were just right and we shot through the Needles Channel and getting the benefit all the way to Poole.

To round the day off as we came into the Poole channel a pod of Dolphins boat. It was a wonderful sight.

I had forgotten how large Poole harbour is and, against the tide, it took us about an hour to get to the marina.  At that point it all went pear shaped. The wind was blowing the boat off the pontoon and as we came in I didn’t notice a rope had fallen into the water. Everybody knows what happened next – the rope got caught around the propeller and broke in two.  Fortunately I managed to switch the engine off before it stalled.  We moored up and got ourselves sorted out and then I spoke to Stuart.  We agreed the best thing was to get the boat out of the water and I organised this to happen through marina contacts. 

The next day (Monday) Tim and Tony helped me get the mainsail off (it was due for its Warranty service and the sail company was in Poole) before they left for home.  I was still not happy about the possibility of some of the rope still attached to the prop so the marina organised a diver to come and have a look.  It took him 30 minutes to get dressed and 10 to get the remainder of the rope off the prop.

22 May 2012 - Marina to Yard

Stuart came down to just check the prop and cutlass bearing while the boat was out of the water.  We took the boat round to the yard, hauled it out and Stuart looked it over.  Fortunately there was no damage done!

Back on the water we left the boat moored to a buoy, delivered the sail to the sail maker and went back to Chepstow.

29 May 2012 – Yard to Marina

Fiona kindly drove me back to Poole and we collected the boat to take it back to the Poole Quay Marina.  While we were in the yard I got chatting to one of the lads in the yard.  He had got a puncture in his bicycle wheel.  I offered to give him a lift into town as he would have to walk a couple of miles to get it repaired.  What I didn’t realise he was going to take the whole bicycle with him so I ended up with a mountain bike on the deck.  Fiona felt that, as he worked in the yard, he would have some experience in handling boats.  Not so - she ended up showing him what to do and how to tie knots. 

We refitted the mainsail.  Unfortunately they had missed a bit of stitching that was coming apart so I had to take it off the next day.  I took me an hour to get it off, fold it and take it to sail makers.  10 minutes to fix it and 2 hours to put it back up!

1 June 2012 – Poole to Weymouth

Robert, my ex-wife and her husband’s son arrived the previous night and we set off about 11 for Weymouth. There was little or no wind so we spent intermittent periods sailing but much of the time motoring arriving about 6:30

Friends were due to meet us there were delayed on the M25, M3 etc. so that so they didn’t arrive until later than we anticipated but we still managed a couple of beers.

2 June 2012 – Weymouth to Dartmouth

The weather was beautiful and we set out at 7:50.  As soon as we were out of the harbour we had the sails up and headed towards Portland Bill.  I had planned to pass the Bill a couple of miles offshore so that we missed the Race (which can be very rough).  However a couple of yachts left before us and went close in to the shore.  I just followed them and we zoomed round the corner with only a slight disturbance where the race is.

We then started to gybe towards Dartmouth.  Some 3 hours out we had a visitor – a homing pigeon flew into the sail and fell onto the mainsheet grabbing it and hanging on for dear life.  This was fine until we needed to gybe – as I pulled it in the pigeon ran up the mainsheet until it couldn’t keep up and fell onto the side of the cockpit.  It stayed there for quite a long time despite Robert throwing a banana skill over his shoulder into the wind which promptly came back on board and landed on the poor animal.  In the end it decided the safest place was directly behind Robert and it stayed there until it departed.

Towards the end the wind got stronger and the waves were awkward so some of the crew felt a bit under the weather.  Robert, in particular, could only say below for a very brief time.  As soon as he finished below he would bound out of the hatch and very quickly got the nickname of Tigger.

We went into Kingswear marina only to find there was a serious lack of space.  They initially put us behind another boat but our stern stuck out halfway across the channel and it was obvious we could not stay there.  After looking around for a while the berthing master moved us to the waiting pontoon by the boat lift.  This was a temporary arrangement until Monday at 08:00 when they wanted access to get a boat out for a scrub.

One of the guys (Michael - an Australian) had competed in the Sydney to Hobart race and it was a joy to see an expert sail trim in action.

His wife (Yona) had brought them all to Weymouth and then followed us in her car to Dartmouth and joined us for dinner when we arrived. 

4 June 2012 – “a day of rest”

The weather forecast (as usual) was rubbish so we decided to have a “day of rest” exploring Dartmouth and sampling a few glasses of the amber nectar.

4 June 2012 – Dartmouth to Plymouth

Monday involved a nice easy start – we didn’t need to leave until 9:30.  We gentle motored out of Dartmouth and headed out hoping for some wind.  There was a little but not enough to sail so it was motor sailing all the way to Queen Anne’s Battery Marina.

Later that evening Yona and Laurie’s wife, Christine, joined us for dinner to round off a vice couple of days.

It was great to have company for a few days and there are a couple of long sails ahead where I could do with some help.  The problem is the weather – it is very unpredictable.

Everybody departed on the Tuesday.