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)

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.

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.

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.