Tack, tack, tack, dodge, tack...

An opportunistic trip out so soon after the last trip, but with a decent ('ish) forecast and nothing quite as good forecast for the next few days, it was too good an opportunity to miss.... 

High tide was 13:40 and a quite astonishing 5.23m height (there's a full moon at the moment, and called a "Corn" or "Harvest" moon depending on your inclination) - I can attest to the fact that there was an astonishing amount of water sloshing round - and most of it going in the wrong direction! 😏

So, on the boat 11:30'ish, filled the outboard tank with what I reckon will be the final 3 ltrs of  'Super' for this season, checked Cambermet for a real time forecast of conditions at the bottom of the harbour and could see it was low to mid F4, and pretty much southerly, so decided to leave the reef in the main from last time -  it was a 50:50 but the forecast was predicting it might build later (it didn't..)

With that direction, and the amount of tide flowing, it was always going to be one of those classic Chichester Harbour tacking days, and so it transpired. Under engine to the end of the ditch (I would have sailed, but it looked like there was a rowing gig event on and I needed the manoeuvrability), sails up/out, and then a close reach to Sweare Deep, before tightening up for the Beacon. Rolled out the rest of the genoa as I could see that she was happy to take the extra sail, and then hard on the wind and tack, tack, tack..

It got fairly exciting when about 20 to 30 performance dinghy's from one of the Emsworth clubs suddenly turned up in the fairway, and I had the great 'good fortune' to be on port when most of them had tacked onto starboard..  should have tacked myself, but I was in no rush and it was kind of interesting to check the boats out...  considerate and polite lot, got a number of "thank you's" for dipping round the sterns..👍

Flat, flat, tacks though as the tide was monstrous - eventually turned about 200 yards short of Marker and ran for home.

Curiously satisfying trip.. 😊

Log:

Distance: 7.22 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):   F4 ; SSW
Sail Plan: Reefed main and full/reefed genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots):  4.1 / 2.5

Southampton International Boatshow 2023 and some feistiness...

Over two weeks since the last sail, or should I say "drift", many reasons for this, tide times, but primarily weather - the Autumn equinox continues to deliver changeable weather in the UK - wind, rain, storm Agnes (which thankfully mostly passed us by) but also warmth - here we are at the end of September, and we are getting 20's and 21's in Celsius - love it..

Either way, I'm jumping ahead as one of the reasons for no boat time was also the now regular annual trip to the Southampton International Boatshow - can't quite explain the attraction the Boatshow has for me, but I couldn't miss it. I guess it's a combination of the boats, the buzz, the conspicuous display of money, the ability to have a nose over a whole load of boats you could never afford (or even afford to charter), the Guinness stand..  anyway it was brilliant as ever..  last years trend was SUP's/paddle boards, this year that continued, but the dominating trend was ribs in all shapes and sizes...

Excellent day out - just a few pictures though...  told the Jolly Boys my expectations were now raised having seen this monster...

She's from Jeannau, and is their 55 footer [clicky] at just shy of €975,000 (ex VAT!) sailaway, I don't expect my expectations are going to be met any time soon... probably a good thing; that boat would be a weapon in the hands of the Jolly Boys.. 😁

This one (next) I took for Rodders, as it is the slightly bigger model of AmiLy (AmiLy is a 324), think the Legends are nice boats, maids of all work...

Anyway, with my lift out fast approaching (sometime between the 14th and 18th, but I am on the lift team on the 14th, and doing a delivery on the 18th, so probably not then), it was time to get some boat time in..  

I have the Jolly Boys lined up to drop the mast on the 12th (with the 13th as contingency) so I have a little over a week to enjoy my little boat before I have to start getting her ready, and before it all starts getting dark and cold and miserable....so it was that I headed down to the boat yesterday

HT was 12:15 and a stupendous 5.17m (!), one of the biggest tides I remember this year, but the tide today was even higher. Winds were forecast to be F4 NW'ly going W'ly, but there was a decidedly brisk feel to it all when I arrived on the boat 10:15'ish, so I took the decision to wrap some reefs in on the main - not a huge amount, about 4 or 5 rolls, so about a foot - but it was to prove absolutely perfect.

Once the reefs were in, the engine was started, the ensign deployed, and I dropped the mooring and we headed off. With the direction what it was, and confirmed by wind direction on the other boats*, I turned into wind in the pool right by the bridge and hoisted main, before then bearing off to largely sail down the ditch (*I miss my windex!)

Goose winged from Northney, all the way past Sweare Deep and almost to Emsworth Beacon, before I then bore away and had a simply glorious broad reach in warm sunshine past Verner and almost to the sailing club, but with the wind building all the time (feisty!), and the direction it was coming from, it was then time to turn and see if I could do the up harbour trip in one beat or more..  happy to say long boards and a single tack saw me roaring past Marker, before turning at Emsworth Beacon for a another reach down harbour - it was just too damn pleasant.

Turned for home just north of Marker, engine on half way between Emsworth Beacon and Sweare Deep, and then I had quite possibly the most amazing mooring pick up I have had this year - and typically, not a single bugger to see it... 😏

Final note: One of my fellow club members got this shot of me and Sparrow at one with the world on the last trip - lovely picture, thanks again, Martin!

Log:

Distance: 8.77 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): Both ends of a F4 ; NW occasionally NWxW
Sail Plan: Reefed main and reefed genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.4 / 2.9

Fishing and drifting..

Oh how I laughed...
not... 😏

Gloriously sunny day (the dog days continue) and with a full diary, and weather fronts coming in over the next few days this was a "grab it while it's here" day on the water..

Lovely row out to the boat to be met with this sight (left) as I got on board... tail off my wind vane sat in the cockpit.. bast*rd birds have clearly tried to roost on it (as they also crapped all over the deck!), and broken the wind vane off - so first job added to the winter list..  thought I'd managed to break the run of bad luck with windex's as this one has lasted at least two years maybe three! 😀

12:22 HT and a 4.2 Mtr tide but although it was stupidly warm and sunny, the biggest issue was wind, or rather the lack of it..  the forecasts had been saying F2 gusting 3, but what we got was an entire Beaufort less with a F1 gusting 2... no matter, I had coffee, a fishing rod, some fuel, and an urge to try a passage out of the moorings that I'd been thinking about trying for ages..

This is it..  normally I come to and from the mooring via the passage at bottom (known as "the ditch".. to me anyway 😀), but there is another passage, north of the bank, that a number of club boats on that side of the moorings tend to use and I've never tried it..  well, until now anyway.

By way of a digression though, back in the day..  1980?? earlier? I learned to windsurf, and the school I went to (run by Peter Williams) was based at the marina there..  we had the school boards roped to the shore (so we couldn't get in to trouble) at the slipway, bottom of picture. At the end of the week as the RYA Part 1/2  examination required us to be able to sail on all points of sail, the final test was to sail round that bank as the instructor told us if we did that then we would have completed the requirement... 😁

Anyway, back to yesterday, no issues with this circumnavigation either. I was mildly surprised at how deep it was, certainly no shallower than the ditch..  most of the time (and this was an hour and a half before high) I was seeing a metre/metre and a half, below the keels (and I have a generous keel offset, set so it was more like 2). 

It was so wind'less, I hoisted main while coming down the channel past the moored boats, and then set off for a slow drift. In the occasional puff we made progress. but it was a tiller pilot and fishing rod kind of a day.

Lovely day out but I was never going to be able to make any progress against the tide in near calm conditions, so I turned and ran back for the mooring on the last legs of the tide..  beer in the cockpit completed a perfect day.

Log:

Distance: 3.98 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  F1 gusting F2 ; Between WxS and SSW
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.2 / 1.6