Wednesday 14 December 2011

Update

You will not be surprised that I haven't been sailing for a while. That doesn't mean Toucando has been abandoned. I have been using her as my Southampton base while I do a part time MSc in demography (people counting). I wouldn't say it has been warm on board, but it hasn't been cold either. I've only had to put the diesel stove on about three evenings. There's not much action from the yachts, but the rowers still practise every day, and the usual commercial traffic makes its way up and down the river. Every so often the clam dredger comes and scoops up what it can from the bottom of Chessel Bay. I am working on Toucando's plans for next summer and hope to post something here and on toucando.net before long. Some longer trips including cross channel are definitely on the cards.

Monday 7 November 2011

Yacht Maintenance

I had an interesting week learning about yacht maintenance through Hamble School of Yachting and Paragon Skills for Industry. It was a seven day course, the only one of its type anywhere, apparently. We started with a day of rigging, led by Jerry the Rigger. We mainly focussed on standing rigging, how to inspect steel cables and fittings; then we had a practical session looking over a few of Hamble's yachts and then on climbing the mast safely; back to the classroom for some splicing. Day two covered plumbing and winches. We took various things to pieces and reassembled them. Day three was electrics: we made up circuits, learned to use multimeters, etc.. Days four and five were on engines, and included disassembling and reassembling the main use serviceable parts; changing oil, filters, impellers, etc.. Days six and seven were on GRP repairs. All useful stuff. Now I am looking forward to some days when I can put some of these skills to practice on Toucando.

Monday 24 October 2011

Autumn sailing

We had some amazing weather in the middle of October... bright, almost windless days, and cold nights. On Friday I had booked a lift for Toucando at Sealift in Haslar to replace her anodes, and get a bit of a wash. Hugh volunteered to crew. Our start was slightly delayed by the reluctasnce of the engine to start, which can be put down to the cold weather and relatively long period without a charge. Anyhow we sorted that problem out and had a pleasant motor for three hours to Portsmouth Harbour: there was virtually no wind, and the little there was came from the east.

We were entertained en route by the navy, or perhaps the army, conducting an exercise which involved sending landing craft from a large vessel moored in the middle of the Solent to invade Hampshire at Browndown. Other than that the sea was pretty empty: a pleasant change from summer weekends.

We arrived early, but they were quite happy to bring forward the time of the lift. Although it was only two months since the last one, there was quite a lot of slime and a few crustacea on Toucando's hull, and her anodes had been significantly easten away. I put the slime down to the amount of fertilizer running off down the Itchen, and the erosion of the anodes to the intense industrialisation of the docks. Anyhow, some below waterline attention was definitely required. We got our money's worth as a thorough jetwash was applied and the relevant bits of sacrificial metal were bolted onto the appropriate places.

After lunch we headed for home, and sailed back under main and (newly repaired) jib. The wind had picked up and we made good progress. Instead of her usual mooring we took Toucando to Shamrock Quay so she could benefit from a good period of mains electricity to bring all the batteries up to full charge. In fact, the motoring had topped them up pretty well, but it seemed a wise precaution.

On Saturday Michele came and we had to decide where to go. The barometer had plummeted from 1030 in the middle of the week to barely abover 1010. The winds were much stronger. In the event we decided to go to the Hamble, and berthed in Swanwick: Toucando's first visit. For afternoon entertainment we took the tender and explored the upper reaches of the river, beyond where all the boats are moored. We got up to the point where the river branches... one way to Botley the other to Curbridge. The water was too shallow to get any further - it was some hours before high tide. We returned and repaired to the Jolly Sailor in Bursledon for some soft drinks.

On Sunday the wind was blowing from the south east... we had a good sail back up Southampton Water with the wind behind us. In fact we were able to sail all the way to St Mary's before we needed to make use of the engine for the last few hundred yards approach to the pontoon.

Toucando is now safely back on her home berth looking forward to a relaxing autumn. No more cruises are planned, although some day sailing is not ruled out. It's maintenance mode now. Next week I have booked on to a week long "Yacht Maintenance" course at Hamble School of Yachting, when I hope to discover how much I don't know.

Thanks to Hugh and Michele for their contribution.

Monday 10 October 2011

Can you believe the weather forecast?

The first weekend in October enjoyed some of the best weather we have had for months... unfortunately I had to spend it ashore.  In the following days the wind and the rain came back.  Thursday night was particularly wild... the wind was howling in ther rigging and every so often Toucando made a small lurch to leeward in response to the gusts.  I had plans to go out at the weekend and kept a close watch on the five day forecast: it looked as though things would settle down by then.

On Saturday morning Steve and Penny arrived first, followed shortly after by Hugh.  We checked the inshore forecast for Selsey Bill to Lyme Regis: "northwest backing west 4 or 5.... occasional rain or drizzle," that didn't sound too bad.  The outlook for the following 24 hours was a little more ominous: "west or southwest 4 or 5, increasing 5 to 7... occasional rain or drizzle." (A force 7 is a "near gale").  We decided that a trip to Yarmouth was in order... if it turned out to be very windy on Sunday then at least the wind would be behind us when we came back.

We set off down the Itchen, got the sails up off Weston and sailed down Southampton Water on a reach. We then tacked down the western Solent making good progress with a fair tide.  The crew soon got the hang of dealing with the backstays.  Conditions were almost perfect.  The wind was as predicted, but with no rain or drizzle.  We had some soup for lunch on the way.  Just off Yarmouth Green we got the sails down and prepared to enter the harbour, which had spaces for once (hooray!).  We successfully moored on the green pontoon.  Hugh and Steve kindly helped with some DIY jobs aboard, while I made the spaghetti bolognese and Penny shelled the peas.  After dinner we rowed ashore to avail ourselves of the showers and then strolled to the Royal Solent Yacht Club to enjoy some soft drinks.

We got up some time after 0700 and had our first breakfast of cereals with mugs of coffee. We set off at 0825 to get the benefit of the rising tide back to Southampton... the forecast remained unchanged.  We sprang off the pontoon brilliantly, did a U turn in the narrow channel and headed out to sea.  The sails went up near black rock and we turned the boat for home.  We did a training run, gybing every 10 to 15 minutes... all well executed.  Then at 0930 we hove to for our second breakfast which Hugh had cooked. Toucando was almost motionless with her staysail backed on starboard tack as we sat in the cockpit enjoying our bacon and egg. At 1000 we were on our way again.  The winds were moderate, and the sky was increasingly blue. We continued our run up towards Calshot, and turned into Southampton Water.

Just after the oil refinery we did some man overboard drills, under mainsail and engine.  I am pleased to report that all the "men" (fenders and rope) were satisfactorily retrieved in reasonable time.  Congratulations to all concerned.  We then had a late lunch.  Hugh said he would like to try to sail onto a mooring buoy, so we headed up to Marchwood.  You will have noticed that everything has gone perfectly up to this point, every manouevre executed with skill and precision.  It was time for something to go wrong.

Even though we had checked the charts and we knew there was a shallow patch near the Marchwood moorings we didn't know it was that shallow.  As we approached our target buoy slowly we suddenly realised we had stopped moving, and try as we might, the engine would not shift us one way or the other.  The anchors were brought out of the lockers and we waited.  It was just before low tide, so we knew we would be lifted off, but weren't sure how long it would take.  In the event just over an hour after getting stuck we detected signs of movement and found we could reverse off.  We pulled up the anchors and turned back for the Itchen.  Sailing onto a mooring buoy will have to wait for another day.  It was good to have solved the problem without external help.

We got back to the pontoon in the hours of daylight and did the necessary tidying up before the crew went ashore.  Thanks to Hugh, Penny and Steve for their help in making successful passages to Yarmouth and back.

Can you believe the weather forecast?  In my opinion, you can, and should.  The wind came from the forecast direction and the windspeed was pretty much within the range indicated, sometimes a little less.  The rain and drizzle never arrived, but I am not complaining about that.  We all had our wet weather gear ready for the eventuality.  In fact it was an almost perfect October weekend: we didn't have to use the motor to make progress, and we were never over pressed.  Let's hope there are some more like that.

Sunday 2 October 2011

View from the Itchen

It has been a wonderful week from a weather point of view: sunny, almost cloudless skies.  The barometer has been way up.  I have been busy with appointments ashore in Southampton, so no sailing was possible, but I have been working on Toucando's plumbing systems to make sure they do what they are supposed to.



On Friday I took the Red Jet over to Cowes for the Committee meeting of the Solent Gaffers.  There was a lot of talk about how terrible the summer had been.  Numerous events had been cancelled or curtailed as a result of high winds, not to mention people's cruising plans.  I guess we have to try to make best use of the autumn weekends.  Mike and Dan Shaw (respectively the national and local presidents of the Old Gaffers) remembered when they saw Toucando being built.  They were circumnavigating Great Britain on Susan J, their 28' Falmouth Working Boat and had called in at Howth.  David and Barry invited them up the hill to see Toucando taking shape.  They had enjoyed they stop in Howth. I am continually meeting people who had known Toucando in her former life, and all have fond memories.

I have added some pictures  to the earlier blog entry: http://toucando.blogspot.com/2011/09/windy-weekend.html ... thanks to Michele for providing them.

And as an extra treat here is a link to a Youtube clip of Falmouth Working Boats racing during Falmouth Week 2010.  Local bylaws require that oyster dredging in the Fal estuary is done under sail, hence the continuing demand for working boats.  Many of those in the clip are wooden, but they are also made with GRP hulls.  Toucando is a larger version of the working boat, and the similarity in hull shape and sail plan is clear.  Now, wouldn't it be great to get some footage of Toucando sailing like that?  All we need is someone with a video camera and a rib... and a decent summer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA3f5RGuVf8&feature=related

Sunday 25 September 2011

Historic footage of Toucando

Deep in the hold I recently found footage of Toucando's early days.  Painstaking restoration has allowed this significant material to be made available to the public.  Thanks must go to all the photographers for recording the life of this unique turn of the century yacht.

Saturday 24 September 2011

Toucando's film career - Inspector George Gently

One of Toucando's starring roles was as the yacht of Gunter Schmeichel, the ex-Nazi bomber, whose murder was solved by Inspector George Gently (Martin Shaw) and his hapless assistant ,Sergeant John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby).  Here they are coming on board to collect clues.


The relevant clip can now be seen on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWcixaJi5GA&feature=related

Tuesday 20 September 2011

A trip to Yarmouth (almost)

Michele and Ava joined Toucando for a trip to Yarmouth.  It was to coincide with the Solent Gaffers' "Centenary Chase".  We left at 1330 with two reefs in the main.  We got the sail up as soon as we were off the mooring and had a very nice sail down Southampton Water.  The barometer had been falling steadily, and Southampton appeared to be under a black cloud as we looked back, but it was fine where we were.

We turned towards Yarmouth after Calshot Spit, putting on the engine to get through the "precautionary area".  The wind picked up to a Force 7 (32 knots) from the SSW (the direction of Yarmouth).  We made slow progress.  We had a go at tacking, but our progress was not good.... another trip with a Force 7 from the wrong direction!  We considered the merits of working our way to Yarmouth, but decided to head for Cowes instead.

We got the sails furled in the Medina and found a berth at East Cowes.  We caught the bus to Yarmouth and arrived in time for dinner at the Royal Solent.  Only five boats had taken part in the Chase, and many of the participants had themselves come by land, or ferry.  The winner of the open boat class had taken a bang on the head from the boom, and had had a trip to A&E as a result.  He managed to get back in order to claim his prize.  Our decision to stop at Cowes was probably the prudent one.

On Sunday we headed back to Southampton.  It was an almost perfect day for sailing... a Force 4 from the west.  We sailed in a nice straight line across from Cowes towards Hillhead.  Then we had to make a few tacks to get into Southampton Water and past the oil terminal.  We then managed to have a long close-hauled tack most of the way up Southampton Water, during which we had lunch.  We dropped the main just off Weston Shelf and headed for the Itchen.  At that point the rain came, heavy and intense... the worst I can recall on Toucando.  Fortunately there was not much wind at that point. We huddled in our waterproofs with the hoods pulled well over, and motored up to the pontoon, where we made a perfect landing.

And so ended Toucando's last scheduled event of the season.... However there will be more weekend sailing, providing the weather is ok.  I have just heard a forecast suggesting we are going to get heavy snows in October.  I hope that is wrong.

Thursday 15 September 2011

Midweek trip to Cowes

Just come back from a rare midweek cruise with Reading friends Jean and Roger. They came on Tuesday afternoon and we had baked cod on board that night. On Wednesday we set off in reasonable weather towards the Solent. It remained pleasant as we went down Southampton Water, although the wind built from a gentle force three to a brisk five or six. The rain came when we were in the Solent: the trawler specification wet weather gear came into its own. We got into Cowes and had plenty of berths to choose from at the Yacht Haven. After lunch Roger and I took a walk to Egypt Point: the weather was fine by now.
In the evening we enjoyed a very good meal at The Red Duster.
Today (Thursday) there was little wind and plenty of sunshine. We motor sailed back taking a scenic route off Osborne Bay, Ryde, Gilkicker, Lee and Hill Head.
The wind picked up in the afternoon and we had a slow run back up Southampton Water and were back on our pontoon by about 1600.
A nice gentle trip with a bit of excitement in the rain on the way out. The forecast is looking windy again for the weekend. Thanks Jean and Roger for giving me the opportunity to get out in the week and enjoy a quieter Solent.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

A windy weekend

Toucando had the first weekend of September off.  The following week the winds began in earnest, said to be the tail end of Hurricane Katia.  I got a call from the marina saying, "Please ring as SOON as possible!"  That sounded alarming.  The news was that the jib had partially unfurled and was flapping uncontrollably.  To cut the story short, Alan from the marina went out in the launch, got the damaged sail down and lashed it to the deck.  We're not sure quite how much wind there was... Sotonmet said gusts of 195 (which is not believable).  Other sources said 50 to 60 knots.  It was certainly very strong.

I went down to Southampton on Friday not knowing what the jib would look like.  It turned out to have an L-shaped rip maybe about two feet in each direction.  The sail was taken ashore and I got the boat ready for the weekend crew: Michele and Sarah P.  It remained windy and the forecast was mentioning everything between Force 4 and 8 for the weekend.  We had venison goulash aboard on Friday evening and agreed to set off on Saturday. We decided to take the cautious approach and stay fairly local.  Plan A had been to go to Chichester Harbour with Southampton Sailing Club, but they had decided against it on the basis of the forecast.  We decided to go and do a bit of sailing in Southampton Water and see what it was like.  To begin we had some practice handling Toucando under power and a bit of a tour of the docks.  We then decided to head for Hamble where we stayed at Port Hamble Marina.  We took a walk into the village and enjoyed a drink or two at the Bugle, before returning to Toucando for pirate stew.

On Sunday it seemed fairly calm at first.  We made a reasonably early start, motoring up river to begin, then turning and raising the mainsail with two reefs.  We sailed out into Southampton Water.  The wind was very variable... never much less than a four and often gusting well into force six and seven.  We had a good and fast sail up towards Weston where we practised tacking and heaving to, gradually polishing our technique. Eventually we turned for the Itchen and went back to Toucando's mooring.  There was a strong westerly wind blowing us on to the pontoon which made sorting out all the fenders a little tricky, but we got it all done before having a late lunch.  Thanks to Michele and Sarah for their help.

Once the crew had gone I drove (the car) to Lee on Solent for a walk along the beach.  It was a bright, sunny afternoon, but the winds were strong, and all the waves had white tops. There were plenty of walkers, fishermen, kite fliers, wind surfers etc., but I only counted two sailing boats, both well reefed, on the Solent.  On Monday I took the jib to the sail maker... and was pleased to discover that it is repairable.  The sail will now get a wash and full service.  I am hoping that we will get a few good weekends before long... it's time the hurricane season was over.

Here are three pictures from the weekend (courtesy of Michele):



Wednesday 31 August 2011

The Great Squall

Ava and Alexander joined Toucando on Friday evening ready for a prompt start on Saturday to take part in the Old Gaffers' Annual (Race and) Rally (Toucando was not racing).  We left shortly after eight on what seemed to be a fine morning. The forecast was for winds of Force 4 or 5, with the possibility of a 6 "near headlands". We raised the mainsail with two reefs near Dockhead in very calm conditions and unfurled the staysail and jib. We proceeded to have a nice sail on a beam reach down Southampton Water.



We had hoped to see the other Gaffers somewhere off Cowes, but we couldn't.  The wind, however, was much fresher when we got out into the Solent proper.  We headed in the general direction of Ryde, and started picking out the occasional gaff rigged vessel.



By now the wind was more or less behind us, so we went on a training run, executing a number of excellent controlled gybes.  By now we were close to a good part of the fleet.  We looked over our shoulder and saw some dark grey clouds.  Each of us went below and put on our waterproofs as a precaution.  Then in the space of about half a minute, just off Gilkicker Point, the wind rose from Force 5 to the top end of Force 7 and the rain was lashing down.  We turned north to be well clear of gybe point, and were grateful for the two reefs as Toucando heeled in the squall.  As we were not racing we had no inhibitions about turning on the engine and getting the main down.  We then turned back on course and completed our passage to Gosport quite comfortably, under the staysail alone.



We had a good berth at the end of a pontoon in the Royal Clarence Marina, near Morwenna (Heard 28) and Brilleau.  We enjoyed a stroll around Gosport, which was rather dominated by the festival music throbbing in the park.  Then we called into the bar where the results of the race were announced.  All the talk was of the squall.  Fortunately no damage was done, but many boats had had an  exciting few minutes.  Mark Woodhouse's Foxhound was the overall winner.



Sunday was a day of doing very little, except sitting on the boat and reading.  Toucando had a few admiring visitors, many of whom recognised her lines as a Heard.  In the evening we joined in the barbecue on the dockside, and listened to shanties provided by Terry (amongst others).  Amazingly they muffled the sound of the Gosport Festival quite effectively.



On Sunday Three Brothers rafted up beside us... she is an amazing traditional fishing boat, with very little in the way of modernisation.



We set off about 1100 to catch the west flowing tide.  We raised the main in the harbour and unfurled thejib and staysail in the Swashway.  We tacked up the eastern Solent to Warsash, by which time the wind was definitely from the northwest, and the tide falling: not a good combination for getting up Southampton Water efficiently, so we completed the passage under engine and made a perfect landing on Toucando's pontoon.

Thanks to Alexander and Ava for being a very efficient crew... and the Solent Gaffers for a great event.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

A proper summer weekend

Most weekends this summer have been marred by: 1. too much wind; 2. too little wind; 3. rain; 4. plague... etc.. In other words a typical British summer.  This one was rather better.  Charlotte and Michele joined Toucando on Friday, and after a crab salad we set off for Yarmouth.  We had a pretty good sail down Southampton Water, then tacked down the western Solent.  Yarmouth unfortunately had its "Harbour Full" sign up, so we went to Lymington instead.  We had a few exciting minutes stuck on the mud by the Lymington River channel, but were helped off by a passing rib (rigid inflatable boat).  We stayed on the excellent Dan Bran pontoon.
On Saturday we had thought about going to Poole, but it would have meant a ridiculously early start, so we went with the tide to Gosport instead.  Haslar Marina gave us a good berth - easy to get on and off.  We had a walk around the town centre and up to Royal Clarence yard: then curry on board Toucando and a viewing of "Deep Water" the documentary about Donald Crowhurst's ill fated participation in the 1968 Sunday Times Round the World Race.
On Sunday we thought we would take advantage of the tide and sail east first towards the Nab Tower and then come back into the Solent and up to Southampton with the tide.  It all worked very well.  We went on every point of sail and only had to tack twice to get all the way back from the Nab to Weston Shore and the entrance to the River Itchen.  Thanks to Charlotte, Michele and some decent summer weather.
I am going to try and upload a video: let's hope it works.

Sunday 14 August 2011

Toucando goes to Cowes and gets a wash, and then has an outing to Beaulieu

After less than four months in the Solent Toucando badly needed a wash.  When the water was clear enough weed could be seen growing on her propeller.  The cooling water inlet seemed to be getting blocked (as mentioned in earlier posts) and a scummy line was developing on the side of her hull.  So a crew was assembled and a lift and wash was booked.

We had originally planned to go on Thursday, but near gales were forecast, so we deferred until Friday.  Andrew and Michele took Toucando round to Hamble Point on Thursday evening to get a head start for the trip over the Solent.  When Friday came it was quite breezy.  We came out of the Hamble River to see thousands of boats taking part in Cowes Week racing.  We crossed the water on a broad reach taking advantage of a gap between two separate races.  We crossed the finishing line at 1200: shame we weren't in a race.  We then wove our way (somewhat anxiously) through hundreds of small sailing boats whizzing about in the Medina River entrance.  We got in without incident.  We made our way to Sealift and moored up on the waiting pontoon.

Sealift is a platform which can be sunk to the river bed, and then brought up to enable work to be done on the hull.  It uses submarine type technology with four large tanks which can be filled with water to sink, or air to rise.  We manouevred Toucando into position and then slowly we were lifted out.  Once fully out of the water the three Sealift staff got to work with jet washes.  Toucando's hull was covered with black slime, weed and various crustacea.  Andrew went to a nearby chandlery to get some anodes (sacrificial metal blocks to prevent corrosion of more important things).  It took the best part of two hours for the job to be completed, but Toucando looked a lot better for it.  When it was all finished the platform was lowered and we motored off.  We then had a bit of excitment, almost going agound in the very busy river as boats came back from their races.  Andrew exchanged a wave with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (the first person to sail all the way round the world, non-stop, single handed... back in the '60s) who was driving a rib with a large party of young children aboard.  I am sure he was impressed with Toucando.  We returned to the Sealift waiting pontoon to have lunch before heading back to Southampton in the afternoon/early evening.


Waiting for the Sealift to be lowered before we could go in


Andrew on the deck as Toucando is slowly lifted out of the water


 Getting started with the jet wash


The propeller before...


... and after


A nice clean hull!

On Saturday Toucando was joined by Ben, Daryl and Nik (former colleagues of Andrew) for a daysail.  We decided to go to Beaulieu.  As we left the mooring we followed Tom and Ros Cunliffe out of the Itchen on their new boat, a 23 year old American cutter, which had just arrived from Florida on the back of a ship.  They were going on their shakedown trip to make sujre everything worked.


Tom Cunliffe and family taking out their newly acquired American cutter (left)



 We got our sails up and had a nice easy sail down Southampton Water.  When we got out to the Solent proper the wind picked up and we tacked down to the Baulieu River entrance.  We motored up the river where we were greeted by Lord Montague's henchmen (aka the Beaulieu River Harbourmaster)... they didn't have a pontoon for us to moor on, but suggested we moor on a buoy.  To our great delight they didn't ask for any money.  Phew!  We had lunch there before returning.


Buckler's Hard on the Beaulieu River



Nik, Ben and Darryl contemplating lunch

By this stage it was pretty windy, so we put a couple of reefs in the main and we had a fairly fast sail back, returning to our mooring just before sunset.  We then enjoyed cups of tea (sic.) sitting on the cockpit, watching the life of the river, human and animal.

Toucando seemed to have benefitted from the wash.  She sailed beautifully, and the engine was perfect. Thanks to Michele for her help over the whole three days, and Ben, Daryl and Nik for the Beaulieu trip.


Ben and Nik flaking the sail

Monday 1 August 2011

Round the World Racing

Vic and Andy joined Toucando for the weekend.  They arrived on Friday morning and we made a fairly prompt start heading for Yarmouth.  We got in some sailing after Calshot, but the wind faded to almost nothing as we passed Newtown Creek, so the engine was required to get us to Yarmouth.  We had a pleasant stop there, but decided against going on to Poole on Saturday... it would have been a long motor.  Instead we went to Cowes, passing through some racing fleets on the way.


A race heading our way in the Solent


A view from the High Street in Cowes


The flagpole and a couple of starting cannons at the Royal Yacht Squadron


A boat shed

On Sunday we set off for Southampton.  There was a useful easterly breeze, and we sailed fairly slowly across the Solent and up Southampton Water with a view to seeing the Clipper Round the World racing yachts head out of the city down to the Solent.  We loitered off Weston until the ten racers emerged, followed by HMS Invincible and hundreds of small boats and spectator craft.  For a while the wind picked up to a Force 5 as they made their way to the start line.  We left them to it and returned to our mooring on the Itchen.  Thanks to V&A for a pleasant weekend cruise in the western Solent.


Vic on the hem of Toucando, with a Cornish yawl in the background


The Clipper Round the World Race fleet coming down Southampton Water


Monday 25 July 2011

The Far Side of the Island

It was to have been Cherbourg weekend... sailing overnight on Friday, a day of recovering, shopping and dining, then back on Sunday, however Toucando found herself shorthanded at the last minute, and the skipper and crew decided instead to stay local.

Andrew and Hugh sailed down to Lymington quite slowly in light winds.  We berthed on the Dan Bran pontoon, ate and drank aboard.  Instead of crossing the channel we decided to sail to Gosport, but rather than going through the Solent, we thought we would sail round the Far Side of the Island.

Now the Solent is full of boats, especially at the weekend.  Hundreds and thousands of them - from kayaks to container ships, fishing boats to gin palaces.  But the Far Side of the Island is a very different place.  Once you are past the Needles and turn hard to port you enter a deserted sea, sailing under a sequence of cliffs of chalk and clay.  The random choppiness of the Solent is replaced by the regular predictable swell of the channel.  The wind is cleaner, less influenced by land.

We came out of the Lymington River and raised the mainsail.  While we were doing that it was quite windy... however as soon as it was up the wind dropped.  We drifted slowly down to the Needles.


The Needles

When we turned, the sea was glassy smooth and we had no choice but to motorsail - to make life really simple we put on the autohelm.




Tennyson Down: You can just make out the Celtic style cross which is T's memorial on the top



However as the morning progressed a sea breeze picked up.  We agreed to have an early lunch whilst still motorsailing.  Once that was finished somewhere west of St Catherine's Point, we turned off the engine, pulled out the staysail, and sailed 120 degrees off the wind on starboard tack. We maintained a decent speed as we ploughed through the overfalls.


St Catherine's Point Lighthouse - at the southerly corner of the IOW


Once south of Ventnor we gybed  round to port tack, and were able to stay like that all the way to Bembridge Ledge, passing Shanklin, Sandown and Culver Cliff on the way.  Ok, we did see one yacht, and perhaps a fishing vessel or two, but it was pretty sparse.  There were a lot of ships anchored between Bembridge and the Nab, waiting for their berth to become available in Southampton or Portsmouth.


Anchored ships east of the IOW


When we turned round the Bembridge Ledge buoy Toucando was at the most easterly point of her sailing career to date.  We were able to stay on a port tack as we sailed between Lord Palmersone's Solent forts towards Portsmouth harbour entrance.


A prospect of Portsmouth


We rolled up the staysail and put the motor on enter the harbour as the harbourmaster prefers, and we dropped the main once inside.  We were given a comfortable berth on a leeward pontoon by the ever helpful Haslar Marina staff.  It was a pleasant wartm summer's evening.  We were entertained by the sailing school boats all around us and a party of drunken motorboaters.

Toucando at sunset in Haslar Marina, Gosport

We left Haslar at 0925.  Hugh raised the main.  We turned and sailed out of the Harbour, noticing HMS Victory and an aircraft carrier with no aircraft as we went.



The Royal Navy: An out of service aircraft carrier and Nelson's flagship

Now, the one part of the passage which did not work from a tidal point of view was that between Portsmouth and the central Solent on Sunday morning.  The tide was running from west to east, and the wind was going the same way: never a good arrangement for a gaffer.  So although we had some fantastic sailing, wqe weren't realy going the right way (or not fast enough), so we motored from Gilkicker to Lee, before we started to catch the tide flowing northwest up Suthampton Water.  We then had some excellent sailing, although slightly nerveracking as we had to pick our way through several races.  The water was really crowded as it is every summer Sunday morning.  We were back on Toucando's berth by ten to five... in good enough time for Hugh to catch the 1730 train back home.

Whilst a couple off long channel passages would have been good, not to mention the shopping opportunities in Carrefour and an evening meal in a French restaurant, it was very pleasant to be able to sail in local waters, including the much neglected Far Side of the Island.  Thanks to Hugh for all his help.
Postscript: the engine worked fine.

Monday 18 July 2011

Marchwood

Marchwood is really only just round the corner.  You go down the Itchen, turn right into the Test, through the docks, and there it is just by the waste incinerator, opposite the container port.  The forecast was not particularly good - south westerly five to seven, with rain/squally showers.  My crew - Jocelyn and Felicity - turned up at 1000 and we had a bumpy tender ride out to Toucando's pontoon.  After some boat familiarisation and briefing, and the issue of trawler specification wet weather gear, we got ready to spring Toucando off.  The manouevre worked perfectly.  A visitor on the pontoon stoodby to help, but wasn't really needed.

I had run the engine for half an hour previously without a problem.  We motored down the Itchen.  Felicity and Jocelyn quickly mastered the art of lowering and raising the bowsprit, belaying and coiling ropes, as well as steering the boat.  A passing yacht commented that there seemed to be "smoke" coming from the exhaust... anyhow, we raised a sail and reached up the Test.  We had the pleasure of seeing ten gaffers sailing towards us as they set off on the race.  Behind us Cap Stephens approached: a huge container ship with three tugs.  We got out of her way.  The race continued down Southampton Water before returning.  Cap Stephens did a 180 degree turn right on the finishing line.  The racers were seriously impeded.  We found our berth on the Marchwood Yacht Club pontoon, making a perfect arrival.  It turned out that as a result of the container ship and other large vessels only three of the racers actually crossed the line, and one of those had to retire following a "protest" from the harbourmaster.  Before long a good number of gaffers were berthed.  We had lunch.
Jocelyn and Felicity (both orienteering experts) cleverly managed to find their way to the Pilgrim Inn for an early evening drink, while the skipper had a rest before doing dinner.  After our curry, we sat in the clubhouse with the other gaffers to the background of some shanties and folk songs.  A variety of opinions were offered on Toucando's engine: the consensus was that occasional flotsam such as seaweed was reducing the intake of cooling water, and that the "smoke" coming from the exhaust was in fact steam (or water vapour to be more accurate).

The view from Toucando when we got back from the clubhouse: a fine prospect of the container port
In the morning we had a leisurely breakfast.  Anything up to a force 8 was forecast, and quite a lot of the gaffers had decided to make an early getaway.  We left at a respectable time and went down to Southampton Water where we sailed about with the main and staysail, tacking and gybing, and trying various points of sail.  The wind varied between a Force 3 and 6, and there were several sharp showers, keeping us on our toes as we coped with the rapidly changing conditions.  Our old friend Cap Stephens headed back out to sea, and a few car transporters moved about, as well as the usual ferries and large number sof yachts, dinghies, and motor boats.   When required the engine was fine, which may or may not prove the theory.  We got back to Toucando's berth in time for a late lunch.
Thanks to Jocelyn and Felicity for all their help and their quick mastery of the principal halyards, purchases, sheets and stays required to control Toucando.

Sunday 17 July 2011

A perfect evening sail with a slightly imperfect ending

Former colleagues Ben, Darryl and Nik came to Toucando straight from work. We got her ready for sea and motored down the Itchen. We raised the sails and sailed around Southampton Water. Everybody took the helm for few tacks: each of which was executed perfectly. We also hove to, demonstrating how to stop at sea. Eventually we lowered the sail and turned for home. Just as we entered the Itchen the engine started to smoke and Darryl reported hearing a sudden squealing sound ... or perhaps it was something wrapped round the prop. We turned the engine off, rolled out the staysail, and sailed up the Itchen. Perhaps over ambitiously we sailed onto the pontoon. Ben's fingers got cut holding the bow line and Darryl tumbled over. We gave an illegally berthed yacht a (non lethal and non damaging) fright with our bowsprit. Anyhow, we were back. After a little first aid we got Toucando properly moored. We then enjoyed a fantastic repast washed down with beer kindly supplied by the crew. Thanks to all three of them. (More on the engine next time!)

Friday 15 July 2011

Maintenance Day!

Tuesday 12th July was a maintenance day for Toucando.  Lynn focussed mainly on dealing with some worn patches on the deck, and Terry sorted out the bilge pump.  Andrew made a trip to the chandler, and we all did some general cleaning up. Many thanks to Terry and Lynn for their help!

Problem with the bilge pump:
 
 Lynn sorting out the deck

Terry and Lynn pondering the bilge pump problem

Monday 11 July 2011

Not quite Poole

It was the weekend of the Gaffers' Poole Rally. We were looking forward to anchoring in South Deep and having a barbecue at the Royal Motor Yacht Club. Two crew joined Toucando - Lucy, who normally sails from Ramsgate, and Terry, the owner of Irene, a Memory 19.
We were up at four and on our way just after five. It was a nice morning and we had a good sail down Southampton Water. When turned west into the Solent at about 0730 the wind went up a few levels and was right on the nose. We had a fair tide until about 1100 - then it would be against us. Toucando was slowed down by the relatively large swell. We decided that a twenty mile beat across Poole Bay would not be much fun, so instead put in at Yarmouth.
We had an early lunch, a bit of rest,a walk along the seafront, a drink at the Royal Solent, a "barbecue" aboard, and sang some shanties accompanied by Terry's accordion and a bottle of Merlot.
Other notable events: Terry whipped the ends of lots of ropes (thank you) and we followed the rescue on Channel 16 of a Bavaria 38 which had been blown onto the beach at Alum Bay. We had heard the rockets go of and watched the lifeboat speed out of the harbour. Thestricken vessel looked ok when she was towed in later.
Sunday started grey, but soon brightened up. We had a leisurely breakfast and then went out in near perfect conditions, practising tacking, gybing and heaving to, under main, staysail and jib. We headed home to Southampton, only dropping the sails 50 metres away from the berth, just using the motor for the final approach.
It's a fantastic day today (Monday) and I am planning tomorrow's maintenance day. I also hope to add a few pictures soon.

 Andrew and Terry sailing back to Southampton on a perfect day

 We seem to be going quite fast!

Monday 27 June 2011

Seaweed, fog and a tour of the docks

Liz and Steve came down on Friday afternoon.  We ate aboard.  On Saturday we woke to the sound of foghorns.  We decided to do some sightseeing in Southampton: walked round the city walls, visited the Andy Warhol exhibition at the City Gallery and then strolled back through the parks.  By late afternoon the fog had cleared so we decided to take a trip on Toucando so that Steve and Liz could practise handling her under power.  We went down the Itchen and then went round the docks.  The engine seemed to be beginning to overheat... there is a lot of floating seaweed about at the moment, and the cooling water inlet may have been blocked for a while.  We checked and cleared the strainer and decided to give the engine a rest.  So we enjoyed a gentle sail back, getting right up the river.  We could probably have sailed onto the mooring, but decided to use the engine, and made a safe arrival.
On Sunday we were joined by Fiona, Jon, Lucia and Pandie... two racers, a day skipper and a novice (but not in that order).  We set off down the river again raising the sails at the earliest opportunity.  Toucando does not  usually tow her tender, but on this occasion she did... I suppose skipper was thinking about strategies for dealing with engine failure.  However he did not make a very good job of tying the painter, and it was Jon who spotted that the tender had come adrift neat Weston Shelf.  Anyhow, that was a good opportunity to practise man overboard procedures, as we turned round for the recovery.  Once tied on again with a good knot, we tacked down Southampton Water in bright, hot sunshine.  It was Pandie who pointed out the grey fog bank sitting on the Solent which was beginning to roll towards us.  The temperature dropped and there was the beginning of a cold clammy wetness in the air.  We kept on practising our manouevres, before we decided it was time for a gybe and a return to Southampton rather than relentlessly sailing into the fog.  We did a "training run" all the way up the docks, past Marchwood, to Millbrook and the container port, executing each gybe perfectly.  Another boat was so impressed they threw us a bottle of beer.  And we managed to stay in the sun the whole way.  There were some monsters of container ships, liners and car carriers moving around, and we enjoyed safely navigating around them, before turning and going back up the Itchen.  It was six hours of sailing in one of the most crowded waterways in the world... which we all enjoyed.  Thanks again to a fantastic crew.
Steve, Lucia, Jon and Andrew heading down the Itchen
 Lucia and Pandie
 Pandie keeping a weather eye for fog banks
 Most of the crew
 An artistic shot of the sails
(All pictures courtesy of Fiona)

Friday 17 June 2011

Across Poole Bay

As previously noted, Toucando stayed in Poole on Sunday. Two of the Southampton Sailing Club boats which set off decided to turn back before getting out of the harbour, one of them having recorded 53 knots of wind over the deck - which is the high end of a storm force 10. We all enjoyed an evening together on Buccaneer having a Bolognese, trifle and various bottles we had discovered hidden away in our lockers. I had appointments to keep in the midlands and couldn't organise crew until Thursday, when Malcolm of SSC kindly offered to come back to Poole to help sail Toucando back home.
The morning started with two hours of rain lashing the deck... It didn't seem that much better than Sunday. But by 1030 the rain had stopped and things seemed a little better. Malcolm arrived for a lunch of bread and soup and at 1400 we reversed out of our berth (rather elegantly) and set off round Brownsea Island. The wind blowing off the Purbeck Hills was surprisingly fierce, throwing up choppy white topped waves. We unrolled the staysail and headed out to the open sea.
Once out in Poole Bay we were on a nice broad reach, with the wind somewhere between a force 5 and 6. A large swell was rolling up the channel and Toucando occasionally rolled this way and that. We kept the staysail up, and that was enough to give us an average of five knots through the water which equated to six to nine knots over the ground with the help of the tide. We stayed on a starboard tack for some twenty miles until we got to the Bramble Bank and had to gybe to turn towards Southampton Water. The wind decided to go up several levels at that point, and we enjoyed a near gale force seven for half an hour.
We noticed a tear had started in the staysail, so rolled it up near Netley. We passed close to a RSYC race and observed a large cruise being virtually knocked down as it struggled to bring down its spinnaker. Then we were turning into the Itchen... the industrial river which is Toucando's home. We made a near perfect arrival on her pontoon, the whole passage having taken seven hours.
Malcolm's attempt to catch mackerel was not successful. Fortunately I had acquired some from Mr Sainsbury, so we were able to have fish for high tea. Now back at home the next task is to get that sail repaired. Moral: look at the forecast for the whole weekend, and don't assume it will be any better than promised. Many thanks to Malcolm and other SSC fellow sailors.

Sunday 12 June 2011

Storm bound in Poole

We had a longish passage to Poole yesterday, starting with no wind whatever in Southampton rising to a force five occasionally six in Poole Bay in the afternoon. We berthed at the quay just by the harbourmaster's office. This morning four SSC boats set off. Two returned in less than an hour reporting gusts of 53 knots in the harbour (storm force ten). We're staying put until it gets better.

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Yarmouth Old Gaffers' Festival 2011

Toucando set off for Yarmouth on Thursday 2nd June, with crew comprising Lesley, David and Andrew (skipper).  First job was to top up with diesel at Itchen Towage.

We had a bit of a sail down Southampton Water, but a light westerly was not helpful when it came to the Solent, so we motored the rest of the way.  Toucando wore a good selection of flags, like the other gaffers.
She was much admired.  Several people remembered seeing her at Brest in Brittany with her previous owners.
On Friday we enjoyed the shore entertainments, including Rob da Bank of Radio 1 (who lives nearby) and a range of musicians.
Saturday was an opportunity to go sailing.  Toucando did not join the race, but instead went out and practised tacking, gybing and different sail settings, with a crew comprising Andrew, Anne, Lesley and Paul.
Tall ship under the boom
Paul, Anne, Andrew and Lesley... back in Yarmouth
Saturday night was very windy... blowing from the northeast straight into the harbour.  Even Toucando at 11 tons was bouncing about, and the mooring lines were creaking and groaning.  At 0130 the lifeboat went out on a call.  As we were moored just 10 metres away we couldn't help peer out through the portholes as it went off on its mission: it would not have been a nice night at sea.
On Sunday we returned to Southampton (Andrew, Lesley, Paul and Vee).  We had a little excitement when the engine started smoking just outside Yarmouth.  After a few moments thought we checked the cooling water strainer and removed a large clump of seaweed.  As is so often the case the wind was blowing the wrong way, so it was more of a motor than a sail.  Toucando arrived back on her berth in the Itchen in the late afternoon having enjoyed the festival and welcomed five new crew members over the weekend.