Clippers...

Taeping, a tea clipper built in 1863 by
Robert Steele & Company.

No not that kind.. 😁

I may have mentioned that my bro in law works for the Clipper Race [clicky] and for the last few months he's been more than a bit excited, as with the completion of the last race (2025-2026), the next race (2027-2028) will have new boats..

The current fleet have now done four navigations, and although the boats are all in pretty good shape, the new generation boats, of which the first has just been delivered, offer a whole raft of improvements based on the previous boats..

I've been watching the updates on the races Farcebook feed, and it is an absolute beast, so when he offered me and the Jolly Boys a look round it, we almost bit his arm off..

So it was that a contingent of the Jolly Boys convened at the Clipper Race headquarters in Gosport this week..

Just to help put it all in context he showed us around three generations of boats as they still have some of the boats from the generation before last, so this (following) was the first one we went on - the Grandaddy if you will the second generation of boat.. all of them however, even the new boat, share some common characteristics

• foresails are hank on, 
• there's no tiller pilots/autohelm, 
• no powered/hydraulic winches - they are all human powered
• crew accommodation is spartan (pipe cots and hot bunking)..

It's still in service, 68 foot of racing machine - I think they use these now for crew training [clicky] as part of preparation for each race..  with the arrival of the new boats I guess that role will be shifted a generation..

Note - single wheel - little or no protection for the helm - no cuddy. They have a second cockpit, or rather well, a couple of feet deep, forward at the mast, all the lines seem to lead to that. 

This boat will have raced across the Southern Ocean and I have no doubts whatsoever it would have been a very wet ride...

Every sail change forward (and they carry the full suite of foresails so Code 0's, spinnaker, and three or four upwind sails - it's an amateur race, but the skippers are professionals, and they give the crews all the tools to race hard if they wish to) would involve dropping the old (possibly wet) one down the forehatch to the sail room which is shared with living accommodation... 😏

Then to the next generation - so third generation - these are the boats that have just finished the last race - the one we were visiting came in 3rd I think he said..

The boats gained a couple of feet with this generation to 70', note also the change in stern shape, twin wheels and designed for fast down wind legs, helms are still exposed but now they have protection fore and aft - in effect you stand between the two immensely strong mesh covered metal hoops ..

Still very little protection for the crew though - long open cockpit - pedestal winches (which I don't remember seeing on the previous boat) - the sail room is separate to the crew accommodation though, so it should at least be drier down below, though my bro in law says they tend to suffer from condensation as airflow is limited..  more on them here [clicky]

Note the black line on the side deck - no crew in front of that line without permission..

...and then on to the beast, the Clipper RX [clicky] - this is the fourth generation of boat - and as seems usual, has gained another two feet at 72'.

Built in China she's the forerunner of ten new boats (possibly more) and for the first time they have some crew protection - twin wheels with a cuddy in front that also houses the nav station down below. 

Fascinated to see that the running gear for the steering is dyneema b.t.w

Centre crew cockpit with a serious cuddy for protection, note also the pedestal winches - the actual winches are astonishing - huge!

Most noticeable is the dreadnought bow, and the chines - bro in law sent us a video the other day of her doing 12 knots on a training session (we thought it was a motor boat he was on!) but he tells us the chines work like a dream, deflecting water sideways rather than up, but also a huge stabilising influence when she's planing...

Ignore the green stuff on the bowsprit - they were prettifying before she came out of the water later that afternoon for vinyl wrapping prior to a visit to Southampton Boat Show

As I say she was coming out of the water that afternoon for vinyl wrapping - I think she'll end up looking like the picture on the Race website..

Piccie courtesy Clipper

Final amazement was the standing rigging - 14mm! So strong that the rig tension is completed by hydraulically lifting the whole mast to get the tension into it - the eye bolts are so huge you cannot manually tighten them enough. Once the tension is on they have shims they can then slide under the mast foot. He told us that they replace the standing rigging on each and every boat in the race after the race has finished...

Stunning boat - fantastic day - and a pint and a pickled egg after, what's not to like! 😁

Last trip to Cowes?

The day was kind of bookended by this beast..  

This is Virgin Cruises "Valiant Lady" which is in Portsmouth for the last time, as the 5 year contract between the cruise line and the City of Portsmouth Docks has come to an end. 

She was berthed in the cruise port just the other side of the water from AmiLy's resting place - the damn thing was so big it blotted out the sun, and the wind shadow reached to us.. 😏

Anyway - I jump ahead.. as usual.. 

Time to go out with the Jolly Boys - always good to have a trip out with them. We'd originally planned for this to be a two day'er, but as we head in to the cusp of Autumn, the weather is showing signs of letting up, and when we were planning at the beginning of the week, the Friday/second day was looking distinctly dismal (wind and rain) and we decided to cancel the overnight and stick with just the Thursday.

HT was 12:08 and Spring'ish at 4.49mtrs , but as we now know all too well, what we have to plan around when we're out on AmiLy is the low tide, as that is what enables the arrival or departure from the pontoon - she floats all the time, the issue is the exit on the corner at the end of the pontoon where it gets decidedly thin! We need about an hour and a half either side of  LT, but at 05:02 the first LT was never going to be an issue. 

Met at Rod's gaff then at 0900, and we dropped the mooring and were on our way by 09:50 - must be a record, surely?! With more south in the wind direction than usual, we also had the better angle of dangle for Cowes than we get with a 'more usual' SW'ly (nothing is usual/prevailing these days it sems to me - it can come from anywhere) and with Dave on the helm, we even managed to weather Gilkicker Point on one tack, which we then carried almost all the way to Cowes before the wind, which had been backing all morning, finally forced us to drop the sails just off Norris and motor in.. we could have tacked a couple of times to get us to the small boat channel, but we were only half a mile off the channel anyway..  err, and we were hungry* 😁

*and not only hungry, but thirsty to, we shoved the kettle on first thing to get the tea going only to find the gas run out, no worries said we, there's a spare... and that was empty too! 😨 We almost turned back there and then.. 😂

Mooring for the day was Shepherds Marina as that was where we had booked and paid for the overnight stay we we were now not using..  might as well get some value for the money paid. As Sheperds is in west Cowes, we now had a whole load more eating choices but chose the Island Sailing Club, as you can sit on the balcony there, with a glorious view of the mouth of the river and the entrance to Cowes.. 

Damn nice lunch it was as well..

At 05:02 the first LT was never an issue, but at 17:23 the second LT was going to be. There was no way we'd make it back an hour and a half before - we'd had a fast passage that morning but it had still taken two hours plus, and it was well after 14:30 by the time we'd finished lunch, gotten a takeaway coffee (😏) and sat around on the boat eating dessert (pastel de nata's courtesy of Dave, since you ask) so clearly a late arrival was on the books..

In the end we dropped the mooring about 15:45'ish, in what was clearly a building breeze, motored down the small boat channel, hoisted sail and set a course for Ryde so as to keep both sails occupied in what would have been a dead run if we'd headed straight to Portsmouth. After a gust hit us just off Ryde that had us grabbing at the coamings, and having seen a succession of high 5's and 6's (knots SOG) we finally turned and put some reefs in before entering the main boat channel for Portsmouth between the forts, gybing, and heading into the harbour on what was now a fast beam reach..

Only to be met by this as we came through the entrance..

The bookend to the day - Virgin's "Valiant Lady" leaving port - destination Amsterdam.. 

Wending our way up harbour we had a look at the moorings but it was still on the very thin side, so we turned and did a few loops, before finally chancing our arm and getting around the corner with about 20 or 30 cm's spare..

Cracking days sailing - maybe our last together for the year as well...  Rod's got a lift out end of next month (September) but Smithy's going on holiday before then..  we'll see. We do have an adventure next week, though - we're going to see the new Clipper Races boat.. 👌

Log:

Distance: 30.01 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  SSE going SWxS (AM) then SWxW PM) ; F4 gusting F5 (occ. F6)

Sail Plan: Full/double reefed main & full genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots):  7.2 / 2.7

Feisty soldier..

Needs must when the end of the season is approaching ..

The lift out dates are already up on the club calendar - looks like it's an interesting approach this year with  two separate lifts starting on either 12th, or 24th October - no idea yet if you can choose the date or not, time will tell.. 😏

..but so it was, that with the rest of this week busy, and after a week of no tides last week, even WITH the forecast I was keen to get out..

Ah.. the forecast - well no rain, and it remains warm, but we had a F4 gusting F5 on the books - time would tell whether it turned up (though the day before had been the same) but better than all that, potentially, it was an easterly! Long reaches to either end of the harbour - a belter of a direction..

HT was 11:08 and at 3.88m considerably more manageable than the man mountain of water we had last time I went out. On the boat by half 8, I started tidying up and getting stuff ready, with an easterly like this it would be a motor to Sweare deep so I had plenty of time to get the sail cover off and sail ready while I was motoring. I eventually dropped the mooring at 0845, and headed up the ditch in a spiky breeze - wasn't so much the wind as the gusts that were coming through..

By the time I'd got to Northney I already knew that it was not only going to be a reef but probably a double one so I hoisted the main while we were motoring almost head to wind and rolled in two sail slides of reefing (I don't have fixed reefing points, and with roller boom furling I can roll in as much as I like within reason, so I tend to do it based on the number of sail slides rolled down to the boom.. two slides means about a foot and a half rolled away off the bottom of the main)

 

Isle of Wight in the distance

Cranked everything down as I got to Sweare Deep as I came off the wind on to a beat, but only for a short time - even with a couple of knots of adverse tide we were seeing mid to high 3's (knots) through the water.. 

Eastoke ahead

..and it was soon enough over as we came further round at the Beacon onto a broad reach, and hurtled towards the bottom of the harbour..  

Two reefs had definitely been the correct decision, even with that she was a handful at times - tiny bit unbalanced I wonder?? Maybe needed either a little more (or less) genoa to balance her, but she was going like a rocket.. high 3's against a solid 2 knot tide, even with a weedy bottom..

Thanks Simon!

.. down to HISC, past HISC, past Fisherman's, 'Bar Beacon?' I wondered, but as the tide turned I was just past Eastoke, and decided to head back as with the wind as it was it would be a beat. It was, but only as far as HISC as I could then start bearing away again for a close reach back to Marker with maybe the last legs of the tide under me..  seeing 5.5's here..

Enjoyed it so much, I tacked at Marker and went back to HISC before finally turning for home - dragging the main down just after Beacon, and with genoa still out I motored back to the moorings where it then went went decidedly interesting.. 😁

With a gusty F5 NE'ly blowing through the moorings, along with a whole load of current*, and it proceeded to be a right bastard to get the pickup buoy on board, too much engine and you overran it, not enough and there was no steerage. In the end (and after three attempts just ended up with me overrunning the mooring), Jolly Boy Dave (who was heading back to shore after some pottering on his boat) suggested a long line from the forward cleat back to the cockpit, run outside the genoa sheets and standing rigging. Line through the top of the pick up while sat in the cockpit near engine controls, tied off, then with engine off the boat just drifted back to sit on the end of the line, which then allows you the time to go forward and just pull yourself in - worked a treat, I'll remember that, and thanks Dave! 👍

...fantastic days sailing - out again on Thursday with the Jolly Boys for what would have been an overnighter, but which has been foreshortened to just the one day due to weather.. 🤞

*(the moorings are fairly ambivalent to tides, as the water flows Chichester to Langstone pretty much all of the time - something to do with our location a the top of the harbour, and the fact that Chichester is way bigger than Langstone, so water is looking to drain from Chichester via Langstone - bit like an osmosis effect)

Log:

Distance: 13.79 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 gusting F5; ENE
Sail Plan: Double reefed main and 75% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.3 / 3.4

Intermittent puffs and some rafts..

Short meander on yet another very hot and sweaty day..  32'C and almost windless - which would have been good news for the raft racers in the front of the pub opposite, but not so good for a sail..

I'd put off going the day before because the conditions were if anything the same, but wanted to get out as I had a couple of jobs to do and I was missing Sparrow

So...  on the boat for 12'ish, as todays HT was 14:24 and at 4.94m an absolute beast of a spring tide..  the water was fairly ripping through the moorings.

First order of the day was to fit new genoa sheets - the old ones were worn, and beginning to fray so this was long overdue. The old sheets also had a matt finish so by way of an experiment the new ones were of a lighter and slipperier feel to see if it helped with the sheet transition when tacking... 

That done, I topped up the tank with 5 ltrs of fuel, and started up the metal donkey to warm up while I got the boat ready to go. Lots of noise and fun from the pub opposite, might be a bit more peaceful down the harbour (wishful thinking on a hot Saturday!)

Dropped the mooring at 12:30..  motored down the ditch and then went head to wind off  Northney to raise the main before bearing away for Sweare Deep and rolling out the genoa - wind was fitful at best, and northerly, and the tide was problematic. When I turned the engine off to sail, at times we were doing half a knot backwards.. 😏

Then when I got to Sweare I found that one of the Emsworth Sailing Clubs was running an RS Tera Open event that weekend, and there were 50 of the buggers racing at the top of the Emsworth Channel... 😁

Ah well - couple of enjoyable transits between Sweare and the Beacon, but with no wish to do a very slow run down the harbour only to have to then fight upwind all the way back, it was back to the mooring to tidy up, watch some of the antics across the way, and go home for a beer..

Piccie courtesy Farcebook - you can just see Sparrow in the background..  just... 😁

Piccie copyright Scenic Eye

Log:

Distance: 3.73 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F1 gusting F3 ; NxE
Sail Plan: Full main and 90% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.2 / 2.2

Greek dog..

Another cracking sail with the Jolly Boys - it was possibly the hottest day to date though, so it was good to be one the water in what was a decent breeze for most of the day..

Passage plan was 'to meet at Rod's gaff at 0830' (yeah that's about as much detail as we go into 😁), HT was 12:01 and at 4.6mtrs a big'gy. As it turned out we were all clearly keen to get going, and the boat was on the move barely an hour later..

Scenes of interest as we left - AmiLy's pontoon is right opposite the ferry port, and Brittany had clearly reached a tick the box day as they were testing the lifeboats - never seen them doing that before..  with people in them to provide scale you then realise how big the big one's are...

...and how small the small one's are! 😂

Glorious day in the harbour..

..but yee gods that water was churning in the entrance to the harbour - bow and stern were being kicked all over the place..

Long broad reach to the island was perfect, but the wind direction was a little fickle by the time we go to the island side as it was coming over land and twitching about a bit, but even so it was a good run - good speeds (4.5kt's SOG) thanks to tide. Lunch spot was East Cowes and the Lifeboat again - soz, we like it - good food, decent price, well kept beer (but a slightly conservative selection)

After a snooze in the heat - and Smiffy and I had to deploy the beach umbrella's as the sun was merciless - we then upped sticks for the "event". Yeah - a solar eclipse was due that evening and the plan was to watch it from the boat, as with a 17:18LT we'd need a couple of hours before we could get back on the pontoon. 

Wind was dead on the nose ('natch!) so we motored to just off Fishbourne (on the island) here the 'angle of dangle' was then such that with the sails up we had one of the best close hauled tacks I can remember in some time - the wind angle was just right, we had 20+kts of breeze, and AmiLy just went for it - tide was in our favour so even as we were beating for the other side we were also being swept sideways in the direction we wanted to go...

Once in the harbour we refuelled, and having done that pulled her back along the pontoon, and awaited the event.. 

Two old men and a pin hole card - please admire the socks.. it's important to him.. 😁 

...while they were doing that I went to have a look at the Clipper Race fleet - the first of their new generation boats has just arrived and is an absolute beast...  hoping to have a closer look at her in the near future, as my bro-in-law works for them... 🤞

We're not easily pleased and most of us thought the eclipse was a bit "meh" (as the young people say), so after a few beers we were back on the home pontoon and heading for home..  

Next one will be an overnighter..

Log:

Distance: 27.6 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 going F2 ; ESE going SE
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 7.2 / 2.3

Tack-fest

Lord above..  3rd sail in a week - what are things coming to? 😏

Clearly the weather is helping - it's warm, hot, and occasionally breezy, and the tides were also good the last seven days - times were optimal. Reckon this will be the last one until the tides come right again though, as they're beginning to get late (and early) now..

Either way, 15:37 HT and a big 4.47m height of water - definitely Springs. On the boat by 13:00, and as it looks like we had a bit of SE'ly action I got her ready on the mooring..  by half past we'd dropped the mooring and were motoring down the ditch. 

At which point there was a strange thing happening... I'd started my GPS up as usual - normally she's as good as gold, and satellites are acquired straight away - but this time it was really playing up and telling me it couldn't acquire them..  had to use auto locate in the end and it then started working as normal - what was really strange was that my phone was also reporting a weak GPS signal ...  got to Northney and both started working like normal..  weird.. 🤔

Speaking of Northney, as I went past I was passed by this... a pontoon boat...  now I understand they're quite common in the US, but that's only the second or third one I've seen here...  and it had a 120HP engine on the back! 😮

...but that's OK, as 10 minutes later this one went past...

...from the ridiculous to the sublime?? 😁

Anyway - the SE'ly turned out to be almost dead southerly - but with just enough angle of dangle in it to help with the tacks, so I just left the motor on and motor-sailed to Marker. You can see the difference the engine makes on the track - big looping tacks covering the distance. The tide was running hard though,  and when I did turn it off just before Marker the tacks immediately flattened as I tried to squeeze through the pinch point  - a lot of water pours through that comparatively small space. South of Marker the harbour opens up, more water and longer tacks make it easier to get up wind..

With signs that the wind was dying I turned and headed for home - just enjoying the weather, the boat, the water and the wind..  lovely day, more please!

Notes:

• I'll need more fuel
• The genoa sheets are beginning to wear and fray - time to replace them - 14 mtrs required.

Log:

Distance: 9.38* (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 going F3 ; SxE
Sail Plan: Full main and 90% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.4 / 2.8

*including an addition for when the GPS was playing up 😏

Light airs drifting..

Well that was a bit different to two days ago!

First the tides are building (in magnitude) fast - at 4.43m that's a quarter of a metre more water than when I went out just 2 days ago (the 'Buck' moon is in full chat at the moment), and second, the wind had shifted 180' - we had a NW'ly (ish)!

Anyway - 14:27 HT and I was on the boat getting ready by 11:00 (feet got a bit muddy, but it was 3.5 hours before high😏). The forecast was to build later to a solid F4, but when I got on the boat it was pretty light except that every now and again a strong gust would come through...  they do say you should do it the moment you think of it, so I decided to put a light reef in the main while on the mooring, saves faffing later..

Just shy of half past 11, with the main still up, I dropped the mooring and headed for the ditch..

Lots and lot of water sloshing about, and the wind proved fitful and all over the place - rolled out some genoa but it wasn't doing much as I needed the engine on to make pace against tide, which then cancelled out any benefit from the breeze..  basically the wind wasn't pushing me hard enough to counter tide! 😁

By the time we got to Sweare Deep the wind was beginning to settle in F2 territory, yet every now and again one of those F4 gusts would come through, and the wind was also shifting though about 10 degrees either side of NW so getting on a run as we came round the corner into the main channel by Beacon was a pain..  genoa almost constantly flapping but I managed to get on a goosewing for 15 minutes or so ...

..before giving up when the wind shifted again, so rounded up, put the engine on and motored back to Sweare Deep while I took the reef out of the main, turned, and had another go..

Better but not brilliant, but having managed to get past Marker I decided enough was enough, and as lovely as it was, a beer beckoned.. 😁

Log:

Distance: 6.09 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F2 gusting F4 ; NW
Sail Plan: Full/reefed main and full genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.7 / 2.1

Camber clamber..

...and as we always knew they would, the tides finally returned.. 😏

After a glorious week weather'iwse last week but where the tides were late and early, this week broke fair with later morning early afternoon tides, perfect! Yesterday was a 12:47 HT and at 4.24m was early Springs, definitely not as big as some we've seen so far this year!

On the boat by 10 then, and the plan was not to hang around - the wind was dead southerly (uhhhh... 😐) so whatever happened today, with the bottom of the harbour a long way away, and dead downwind, the mechanical donkey was going to earn her keep today. Opted then to get the boat ready while underway..  

Dropped the mooring about quarter past...  autopilot on (Lord bless it - what did I do in the days before it?!) and motored down the ditch while getting sail covers off, ties off, ensign on, lockers unlocked, rolled out some tentative genoa as I went past Northney (as the wind was beam on) but I was soon headed so I rolled it back and settled down for a long motor.

Plan was to see if I could cross Pilsey sands from about Verner (see map for locations), heading vaguely east'ish, as that would allow a beam, if not close, reach down to East Head.. which worked quite well except for one thing - school summer holidays! 😁  

Yep.. every club at the bottom of the harbour (just like ours so I should have known!) was running a Juniour's* Week and the harbour was absolutely rammed with every type of dinghy under the sun - all of them seemingly racing on Pilsey Sands! Six tacks later (to avoid fleets of ankle biters and their parents) and I finally managed to get a gap and made my way across, and only then by going right through the middle of a fleet (on starboard and gloating 😏)

Once across though, I sought emptier waters, and rode the very last of the tide eastwards towards Itchenor - before finally gybing off the end of Thorney Channel around the Cambermet weather beacon..

Cambermet in addition to being a weather station is also a south cardinal (which I hadn't realised) - it marks the end of a spit that runs from the east side of the Thorney channel - I'm the wrong side of it, but there was plenty of water... 😁

...and heading back towards the main Emsworth Channel to the west.. it was a glorious day - the following (click to 'embigen') is a view up the Thorney Channel, the sun on the water, and the South Downs in the distance - what a venue to sail in..  I'm lucky.. 

...with more west in the wind with every passing moment, I had to tack off Pilsey Island as the water was geting thin, and I couldn't clear it on the tack I was on. Headed back across the channel towards Ella Nore on the southern side of the channel and then tacked again to head west...

Passed Snowhill - skirted the multitude of anchored yachts and motor boas off the beaches at East Head, and then cut the corner for the long ride home..  it was dead down wind, so the genoa was rolled away..

...hello "old friend".. 

Fishing rod was deployed, views were enjoyed, music was on, the perching post occupied, seals admired, and we progressed up the harbour at a most stately 3.5 knots (against tide) - very pleased - looks like the antifoul is holding up...

Then just as we approached Northney, and just as I had out the engine on for the last schlepp down the ditch - wallop! The road started bouncing, and bugger me if we hadn't caught a decent one.. 

Oh yes... 🐟

Usually I only catch tiddlers and infants, but that was a 100% adolescent, and just over a pound in weight.. he (or she) was admired, photo'd, and sent back to his siblings with a story to tell...   "and away"...  

Cracking sail and takes me comfortably over the 50 for the year so far..   more please!

*according to Google, Juniour (as opposed to Junior) is "an obsolete and incorrect" spelling - who knew? Also when did obsolete become incorrect? I've always spelt it that way, and just to cheese Google off probably will continue to..  on those rare occasions you have to... 😁

Log:

Flat tacks..  tide was running..  😏

Distance: 12.74 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  F2 gusting F3 ; SSE going SxW
Sail Plan: Full main and 90% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.6 / 2.8

Overnight to Lymington

Just back from the first 'overnighter' of the year with the Jolly Boys.. this time a quick trip to Lymington.

Midday Spring HT's to take advantage of as the Solent "travelator" would be at full chat at certain times. For going westward we could have a fairly leisurely start as they wouldn't be full bore until near hight water. 

Convened at Rod's gaff at 0845 then, and headed for the boat. After a slight panic when Dave realised he didn't have his driving licence with him for photo id, but then remembered he had his passport with him (😧) we were on the boat and slipping the moorings at 10'ish.

Winds were (and had been all week) fairly spicy - it's hot here at the moment and I think the heatwave is contributing, all that hot air rising has to be replaced somehow (what is that? if I remember rightly from my old RYA skipper courses is it a catabatic? or an anabatic? Or neither at all and just a heat induced breeze.. 😁) Either way it was enough for us to put the second reef in and we had no reason to regret the decision most of the day..

Both days were easterly's, so the trip to Lymington was ostensibly a super long, tide assisted, run/very broad reach. A little over 5 hours door to door (and we've done trips to Cowes that have taken that long) comprising food, chat, banter, nonsense and a sunny warm glittering Solent...  glorious..

Moored up in Lymington..

Destination for the night was the Yacht Haven which we all love purely because of their FANTASTIC showers! 😁

Dinner was in the Fisherman's Rest, which was good (if not outstanding) before retiring to the boat for some of us to watch England play their semi final in the World Cup ..

This one was moored up opposite and caught my eye..  beautiful colour.. she's a Swallow Yachts boat..

Return trip started early so we could catch the 'travellator' in the opposite direction - with a F4 on the nose the entire way up the Solent, we knew we were going to need all the help it could provide.. so we were up for 0600, and dropped the mooring and were motoring for the Solent at 0700...

We'd kind of assumed we'd be motoring all the way, so for the western Solent we plugged away under said motor, doing 6.5/7 knots SOG (!), cooked breakfast (sausage baps) under way, and slurped tea, as we watched the sad sight of the sunken yacht ("Aliunde") slip past incredibly quickly.. 

"Aliunde".. more here [clicky]

..she's been there since last September.. no sign of her being moved any time soon.. 😏

Nice view to eat your sausage bap to...  that's the sun glinting on the Needles in the distance..

...we passed the Bramble bank (to the north) no more than an hour or hour and half after we left Lymington, and then put the sails up just after Calshot for a long and slightly tight'ish beat to Gilkicker point, before putting the motor on again for the last stretch up the inner swashway (where the wind was on the nose again) to the harbour and the mooring..  one end of the Solent to the other in just about 4 hours - got to love that 'travellator', and especially on Springs! 😏

Excellent trip - the next overnighter we've decide will be Cowes which gives us time to do a side trip on the way or way back...

Log:

Red 15th, yellow 16th..

Distance: 49.11 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)

Wind (Speed; Direction): 

• 15th : F4 gusting F5; ENE
• 16th : Top end F4; NExN

Sail Plan: Full and reefed main, full genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 7.0 / 4.7 (average of the two days)

Pilsey shuffle..

After the last trip out I think it fair to say that there was a slight sense of unfinished business about the dock side.. 😁

Wednesday looked promising, but there was a clear requirement (from the forecast) to get going as soon as possible so as to make the most of the westerly wind before it started bending round from the south (guessing they were foreseeing a growing sea breeze)..  things didn't start well when I go to the club only to find I'd forgotten my phone..  not mission critical, but if I wanted any photos, or music to listen to, I was going to struggle.. 😏

Half an hour later I was back at the club, once on the boat I filled up the outboard fuel tank with 5 litres of fresh fuel (took half a litre of the old stuff home and put it in the car), covers off, engine on to warm up, mooring dropped at 11:24. With a HT at 13:45 I could have used the 30 minutes I lost to make some south'ing, but the wind was light anyway so I guess I didn't miss much..

As is usual with these westerly's the main went up in the pool by the bridge and then I bore away for a run down the ditch.. left the engine running until well past Emsworth Beacon before turning it off and trying without.. winds were light and fitful, but every now and again there would be a useable gust but all in all it was quite frustrating, and with a huge spring tide there was a lot of water to fight head on..  shades of the last trip!

With more fuel on board though I put the engine back on and motor sailed down past Marker, only to find the wind filling in, but only as it moved southerly..

..hitting the overdrive for the return trip on the last of the incoming tide..

N'er mind - a lovely single tack down to the Pilsey buoys (there are two of them) saw me almost at HISC before I tacked and bore away back to Verner - glorious speeds SOG saw me at Verner in a quarter of the time it had taken to go the other way, but when I gybed to head back to Pilsey it was clear the wind had filled in very quickly indeed and was now more than enough to start the sails flapping.. 

Tacked again and headed for home - I'd had a cracking sail, and it was time to head for home... sails down just shy of Sweare Deep and I was back on the mooring 3 hours after I'd left..  brilliant..

Sparrow's bigger brother - a Hurley 22 - met her on the way back..

Notes:

• 5 litres fuel added

Log:

Distance: 8.64* (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F2 going F4 ; W going SWxW
Sail Plan: Full main / full and 90% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.3 / 2.7

*includes distance covered while the GPS needed a battery change.. 😁

In and out..

Not much of a trip - had hoped for more (clearly.. don't we all?! 😏), but lack of wind stopped play...

Two and a half hours before HT (12:23 and 4.10m) saw me on Sparrow after a chat with my mooring neighbours Jolly Boy Dave and Simon, covers off, engines started, and I dropped the mooring at about quarter past ten...

What wind there was was westerly so I put the main up by the bridge as is becoming the norm, and then headed off down the ditch after Simon. Motored all the way to just before Sweare Deep where (as usual) the noise of the engine finally got to me and I turned her off, and then I sailed for all of, oooh..  15 minutes (?) before the wind dropped completely, and I ended up going round and round in circles heading back towards Emsworth Channel..

Didn't have enough fuel for an extended motor to the bottom of the harbour so decided to call it quits..  the forecast is good this week - there'll be other opportunities..

Time to get some fuel..

Log:

Distance: 3.57 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F1 gusting F3 ; between W and S 
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.4 / 2.7