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.
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