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
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..
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment