Four go round the bend..

Despite having done the big trip last month, the Jolly Boys are nothing if not gluttons for punishment, and decided it was time for a curry...  just to make it interesting though, the decision was taken that the curry should be in Lymington (😏) and that we wanted to stay at Lymington Yacht Haven as we like their showers..

The trek west from Portsmouth to Lymington is a long one, and we'd definitely need the assistance of tide, a fly in the ointment though was that one of the aircraft carriers in the dockyard was due to leave the same morning as us, and Kings Harbour Master had sent out an advisory to say that the small boats channel in and out of the harbour was going to be closed for an hour and a bit from 10:00. 

We definitely needed to get away before the harbour was closed, and so it was that the decision was taken to revise the plan and meet at Rod's gaff half an hour earlier ..  07:30 we convened, and by half 8 we'd dropped the moorings and were heading down the harbour past the carriers..

As you can see from the picture - there wasn't a breath of wind, and it remained that way once we got out of the harbour - it was like a mirror. Sails remained down/rolled - engine throttle nudged up and AmiLy powered west under motor - with the tide under her we were seeing regular 10's and 11's SOG.

It was a baking hot day, and rather than get to Lymington prematurely and have to hang around while we waited for the pontoon mooring to be free, a decision was taken to pull into the Beaulieu river entrance and pick up a visitors mooring at Needs Ore Point (they're right on the first bend in the river) as we'd been there before..

Needs Ore Point moorings

Smiffy went swimming, the rest of us lazed, some beer was partaken, home made sausage rolls snaffled..  utterly glorious..  even better, we had it for free (as did a few other boats who popped in, ate lunch, and popped off) as the Harbour Master was noticeable by his absence.

In the meanwhile, lunch over and the wind was picking up, so as we were already head to wind the main went up, we dropped the mooring, and ran down to the river entrance, in what was becoming an  "interesting" but westerly, wind.. 

As we came out we could see the Solent was heaving with race fleets (it was the penultimate day of Cowes Week) which limited our options, but we did try (see following).. but after two hours of short tacking (to keep out of the way of the racers), against a full tide (it had turned), we were just about past the mooring buoy we had had lunch on inside the spit.. 😂

..."bugger this", quoth we, engine went on - sails down - and we motored in to Lymington and in an increasingly stronger wind - by the time we arrived it was a good F4, and absolutely bang on the nose..

Lymington as ever was lovely, we were in the Yacht Haven which is further out from town, but as mentioned we like the showers there, so job done.. 😏. 

Rod and I thought the curry at Rivaaz was worth the trip - though Dave reckoned his was disappointing ("he chose poorly", in the words of the old knight in Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail 😁) and Smiffy reckoned his was salty - picky, picky, picky..  we'll try the other one next time.

Following morning we woke to a crystal blue sky, with not a cloud in sight, and it was already blisteringly hot, and windless..  the plan was to leave at 10, as we wanted a west going tide so as to shoot us past the Needles, before then turning east and heading home down the south of the island..  we're nothing if not adventurous after two bottles of red wine in a a comfy warm curry house!

Leaving Lymington; Hurst Castle and the Needles ahead..

Plan started well - the wind was building all the time as we left the Haven and motored into the F4 westerly - with tide under us we were at the Needles in just less than a couple of hours..  

Rounding the Needles - well clear..

Once past, the main went up, the genoa out, and we had a good run down to St. Catherine's where it then went a little pear shaped, and we found overfalls big time.. 😏

Bit of pilotage for you..

..note the number of those symbols, and also the distance they extend...

..and these wise words of guidance from the Admiralty (my highlight)..

"A race occurs off St. Catherine’s point, and may be violent when the stream is strong and a strong wind is blowing in the opposite direction; the race is specially violent south-eastward of the point in westerly gales at springs, during the west-going stream.  Eddies occur near the land westward of the point during the west-going stream.

Adapted from Admiralty Sailing Directions English Channel 1947"

Then note that the tidal flow at the time was as follows, and it was a Spring('ish) tide, and that the wind was 5 occasionally gusting 6 and almost dead westerly/opposite..

So - not surprisingly, we had the recipe for the perfect overfall.. 😏  

Suffice to say it was uncomfortable for about an hour - boat was pitching 30' degrees, with breaking waves coming from all directions and up to 12 feet in height. Sailing downwind one wave kicked her stern round and we ended up gybing at which point "enough was enough" was decided - engine went on, quick head into wind, reefs went in, and we turned back on the original (post gybe) course..  and half an hour later all was calm... 

Lot of learning in a short time but I think as a crew we did OK..  there was no indication in the morning forecasts of the wind we were actually seeing so there was no planning for the waves it actually kicked up - if it had, we knew the overfalls were there, so we would have gone further out.

By the time we got to Ventnor, despite the occasional kick up the stern just to let us know the sea was unhappy, we were beginning to make speed though - the tide was turning!

We went past Shanklin, then Sandown, and then Bembridge with the after-burners on, and then rode that westerly breeze and tide like a rented donkey all the way into Portsmouth, with just a brief detour to avoid a containers ship coming out of Southampton that was at least as big as Hayling Island.. 

One last small detour to wait for the ferry and we were back on the home pontoon just after 19:00..  job done..

So near yet so far - channel to the pontoon as we wait for a ferry to come out..

Better part of 83 miles in two days, and we only did 50 odd miles in 4 days on the extended cruise! A beer in the cabin after to finish off food, unwind, and dissect the day and I think it safe to say we were all very pleased to get back - we were "wind tired" as it had blown all day..

Looking forward to the next one as the overnighter format worked well..  maybe Yarmouth next time?? Definitely before the end of the season was agreed..

Log:

Green day 1; blue day 2

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

Wind (Speed; Direction):

• 1st Aug: From sub F1 (AM) to F4 (PM); WxS
• 2nd Aug: From F4 (AM) to F5 gusting 6 (PM); WxS

Sail Plan: 

• 1st Aug: Full main and genoa
• 2nd Aug: Full main then 1st reef / full genoa

Speed (Max/average in knots): As above..  the 12.4 knts was as we came up to the Beaulieu River entrance under motor and with full tide under us..