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.)

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.

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.

Autumn sailing

We had some amazing weather in the middle of October... bright, almost windless days, and cold nights. On Friday I had booked a lift for Toucando at Sealift in Haslar to replace her anodes, and get a bit of a wash. Hugh volunteered to crew. Our start was slightly delayed by the reluctasnce of the engine to start, which can be put down to the cold weather and relatively long period without a charge. Anyhow we sorted that problem out and had a pleasant motor for three hours to Portsmouth Harbour: there was virtually no wind, and the little there was came from the east.

We were entertained en route by the navy, or perhaps the army, conducting an exercise which involved sending landing craft from a large vessel moored in the middle of the Solent to invade Hampshire at Browndown. Other than that the sea was pretty empty: a pleasant change from summer weekends.

We arrived early, but they were quite happy to bring forward the time of the lift. Although it was only two months since the last one, there was quite a lot of slime and a few crustacea on Toucando's hull, and her anodes had been significantly easten away. I put the slime down to the amount of fertilizer running off down the Itchen, and the erosion of the anodes to the intense industrialisation of the docks. Anyhow, some below waterline attention was definitely required. We got our money's worth as a thorough jetwash was applied and the relevant bits of sacrificial metal were bolted onto the appropriate places.

After lunch we headed for home, and sailed back under main and (newly repaired) jib. The wind had picked up and we made good progress. Instead of her usual mooring we took Toucando to Shamrock Quay so she could benefit from a good period of mains electricity to bring all the batteries up to full charge. In fact, the motoring had topped them up pretty well, but it seemed a wise precaution.

On Saturday Michele came and we had to decide where to go. The barometer had plummeted from 1030 in the middle of the week to barely abover 1010. The winds were much stronger. In the event we decided to go to the Hamble, and berthed in Swanwick: Toucando's first visit. For afternoon entertainment we took the tender and explored the upper reaches of the river, beyond where all the boats are moored. We got up to the point where the river branches... one way to Botley the other to Curbridge. The water was too shallow to get any further - it was some hours before high tide. We returned and repaired to the Jolly Sailor in Bursledon for some soft drinks.

On Sunday the wind was blowing from the south east... we had a good sail back up Southampton Water with the wind behind us. In fact we were able to sail all the way to St Mary's before we needed to make use of the engine for the last few hundred yards approach to the pontoon.

Toucando is now safely back on her home berth looking forward to a relaxing autumn. No more cruises are planned, although some day sailing is not ruled out. It's maintenance mode now. Next week I have booked on to a week long "Yacht Maintenance" course at Hamble School of Yachting, when I hope to discover how much I don't know.

Thanks to Hugh and Michele for their contribution.