Pole dancing...

You have to take your chances where you can this summer..   forecast tomorrow (Sunday) was for decidedly blecchhh weather (wind and rain), so I took my chance on a Saturday afternoon sail either side of the late high tide (17:23); my first sail in Sparrow in 3 weeks (grief!)

Either way, was on the boat in beautiful sunny conditions by 3'ish, and delighted to remember that I had left the reefs in from the last trip as the forecast for this afternoon was to get cloudier, and windier (in the gusts) with perhaps the chance of a few spots of rain later - I was guessing I'd need them... filled the tank for the outboard (NB. don't think I've used more than 10 litres all summer so far) and went for my usual plan of motoring to Marker before hoisting sail..

Wind was SE'ly so got to Marker, hoisted sails, and then reached the sailing club at the entrance to the harbour on almost one beat.. first tack at Verner (look at the tack angle! Tide flowing strong in my defence..) ... hmm, "was it possible to get out of the harbour today?" I started thinking - the wind was almost the same direction as last time ('3 strikes and I was still in'.. 😏) but perhaps slightly more easterly? Tacked again at NE Pilsey, and for the final time at NW Pilsey and I knew it was going to be possible..

3 strikes (tacks) and you're out this time..

The weather was closing in, 100% cloud, but stupidly warm so pushed on - I was doing 2.5 to 3 knots, on reefs, up wind, but against a significant tide, so progress was OK, and once I got to the West Winner I could bear away for the Bar Beacon and the West Pole..

Huge tide going westwards outside (as expected) but "Sparrow" went roaring past the Bar Beacon and before I knew it there was the Martian tripod also known as the West Pole..  about a quarter past the HT now, so I turned back for the harbour..  really didn't want to have to fight a whole load of water even with a reasonable breeze up the chuff.. barring the usual motorboat numpty who insists on charging past within 10 yards at 20 knots (for the record, you're a dick head, mate..), the entrance passage was good, though even with that breeze I was still only making 3 knots - a lot of water empties in and out of that harbour.. 

...bit grey and gloomy...

Delightful run back up the harbour, but the wind really wasn't doing what was forecast, and was dropping to nothing.. after a contemplative beer, a cigar, a check of the seal colony (west side of the channel between Marker and Verner, and they were thriving), and a little Albanoni [clicky], I dropped the main at the entrance to the Northney channel, started the engine, rolled away the genoa and headed back to the mooring...  it was almost dark as I came ashore...  the daylight is disappearing fast (well .. about two or three minutes a day, actually.. )

Another memorable one....

NB. Lift out dates have been announced - they're later this year - end October - so two weeks more in the water than last year...  Sparrow's anti foul seems to be holding up well - sailing her more would help, but jut a few bits of weed on the waterline... I scrubbed her mid-September last year so we shall see...  

Log:

Distance: 11.06 miles (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: F4 (bottom gusting top), SE going ExS by end of afternoon
Sail Plan: Reefed main (two rolls) and reefed genoa (between 2 and 4 rolls) - engine to get to Marker (not included in track)...
Speed: GPS track says the max speed was 4.7 knots (which would have been under motor, but I saw a few 4+'s while sailing) - average speed 3 knots

Dib dib dob....

I was hoping to get out for a decent session on Sparrow yesterday..  13:30'ish high tide, sunny weather, all boded well for an excellent day out, but unfortunately it was not to be....  no wind...  been a right binary summer this year in the UK - either blowing a hooley or flat calm; raining cats and dogs grey or sunny.... in between days are few and far between seemingly

Either way, not having been on Sparrow for a few weeks a visit was in order - we've had some rough days, and a fair amount of rain, so I wanted to check we she was all OK, and dry...

Turned up at the slipway and was getting the tender out, when a little old lady came hurtling down the slip way (not literally I hasten to add - just moving fast) - 70 if she was a day but I have poor ability to estimate these things - told me she had come down from London that morning by train, was a fellow club member, that her husband was on a business trip, and that she was worried her Centaur was sinking, and could I give her a lift to the boat...

No worries I said - I'll give you a lift out but I'm only going out for 15 minutes is that OK? "Yes" she said "lovely", and leapt in the tender...

Either way, gave her a lift out to her boat, dropped her off (and was most impressed at how she went up the back of her boat...  quicker than I could have done it!) went over to Sparrow to check all was OK (she was, bilges bone dry), dropped off replacement stores (Diet Pepsi) and new VHF antenna (to be fitted later), lounged a bit and then went over to collect her....

Two of the guys on the boat next to hers were getting ready to go, and they reckoned she'd shifted 13 buckets at least....

Anyway - she said enough was enough, climbed in to the tender and we headed for home - offered her a lift to the station, but she said she'd brought sandwiches so was going to make a day of it....!

....bloody brilliant - I hope I have half that energy and "get up and go" when I'm her age...!!

Pre-Cowes Week Cowes trip

Rod gave me a shout last week with the offer of a ride on Ami-Ly with the same crew who did the America's Cup trip, and seeing as the tides this weekend are distinctly iffy (early and late), I bit his arm off..  especially as a trip to Cowes was on offer, the day before the Cowes Week racing started - so lots of busy'ness and boats to see...

Quiet trip over - a distinct lack of breeze, and from an entirely unusual direction (NW) so with one small aberration just to check it really wasn't sail'able, it was motor all the way..

Despite the very low water we used the inner small boat channel to Cowes (behind the new breakwater) - think Ami-Ly has a draft of about 1.5 mtrs (Legend 290 with the wing keel) and the minimum I saw (under the keel) was a metre.

As expected Cowes was rammed but we managed to get 3 hours on one of the outside pontoons at East Cowes Marina for (I thought) a very reasonable £10. Lunch was in the Lifeboat (after having ogled a quite beautiful young lady sunbathing in a bikini in the boat two over from us - four old blokes, we shouldn't be let out alone..) was excellent, with a cracking choice of ale..  "Timmy Taylor", Goddard's "Fuggle de Dum" (IoW brewery so how could I not!?) and "London Pride" (for the hard of thinking 😏)

Spirits were high when we therefore left, and having narrowly missed the chain ferry we pushed out to sea, where we found that over lunch the sea breeze had filled in and presented us with a superb opportunity to fly Rod's "blue meany", also known as the 'big bastard'..

Cracking sail down wind with this helping us on our way..   wind direction was difficult so as you can see from the track we had to basically do a number of shallow gybes down wind, but the practice was good, and I think it safe to say Rod was very happy with his sail..

Ryde in the distance..

 

Good chance to play with the snuffer as well - which worked a treat

IoW car ferry going in Fishbourne

So - lessons learned - the opposite tack sheet needs to go round the front of the clew attachment and the forestay for better gybing (we tried it just round round the forestay but it was much slower to transition) - when you gybe let fly the lee sheet quickly so that the sail doesn't wrap..

Back on the pontoon by 18:30'ish...  six and a half hours of sunny weather sailing in the Solent, a fine lunch, and a load of laughs and banter, does it really get any better???

Log:

Distance: 12.6/14.12 miles (morning and afternoon respectively - cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: Low end F1 in the morning - approximately north west; F2 gusting low end F3 in the afternoon but more westerly
Sail Plan: Full main and full genoa which we rolled away when we deployed the blue meany - engine to get to Cowes in the morning...
Speed: GPS track says the max speed was 7.8 knots in the morning (must have had some tidal push), 5.8 in the afternoon (and that was under sail - we had a couple of gusts come through) - average speed 3.6 knots all day