Channel Cruise: Part 4 - Braye to Yarmouth via Poole

On Friday 3rd August we set off from Braye towards Poole.  It was a frustrating day as the wind was pretty much directly from behind, which may sound good, but isn't.  Boats roll about in such conditions and don't go as fast as you would like.  So although we sailed some of the way, most of the time we were motor sailing.  The only excitement came when we lost the tender, which we were towing, as a result of a poor round turn and two half hitches.  Fortunately it was spotted 200 metres behind and we had an interesting 20 minutes recovering it.  We were allocated our berth at Poole Quay and had the satisfaction of having completed a second channel crossing.

On Saturday we left our berth with some difficulty.  There was a brisk southerly blowing.  It would be hard to explain all the complications, but long keeled gaffers do not tend to go well in reverse at slow speeds.  Anyhow, we avoided hitting anything and warped ourselves round so we were facing the right way to go out forwards.  We motored out of the harbour, raised the main with two reefs, rolled out the staysail and had a good sail across Poole and Christchurch Bays.

We arrived at the Needles and sailed up towards Hurst very nicely.

The Needles (with the Bridge Buoy) from Toucando

We made pretty good progress until we were at Fort Albert when the falling tide slowed us right down.  It took a while to get up to Yarmouth, and then the lowering of the mainsail caused a little confusion.  Eventually all was sorted out and we made our way into the harbour where we rafted up on the green pontoon.

Andrew and Roger sorting out Toucando and the tender on the green pontoon at Yarmouth

We had a pleasant meal ashore at the Wheatsheaf courtesy of Colin, and were ready for the final leg of the trip back to Southampton.

Easter Cruise 2012

I had spent a couple of weeks on pre-season maintenance, including supervising a few engineering jobs, so Toucando would be ready for her Easter cruise - the first of 2012.  I was joined by Peter and Stewart on Thursday evening.  Our first task was to take Toucando over to Shamrock Quay so she could fill her water tank and enjoy a night plugged into the mains.  The crew checked out The Waterfront, while I prepared dinner.

In the morning we made ready to go.  Getting off the berth avoiding the enormous Sunseeker moored behind us was not easy - the tide flows at right angles to the pontoons, but we managed eventually and made another short hop to the fuel barge where we took on 100 litres of diesel, before heading under the Itchen Bridge and out into Southampton Water.  Peter and Stewart raised the main... encountering a few snags and tangles (we got a lot better at it over the course of the weekend), and we motor sailed towards the Solent.  The forecast was for moderate northerly winds, which would have been ideal for a trip west, but the wind was very light and of indeterminate direction.  Our initial thoughts of heading for Poole had to be abandonned, and we settled for Yarmouth instead.  We got some sailing in which was good before motoring in and berthing on the new pontoon by the lifeboat.

We went and had a beer in the Royal Solent (ginger beer in my case), which is part way through a major refurbishment.  Dick and Pat Dawson showed us the work in progress.  We moved on to the Bugle before returning to Toucando for a Pirata Carbonara.

Saturday seemed like a good day to head to Poole, which is what we did.  Crossing the bay was easy, but we really had to fight the tide in the harbour entrance. Poole Quay Marina told us they were full (there's a wretched Sunseeker taking up the space for abour four sailing boats).  Fortunately there was space on the quay itself, which gave us the opportunity to use the fender board which has only had one other use over the past year.  It was towards low tide, and we had to climb up a horrible ladder to do the mooring.  As time went by and the tide rose we had a convenient step ashore from deck to quay.  Three other boats moored alongside us, and negotiated out departure time the following morning.  I did a little revictualling.  There was a rabbit in charge at Tesco... ok, a person dressed as a rabbit.  She tried to sell me some carrots, which I thought was quite amusing.  We had a (ginger) beer in the Jolly Sailor with some pub grub.

Toucando on Poole Town Quay

On Sunday we headed east, towards Cowes.  There was not a lot of wind to begin with, but once we were inside the Solent we did a training run, gybing our way to our destination.  By the time we took down the main off Gurnard there was a Force 5 blowing.  We went to Cowes Yacht Haven and found a suitable mooring before going ashore and enjoying some (ginger) beer and more pub grub at The Union Inn.  We helped the people at the next table in the quiz... well, we think we helped them we didn't stay for the answers.

Monday the wind had blown up.  A gale was threatened.  We reefed Toucando and set off.  It was blowing Force 7, gusting 8.  We headed north across the Solent and up into Southampton Water. We motored.  Those boats sailing were all well reefed: one was even using its bright orange storm jib and trisail.  In less than two and a half hours Toucando was back on her mooring.

It would have been good to have had a little more wind earlier in the weekend and a little less at the end, but nevertheless was had a good trip to four ports.  Toucando has emerged from her winter somnolence and is looking forward to more sailing.  She may be a little disappointed over the next month, as my priority will be to complete four assignments for my course but by the end of may we should have a pretty busy schedule.  Thanks to Peter and Stewart for crewing this weekend and getting to understand the running rigging of a gaff rigged cutter.

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.