Solent cruise - with another visit to the dockyards

October 10th - 12th

Monday 10th

The main fleet assembled at Ashlett - Stewart in Bolitho, Tony in Pellew, Ian in Moksha  , Jim and his daughter and son in law in Hippo and myself in Daislebee, together with Marcus with Sundance, who had come up from Newtown and had joined those that had launched over the weekend.

We departed on the tide and had a fair sail down to Yarmouth, using broad tacks to make our way down to the west, avoiding the larger waves being kick up in the main channel.

The sun was lovely as we tied up in the harbour with the dark sky behind setting the scene off very nicely

We ate in the Kings Head, not the best meal we have had, some good, some not so good but the ale went down well and we retired to bed ready for the morning.

Tuesday 11th

The plan had been to go up the Medina to Newport on the Island and visit our old favourite The Bargeman's Rest, but the forecast for Wednesday was not good so we decided to go direct to Portsmouth. With wind and tide in our favour it promised to be a swift passage and so it was. About a F4 with strong tidal assist made short work of the trip and the rain held off until we arrived so it was up with tents quick sharp.

Jim could only come out for the night so he departed for Ashlett whilst we carried on and soon arrived in Hazler again, this time opposite the Trinity Lighthouse boat that marks the Hazler entrance.

We decided to try the restaurant on the lighthouse and were very pleasantly surprised...... a very good time was had by all.

Wednesday 12th

The day dawned bright and cold...but with strong winds so our choice of direct passage to Portsmouth the day before was validated.

Stewart had pulled a muscle so elected to have a quiet day on board, whilst Ian was meeting Glenys later so Tony, Marcus and I set off on the Gosport ferry to visit the historic dockyards again. 

After coffee we headed to the Mary Rose and encountered a very smartly dressed Tom Richardson on the way..chat was kept brief as the heavens opened and we scuttled on our way.

The Mary rose is hugely impressive, not just the ship itself but the building and layout of the whole experience....well worth a visit and there are plans to add new timbers to the exhibit to complete the bow section we were told.

We re visited Boat House 4 where the restoration of small boats goes on and saw quite a lot of progress on some of the boats.

We returned to the boats quite early as visitors were expected...and sure enough before long Ali and Sharon, together with Brad arrived and the party got going.

We adjourned to Wetherspoon's after a while and were joined by Ian and Glenys before moving onto the Great Wall Chinese which is fast becoming a favourite venue.

The evening concluded back in the pub from where we made our way back to boats, cars or hotels depending on the choices available....

Thursday 12th

The wind had died down and the lunchtime tide was going to be ideal to make it back to Ashlett. Before we departed however, Marcus and I waked round to the Submarine Museum, stopping on the way to admire two small steel yachts who were rigged as square riggers.

We couldn't work out how people would climb the rigging to set the sail but the penny dropped after awhile....the yards are on a slider and can be lowered to the deck so the topsails can be unfurled then the yard raised and the lower set of sails unfurled in turn as the yards go up.

The submarine museum was a sobering place...what sort of people put themselves through that sort of experience....very brave ..or quite mad...

The outside is huge and a baby compared to todays subs

Inside is a mass of pipes

 We returned quite amazed at the bravery of the sailors who undertook missions in these sorts of craft.

Our sail back to Ashlett seemed very tame in comparison and all too soon it was over..probably the last sail of the season