Hamble Rally - Saturday 9th - Monday 11th October 2010

Due to various commitments I wasn't able to escape into the Solent with those that were able to make a week of it. Instead, leaving home early on the Saturday and stocking up in Tesco outside Chichester, I was on the water by about 10.30, heading down the harbour towards East Head.

The weather wasn't great, it was dry but prudence suggested full wet weather gear and a reef.

The pics of the waves at East Winner don't do them justice they were quite spectacular.

However once out of the harbour and turned right for Southampton the sun came out and I was soon in T shirt and shorts. The tide and wind were in my favour so I made pretty short time to the entrance to the Hamble, passing though the submarine barrier off Portsmouth at quite a speed.

I met up with the fleet coming down Southampton Water, but only after being tricked by Stewart who managed to sneak right past in his Coaster using white sails - wasn't expecting that.

We made our way up the Hamble to Swanick Marina. The spring tide was fierce, creating whirlpools and steps in the water, quite fun looking for the slacker water and dodging in and out of the stream.

The rally gathered in between two pontoons at the marina and beer and nibbles were duly broken out of stores.

We then adjourned to the restaurant for a a dinner which went very well but we failed to persuade the waitresses to stand on a chair and sing a song, in spite of presenting one of them with a cake complete with lit candle.

The following day, Sunday, many had to leave early or hang around locally to haul out, but an intrepid bunch crossed Southampton Water and headed into Ashlett Creek.

Here the tide was so high the quay and car park had flooded.

Stewart, Andy and John hauled out at the sailing club whilst the rest of us had lunch in old Mill house, who made us very welcome. The rest of us set sail for home, with some returning up the Hamble. I left them and headed out into the Solent to see what the conditions were like before making a final decision about my overnight mooring location.

As it was I found the easterly wind had gone slightly north and the tide was quite slack, even more so when I picked up the inshore eddy - so I set sail for Portsmouth and made it all the way on a single tack.

As I past Gilkicker I couldn't make the entrance so furled the sails and motored across towards the entrance. I could see boats struggling to make ground over the tide so I hugged the coast and popped into the entrance channel as close in as I could, gaining a huge amount of ground over the yachts how were in the fairway. In fact one lady came up to me later in the marina and asked what engine I had, assuming it was al least 20hp - very surprised when she found out it was only 9.

My route into Portsmouth

I tied up in Gosport marina and after a meal and a wander around the town turned in for the night.

The following morning I set sail in bright skies and a warm NE wind for Chichester. The entrance to the harbour was quite rough by apart from that the sail was great. I stopped in Mengham Rithe for lunch and then made my way with the tide up the harbour home.

Probably the last sail of the season, but what a great season for a first one with a new boat - lots of adventures and fun, in great company - I have learnt such alot and had a great time.

Many of the figures below have been reset at some stage - the only one I have strived to preserve is the total 723Nm. Not bad since June 17th........

Next year ?? France, Channel Islands, Scillies, cruising in Falmouth and the West Country - they all beckon - some more tenable than others and some more inclusive of other sailors we'll see.

What is planned in the Chichester Marina rally - details will be published in the DAN and I will elaborate here and on the forum in the New Year but keep the dates of 29th April - 2nd May free.

Itchenor Rally24th-26th Sept 2010

Having dived into the marina with Adrian for some respite from the wind, he and I drove to Itchenor to attend the dinner at the club. We met up with Adrian's wife and daughter and spent a very pleasant evening with the other Drascombers attending the rally.

Stewart Brown announced his intention to resign from the committee and his post of South Coast area rep but made some very complimentary remarks about the Solent Cruising Group I have set up. I should hasten to add this is not in competition to the Drascombe Association but is simply a collection of email addresses of sailors, based loosely (very loosely) on those who tend to sail in the Solent, in an effort to provide opportunities for joining up to sail in company.

The next day dawned bright and sunny - so much better than the day before. Having set out form the marina we r/v'd with the main rally group at the Visitors pontoon at Itchenor. Chris Meade-Briggs had asked Adrian to be the Sailing Master and in view of the weather forecast and wind direction it was decided to abandon the original plan to sail to Mengham Rithe and instead have a sail down to the Camber mark at the entrance to the Thorney Channel and then make our way up to Dell Quay for lunch. In spite of this being a repeat of an earlier rally sail plan it was readily agreed and the fleet set off in usual Drascombe style.

The wind was just right for a sail down to Camber and then back up through the moorings to Dell Quay. With it being the top of springs it was possible to get right up to the top of the harbour, before coming back down to the wooded shore on the northern side that offered shelter from the wind. In the sun it was pretty warm and a very pleasant lunch was had at anchor.

The fleet departed for the pontoon and having sailed back down with them Adrian and I returned to the comfort of the marina before being collected this time, again by his wife and daughter, who took us to the village hall for the BBQ.

Here Richard G embarrassed me by making a presentation of framed photos with messages on the back from the participants of the Solent Dart dash (see earlier posts). It was a lovely thought and brought back great memories of the early summer. (- it now has pride of place in my studio.)

I got my own back to some extent, with grateful help from Miles and Lizzie, who had managed to buy a birthday cake and candles in Emsworth. Unfortunately somewhere on the journey the candles had fallen out of the back but luckily I had 4 green cylume sticks with me, in case children needed entertaining, which made very good, if somewhat oversized candles. The cake was presented to Adrian whose 72 birthday it was, together with a card signed by all the rally attendees.

(Cylume sticks are plastic tubes about 4 inches long and a bit thicker than a pencil, that contain chemicals, that when cracked, mix and produce light)

The usual suspects provided musical accompaniment to the evening and our 'taxi' delivered two tired but happy Drascombers back to the marina - not so tired that we didn't finish off the 3 litres of white wine I had taken - but that's another story ( sorry Adrian .......)

The Sunday dawned bright and windy but the rally drew to an early close as the need to haul out at the right state of the tide meant an early departure for most.

I mooched around the top of the harbour, anchoring to watch what turned out to be some form of championship racing - very spectacular and very wet for quite a few.... before retruning to the marina and home in time to earn some brownie points.

Wednesday 22nd September - Friday 24th - Itchenor Feeder Cruise

Scampered down the the boat early today - motored down to East Head to r/v with Richard (Egret) and Adrian (Torridon) before departure to Isle of Wight - Bembridge - bright and sunny but wind right on the nose so motored all the way.

Tied up at Duver Marina and booked in for a meal at Baywatch on the Beach. Had a great meal and bumped into an ex colleague having a pint outside (small world).

The next day after a morning of showers we caught the tide acro

ss to Southsea.

We got into Langstone Harbour before the tide started to run too fast and had lunch in the lagoon round the back of Hayling Island.

It was a different story after lunch. We suddenly realised that time had run away with us and we had a matter of minutes to get across the harbour and into the marina before the cill level would be too high. As we crossed the harbour entrance we were facing north, full throttle just to keep still and being swept across the mouth towards the marina channel.

We got in with minutes to spare - almost before lines were secure we could hear the mechanism engage and the cill move into position.

Later that afternoon Jim, Andy and Anne together with David arrived following a swift passage from Ashlett.

We adjourned for drinks and then into the curry restaurant at the marina for a good meal.

The following day the fleet split in two with Jim, Andy and David heading up the harbour, lowering their masts and going under the low bridge into the top end of Chichester harbour.

Adrian, Richard and I elected to sail round via the Solent. There were a few dramatic waves but nothing as bad as the wind over tide that greeted us once were in the harbour.

Adrian and I retired to the marina to gather ourselves before going down to the dinner at Itchenor Sailing Club.

Sunday 20th - Steve's first time

Honoured a long standing promise to take a friend of mine, Steve, for a sail today. Picked him up early from home and drove to the marina. Bright and sunny and F5 Westerly - got the boat ready and explained the motor controls to Steve and then shocked him by going to untie, asking him to motor Daislebee away from the pontoon. Trust indeed....

We motored down the harbour admiring the many different types of yachts and motor boats moored up.

Made our way up the Bosham Channel and picked up a mooring for a coffee and then got the sails up, putting in a reef to keep things relatively calm. Nice sail up to the main channel and then down the harbour. Popped out to sea and then back into East Head for lunch. Steve was particularly fascinated by the Moths that were buzzing around the harbour - are they sailing or flying......

We launched the dinghy and had a wind swept walk around the head before setting sail back to the marina.

A good day - next time try for less wind and more sun.