Hard work

MASSIVE tide for this one at 4.96mtrs, which, if my tide tables don't lie, is one of the two biggest tides of the year (the other one is in April) - the forecast though was showing sun and a solid F3 and who was I to pass up the opportunity of a mid week sail at this stage of the season - winter is a long time going.. 😏

We'd also had notice that this was going to be a busy old weekend in my part of the harbour - a regatta at Emsworth, and also the round Hayling race, so best get my sail in before the crowd turn up for what many will be seeing as the last weekend of the summer..

With a 13:45 HT, I was on the boat for 10:00, very little water about (the low water level on a Spring that big is something to behold) but we managed. At least when the tide turns, it comes in quick - but I still much prefer a neap..  

Having seen the weed at the waterline the last time I went out, I'd brought the broom with me this time for my usual scrub round the waterline, the rudder in particular was looking a bit 'Brian Blessed', and as usual I notice the port side was worse than the starboard (I reckon that side is more shaded as when she's floating the tide flow in the pool will generally have her nose pointing east?), but with no concrete evidence to prove it yet (we'll see in four weeks when she's lifted) I think the barnacles are less this year?

All sail covers off, sails made ready, engine warming up, and I dropped the mooring at just after 10:30 ; heading for the bridge I put the main up, and then gybed for the ditch. Wind was dead westerly, so dead downwind, not much of it (low end F3) and no help from the genoa (covered by the main). I estimate there was an adverse 2 knot tide so the engine stayed on even after I got enough angle of dangle to deploy the full genoa at Sweare. 

Motor sailed to about the midway point between the Beacon and Marker, hugging the west side of the channel to stay out of the deep water flow, before eventually switching it off mainly for some relief from the noise...  progress was then being made, but not much more than a knot SOG.

The wind throughout all of this had been no more than a low F3, but as we passed through the Marker bottleneck, heading for Verner, the wind began to perk up a bit, and the sun came out...  happy days..

Reaching Verner after almost two hours (!) of sailing I was clearly on no 'speed run', so with the wind continuing to build I turned and headed back. It was a close reach so I rolled away 10% of the genoa as she goes up wind better with that.

Lovely sail to Beacon and I toyed with the idea of going back down, but some ominous grey clouds were building to the west, and I had somewhere I needed to be, so engine went on at Beacon, and I tidied up as I headed for home..

Turned out to be a good one...

Log:

Distance: 7.05 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): Both ends of a F3, gusting F4 later ; W
Sail Plan: Full main and full/90% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.0 / 2.3

Autumn's here..

Almost like someone flicked a switch..  after months (well, weeks.. 😏) of sun and warmth and high pressure systems, someone found sixpence for the meter and turned the Autumn on..  but as usual I get ahead of myself..

So HT at 11:22, and a fairly chunky 4.5mtrs - definitely Spring'ish. On the boat by 9'ish, I got everything set and dropped the mooring about quarter past. 

I still had the reefs in from the last sail and had already decided to leave them in based on the forecast (F4 gusting F5, going F4) - as I was getting the boat ready I didn't feel any need to change my mind on that as there were a few sharpish gusts coming through. With the wind direction being what it was I had the choice to put the main up in the pool by the bridge, but in the end decided to wait and puttered off down the ditch, before eventually turning 180' and putting the main up just off Northney..

Pointless rolling the genoa out with the direction it was I was just off dead down wind, but I did roll it out and ran goosewing to just past the Beacon, before turning and then having a (very) broad reach to the bottom of the harbour.. I also took out the reefs, I got the impression the wind was calming..

I don't have a chart plotter so finding that
channel was sheer luck.. 😁

As I say, autumnal definitely - it was cool - ended up with extra layers on...

At NW Pilsey (why is it called NW Pilsey, by the way, when it's actually south and east of the NE Pilsey buoy?😏), and roughly 20 minutes before HT I tacked and headed for the top of the harbour. Was hoping to ride the last legs of the tide, but to be honest it was already slack where I was - I tend to work from tide times at Northney at the top of the harbour which is about 15-30 minutes later than at the harbour mouth where I now found myself..

From the peace of a broad reach to the utter mayhem of a beat in a rich F4 with a full rig - finally got her going though, and because there was still lots of water I had the benefit if being able to make long tacks outside the main channel, including one cracking one where by sheer luck I found the channel that I'd last used on the seal watching trip a year ago..  just as well I had a close eye on the depth, the 2 and 3mtrs I was seeing didn't bear any resemblance to what they should have been in relation to the main channel markers - tacked to cut the corner and saw less than a meter underneath before I re-joined the main channel! 

Seventeen tacks brought me to the Beacon , where the engine was engaged for the trip back to the mooring directly in to a headwind..

Since the last trip and that abortion of a mooring pick up, I'd been thinking about putting together a mooring aid/line of the kind Dave used - one spare line from the cockpit locker and a snap shackle later I'd put one together so thought I might give it a try. Happy to say it worked perfectly - another tool added to the armoury..

...that trip takes me over the 100 mile mark for the year..  about time to.. 😁 

Notes/work items:

• trolly wheels for the tender need a look at - one of them is sticking
• patched some scratches/nicks in the cockpit locker lids 
• the hatch covers are looking scruffy and need doing
• will bring the broom out next time - she's looking very weedy round the water line
• got my lift out date - October 12th

Log:

Distance: 10.27 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  Both ends of a F4 ; NWxW
Sail Plan: Double reefed / full main and 75% & 90% genoa.
Speed (Max/average in knots): 3.9 / 2.4

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! 😁