Camber clamber..

...and as we always knew they would, the tides finally returned.. 😏

After a glorious week weather'iwse last week but where the tides were late and early, this week broke fair with later morning early afternoon tides, perfect! Yesterday was a 12:47 HT and at 4.24m was early Springs, definitely not as big as some we've seen so far this year!

On the boat by 10 then, and the plan was not to hang around - the wind was dead southerly (uhhhh... 😐) so whatever happened today, with the bottom of the harbour a long way away, and dead downwind, the mechanical donkey was going to earn her keep today. Opted then to get the boat ready while underway..  

Dropped the mooring about quarter past...  autopilot on (Lord bless it - what did I do in the days before it?!) and motored down the ditch while getting sail covers off, ties off, ensign on, lockers unlocked, rolled out some tentative genoa as I went past Northney (as the wind was beam on) but I was soon headed so I rolled it back and settled down for a long motor.

Plan was to see if I could cross Pilsey sands from about Verner (see map for locations), heading vaguely east'ish, as that would allow a beam, if not close, reach down to East Head.. which worked quite well except for one thing - school summer holidays! 😁  

Yep.. every club at the bottom of the harbour (just like ours so I should have known!) was running a Juniour's* Week and the harbour was absolutely rammed with every type of dinghy under the sun - all of them seemingly racing on Pilsey Sands! Six tacks later (to avoid fleets of ankle biters and their parents) and I finally managed to get a gap and made my way across, and only then by going right through the middle of a fleet (on starboard and gloating 😏)

Once across though, I sought emptier waters, and rode the very last of the tide eastwards towards Itchenor - before finally gybing off the end of Thorney Channel around the Cambermet weather beacon..

Cambermet in addition to being a weather station is also a south cardinal (which I hadn't realised) - it marks the end of a spit that runs from the east side of the Thorney channel - I'm the wrong side of it, but there was plenty of water... 😁

...and heading back towards the main Emsworth Channel to the west.. it was a glorious day - the following (click to 'embigen') is a view up the Thorney Channel, the sun on the water, and the South Downs in the distance - what a venue to sail in..  I'm lucky.. 

...with more west in the wind with every passing moment, I had to tack off Pilsey Island as the water was geting thin, and I couldn't clear it on the tack I was on. Headed back across the channel towards Ella Nore on the southern side of the channel and then tacked again to head west...

Passed Snowhill - skirted the multitude of anchored yachts and motor boas off the beaches at East Head, and then cut the corner for the long ride home..  it was dead down wind, so the genoa was rolled away..

...hello "old friend".. 

Fishing rod was deployed, views were enjoyed, music was on, the perching post occupied, seals admired, and we progressed up the harbour at a most stately 3.5 knots (against tide) - very pleased - looks like the antifoul is holding up...

Then just as we approached Northney, and just as I had out the engine on for the last schlepp down the ditch - wallop! The road started bouncing, and bugger me if we hadn't caught a decent one.. 

Oh yes... 🐟

Usually I only catch tiddlers and infants, but that was a 100% adolescent, and just over a pound in weight.. he (or she) was admired, photo'd, and sent back to his siblings with a story to tell...   "and away"...  

Cracking sail and takes me comfortably over the 50 for the year so far..   more please!

*according to Google, Juniour (as opposed to Junior) is "an obsolete and incorrect" spelling - who knew? Also when did obsolete become incorrect? I've always used spelt it that way, and just to cheese Google off probably will continue to..  on those rare occasions you have to... 😁

Log:

Flat tacks..  tide was running..  😏

Distance: 12.74 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  F2 gusting F3 ; SSE going SxW
Sail Plan: Full main and 90% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.6 / 2.8

Overnight to Lymington

Just back from the first 'overnighter' of the year with the Jolly Boys.. this time a quick trip to Lymington.

Midday Spring HT's to take advantage of as the Solent "travelator" would be at full chat at certain times. For going westward we could have a fairly leisurely start as they wouldn't be full bore until near hight water. 

Convened at Rod's gaff at 0845 then, and headed for the boat. After a slight panic when Dave realised he didn't have his driving licence with him for photo id, but then remembered he had his passport with him (😧) we were on the boat and slipping the moorings at 10'ish.

Winds were (and had been all week) fairly spicy - it's hot here at the moment and I think the heatwave is contributing, all that hot air rising has to be replaced somehow (what is that? if I remember rightly from my old RYA skipper courses is it a catabatic? or an anabatic? Or neither at all and just a heat induced breeze.. 😁) Either way it was enough for us to put the second reef in and we had no reason to regret the decision most of the day..

Both days were easterly's, so the trip to Lymington was ostensibly a super long, tide assisted, run/very broad reach. A little over 5 hours door to door (and we've done trips to Cowes that have taken that long) comprising food, chat, banter, nonsense and a sunny warm glittering Solent...  glorious..

Moored up in Lymington..

Destination for the night was the Yacht Haven which we all love purely because of their FANTASTIC showers! 😁

Dinner was in the Fisherman's Rest, which was good (if not outstanding) before retiring to the boat for some of us to watch England play their semi final in the World Cup ..

This one was moored up opposite and caught my eye..  beautiful colour.. she's a Swallow Yachts boat..

Return trip started early so we could catch the 'travellator' in the opposite direction - with a F4 on the nose the entire way up the Solent, we knew we were going to need all the help it could provide.. so we were up for 0600, and dropped the mooring and were motoring for the Solent at 0700...

We'd kind of assumed we'd be motoring all the way, so for the western Solent we plugged away under said motor, doing 6.5/7 knots SOG (!), cooked breakfast (sausage baps) under way, and slurped tea, as we watched the sad sight of the sunken yacht ("Aliunde") slip past incredibly quickly.. 

"Aliunde".. more here [clicky]

..she's been there since last September.. no sign of her being moved any time soon.. 😏

Nice view to eat your sausage bap to...  that's the sun glinting on the Needles in the distance..

...we passed the Bramble bank (to the north) no more than an hour or hour and half after we left Lymington, and then put the sails up just after Calshot for a long and slightly tight'ish beat to Gilkicker point, before putting the motor on again for the last stretch up the inner swashway (where the wind was on the nose again) to the harbour and the mooring..  one end of the Solent to the other in just about 4 hours - got to love that 'travellator', and especially on Springs! 😏

Excellent trip - the next overnighter we've decide will be Cowes which gives us time to do a side trip on the way or way back...

Log:

Red 15th, yellow 16th..

Distance: 49.11 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)

Wind (Speed; Direction): 

• 15th : F4 gusting F5; ENE
• 16th : Top end F4; NExN

Sail Plan: Full and reefed main, full genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 7.0 / 4.7 (average of the two days)

Pilsey shuffle..

After the last trip out I think it fair to say that there was a slight sense of unfinished business about the dock side.. 😁

Wednesday looked promising, but there was a clear requirement (from the forecast) to get going as soon as possible so as to make the most of the westerly wind before it started bending round from the south (guessing they were foreseeing a growing sea breeze)..  things didn't start well when I go to the club only to find I'd forgotten my phone..  not mission critical, but if I wanted any photos, or music to listen to, I was going to struggle.. 😏

Half an hour later I was back at the club, once on the boat I filled up the outboard fuel tank with 5 litres of fresh fuel (took half a litre of the old stuff home and put it in the car), covers off, engine on to warm up, mooring dropped at 11:24. With a HT at 13:45 I could have used the 30 minutes I lost to make some south'ing, but the wind was light anyway so I guess I didn't miss much..

As is usual with these westerly's the main went up in the pool by the bridge and then I bore away for a run down the ditch.. left the engine running until well past Emsworth Beacon before turning it off and trying without.. winds were light and fitful, but every now and again there would be a useable gust but all in all it was quite frustrating, and with a huge spring tide there was a lot of water to fight head on..  shades of the last trip!

With more fuel on board though I put the engine back on and motor sailed down past Marker, only to find the wind filling in, but only as it moved southerly..

..hitting the overdrive for the return trip on the last of the incoming tide..

N'er mind - a lovely single tack down to the Pilsey buoys (there are two of them) saw me almost at HISC before I tacked and bore away back to Verner - glorious speeds SOG saw me at Verner in a quarter of the time it had taken to go the other way, but when I gybed to head back to Pilsey it was clear the wind had filled in very quickly indeed and was now more than enough to start the sails flapping.. 

Tacked again and headed for home - I'd had a cracking sail, and it was time to head for home... sails down just shy of Sweare Deep and I was back on the mooring 3 hours after I'd left..  brilliant..

Sparrow's bigger brother - a Hurley 22 - met her on the way back..

Notes:

• 5 litres fuel added

Log:

Distance: 8.64* (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F2 going F4 ; W going SWxW
Sail Plan: Full main / full and 90% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.3 / 2.7

*includes distance covered while the GPS needed a battery change.. 😁