Alliterations abound...
A beautiful day, a forecast force 3 and a 1500'ish high tide all conjoined to make a Sunday on the water an absolute must...
Dropped the mooring at just before 12 so a little over three hours before high tide - stunning - Pap's old mooring was still mud when I left, although to be fair it was a 4.7m tide...
I had definite plans that included being beyond Marker (!) so with a S/SSE wind I put the engine on and motor sailed to the end of the Northney channel under jib/genoa.. at the end of the channel I rolled it away as the wind was on the nose, and plugged on against a fairly brisk tide, before finally switching the engine off just past Marker... sails up and we were sailing though it was still an hour or so before high so the adverse flow was pretty fierce and the tacks were mostly flat!
As the tide started to calm the tacks became more like....err.. tacks, and as the harbour was widening I managed to stay clear of the stronger flow by heading further towards Thorney on each tack, before eventually I was able to bear off and head towards Bosham and Itchenor about half an hour after high tide. It was on one of these tacks that I had my first seal sighting of the year in almost exactly the same spot that I last saw one when I was bringing Sparrow home on that arctic delivery trip...
If I'd had more fuel with me I'd have left the engine on longer - but to be honest the racket gets irritating after while, and the blessed peace when you switch the thing off is just brilliant....
A beautiful day, a forecast force 3 and a 1500'ish high tide all conjoined to make a Sunday on the water an absolute must...
Dropped the mooring at just before 12 so a little over three hours before high tide - stunning - Pap's old mooring was still mud when I left, although to be fair it was a 4.7m tide...
I had definite plans that included being beyond Marker (!) so with a S/SSE wind I put the engine on and motor sailed to the end of the Northney channel under jib/genoa.. at the end of the channel I rolled it away as the wind was on the nose, and plugged on against a fairly brisk tide, before finally switching the engine off just past Marker... sails up and we were sailing though it was still an hour or so before high so the adverse flow was pretty fierce and the tacks were mostly flat!
As the tide started to calm the tacks became more like....err.. tacks, and as the harbour was widening I managed to stay clear of the stronger flow by heading further towards Thorney on each tack, before eventually I was able to bear off and head towards Bosham and Itchenor about half an hour after high tide. It was on one of these tacks that I had my first seal sighting of the year in almost exactly the same spot that I last saw one when I was bringing Sparrow home on that arctic delivery trip...
If I'd had more fuel with me I'd have left the engine on longer - but to be honest the racket gets irritating after while, and the blessed peace when you switch the thing off is just brilliant....
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| Entrance to the harbour - HISC on the right |
Went past the end of the Prinstead Channel, enjoyed the sun, past Camber [clicky], spotted Bosham and Cobnor in the distance but decided I needed to turn for home because if the wind dropped, I was low on fuel.
Fantastic fast reach back to the main channel (5+ knots), and then a goose wing run from one end of the harbour to the other before finally rolling/furling everything away and putting on the engine for the last 300 yards...
Fantastic fast reach back to the main channel (5+ knots), and then a goose wing run from one end of the harbour to the other before finally rolling/furling everything away and putting on the engine for the last 300 yards...
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| Prinstead Channel looking north towards the South Downs |
Brilliant afternoons sailing - the roller furling continues to
delight - the genoa (going to stop calling it a jib as it's mucking
huge) is brilliant though it takes careful handling.. I need longer
sheets as fully rolled out the distance to the tack from the opposite
side of the boat is almost the maximum for the current length...
As the wind comes up I've found that rolling in a few turns can make a huge difference to the comfort levels especially when beating - off the wind there's no issues and I just let the whole lot out... I've decided I don't need winches - I sail solo so cam cleats suit me perfectly, winch handles and all the rest of the associated gubbins are difficult in a small boat, and I can handle the full sail by hand anyway...
Bit of video fun... I was doing five knots, the video makes it look like I was doing fifteen...
Log:
Distance: 14.91 miles (cumulative total in the 2014 mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: Both ends of a Force 3 - looks like it picked up a bit at just after high tide but then went back to normal levels.. and almost dead South, but going more SE by end of the afternoon.
Sail Plan: Full main/3 rolls in the jib but let them out as the afternoon went on - engine for manoeuvring and to get down beyond Marker at the beginning of the afternoon...
Speed: GPS track says max speed was 5.1 knots (which I saw under sail) - average speed 2.7 knots
As the wind comes up I've found that rolling in a few turns can make a huge difference to the comfort levels especially when beating - off the wind there's no issues and I just let the whole lot out... I've decided I don't need winches - I sail solo so cam cleats suit me perfectly, winch handles and all the rest of the associated gubbins are difficult in a small boat, and I can handle the full sail by hand anyway...
Bit of video fun... I was doing five knots, the video makes it look like I was doing fifteen...
Log:
Distance: 14.91 miles (cumulative total in the 2014 mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: Both ends of a Force 3 - looks like it picked up a bit at just after high tide but then went back to normal levels.. and almost dead South, but going more SE by end of the afternoon.
Sail Plan: Full main/3 rolls in the jib but let them out as the afternoon went on - engine for manoeuvring and to get down beyond Marker at the beginning of the afternoon...
Speed: GPS track says max speed was 5.1 knots (which I saw under sail) - average speed 2.7 knots
So that's where you were...I spent the afternoon at your club taking sailors out rowing. Some of them were very good too...might have picked up a few members!
ReplyDeleteHi Chris - yes sloped off to "quieter" parts... :o) Must check and see how popular the open day was with non club members...
DeleteThanks Steve. Glad you had a good time. Nice article. You brought back memories for me sailing the same waters.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Bill.
Cheers Bill.. always remember you and the little West Wight Potter visiting Snowhill.. :o)
Delete