We have heard back from Colin Drummond on the RCYC committee and his pronouncement is that so long as the second qualifier with the full 500 miles we will be deemed to have qualified to enter. I would still very much like to enter if we can though I will not be devastated if it does transpire that we have to withdraw.
As outlined earlier, there are various plan B scenarios. My favourite would be to take a couple of months but leave it will August or even September and work the boat round to Gibraltar or similar ready for our Mediterannean cruise in 2012.
We shall just have to see.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Tried out Crusing Chute
After the qualifying passage, Audrey came down and joined me. Friends were due to join us on the Sunday but we had the boat to ourselves on Saturday and as the winds were light we decided to try out the cruising chute that Matthew had bought us. I had the whole of Friday to spend in Sutton Marina and the wind was so light that I decided to have a go at hoisting it there. I was glad I did as it gave me a chance to work out the procedure.
It was great to get it up for real and it looks fantastic. It will also be a great help when the wind is light and on the beam - pretty much never then but we managed to sail through the "Bridge" at six knots with only 12 knots apparent wind.
All in all a great sail and much easier to set than a symmetrical spinnaker.
It was great to get it up for real and it looks fantastic. It will also be a great help when the wind is light and on the beam - pretty much never then but we managed to sail through the "Bridge" at six knots with only 12 knots apparent wind.
All in all a great sail and much easier to set than a symmetrical spinnaker.
Qualifying passage number one
Here is a more complete description.
Matthew and I had both managed to set aside a week right at the end of May and into June to try to complete our AZAB qualifying passage. There was not too much preparation to be done for the boat but a lot for getting away from work of course. The weather forecast was not too clever with all sorts of variable weather including a gale warning. We arrived down very late on Friday and promptly went straight to bed.
The next day came with loads of wind and also plenty of rain. We arranged to pick up Matthew and also to go to the chandler to get some charts both of north Brittany but also of the area round the Fastnet rock.
Finally around mid afternoon we were ready to go and Matthew and I cast off into a brisk westerly. The forecast was for strong westerlies until the following day so it was decided to go to Fastnet rather than Ouessant. It was still blowing properly, somewhere in the region of a five in the shelter of the land but it got up to a seven the further offshore we got. Also, for the first time in nearly thirty years I got seasick! I think that it was brought on by apprehension at the proposed passage along with some quite rough weather as we sailed out past the Eddystone. The galley sink was the place I reached and that rendered any cooking impossible for the time being. We continued to bash south with the idea that we could get round the Lizard point on the next tack. The wind direction suggested that we needed to get about thirty miles south unless the wind changed direction. Once well clear of the land the wind and seas built up will we had a solid force 7 and were pushing into some decent sized waves. It was quite uncomfortable. When I came on watch at midnight I joked to Matthew that I would prefer it if he didn't drive my boat into concrete floors. Nevertheless, Sarah G showed her pedigree and continued to bash into them at around six knots.
I took over at midnight and continued south for another couple of hours. As usual, I felt much better when on deck though it was still quite uncomfortable. We went about at 0200 and started heading towards the Lizard though it became apparent that we had miscalculated and should have tacked much earlier rather than trying to clear the Lizard after getting nearly a third of the way across the Channel. As dawn came up the visibility was not that great but we were heading more or less for the Lizard though the tide had turned against us and it was very slow going round.
The second night in particular was very frustrating as the wind progressively dropped to nearly nothing and poor Matthew only managed three miles in a whole six hour watch. The wind, what there was of it did at least swing round into the east and I was able to inch across Mounts bay and was off Wolf Rock by the time my watch ended at 0600.
Matthew had a much nicer sail with an easterly pushing us out to and past the Isles of Scilly. My seasickness had finally cleared up properly and we enjoyed leaving Bishop Rock behind us and setting a course for Fastnet as well as my cooking a chilli for lunch.
As the darkness fell around us, it was too cloudy for a sunset I turned in and left Matthew running before a slowly dropping wind. I heard a bit of swearing in my sleep and it became plain that the weather was not good. Visibility had dropped to near zero and the wind was both dropping and swinging round to the west via southerly. We had a look at the chart and it became clear that we were not going to make it to Fastnet and then have a chance of getting back in time for our leave to expire. I was also concerned about the shipping TSS off Fastnet with this very poor visibility. We therefore turned round and headed for home at about 0100. It was a big disappointment to have to abandon our trip but I think that it was the right thing to do.
The night watch was truly not a nice one with the southerly wind though it did go round to the south west. Visibility remained very poor and it was also bloody cold. I am resolved to get some suitable gloves sorted out for such night watches.
As the night progressed, the wind became lighter and lighter, the rain became more persistent and I was feeling distinctly fed up. Thankfully, as the sun got up the rain eased off. Poor Matthew came on watch at 0600 and I grabbed my now regular two or three hours sleep. At least our six hour watch pattern was working out well. I cannot imagine how a four hour system could be better for short handed crews.
We had made very slow progress on my watch and still had a good few miles to go till we reached Bishop rock again. In total we were looking like spending nearly 24 hours in the Irish sea – west of Bishop Rock for only about 60 miles sailed.
Finally,the weather looked like improving. The wind backed further into the north west which suited us very well. It filled in a bit as well so we were sailing quite well by the time we got to Bishop. The sun also came out at last and we had a great time past the western rocks and the Isles of Scilly. Indeed, had we not been required to be back in Plymouth, I would have been extremely tempted to stop for a visit to Hugh Town on St Mary's. It looked extremely enticing as we past. We also encountered some other traffic at last, not having seen any other yachts since leaving Plymouth. That, combined with a couple of fish boats, the helicopter and fixed wing planes as well as the sight of the Scillonian made for a positively busy water. There as not much shipping around though.
The north wester held on quite well through the afternoon into the afternoon and we hoped to be able to get round the Lizard a bit quicker than the outward trip. Of course the wind continued to drop into the night and I took over from Matthew with us about nine or ten miles west of the infamous Lizard. We had mis read the chart and were actually bucking the tide so it took the whole rest of my watch to get us just one mile east of the point. It did feel like an achievement though and we did feel that we were on the final leg with about fifty miles left.
I always seemed to come off watch to leave Matthew to cope with dreadful visibility. Just as he got up I saw a bank of positive fog developing ahead. The wind also fell away entirely just next to a crab pot. The main was slatting terribly so I simply took all sail off. The wind sort of filled in from the east and Matthew took her into the fog which proved very thick and not very nice at all. I felt him putting a tack in and found out that the area off Falmouth was quite scary. It was just lifting as I came up about ten and we could see Dodman point dead ahead. The wind was in the south east but a nice gentle force three and we enjoyed a nice coastal sail towards Rame Head. All was going well till we got within a mile of Rame.
The haze had been steadily increasing and suddenly, I noticed that not only had Rame head disappeared into the haze but that everything else was disappearing as well. Once again, the wind dropped though not quite to nothing. The tide was against us and we could hear warships blowing their horns in the offing. I really did not want to be out there as it got dark so we decided to call an end to the passage and got the engine on.
We still had zero visibility but Matthew did a sterling job at the chart table and took us round Rame Head and brought the red buoy off Penlee point up on the nose. We could still see no further than a couple of boat lengths but we knew where we were going. The only thing was I was definitely not going to tangle with the inner part of the sound in zero visibility so I had Matthew take us into Cawsand bay.
We had been looking forward to a curry at the Spice Well in Plymouth's Barbican but the fog did for that. It did lift a bit as we got abeam of Penlee point and we were able to get into Cawsand bay easily. We dropped anchor at about 1900 and so ended our trip. The sound was still as thick as ever and we heard lots of hooting from warships coming back into Devonport. We tuned into Plymouth port operations and heard lots of naval conversations about how poor the visibility was.
I think that in reality, it was much better to spend the night at anchor rather than rush back into civilization. We had a really peaceful night and the sunset was very spectacular with the fog falling down the hills into the bay.
The next day was much clearer and we motored across to Sutton Harbour where we first luxuriated in their fantastic showers and then went ashore for a very welcome pint. That evening we had our curry at the Spice Well which had not deteriorated at all and brought a very nice celebratory conclusion to the trip.
While in Sutton Harbour, I sorted out the third reef in the main and tried it out for size. It really is very small indeed.
We had logged just over 400 miles which falls short of that required for qualifying for the AZAB. I have contacted the RCYC who say that so long as I can complete 500 mile with Audrey we will be OK. We have given a lot of thought to it though as it is quite possible that we will not be able to complete the qualifications when Audrey and I try ours at the end of August. There is an innate problem with sailing any sort of triangle as you are more or less guaranteed contrary winds at some point which makes it more difficult to keep up good averages. We have various plan Bs. These include: cruising to an Azorean Island, cruising down the Atlantic coast of Iberia to get ready for our planned Mediterranean cruise in 2012 or scrapping all idea of any long distance sailing in 2011. We will just have to see what happens.
Anyway, the end conclusion was that our trip into the Irish sea was a success and we both enjoyed. I certainly was pleased to have my choice of boat confirmed to me as a good one.
Matthew and I had both managed to set aside a week right at the end of May and into June to try to complete our AZAB qualifying passage. There was not too much preparation to be done for the boat but a lot for getting away from work of course. The weather forecast was not too clever with all sorts of variable weather including a gale warning. We arrived down very late on Friday and promptly went straight to bed.
The next day came with loads of wind and also plenty of rain. We arranged to pick up Matthew and also to go to the chandler to get some charts both of north Brittany but also of the area round the Fastnet rock.
Finally around mid afternoon we were ready to go and Matthew and I cast off into a brisk westerly. The forecast was for strong westerlies until the following day so it was decided to go to Fastnet rather than Ouessant. It was still blowing properly, somewhere in the region of a five in the shelter of the land but it got up to a seven the further offshore we got. Also, for the first time in nearly thirty years I got seasick! I think that it was brought on by apprehension at the proposed passage along with some quite rough weather as we sailed out past the Eddystone. The galley sink was the place I reached and that rendered any cooking impossible for the time being. We continued to bash south with the idea that we could get round the Lizard point on the next tack. The wind direction suggested that we needed to get about thirty miles south unless the wind changed direction. Once well clear of the land the wind and seas built up will we had a solid force 7 and were pushing into some decent sized waves. It was quite uncomfortable. When I came on watch at midnight I joked to Matthew that I would prefer it if he didn't drive my boat into concrete floors. Nevertheless, Sarah G showed her pedigree and continued to bash into them at around six knots.
I took over at midnight and continued south for another couple of hours. As usual, I felt much better when on deck though it was still quite uncomfortable. We went about at 0200 and started heading towards the Lizard though it became apparent that we had miscalculated and should have tacked much earlier rather than trying to clear the Lizard after getting nearly a third of the way across the Channel. As dawn came up the visibility was not that great but we were heading more or less for the Lizard though the tide had turned against us and it was very slow going round.
The second night in particular was very frustrating as the wind progressively dropped to nearly nothing and poor Matthew only managed three miles in a whole six hour watch. The wind, what there was of it did at least swing round into the east and I was able to inch across Mounts bay and was off Wolf Rock by the time my watch ended at 0600.
Matthew had a much nicer sail with an easterly pushing us out to and past the Isles of Scilly. My seasickness had finally cleared up properly and we enjoyed leaving Bishop Rock behind us and setting a course for Fastnet as well as my cooking a chilli for lunch.
As the darkness fell around us, it was too cloudy for a sunset I turned in and left Matthew running before a slowly dropping wind. I heard a bit of swearing in my sleep and it became plain that the weather was not good. Visibility had dropped to near zero and the wind was both dropping and swinging round to the west via southerly. We had a look at the chart and it became clear that we were not going to make it to Fastnet and then have a chance of getting back in time for our leave to expire. I was also concerned about the shipping TSS off Fastnet with this very poor visibility. We therefore turned round and headed for home at about 0100. It was a big disappointment to have to abandon our trip but I think that it was the right thing to do.
The night watch was truly not a nice one with the southerly wind though it did go round to the south west. Visibility remained very poor and it was also bloody cold. I am resolved to get some suitable gloves sorted out for such night watches.
As the night progressed, the wind became lighter and lighter, the rain became more persistent and I was feeling distinctly fed up. Thankfully, as the sun got up the rain eased off. Poor Matthew came on watch at 0600 and I grabbed my now regular two or three hours sleep. At least our six hour watch pattern was working out well. I cannot imagine how a four hour system could be better for short handed crews.
We had made very slow progress on my watch and still had a good few miles to go till we reached Bishop rock again. In total we were looking like spending nearly 24 hours in the Irish sea – west of Bishop Rock for only about 60 miles sailed.
Finally,the weather looked like improving. The wind backed further into the north west which suited us very well. It filled in a bit as well so we were sailing quite well by the time we got to Bishop. The sun also came out at last and we had a great time past the western rocks and the Isles of Scilly. Indeed, had we not been required to be back in Plymouth, I would have been extremely tempted to stop for a visit to Hugh Town on St Mary's. It looked extremely enticing as we past. We also encountered some other traffic at last, not having seen any other yachts since leaving Plymouth. That, combined with a couple of fish boats, the helicopter and fixed wing planes as well as the sight of the Scillonian made for a positively busy water. There as not much shipping around though.
The north wester held on quite well through the afternoon into the afternoon and we hoped to be able to get round the Lizard a bit quicker than the outward trip. Of course the wind continued to drop into the night and I took over from Matthew with us about nine or ten miles west of the infamous Lizard. We had mis read the chart and were actually bucking the tide so it took the whole rest of my watch to get us just one mile east of the point. It did feel like an achievement though and we did feel that we were on the final leg with about fifty miles left.
I always seemed to come off watch to leave Matthew to cope with dreadful visibility. Just as he got up I saw a bank of positive fog developing ahead. The wind also fell away entirely just next to a crab pot. The main was slatting terribly so I simply took all sail off. The wind sort of filled in from the east and Matthew took her into the fog which proved very thick and not very nice at all. I felt him putting a tack in and found out that the area off Falmouth was quite scary. It was just lifting as I came up about ten and we could see Dodman point dead ahead. The wind was in the south east but a nice gentle force three and we enjoyed a nice coastal sail towards Rame Head. All was going well till we got within a mile of Rame.
The haze had been steadily increasing and suddenly, I noticed that not only had Rame head disappeared into the haze but that everything else was disappearing as well. Once again, the wind dropped though not quite to nothing. The tide was against us and we could hear warships blowing their horns in the offing. I really did not want to be out there as it got dark so we decided to call an end to the passage and got the engine on.
We still had zero visibility but Matthew did a sterling job at the chart table and took us round Rame Head and brought the red buoy off Penlee point up on the nose. We could still see no further than a couple of boat lengths but we knew where we were going. The only thing was I was definitely not going to tangle with the inner part of the sound in zero visibility so I had Matthew take us into Cawsand bay.
We had been looking forward to a curry at the Spice Well in Plymouth's Barbican but the fog did for that. It did lift a bit as we got abeam of Penlee point and we were able to get into Cawsand bay easily. We dropped anchor at about 1900 and so ended our trip. The sound was still as thick as ever and we heard lots of hooting from warships coming back into Devonport. We tuned into Plymouth port operations and heard lots of naval conversations about how poor the visibility was.
I think that in reality, it was much better to spend the night at anchor rather than rush back into civilization. We had a really peaceful night and the sunset was very spectacular with the fog falling down the hills into the bay.
The next day was much clearer and we motored across to Sutton Harbour where we first luxuriated in their fantastic showers and then went ashore for a very welcome pint. That evening we had our curry at the Spice Well which had not deteriorated at all and brought a very nice celebratory conclusion to the trip.
While in Sutton Harbour, I sorted out the third reef in the main and tried it out for size. It really is very small indeed.
We had logged just over 400 miles which falls short of that required for qualifying for the AZAB. I have contacted the RCYC who say that so long as I can complete 500 mile with Audrey we will be OK. We have given a lot of thought to it though as it is quite possible that we will not be able to complete the qualifications when Audrey and I try ours at the end of August. There is an innate problem with sailing any sort of triangle as you are more or less guaranteed contrary winds at some point which makes it more difficult to keep up good averages. We have various plan Bs. These include: cruising to an Azorean Island, cruising down the Atlantic coast of Iberia to get ready for our planned Mediterranean cruise in 2012 or scrapping all idea of any long distance sailing in 2011. We will just have to see what happens.
Anyway, the end conclusion was that our trip into the Irish sea was a success and we both enjoyed. I certainly was pleased to have my choice of boat confirmed to me as a good one.
Friday, 11 June 2010
Sort of done one qualifying passage
I'll get around to doing a proper account soon. We didn't manage the 500 miles or getting out to Fastnet Rock but we did have a mostly good time. I am going to contact the RCYC to get an idea of whether what we did will qualify us.
Watch this space!
Watch this space!
Monday, 17 May 2010
mini cruise
We had our first cruise with Sarah G at her home port last weekend. We deliberately didn't plan anything ambitious and only went as far as the Yealm but it was a good weekend and we had an excellent meal ashore in the Dolphin at Newton Ferrers.
We also managed a nice gentle sail down the river, out through the Bridge and on to the Yealm. Once past the breakwater we had a go at setting the cruising 'chute for the first time but the wind suddenly changed direction to the south west and freshened just past our predetermined threshold for setting such a big bit of nylon, particularly for the first time. Still, we carried on under normal canvas and dropped sail in Wembury bay and motored up. There were a couple of moments when we were a bit feeling our way as we had contrived to arrive at the Yealm bar at pretty much dead low water and there was not a lot of water under our keel.
All, was well and we savoured being back in one of the most beautiful rivers in the West Country.
The meal was all we wanted and we slept well through the night.
Sunday dawned with a leisurly start but a rather gray sky though not too much wind was forecast. We cast off at 1030 and motored down with the new ebb. Out of the river, I started to get sail up only to find that we had contrived to wrap the main halyard round the radar reflector and no way of coaxing it back round. In huge embarrassment, we motored to Cawsand and anchored there while I had a go with light lines to throw it over the spreaders and then to untangle the wrapped halyard. All to no avail and I was resigning myself to coming down the following weekend with a bosuns chair.
We therefore, motored back to Torpoint after lunch where I had a bit of inspiration. I had clipped the halyard to the end of the boom as we usually do and it occurred to me that if we pulled a messenger up the halyard over the spreader, it might then be possible to untangle the main halyard. The wind was blowing hard which both helped in throwing my light line over the spreaders but made it more difficult to retrieve the end. Eventually, though, I did and pulled one of our spinnaker sheets which has a nice big snap shackle on it up and over. Clipped to the main halyard which I slackened off as much as possible, I jiggled it round and suddenly we were free!
All in all a very nice weekend.
We also managed a nice gentle sail down the river, out through the Bridge and on to the Yealm. Once past the breakwater we had a go at setting the cruising 'chute for the first time but the wind suddenly changed direction to the south west and freshened just past our predetermined threshold for setting such a big bit of nylon, particularly for the first time. Still, we carried on under normal canvas and dropped sail in Wembury bay and motored up. There were a couple of moments when we were a bit feeling our way as we had contrived to arrive at the Yealm bar at pretty much dead low water and there was not a lot of water under our keel.
All, was well and we savoured being back in one of the most beautiful rivers in the West Country.
The meal was all we wanted and we slept well through the night.
Sunday dawned with a leisurly start but a rather gray sky though not too much wind was forecast. We cast off at 1030 and motored down with the new ebb. Out of the river, I started to get sail up only to find that we had contrived to wrap the main halyard round the radar reflector and no way of coaxing it back round. In huge embarrassment, we motored to Cawsand and anchored there while I had a go with light lines to throw it over the spreaders and then to untangle the wrapped halyard. All to no avail and I was resigning myself to coming down the following weekend with a bosuns chair.
We therefore, motored back to Torpoint after lunch where I had a bit of inspiration. I had clipped the halyard to the end of the boom as we usually do and it occurred to me that if we pulled a messenger up the halyard over the spreader, it might then be possible to untangle the main halyard. The wind was blowing hard which both helped in throwing my light line over the spreaders but made it more difficult to retrieve the end. Eventually, though, I did and pulled one of our spinnaker sheets which has a nice big snap shackle on it up and over. Clipped to the main halyard which I slackened off as much as possible, I jiggled it round and suddenly we were free!
All in all a very nice weekend.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Proof she is in Torpoint
We really are on our mooring at Torpoint and it feels very good to be there. We have drawn a couple of conclusions, anything but earth shattering ones but we do need to do some stuff. Firstly, we definitely need to fit a tiller extension. The nature of the coachroof and such like mean that the best way to sail the boat is perched on the cockpit coamings.
Slightly more is that we feel the need to fit more hand holds below. I am also very keen to get the Aries up and working asap so that we have as much time as possible to get to grips with it.
All in all, good stuff and we plan to be down there next weekend as well.
Delivery Trip Part 2
The next day and a fair tide was to be had about 10:30 so we didn't rush to get up but did wake up to a good bit less wind and a more favourable looking sky. We had a bit of breakfast and provisionally planned to try for Weymouth which we hoped to reach around midnight. After hanging round a bit we decided to push off about 09:30 since we would be pushing a bit of flood but it would give us longer to get down the Solent. Leaving Sparkes was much less of a drama and we got away smoothly and started down the main Chichester channel again. There really was not much wind and we found ourselves motoring into a very gentle westerly. The various landmarks of the Solent slipped past and even speeded up a bit once past the Horse Sand Fort when the tide turned in our favour.
Just about lunch time we were passing Osborne bay and the house where Queen Victoria lived. Now it seems to be a very popular lunchtime anchorage but we continued on towards Cowes. I was down below making toasted cheese when we sensed that the wind was starting to fill in. Out came the jib and off went the engine so we could pass the home of yachting in proper style. We proceeded to have a great sail down the western solent with lots of tacks being crossed and even a session with a thing called boatphotos who take pictures of boats on spec and publish them on a website where you can then buy them.
With a strong spring tide under us and a good force 4 to 5 we fairly whistled down the Solent. The only two moments of minor drama were when we encountered a surprising but short lived tide rip just off Yarmouth and then just as we were in the Needles channel another boat avoiding action didn't work for him and we were forced to make a hasty tack from starboard to port. As we raced down towards the famous chalk escarpment of the Needles I took a decision and floated it to the other two which was that we should carry on past Portland Bill and aim for Torbay rather than Weymouth. A bit of discussion and we agreed on this. I also suggested we try two six hour night watches rather than the more conventional three. In retrospect I am not sure about the wisdom of it. Mostly it was nice to get a full six hours sleep but when 0400 came round I couldn't help reflecting that I would be getting relieved at that point rather than facing another two hours.
Anyway, that was for later. First we tacked right off the lighthouse but could only lay the entrance of Poole wit the persistent westerly. We arrived off Bournmouth about six and I set a course offshore and instructed Matthew to hold it for a good ten miles or so to give us plenty of offing to make it to the Bill. I then retired below. A few hours later I felt the boat change course and definitely slow down. A bit later on still and the engine came on. Finally, about two hours later I came up with us about ten miles south of St. Albans head and no wind whatsoever. The tide had definitely turned against us.
The weather was not so nice either. The wind persisted on it's absence apart from a very small puff from due west and bands of rain made themselves known as well so it was down to a monotonous chug first up to Portland Bill and then across Lyme bay. It seemed to take forever to get round the Bill but then I felt like a cork being popped out of a bottle as it seemed the next time I looked the light was some ten miles behind us. Six came around and I woke Matthew up and retired back to the forward cabin.
About three hours later I heard the jib being got out and the engine died. We were sailing again. I dozed for another hour or so and came on deck to see the Devon coatline ahead of us. The wind was freshening and I suggested we bear off a bit to make for Dartmouth rather than Torbay. There followed a lovely fast reach though she became a bit overpressed as neither of us really wanted to put a reef in. Then we were coming in past the Mew Stone and had arrived back in very familiar waters. For the first time we were in a boat too big to go on the small boat pontoon just outside the Dartmouth Yacht Club and we tied up to the 'DL' pontoon just above the Town Quay. After a bit of a rest, we rushed ashore for showers and a celebratory lunch and drink in the DYC. We were out of time as we were faced with a mammoth train ride to get back to pick up the car in Emsworth so made plans to move her on to Torpoint the following weekend.
It was great to finally use Sarah G for the sort of passage making we aquired her for and our faith in her also increased, the bit where we were overpressed on the approach to Dartmouth was particularly instructive as she became quite heavy on the helm but not unmanageable though I do usually work to not hang onto too much sail as the wind rises. All in all, a very good time was had though we would have preferred more consistent winds and less rain that is the sort of thing you have to put up with in UK waters.
Just about lunch time we were passing Osborne bay and the house where Queen Victoria lived. Now it seems to be a very popular lunchtime anchorage but we continued on towards Cowes. I was down below making toasted cheese when we sensed that the wind was starting to fill in. Out came the jib and off went the engine so we could pass the home of yachting in proper style. We proceeded to have a great sail down the western solent with lots of tacks being crossed and even a session with a thing called boatphotos who take pictures of boats on spec and publish them on a website where you can then buy them.
With a strong spring tide under us and a good force 4 to 5 we fairly whistled down the Solent. The only two moments of minor drama were when we encountered a surprising but short lived tide rip just off Yarmouth and then just as we were in the Needles channel another boat avoiding action didn't work for him and we were forced to make a hasty tack from starboard to port. As we raced down towards the famous chalk escarpment of the Needles I took a decision and floated it to the other two which was that we should carry on past Portland Bill and aim for Torbay rather than Weymouth. A bit of discussion and we agreed on this. I also suggested we try two six hour night watches rather than the more conventional three. In retrospect I am not sure about the wisdom of it. Mostly it was nice to get a full six hours sleep but when 0400 came round I couldn't help reflecting that I would be getting relieved at that point rather than facing another two hours.
Anyway, that was for later. First we tacked right off the lighthouse but could only lay the entrance of Poole wit the persistent westerly. We arrived off Bournmouth about six and I set a course offshore and instructed Matthew to hold it for a good ten miles or so to give us plenty of offing to make it to the Bill. I then retired below. A few hours later I felt the boat change course and definitely slow down. A bit later on still and the engine came on. Finally, about two hours later I came up with us about ten miles south of St. Albans head and no wind whatsoever. The tide had definitely turned against us.
The weather was not so nice either. The wind persisted on it's absence apart from a very small puff from due west and bands of rain made themselves known as well so it was down to a monotonous chug first up to Portland Bill and then across Lyme bay. It seemed to take forever to get round the Bill but then I felt like a cork being popped out of a bottle as it seemed the next time I looked the light was some ten miles behind us. Six came around and I woke Matthew up and retired back to the forward cabin.
About three hours later I heard the jib being got out and the engine died. We were sailing again. I dozed for another hour or so and came on deck to see the Devon coatline ahead of us. The wind was freshening and I suggested we bear off a bit to make for Dartmouth rather than Torbay. There followed a lovely fast reach though she became a bit overpressed as neither of us really wanted to put a reef in. Then we were coming in past the Mew Stone and had arrived back in very familiar waters. For the first time we were in a boat too big to go on the small boat pontoon just outside the Dartmouth Yacht Club and we tied up to the 'DL' pontoon just above the Town Quay. After a bit of a rest, we rushed ashore for showers and a celebratory lunch and drink in the DYC. We were out of time as we were faced with a mammoth train ride to get back to pick up the car in Emsworth so made plans to move her on to Torpoint the following weekend.
It was great to finally use Sarah G for the sort of passage making we aquired her for and our faith in her also increased, the bit where we were overpressed on the approach to Dartmouth was particularly instructive as she became quite heavy on the helm but not unmanageable though I do usually work to not hang onto too much sail as the wind rises. All in all, a very good time was had though we would have preferred more consistent winds and less rain that is the sort of thing you have to put up with in UK waters.
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