Channel Cruise: Part 5 - Back to Southampton

On Sunday 5th August we set off for Southampton.  We asked the berthing master to help turn us around in the fairway and set off into Yarmouth Roads, where we got the sails raised with no reefs.  It was just about perfect sailing conditions, as we headed up the western Solent to Gurnard, before gybing, skirting the Bramble Bank and Calshot Spit and reaching up Southampton Water to Weston, where we dropped our sails.  We then headed up the Itchen, filling the fuel tanks at Itchen Towage before returning to Toucando's pontoon.

Just off Newtown Creek we encountered Four Seasons.  They had left Alderney a day after us.  It was good to see them again.  They seemed to be pointing cameras at us.  I am hoping that there will be some nice photographs of us in due course.

Thanks very much to Colin and Roger for crewing and enabling Toucando to make her first cross channel cruise from Southampton.

Roger and Colin somewhere in the English Channel

Roger and Andrew in the Solent - with a Dutch gaffer

Voyage of Toucando

Channel Cruise: Part 1 - Southampton to Cherbourg

The crew assembled on Friday 27th July. Toucando had been victualled and prepared for the voyage. Roger of Southampton Sailing Club, and Colin who had sailed on Toucando recently both came to Shamrock Quay in the afternoon.

We set off shortly after 1700 towards Yarmouth, our chosen first night destination. Our voyage was to take us across the English Channel and to last nine days... Toucando's longest trip since her passage from Dublin last year. The cruise was in company with several other Southampton Sailing Club boats, led by Four Seasons.

We were able to sail some of the way down to Yarmouth, but needed the engine as well. We found a mooring buoy outside the harbour before darkness fell. We ate a Mediterranean chicken stew on board and got ready for an early start the following morning.

Our mooring buoy off Yarmouth

To get the best of the tide through the Needles Channel we aimed to leave at 0515 on Saturday 28th July. We actually slipped our mooring ten minutes later. We soon got the sails raised and were able to sail down the last few miles of the Solent, past the Needles before turning left and steering 185 degrees for Cherbourg.

We were on a pleasant starboard tack, with just the right amount of wind... an unusual experience. Toucando made a decent speed and we progressed steadily, making one (probably unnecessary) deviation for large shipping. As planned we arrived uptide of Cherbourg and were able to slide into the Western Entrance of the Grande Rade diagonally, to the astonishment of the crew who were slightly alarmed that we appeared to be heading straight for the harbour wall.

At 1703 we were the first to arrive, and had made an excellent time. It took slightly longer than we had expected to get the mainsail down. The wind had got a fair bit stronger in the final hours of the crossing. When we entered La Chantereyne Marina we had expected to be greeted by a lady in a red dory... but she was nowhere to be seen. We did a quick circuit before retreatring to the Petit Rade to await the arrival of Four Seasons. It seemed that the marina had not reserved places for us, so we wnded up distributed all over. Toucando finished up on the waiting pontoon... not connected to dry land (but we are used to that). We had a bolognese aboard.

Toucando in the sunset at Cherbourg

Sunday was a free day. We had established in a morning trip ashore that nothing much happens in Cherbourg on Sunday, and unfortunately the convenient Carrefour supermarket just by the harbour is being rebuilt, making any significant shopping difficult.

In the afternoon the skipper took advantage of visiting the Cite de la Mer, a major tourist attraction. Although it was only a frw hundred metres from where Toucando was moored it was a long (but not unpleasant) walk round the harbour to get there. It is based in the old liner terminal and one of the first rooms you go in is the baggage hall... quite impressive, I thought.

Liner baggage hall in cherbourg, now part of the Cite de la Mer museum

That room told the story of French emigration to America. Other parts of the museum were devoted to the Titanic (which stopped in Cherbourg for one and a half hours en route to Queenstown, and thence to its nemesis); diving and submarines (including a decommissioned nuclear sub), and a rather atmospheric aquarium.

Jellyfish

(I could post a few more like this.)

Nuclear submarine

I would recommend Cite de la Mer to anybody with a day to spare in Cherbourg. In the evening the whole Southampton Sailing Club part gathered in the Yacht Club restaurant where we enjoyed some French Cuisine... a duck and anchovy salad, a salmon steak, and creme caramel in my case. The following day we would be setting off towards St Peter Port Guernsey. (To be continued.)

English Summer (continued)

June was terrible... the wettest on record (since records began in 1902).  Not only did this make sailing unappealing, it was not conducive to external maintenance either.

My parents, Donald and Audrey, visited at the beginning of July.  Although we didn't sail anywhere we had a few evenings aboard Toucando.  We also visited Cowes where we saw the classic yacht fleet in the Yacht Haven, and Southampton's new Sea City Museum, which focusses on the city's links with the Titanic... most importantly the 500 crew who lost their lives.

The jet stream which had been causing all the weather trouble moved north in time for the weekend of 21st/2nd July, which was just in time for some planned day sailing.

On Saturday we were joined by Colin, Michele and Steve P for the RYA's "Push the Boat Out Day" - an attempt to get as many people on the water as possible.  We had a pleasant time tacking down Southampton Water, before getting out into the Solent, circumnavigating the Bramble Bank and returning under engine.

We particularly enjoyed seeing the Jubilee Sailing Trusts's "Tenacious" coming up Southampton Water under sail.

On Sunday the crew comprised Hugh, Jane, Michele and Steve P and the main event of the day was going down to the Solent to meet and greet the returning Round the World Clipper Race.  Toucando had seen the fleet go out last summer (http://toucando.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/round-world-racing.html) so it seemed appropriate to see them come back.  We motored down to the rallying point and joined the flotilla.

(More details on the Clipper Race: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-18904550).

After a lunch under way we spent the afternoon sailing round Southampton Water and the Docks.

On Monday Michele and Roger helped take Toucando over to Cowes for a lift, wash and change of anodes.  I think she was going about a knot faster (maybe more) on the way home.

Three good days sailing in pleasant weather!   This is what the summer is supposed to be like.  Toucando is now getting ready for her cruise to Cherbourg and the Channel Islands, due to start on Friday.  I plan to post a few brief blogs en route, and a longer account when we get back.  I hope the jet stream stays where it belongs and we continue to enjoy a proper summer.



Maintenance month

Since her return from Yarmouth the main focus on Toucando has been maintenance.  Andy, my sanding consultant came down for the long bank holiday weekend.  We took Toucando over to Shamrock Quay, where there would be a supply of electricity and water, as well as ready access to a chandlery.  Andy quickly identifid that the taff rail was delaminating on the starboard side and that the bowsprit needed some repairs.  There were some also some patches on the gaff which needed attention.  Glass fibre filler and various clamps were procured and put into action.

The process of sanding cleaned up the deteriorating woodwork.  Any holes or splits were filled. Coelan "yellowish" primer was used in accordance with Toucando's original colour scheme.  (I like the Coelan colour range: there is a choice between yellowish and reddish!).  After a suitable interval it was possible to apply the clear topcoat which dried to form a durable but flexible plastic skin.  Whilst Andy did the woodwork I did a number of smaller tasks, such as installing a new seal on the aft perspex hatch to stop rainwater ingress.  By the time the weekend was over Toucando was already beginning to look smarter.

Andy's work and some dreary commitments meant a return to the midlands, but at the end of the week i was back south, stopping at KJ Howells in Poole to acquire some more Coelan berfore applying another couple of coats.  A whole week of public duties kept me in the midlands before I was able to come down on Saturday 16th.  On Sunday crew members Colin and John came to Toucando, who relocated to Shamrock Quay again.  They were very helpful in sanding the rest of the taff rail and the tiller.

On Monday Rob the engineer arrived.  He sorted out the intermittent fault on the freshwater pump, which means that water now reliably comes out of the tap when it is turned on.  He connected up the electric bilge pump, sorted out a leak in the salt water hose, cleaned the fuel tank, replaced some of the fuel lines which had degraded quite badly and which were leaking very slightly, and realigned the engine so that it does not judder at slow speeds.  Roger I dropped by and helped with yet more sanding.  I was able to complete the application of the Coelan.  The weather forecast had not been good, but in fact the sun shone for four days and quite a lot was achieved.  There are still lots more jobs to be done, mainly treating other parts of the woodwork, but I am hopeful that this will be possible in the near future.

I am very grateful to Andy, Colin, John and Roger for dropping by to help out.

Toucando is looking forward to sailing again soon.  Her programme is visible at toucando.net under the Calendar 2012 tab.