August Cruise - Ashlett Regatta and Drascamp

Three weeks of sailing...including Drascamp...it's here. Starting with the Ashlett regatta I have three glorious weeks stretching ahead of me....

We started with Ashlett regatta, launching on the Thursday (5th)  in preparation for the regatta on the Saturday A great Drascombe turnout, canoe races, dinghy races, umbrella races (3rd this year - pipped at the post by Messrs Niner and Peter who snuck in to second ahead of Pauline and me), a pursuit race (thanks Wayne for letting me play - great fun) and BBQ and music - all on a lovely hot sunny day - couldn't have been better.

Regatta flags

and more...

Chillin... Tony, Bill, Wayne and Stewart

Tony, Pauline and Annie relaxing in the sun

Sunday was a blustery day and there was a lot of debate about departing. in the event the bigger boat, Tony, Peter, Marcus and I set off for Cowes, ignoring warnings about the regatta week and crowds. A lively crossing but no dramas and yes, Cowes was certainly bustling but once we got up to the Folly reach it was eerily quiet - no rafting,,,empty pontoons so we tied up and had a very plea sent evening.

Monday

We sailed across to Portsmouth and all the way up to Fareham, lunching on the Fareham Yacht club pontoon, before making our way back down to the Portchester Sailing club pontoon where we spent the night, meeting Doug Latta, who helped arrange our visit, and sharing a beer with him. 

Portchester pontoon

Portchester Castle

Tuesday

We sailed to the entrance to Bembridge for lunch and then onto Ryde where we succumbed to fish & chips after a hard day in the sun. Coming out of Portsmouth, after a discussion the night before, I sailed right beside the buoy marking the location of the wreck of the Marie Rose..quite eerie.

There was a great number of new marks and buoys being put into place both within Portsmouth harbour and on the approaches...the new aircraft carriers must be huge.

Wednesday

The next day we made our way down to Yarmouth for the night, where we left Marcus to pop home for a day or so and Peter T who made his way over the Keyhaven to r/v with another part of the fleet who were going to follow us to Poole over the weekend. Meanwhile Tony and I set out for the west. Initially the plan had been to visit Swanage but the swell in the bay off the beach set us round the headland into Studland Bay.

Video - leaving via the Needles Channel

Pellew under sail

Studland was lovely and we decided to linger the following day, especially as Tony wasn't feeling great. I left him tinkering with his boat and rowed ashore for a walk along the cliff at Old Harry. Fantastic views in the hot sun as I walked along almost to Swanage before heading back to the beach.

Old Harry

Studland Bay

Drama at dawn

We spent the afternoon wading round the boat cleaning the waterlines and generally chilling before retiring for a snooze - hard life. Mind you it all changed in the early hours when Tony woke me as he was feeling very poorly. A phone call to the Coastguard and a consultation with a doctor at Poole Hospital resulted in the inshore lifeboat coming out to take him into hospital - the second trip for him this year !!!! It was funny, looking back, discussing with the coastguard the possibility of a helicopter pick up..I was very keen as it would have given Tony the full set...but he was less so ..and with the shallow water and number of masts around the inshore boat was the best option.

All of which left me anchored in Studland, with two boats.......

Saturday

A call to Brad solved the problem and I set of for the beach at Sandbanks where I collected him and returned to Pellew where he upped anchor and we set off for the Poole Quay marina.

Video of Pellew's temporary skipper

The rest of the fleet gathered at the marina and on the Monday set off for Drascamp on the southern side of the harbour at Cleavel Point,

Solar Panel- update

Time seems to have flown and it has been some time since I updated the blog .. such alot happened over the summer ..... but I will start with the solar panel update. Back in August...yes August I jury rigged a solar panel to help with power requirements generally, but particularly in view of an extended three week cruise that I was about to depart on.

At the London Boat Show I bought a Photonic Universe solar panel the dimesions can be seen in the panel below. There was a boat show discount so it was approx £120 at the time.

Details on reverse of panel for those that it means something to.....

For the cruise I left it jury rigged to see where and how the best fit would be. The kit comes with the panel, a charge control unit and about 4 m each of cable to connect panel to the unit and the unit to the battery. The panel has some water proof connectors fitted that allow a cable run to a point and then easy removal of the panel as required.  I left all the wire untouched, thinking I would trim it to the length required once I had established a final fix.

Points to note - the battery cables are thick -- to thick to fit into the screw fittings on the controller and require quite a bit of strand removal to get a good fit.

It is easy to wire the panel the wrong way - in which case you get a battery indicator light and that re assures you it is working...but closer inspection of the manual reveals you should also get a green condition light - either charging or maintaining the battery.

The panel worked very well, with the battery kept in tip top condition so thoughts started to turn to a more permanent fitting.

The starboard berth on my Shrimper is used for food and utensil storage in clear plastic boxes - so remains largely undisturbed  so I decided to fit the unit on that side away for day to day foot traffic as it were.

Fitted between edge slats and storage unit on starboard bulk head -
wires can just be seen disappearing behind the slats

The position allowed me to chase the wires into the recess behind the slats and from there down into the well area under the bunk support. From the well it is a short run to the battery but I was able to leave the wires uncut. The wires to the panel are also coiled here, with the connectors left visible so that I can pull out as much length of cable or push it back as required.

So far I seem to have settled for a short run of cable with the panel sitting just outside the spray hood butted up against the rear of the mast. However the flexibility with the cable has allowed me to trail it through the cabin and out through the fore hatch with the panel sat in the anchor well.

I have resisted the urge to fit the panel as I don't plan to take it with me on most trips, using it instead for maintenance whilst the boat is left for any periods. It can live in the car whilst I am sailing, although I have rigged some clips and elastic in the roof headlining area over the starboard bunk so I could  hold it securely against the inside of the cabin roof, out of harms way, if I did want to take it with me for any reason.

So far so good - my only regret - I have two batteries and didn't think or research to possibility of unseeing the panel to maintain both. It seems that they do controllers with a double battery in-put so It may just be a case of upgrading controller? we'll see...