The Jolly Boys Cruise - 2019

...our ride for the weekend...  Halberg Rassy 342

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 probably not as good as last years trip, purely because the weather last year was outstanding, and this year it also was, but for entirely different reasons.. you'll be pleased to know there was no Lymington cock up this year..  amazing...

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 3 hours away, but conditions were blustery to say the least. We could see boats in the main harbour over on their ears, so Rod decided to go there and then with three reefs on the main...   wise decision. Once we were out of the harbour it wasn't quite bang on the nose - quick southing towards Ryde and we had enough room for a long single tack to Cowes, that doesn't happen often, but the boat was shifting even with a pocket handkerchief main..  I also think it fair to say that as a crew we've developed over the years to a point where conditions like we were getting (top 4 gusting into top 5) no longer freak us out, most gratifying ... mooring was obtained at East Cowes (which I generally like because it's a bit quieter than the other side of the river, but where on this occasion we had some chav's in a motor boat, playing over loud chav music a few boats away), a walk into Cowes (where we ogled a quite astonishingly lovely Oyster 82), followed by beers at the Lifeboat, and then food at the Duke of York (still) very nice I thought..

Saturday dawned grey, and with even more breeze than the day before, we left the reefs in, and after a later breakfast (while we waited for the tide to set fair in the Solent) and a sit in occasional bursts of sunshine, we left for Lymington.

Now I thought last years sail to Lymington was a cracker, but this years was in a different order of magnitude..  it had  picked up a little from yesterday, so was more F6 than F5, but a Hallberg Rassy is a heavy old boat, with a heavy old keel, and she just loved it..  superb sailing, a real sense of achievement when we finally dropped sails outside of Lymington and headed in for a well deserved beer...  this year we decided to try Berthon marina (not without some quizzical looks - it has to be said that the crew of Ocean Waves think the showers in the other marina are quite possibly the best in the entire Solent ) not the least because it is closer to town...  beers on the boat, and a curry at the Rivaaz (pricey but good) finished the day - I can confirm we slept very well..  

Hurst and the Needles in the distance as we came into Lymington...  sums up Saturday weather nicely that does..

Sunday dawned grey again - this time with persistent rain - long breakfast (full English cooked by Smithy every day) papers, and a wait for the tide meant we finally left for the long down wind run for that evenings target about lunchtime...  jib only run, and we were still seeing solid 5's through the water, extraordinary..  after last years success we had chosen the Hamble again for our overnight stop. A quartering sea on the stern with breaking two and three foot waves for a little over 3 hours and we were damn pleased to get into Southampton Water.

Destination was again Port Hamble marina, funny old place the Hamble.. absolutely rammed with boats..  there must be thousands and thousands and thousands of them...  mostly high end, and/or racing machines..  so MUCH money it makes your eyes water...

Time for some beer and dinner..  first stop of the night was the RAF Yacht club who made us very welcome again..  lovely pint of Doombar here..  we then ended the day with Italian in the village - I thought the best food we had all weekend..

The resemblance is uncanny..  Rod the Mod exhibits breeding...

...and so the day dawned for the final trip - Monday - and at last the sun shone.The wind had dropped as well so all reefs were taken out and we had a fantastic broad reach from Southampton to Portsmouth where we were aiming to arrive lunchtime'ish so we could get on the pontoon. We timed it just right - QHM Portsmouth closed the small boat channel an hour after we arrived as Queen Elizabeth was going out..  stooged around watching that for a while, while having lunch, and that was it for another year...

Cowes in the sun on a sunny Monday - the Solent at its finest..

...all food mostly finished, all beer mostly finished, and we were back on the mooring and packing up by one/two and I was home for 3... a brilliant four days out...  now, where's Sparrow... ??

Big Lizzy readying to depart..  those helicopters had come over us on the way to Portsmouth that morning..

Log:

Friday blue, Saturday pink, Sunday green, Monday yellow..

Distance: 62.76 miles (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)

Wind: 

• Fri F4 gusting F5; SSW
• Sat: F5 gusting F6; SWxS
• Sun: F4 gusting F5; SSW
• Mon: Both ends of a F4; SW going SWxW

Sail Plan: 3rd reefed main and second reef jib all weekend apart from the Monday when we put everything up
Speed: See distance section above..  Saturday was a day of big speeds and big winds..  8.9 knots over the ground and an average over 2.5 hours of over 6 knots!