Deliveries and lifts...

Hugely busy last couple of weeks has finally drawn to a bone weary halt with the lift of the final Jolly Boys boat - but I jump ahead of myself....

It all started on the 7th with the first of the deliveries - Rod's boat had to go from Whale Island (it's summer base) to Port Solent (it's winter base this year) where he was due to be lifted the following morning. Very simple trip - doubt we were on the boat longer than an hour, and all under motor as Rod had removed sails already (pre-requirement for staying on the hard in Port Solent) but a satisfying bit of navigation as you wend your way up the channel to the marina

...and here's the actual track.. first time I've helmed into Port Solent through the lock, and on to the pontoon for good measure, no open wounds or broken limbs - I'll call that a good'un 😏

Beers in the George afterwards - with obligatory pickled egg - were much enjoyed...

Then on to the second lift which was mine on the 15th - again a remarkably trouble free lift - the only slight niggle being I couldn't recover my top tackle from the mooring - just couldn't get that damned shackle to unscrew and my hacksaw blade was blunt (😏) - gave it up as a bad job*, dropped the mooring for the last time this year, and gently motored under the bridge and plonked her on the waiting pontoon to wait for my lift..

..which came remarkably quickly this year - think I was second out after arriving.. 

Having done a duty the day before I was particularly "worried" (hideously fascinated more apt description) about what state her bottom would be in, as every single boat the previous day had come out festooned, covered, veritably walled, end to end in barnacles - worst year for barnacles we've ever seen..  

Sparrow didn't disappoint, despite that scrub I gave her 3 or 4 weeks ago. This one pays enlarging - then have a look at the inner surface of the far keel.. 😏 

Got my spot in the car park - just along a bit from were I was last year, so hopefully a little drier (we tend to get a puddle when it rains) good neighbours - plenty of tea will be drunk this winter/spring.. 😀

Anyway - she's scraped and the barnacles are gone, she's blocked and firm on the hard, and the outboard was taken off, given a fresh water run, and is currently in the garage waiting a service towards beginning of next season. 

Next job will be a pressure wash early next week to remove green and any remaining fine weed, and then remove the cockpit hatches and replace with the dummy's I use over winter...   the hatches need a little TLC but they look good on the whole, they wouldn't if I left them on all winter

* Popped out to the mooring again the next day with a new hacksaw blade but happily, I managed to get enough grunt to get the shackle to unscrew so much easier - shame I started to hacksaw it though, as she'll now need a new shackle next season.

Finally, yesterday it was time to bring Dave's boat, 'Kings Ransom', round - Dave moors just behind me but she's considerably bigger, and a mast drop isn't an option, so we have to do the circumnavigation, and again, this is a comparatively simple delivery as most of it has to be under engine to get her round within one tide for the lift out.

Anyway - convened at the club at 10, rowed out to Ransom, and we eventually dropped the mooring at 10:37 with just 20cm under the keel (😏) slapped on maximum revs, and headed out. 

I said comparatively simple, but throw in fog, a westerly wind, and a 5.3mtr tide and it was a bit of an (enjoyable) slog to be honest..   

Fog ahead..  Emsworth Channel as we approached Verner

Had to fight that huge tide all the way out of Chichester Harbour, it took us an hour even under engine to get to the entrance, albeit the journey was enlivened by Treagust sausages in fresh ciabatta rolls with mugs of tea as we went past Marker 😋 

Happily the fog was burning off as we progressed, and by the time we gout of the harbour entrance, the Isle of Wight was clearly in view.

Having fought our way out, we reckoned there was enough water to cut the corner to the Bar Beacon rather than carry on to the West Pole, having done that we also picked up some advantageous tide to carry us west to the entrance to Langstone - our speed doubled on that leg and we could see the ETA on the plotter going backwards (ie. earlier) by the minute which was encouraging. 

Bearing off for the entrance to Langstone also finally brought the wind on the beam, so we rolled out the genoa for some extra ooomph... we also put the kettle on for more tea, this time accompanied by Smithy's fresh baked scones. We ate well on this short trip! 😀

Little under 4 hours after dropping the mooring (average speed over ground 3.3 knots!) we came through the blocks in front of the club and moored up on the pontoon, a little over 100 yards from the start point as the crow flies 😂 

While Smithy and Dave took sails and boom off, I nabbed a ride on the club launch 'Mylor', and collected the tender from the mooring, and as I got back, Ransom was heading to the lift..

...and the plot...

...and that's it - now let the winter maintenance commence!

SailGP14 action...

Hanoly - our ride for the day - ready to go...

Trust me no foils... SailGP this isn't, this is SailGP14..  far more civilised  😁

Was feeling a bit fed up that the season was over on Sparrow earlier than I would have liked, when Smithy pipes up and offers me a ride on Hanoly his lovely GP14, and the apple of his eye..  bit his arm off if I'm honest..  I'd even bought a shorty wetsuit last year in expectation of getting out on her, but what with one thing and another (sailing on Sparrow mostly 😏) I'd not got round to it - but now there was no excuse! Good forecast for the Friday (and it actually delivered what it was forecasting which was a bonus) so the date was made..

Back in the day, Smithy (and the other Jolly Boys) and I used to sail and race windsurfers together - our race track was the top of Langstone Harbour, and one of our favourite races was what we called the north west passage - a small channel that runs between North Binness Island, and the edge of the Farlington Marshes. Depending on wind direction you could do it one of two ways, north to south or opposite, but either way it had been an age since I'd done it so we thought we'd give it a go in Hanoly for old times sake.

Rigged up and on the slip for 10:45, HT was 13:20 and a biggy (4.3 mtrs) so Smithy's plan was to be back for high water, as hopefully the tide (which for geographical/geological (?) reasons runs permanently east to west between the two harbours) would have slackened by then making it easier to get back through the bocks of the old Hayling Billy line to the slip. All a fresh challenge to me as I don't have to do this on the other side of the bridge where I moor..

Not my photo [clicky] but these are the blocks - the slip is over there top right, Langstone harbour is to the left, ingress and egress between the pool and the harbour is between the two metal objects in the centre of the blocks (which are the remains of the old swing bridge)

Launched, through the opening in the blocks sweet as a nut, and then a lovely run, some of it goosewing, to the northern end of the passage, where it then all went pear shaped three quarters of the way down the channel 😁 While we'd been wending and chatting our way over the wind had gone round and was almost southerly, so a trip through the channel was always going to be a 'challenge' - wind head on, and the channel is only 10 yards wide at high water..   n'er mind, me over the side, manually haul her round, and sail out...  nothing harmed but the copious mud.. most of which I managed to get off.. 😏

"Northwest passage"..

Having turned her round it was then a beat back to the beach at Southmoor, before tacking to head off down harbour, and then tacking again just past the small island (Round Nap Island) on the south eastern corner of South Binness Island. A cracking smooth reach/run down Binness Rithe and past Baker's Island and we came up to the southern end of the passage which this time, we completed successfully..  it is a magical thing to run down there under sail, just the breeze and the sound of the water at the bow.. cracking..

...and that was largely it - a four tack beat back to the blocks, before cutting through the entry and getting back to the slipway error free..  wash down of the boat and packed it away, and for the first time in an age, a warm shower after a sail - that took me back!

Brilliant fun - would love to do that again..

Addendum.. So Smithy has a Garmin watch which gives you all manner of stuff...   from it I took the message that sailing is healthy for you (anaerobic), and that two hours on a dinghy is worth two pints of beer in calories! 😁

Log:

Distance: 9.25 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  F3 gusting F4; SSE going SxW
Sail Plan: Full main and jib
Speed (Max/average in knots): 3.5 / 9.3 (!)

Season over..

..well for Sparrow anyway.. 😏

Events conspired to us getting together to drop the mast a whole lot earlier than I would have liked but in essence - the tides next week (the last week before lift out) were not optimal for sailing (early and late), I had sailing commitments elsewhere that would also chew up the time (two delivery trips and a duty on the first day of the lift out) and the weather was on the turn. I had originally scheduled next Sunday for the mast drop which would have allowed today and or tomorrow for sailing but look at it...  disgusting...

...and this was my fall-back day..  also disgusting..

...so enough's enough - the mast came down today - and on a fairly blustery day yesterday I took off the sails and boom..

...and installed the mast crutch..

Boats don't look right without sails... 😏

Then today - I borrowed Mylor (the club launch) and took Smithy, Rod and I out to Sparrow and did the drop itself. No need to go into huge detail (it's all covered on my mast drop/raise page [clicky] if you're interested) but once again it was a faultless drop - it takes longer to connect all the ropes, halyards, and the A frame, than the drop, which literally takes just minutes...  

She's all ready to come out in a fortnight, but first I have some sailing on other peoples boats to do, not the least of which is a trip on Smithy's GP14 tomorrow!