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.

I knew there was a lot of weed about...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-13643037 Video showing seaweed problem on the Isle of Wight

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.

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!)

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

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!