Red Letter Day

I thought I'd misheard...

"Are you sat down... I thought we'd got to the boat on Saturday"

This was my wife on the phone to me at work. I've had the boat 4 years or so and she has been on her twice so this was amazing - volunteering...needless to say I agreed.

We set of early together with the dog (Suki) and a picnic, leaving two boys fast asleep and totally unaware.

I got the boat ready whilst the dog had a run and promptly handed the tiller to my wife to take Daislebee out of her berth and down the marina into the lock. No dramas in the lock, helmed as though she had done it many times before.

She maintained the helm as we picked up a buoy in the Itchenor Reach for breakfast - very posh, croissants and coffee, before we set off for East Head. Suki was no trouble at all. gazing generally from her as they say in Ireland, or dozing in the sun.

Breakfast being prepared

Suki enjoying the cruise

East Head was quite crowded as you'd expect on a sunny weekend but we dropped the anchor and inflated the dinghy to get ashore.  As usual , once ashore we realised we'd left important things aboard so I rowed out, nearly boarding the wrong boat - another blue Shrimper had come in and anchored just behind us.......

Once properly ashore, we walked along the beach only to encounter a certain Richard Goldsmith, on his Coaster Egret, who was assisting a West Wittering sailing club event. Introductions made we continued round to the main Wittering beach for an ice cream but soon escaped from the madding crowds, walking back along the western beach, looking across to Hayling Island.

I rowed out again for lunch, followed by a snooze on the beach..at least for some...what is it about spaniels..they never stop and will run and fetch a ball all day long....

"Come on throw the ball"

We returned to the boat for a very civilised cup of tea with only one moment of drama...Suki had played with the ball all day and when we boarded Daislebee I carefully placed the ball in a cockpit pocket without her seeing. She in a moment of panic, thinking we were going to leave her ball in the dinghy, leaps from the boat to the dinghy to fetch it, just as I let the dinghy go on a long painter.The tide was running and she is not a fully competent sea dog by any means so before she could jump again I pulled the dinghy back alongside and she scrambled back in to the boat.....

Tea and cake were had in a leisurely fashion, but not without more mooring dramas in the anchorage. A 25 - 30 ft yacht raised anchor and got caught by the tide and swept down onto Cape Cutter with the yacht going one side of the Cutter bowsprit and her dinghy going the other. The Cutter dragged on her anchor and the tangle of boats were swept down towards a group of yachts that were rafted together. With much shouting and pushing they fended off and the miscreant fetch up against a large yacht further down the anchorage. The owner of the Cutter arrived from the beach at speed in a little Rib and set to untangling the mess.

We departed, with Caroline at the helm again, and headed back up the harbour and into the marina. We ended up eating at the new Cafe at the marina - pleasant but very slow - quite a few upset customers - some who seemed to have been waiting over an hour, only to be told that the kitchen had run out of what they had ordered. A shame as the venue is ideal and the staff bright and helpful - I hope they get it together.


We eventually got home by about 11.00 feeling like two teenagers who had run away for the day....

Poole and the feeder cruise 5th - 18th July

Yes back again on the boat after a visit to Durham to see Chris graduate with his law degree - next steps who knows.....

Saturday 5th

I got down to the boat in leisurely style and spent the afternoon fixing and attaching bits that I'd planned during the last cruise. For example I was fed up with the VHF radio mic coiling itself back, just out of reach,  inside the boat. It was almost as if it knew I'd need one hand on the tiller whilst trying to locate the mic to call the marina, harbour master or whoever. So a secondary clip fixing is now in place where the mic remains handy at all times.

Another example of ingenuity that I blatantly copied from Stewart's boat was a loop of thin bungy lashed to the shroud, with a medium sized button lashed in a similar manner below it - just far enough apart to fix the Drascombe flags in place - saves a lot of issues with thin flag halyards being mistaken for a shroud when being helped by some enthusiastic person on the pontoon, with the accompanying twang as they realise it isn't a robust stainless steel wire.....

I helped a couple get their boat, a McGregor 26, onto the trailer at the slip and joined them later for drinks at the new cafe at the marina - Toby and his wife proved good company and having intended staying for a quick drink, several rounds followed on.

I also met Mandy, who together with Ben, are the new 'Marina Hosts' - things are looking up.



Sunday 6th

I stayed in the marina over night and was woke to find Peter Tiplady rigging his boat. I left him to it as I needed to catch the tide and beach the boat - a scrub and anode change were on the cards.

I beached at East Head on the last hour and a half of tide and soon had the water line and adjacent area clean and scrubbed. The prop had some barnacle growth which was easily removed with a sharp blade. I had bought a new anode at Force 4 the day before but the old one was looking remarkably good so I left it unchanged - no harm done the anode was almost half price for a limited period.

I sat on the beach watching the world go by and had one of those moments where there is no need for a crystal ball - you could see what was going to happen an age before it actually did. A small Rib with Mum, Dad, two 10 - 12 year old children and a large dog landed on the beach - Dad leaps out and goes to pull the Rib further up the beach so the rest could get out dry shod. Terse instructions sent the woman towards the stern to 'lighten the load'  - you've guessed it - before she could sit down near the transom the man pulled the boat sharply forward and she tumbled gracefully head over heels over the back into 3 - 4 feet of water. She took it remarkably well, considering her hand bag, containing her phone, purse, car keys - no doubt electronic, and other items, can obviously hold about a gallon of water, judging from what she tipped out.
It didn't seem fair to laugh out loud ... so I simply cried until it hurt.

Peter came swooping through the anchorage and once I floated I joined him in Mengham Rithe. Our original plan had been to make for Ryde and join Nick Payne, but the wind and tide put paid to that but after a little rain there was a lovely sunset

Rainbow over the harbour

Sunset in Mengham

Monday 7th

We set off bright and early for Ryde - about 06.00 - but it was lovely and the breeze filled in to give us a sail across before motoring into Ryde Harbour at about lunch time.

 Peter, tending Siesta, in Ryde Harbour

I took a leaf out of Dylan Winter's book and at low water we walked out across Ryde Sands with a hand held GPS to pinpoint the edge of the channel and in particular the turning point for the channel from the main Solent. Very useful.


Tuesday 8th

Another early start but a good sail as the breeze filled in and we headed of Cowes.

Dawn across the Solent Forts

The journey up the  river to Newport,had some interesting sights. The old Hampshire Police boat 'Earl Mountbatten' was tied up, stripped of her livery and looking quite sorry for herself.

Earl Mountbatten

A large floating crane and a coaster also came down as we passed.

The rain came down as we reached Newport and we took shelter in the Wetherspoons I had visited the week before.
There was no music at the Bargeman's Rest that night, but we had a couple of pints before retiring to bed.


Wednesday 9th

We set off from Newport on the tide and made the best of the westerly flow to sail down to Newport -with wind and tide we set a cracking pace - nearly 10 knots over the ground.......

Feeding the gulls in Newtown

Thursday 11th

The next day Peter and I sailed to Yarmouth for provisions and to make the most of the good wind and tide . We walked up the east side of the Yar to the Red Lion at Freshwater and enjoyed a good lunch before wandering back along the west side, waiting for the tide to takes us back the Newtown.
The fleet began to grow whilst we rafted in Newtown - we were joined by Marcus Niner (Salicorne) and later by Andy Peter (Blue Peter) ready for the journey the next day.


Friday 12th

The mini fleet set sail the next morning in glorious sunshine and the five boats made their way across the Solent  where we managed to sail most of the way until we reached Calshot Castle and motored the last couple of miles to the entrance to Ashlett Creek dodging the racing fleets heading west down the Solent.

There the rest of the crowd were waiting for us and the preparations for the Ashlett regatta began with the 20 or so Drascombes dressing overall

Daislebee and Skua dressed overall (honorary Drascombe)

The pontoon

Pirate who was at one stage wearing a bra??!!!!

Ashlett Mill

We ate in the Mill that night and retired quite early to save ourselves for the next day.....


Saturday 12th

Another sunny day dawned and the beer started flowing adjust after breakfast (never invite Marines to a party...) There was a day of canoes, sailing and even an umbrella race but the party really got going in the evening with a BBQ and three bands playing - The Drascombe band, the Ashlett band and then a very good semi professional band who played with out break for over two hours - the crowd got behind them and many sights were seen on the dance floor - no photos to save blushes.

One surprise was winning second place for Daislebee for her flags, slightly tempered when it was announced I'd won due to my shirt and boxer shorts drying in the rigging when the judges had been doing their rounds.

My Second place rosette

Sunday 13th

A later breakfast the next day but enough time to get ship shape before most of the fleet set sail for Keyhaven. Terry had sorted his rigging and set off with us - getting the sails up and getting Skua going pretty well.

Skua under sail

The wind was strong enough to have a single reef and all was going well as the fleet progressed down the towards Hurst ....until the wind got up and with tide against produced a lumpy short sea, typical of the Solent. One of the boats stowed sails but was having engine trouble so I turned back to see if I could assist only to find I had misheard or misinterpreted his position and lost a couple of miles in doing so. He headed for Newtown and I heard on the radio that Terry and several others were doing the same to wait for the tide to change.
I plugged on with two reefs and joined a reduced fleet arriving at Keyhaven. Douglas has taken John in tow and brought him in shortly afterwards. We fixed his engine that seem to be a combination of a low fuel tank and dirt which we managed to forced through and get the engine running evenly. Terry had followed but had managed to go aground on the falling tide and was sat on the mud at the lower end of the Keyhaven creek. (There he remained until the following morning when John and Steve ushered him back to Ashlett.)

A very pleasant BBQ at Barry and Paulines's  finished the days activities and we wandered back to the creek tired but happy.


Monday 14th

Check, check and check again ..after a quiet morning during which we presented Tony with a cake to mark his 60th birthday we set off to Hurst to go through at slack water and head to Poole......well half the fleet turned back due to the rough water and the other half regretted not doing so for most of the next 4 hours......

I ended up with double reef and having a very exhilarating sail, but not in the direction I wanted...so I gave up about half way over and motored. I had gone out 5 or 6 miles to try and get the angle but as the wind rose it also swung round to head me (I'd have been better staying inshore). I did see another Shrimper out with me No 752 and I managed to get some pictures of him which I'm glad to say I was ablke to send to the owner when I got back.

No 752 battling the wind

I headed for Studland Bay which was a sheltered position to wait for the flood into Poole. Sheltered...it was like a different world, calm and peaceful and I was soon joined by most of the others, bar a couple who had gone into the harbour against the tide but came out to join us on the raft. We opened a couple of bottles of fizz to celebrate both Tony's day and the successful crossing......

Marcus and I adjourned to the pub for a very pleasant meal, rigging up both anchors on Salicorne to enable us to pull her in to get back to the raft later.


Tuesday 15th

We all headed into Poole for the day and played around the islands before rafting in Shipstal for lunch where we decided to use Studland as a jumping off point for the journey back the next day. We were joined by Jim Hopwood, who had come across by himself from the Solent and together we used the ebb to leave the harbour in the early evening. So after 10 - 15 years of Stewart planning to spend a night of the Poole Rally out at Studland, this year we managed two.... in fact all the nights of the Poole rally.


Wednesday 16th

The sail back could not have been more different  - the wind slowly filled in and we had a great sail back to Hurst. I took the Needles passage and coursed through the narrows with wind and tide.

Panorama of Old Harry and Studland Bay on right of pic

Old Harry rocks

Isle of Wight and the Needles lighthouse

Most of the fleet elected to carry onto Newtown for the afternoon and night but Peter, Tony and I dropped into Yarmouth, intending to join them later. However having watched a club rescue boat being swept onto the pier in the ripping tide we decided to have supper in Yarmouth and take the tide east and, with the schedule and weather forecast, carry onto Cowes. It was a shame not to join the others but would make for a much easier day tomorrow.

We set off at about 19.30 ish and had a good sail until the wind dropped away just past Gurnard and the engines came on. I don't know what was going on in the Solent but Yarmouth was almost full when we left and Cowes was similarly busy when we arrived in the twilight before dark.

Sunset in the Solent looking towards Lymmington

Thursday 17th

I left Peter and Tony, who were going up to Newport, at about 06.00, heading out into a glassy Solent where I had breakfast anchored off Osbourne House.

Glassy Solent looking towards Calshot

The wind got up and with the tide under me the sail to Chichester was great. I anchored off East Head and watched the anchoring antics for entertainment. It's amazing how many boats come in and drop their anchor while still moving, some times and some speed, forward. The result usually means the anchor hasn't set or is one case it set some distance behind where the boat eventually rounded up and as he drifted back he placed himself directly over my anchor. When I point this out he couldn't see the problem until I pointed out that my bowsprit would hit his stern if I decided to up anchor and go. He scowled at me and was last seen heading out of the anchorage towards Hayling Island - a blue ensign flapping in the breeze from his stern ............

I has snooze but was woken up by a 40' yacht using me as a fender - apparently the bowman had let the windlass out in reverse dumping chain into the water rather that pulling in to retrieve the anchor.....

I decided enough was enough and set sail for the marina.

Friday 18th

A quiet day, tidied the boat and sorted a few things out before heading for home and the family. A great cruise, ;learning a lot about the boat and me - already planning more adventures for next year hopefully with some left to come in 2014.

Solent mini cruise 22nd - 28th June 2014

Sunday 22nd

Having finished jobs at home I got time off for good behaviour and set off for the marina just before lunch. Tony Wood in Martha was ahead and waiting in the harbour so once I got sorted I headed off down to join him. The Sunday queue was already forming for yachts and motorboats waiting for some water to get up the channel to the lock so I felt quite smug as I motored past them in just over a metre of water.

Tony was tied up in Mengham Rithe, just north of Hayling Island Sailing Club. I has a good sail from Itchenor, past Bosham and Thorney and put the motor back on to negotiate a catamaran that was being towed into the creek ahead of me. That's when I noticed a screeching from the engine compartment - not loud, but enough to pay attention to. Tied up alongside Martha, the fault was soon diagnosed as a worn fan belt - spare?, of course not.....

We ignored the problem and set to with a BBQ, which is probably the last time I bother with a disposable one in the foil tray - they either don't burn well or burn so well that they are over in a flash and the mess they create just doesn't seem worth the trouble. So out came the grill attachment of the cooker I reviewed last year but in honesty haven't used much since.

Well I am converted - chicken, steaks, burgers, peppers...in fact anything that doesn't roll is great on here - cooks in half the time and no mess - the grill made frequent appearances during the rest of the week.

Richard Goldsmith in Egret joined us once he was able to get out of his creek and then, with excellent juggling of commitments and quite a lot of bribery, Adrian Kneller in Torridon arrived.

Sunset - The raft in Mengham Rithe (Chichester Harbour)

We settled down to a quite night, ready for the adventures of the next day.

Monday 23rd

Up early I put a call into Sparkes Marina to obtain a fan belt and was more than surprised to find out they don't have a chandlers on site. They did however recommend ABC Marine based at Hayling Island Yacht Co. They weren't up so early so I left the raft and motored up the harbour and into Mill Rythe where they are located. Once I got through they had one in stock and gave me directions to find them which was just as well as they are right at the far end of the building line and although it was spot on high tide there was still only 1.7 m at the quay. I bought the fan belt and motored out into the rithe to pick up a buoy. Replacement only took a few minutes and all was well - note to self order another one when I get home. 

Tony called me on the VHF and was heading out of the harbour - I assumed Richard and Adrian were with him so was surprised to see them along side at Hayling Island SC. They departed soon after I passed them and we set off after Tony..

Portsmouth in the distance

We headed past the forts towards our destination at the Folly Inn on the Medina, up river from Cowes. It was a beautiful sunny day with a calm sea and a good southerly wind to set us along the course.

Our lunch stop was in Osbourne Bay, where we met up with Stewart Brown, in Bolitho, who had come out of Ashlett on the morning tide.

Osbourne Bay - rafted up for lunch with umbrellas the order of the day

The sun was very hot and umbrellas made an appearance to create some shade. We watched the world go by for an hour or so and then headed into the Medina and up to the Folly.

A Dredger?

One the way up we were passed by a gravel ship leaving the quay - not a huge vessel but it did fill up the river and a strange looking vessel pictured above, which i can only assume is some sort of dredger.

A good meal was enjoyed in the pub before we returned to the pontoon and bed.

View from the Folly Inn across to our pontoon

Tuesday 24th

Tony, Stewart and I set off to catch the tide by about 10 but stopped en route to use the public quay at East Cowes and pop into Waitrose for supplies.

The chain ferry has had new lights fitted to it - two horizontal led flashers - one at each end - illuminated to show direction of travel - much better than then previous lights that were hard to see.

Chain ferry - (new lights in insert)

 There were a number of interesting craft along the river including this huge Sunseeker, aptly named Hooligan!

Hooligan

and this which looks a bit Special Forces in its origin.

 Special work boat??

Once out of Cowes we drifted with the tide down to the entrance of Newtown Creek where we anchored for lunch. The wind filled in and we had a good sail across towards Lymington, meeting Andy Peter in Blue Peter en route, before we all turned and headed into Newtown for the night.

The raft at Newtown looking seaward

Looking back up the creek - Newtown

Wednesday 25th

We has a rude awakening in the morning as the raft dragged the anchors slowly back towards another yacht. Anchor lines had crossed in the night and it took a fair bit of juggling to split the raft up and allow boats to go and re-anchor. When that was sorted we had breakfast and set off by about 10.00 to catch the west going tide to Yarmouth -Richard and Adrian left us and headed back to Chichester, and Andy set off for Keyhaven -  the wind was good and Stewart, Tony and I had a good sail across the western Solent before slipping into the harbour for the afternoon. We tried for an ice cream on the pier but they had closed by the time we decided to go for a stroll so it was a couple of pints in the Bugle before visiting my favourite restaurant in Yarmouth - "On the Rocks" which served us fantastic steaks with prawns on skewers together with your own volcanic hot rock to cook it on. Not cheap but very good - a cruise treat stop.

 Sunset over Yarmouth

Thursday 26th

The next day we needed to wait for the tide so after breakfast at the cafe on the pier, Stewart and I walked up the eastern side of the Yar, along the old railway track, to the village of Freshwater where we stopped at the Red Lion for a couple of pints before walking through the fields and woods on the western side of the river back to the harbour. 

Upper reaches of the Yar

The three of us set off at about 15.00 heading back up the Solent, into the Medina at Cowes and up the river to Newport. The aim was to visit the Bargeman's Rest to see some live music - the Matt and Dave Duo were on and very good they were to.

Friday 27th

 There is a new Wetherspoons in Newport -  a converted church in the town centre - Stewart and i sampled the breakfast there and decided it was very good.

New Wetherspoons - Newport

When we got back to the boats Stewart set off for Ashlett and Tony and I headed east with vague plans for Bembridge, Portsmouth or all the way to Chichester.

The wind was good, too good in fact and a reef was called for and we decided to head for Chichester - not the best decision as by the time we got there the ebb was in flow and the wind kicked up the waves in the entrance, but not too bad - although Tony did manage to split the wood on his tiller......

We anchored at East Head for a cup of well deserved tea and promptly fell asleep, waking just as we touched bottom and waited for an hour or so before the water came back enough to get away up the harbour - the wind had calmed down but we still had a good sail though the moorings and up to the marina. It was about 20.30 when we tied up and decided to have a cook up of all the rations that needed using up.

And so to bed....

Saturday 28th

A quick tidy up extended into full breakfast and some leisurely jobs on the boat before setting off for home - a great week with good weather and good company - only a week until I get to do it all over again......

Wednesday 11th June

Took an early flyer from work and shot down the M27 to the boat to take advantage of the glorious weather.
I had planned to come the day before but had forgotten that I was going to the Rebellion Brewery members night with Jeff and Steve - beer...sailing...beer....sailing....close call.

Spent a little time sorting some things on the boat - I had got my Garmin 451 back from repair - well, an exchange unit to find that this unit didn't work either - (Subsequent work by local form discovered intermittent break in power cable......) and a few other small jobs before setting out down the harbour.

Wind on the nose so motored slowly down enjoying the sights and anchoring at East Head with three or four other boats ( a bit of a change to the weekends when there can be dozens)

A lovely warm sunny evening - a little pasta and some red wine - very nice.

I sailed off from anchor and gently ghosted up the harbour on the tide passing one of those 'yachts' that have a 50 hp outboard on the back going down the harbour. It later came back up at great speed, slowing for the moorings and following me into the lock with some minor drama.

Speaking to the skipper later it was his second time out in her and he had been showing his wife how nice it was. He was planning to go across to the island next time - perhaps Bembridge. I mentioned the tides and the drying harbour and he looked at me blankly .. a little worrying.

Nice quite night on board watching  a film on the tablet before getting my head down for an early shower and drive back to work for 07.00 the next morning!!! but well worth it.

Review of Ezetil coolbox/fridge

Although it is early days I thought I'd post a review of my recent acquisition - an Ezetil coolbox /fridge.  To be fair I have only used it for the recent rally at the marina but by the time I get to review it properly we will be in the midst of summer and it will be too late.

 It looks like any other cool box although they do try the carbon fibre approach to make it look 'go faster'
The wires - both 240 v plug and 12 v cigarette cable are housed in the rear of the lid and are pre connected at the box end which avoids confusion with other cables and leaving the cable at home by mistake.

Inside it has perhaps a slightly smaller capacity than some at 22 litres - it's certainly enough for two or three days cold provisions.

In the inside of the lid is a fan arrangement that most cooling boxes have, but this also has a proper heat sync that gets very cold indeed.

As always it's best to put frozen or at least chilled food inside to give it a head start, which I did. I then plugged it into the car for the hour or so journey down to the boat - I stopped off in Tesco to get some more items and placed these in the box which I found the be very cool - fridge like indeed.

From then on during the rally I alternated from shore power (for the Drascombers amongst you that will seem like a foreign term, I know...) and battery power when running the engine - three days later a previously frozen pint of milk still had ice crystals in it.

The box has a boost system when running on 240 v which gets it going quicker - but on battery power when no boost is available the makers claim to be able to get approx 18 degrees C below ambient temperature and to prevent power drain the unit monitors the temperature to adjust accordingly. I'm not too techie but at 12 v it mentions 48 w - but there is no real correlation into amp hours - It claims to be low draw and evidence supports this. However I suspect you would need a good chunky battery and a means of charging it to get the best out of it.

The other reason for the perhaps premature post is that I bought it from Cost Co which means they may not hang around for long - - it was about £70 inc VAT which is average for a good cool box and very cheap for one that actual works as a respectable fridge - certainly on initial findings.

Not suitable for all but a potential bonus to slightly bigger boats with suitable charging mechanisms.

Update :- 210617

The coolbox is still going strong, in fact it was a life saver in recent hot weather in France and here in the Uk. The weak point was established to be the handle that finally gave up but I put the box into one of those large life time supermarket bags and  rogged up a bungy to connect the two carrying handles and it is fully functional again.