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...our ride for the weekend... Halberg Rassy 342 "Ocean Wave of
Albany"
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As the washing is now done, I guess it's the time to do the log entry for the
now nearly mythical event that is the Jolly Boys Cruise..
So yet another triumph - they always are - but I would say not without some
less pleasant challenges this time round... however, you'll be pleased
to know that yet again there was no Lymington cock up this year.. but
only because we never went...
Friday
So it was the team conjoined early on Friday morning at Rod's place for a
swift trip to the boat which was reached about 10 for a departure about
mid-day (on HT). First days target was Cowes, an easy 2 or 3 hours away, but
conditions were good, and also breezy while not requiring reefs despite a
number of other boats doing so. Passed Cowes within an easy hour or two, and
we just carried on enjoying the Solent tidal escalator that whipped us down to
almost Yarmouth within what seemed like a stupidly short period of time.
We should have realised.. for every idyllic tidally assisted
"downhill" run, there is always the "uphill" slog to get back to where you
wanted to be until the tide turns, and with 3 or 4 knots of adverse tide for 3
or more hours to come, and an upwind beat, Cowes was a way away
now... as it turned out I had the helm for this, and have to say
that it was the most glorious sail I've had on Ocean Wave.. Halberg
Rassy's are not built light, and she just went up wind in a good force 4 like
she was on rails.. fantastic...
Our destination in Cowes was a first as well -
Shepherds Marina, where we also had another first as we were rafted outside of another boat..
nice people with two little one's so we tried to be as quiet as we could..
By the by, all those years of doing Jolly Boys cruises earlier in the year had
not really prepared us for some of the difficulties of this one.. a mix
of Covid, lack of overseas holidays, start of school holidays, and it being
mid July meant that almost every marina in the Solent was rammed..
thousands and thousands of berths and not a one to be had in most places.. Rod
("Captain, my captain") had started phoning round last week and had got spots
for two nights - this one, and Yarmouth on Sunday, but we were berth-less for
Saturday at this point.
Food at the
Duke of York
was (still) very nice I thought.. it being Friday it was fish and chip night
for me which was very good, the restaurant manageress made us laugh, and a
good time was had by all.. cracking day, but that upwind sail from just short
of Yarmouth to Cowes was a blast, and I was still grinning..
We should have slept well, but overnight there was the mother of all
thunderstorms what seemed like immediately overhead... sleeping directly
under a 40 foot lightning conductor does focus the mind...
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Picture courtesy my Sis..
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Saturday
Saturday dawned grey, still and mizzly - forecast was not brilliant - we knew
we'd get sun later but there was little wind around (and by the end of the day
the forecast was proven right). Quick call around while we were waiting for
breakfast to cook, and we found ourselves a berth for the night in
Port Hamble
What to do with the day though? Decision taken to have a gentle motor up
Southampton Water to have a look at the simply huge liners and container
ships.. there were loads of them in... a lovely warm day, no wind, gentle
putter back up the Water towards the Solent and then turned for Port Hamble
and the mooring.
Now this was where it all turned a bit brown coloured - suffice to say we were
on Springs and there was a fair amount of water flowing out of the Hamble
(river) into Southampton Water, but what we didn't realise was how much of
that tide was also flowing through the actual marina pontoons. Long
story short, our turn into the berth was not fast enough and we ended up
t-boned on the anchor of the boat next to us - took out two stanchions on
Ocean Wave but with the help of a couple of people on neighbouring boats we
managed to haul her in on warps.. shi**y end to the day, but as we said,
no one had died, no one was injured, no other boats except ours was damaged^^
(one of us had a roving fender..tick), the damage didn't look awful, but it
was very much time for a beer while we sent Rod to the marina office to tell
them it was all his fault, and report the accident....
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Berth was about where the red circle is - tide was running right to
left (yellow arrows) - pic courtesy Ancasta
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Dinner at
Ye Olde Whyte Harte
was OK, not as good as the previous evening, but a day on the water does
wonders for the appetite, and certainly the beer was good.
Sunday
Sunday dawned grey again - with mizzle again - another full English breakfast
(this time cooked by t'other Dave) settled the nerves, and forewarned and
forearmed by the knowledge of the previous day we made what must have been one
of the quickest exits we had ever made from a berth! Plenty of engine revs to
counter the tide that was again flowing adversely - even with that we had to
do a little shuffle in reverse to get the angle on the exit... huge sigh
of relief to get out without further issue.
Few hours of motoring and the wind began to fill in, and this turned out to be
the second best sailing day of the trip.. we had a good tidal assisted
sail down to Yarmouth, albeit at one point in time through a cloud burst, and
with the odd rumble of thunder over the island..
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Smithy in full cloudburst mode.. being the caring bunch of
mates we are, we of course disappeared down below to drink tea, eat
cake, and hurl abuse...
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Such a good sail in fact that we arrived too soon so turned up wind for a
little additional sailing time against the tide. a good afternoon..
Sails down we motored into Yarmouth and were treated to the sight of a large
seal surfacing, fresh from a kill - looked like he had a nice big flat fish of
some sort.
We had our own berth, but were caught out again by tidal flow in the marina
(this time from the river we think) which threw us a little out, but a quick
push by the marina's rib, and quick throw of a mooring rope ashore got us out
of danger pretty quick.
A shower, a few beers, and a much needed dinner at
the Bugle
ended the penultimate day - the food was very good, but a limited choice...
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What a shower... Yarmouth pier selfy...
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Monday
Early start to catch the tide east - we were leaving by 0800 - breakfast
cooked and eaten on the go - I have only ever seen the Solent so completely
still and flat once before. Not a breath or a ripple...
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Leaving Yarmouth
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Despite that, the tidal escalator was in full flow, and despite being on only
tick over, we were doing 4 to 5 knots over the ground.. hot sun, Solent,
and sausages.. perfect.
Passed Newtown, passed Cowes, passed Gilkicker, passed Ryde - took just over 3
hours - amazing. A decision was then taken to head to Seaview to pick up one
of the sailing clubs buoys for lunch.
A very enjoyable couple of hours eating lunch and watching the local dayboat
class (Seaview Mermaid
class) racing - pretty boats..
Time at last to get back - one of the charter organisers wanted to see the
damage as they had another charter later in the week. Good fast sail back to
Portsmouth, and after a little flutter when we assumed we had engine issues
(no/limited forward drive) that turned out to be weed, we were back alongside
for 5'ish..
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"Golden Horizon" - worlds largest square rigged sailing ship - a
passenger ship - departed her berth as we packed up..
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...all food mostly finished except lunch stuff (for one reason or another we
didn't do a lot of lunches this time out), all beer mostly finished... a
brilliant four days out... now, where's Sparrow... ??
^^ Addendum - turned out that there was minor damage/scratching to the
stern of the boat we t-boned so at some point there may be a bill, but owner
agreed it wouldn't be much. The repair bill for the stanchions on Ocean Wave
came to £30- bit of spot welding on one, some straightening of the other, and
a couple of new bolts/screws. We got away remarkably lightly for an event that
at the time was frankly, quite worrying...
Log:
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Red Day 1 (Fri); Blue Day 2 (Sat); Green Day 3 (Sun); Yellow Day 4
(Mon)
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Distance: 119.42 miles (c/w
62.76 last time!)
(cumulative totals for the year in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind:
- Fri F4 gusting F5; SEE
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Sat: F1/F2; SE quadrants
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Sun: Started F2 ended up top end F4; NxW going NW
- Mon: Both ends of a F4; SWxW
Sail Plan: Full main and jib all weekend apart from the Saturday when we
motored the entire day, and Monday when we motored all morning..
Speed: See distance section above.. Friday was a day of big speeds
and big winds.. 10.2 knots over the ground and an
average over
almost 8 hours of over 5 knots!
