2021 shakedown
Finally there was some realistic reductions in the Covid-19 lockdowns. April 12th was certainly a red letter day for us here in the UK. Shops began to open as did pubs and eateries opened, as long as you could sit outside.
For me personally the most important part of all this? You could go away from home to stay, at least in certain circumstances. Whilst most of the world seemed to be making appointments at the hairdressers I made my plans to escape to Isosceles. Just by chance I had had that week booked as annual leave for some time.As the date got nearer the vague outline of plans got refined and developed, and a shake down cruise to Studland Bay, just outside Poole Harbour, was my ideal destination. Friends Dave and Lydia on yacht Powder Blue were going to bring their boat out for the night, and then have a sail on the Saturday. Pretty soon Andy on yacht Magali was also going to join us and a beach BBQ / party was on the cards.
I arrived at the boat on the Tuesday and there was a lot of cleaning and sorting to do. The boat had been delivered in a rush at the end of last season and I had only managed a fleeting visit and the most basic of securing & winterising last year.
Thursday morning we departed the mooring in Swanwick for what would be my first real trip on Isosceles in nearly 3 years.
After a long motor down the Hamble River we were out into the solent. This can be one of the busiest sailing waters in the world at times, but this day it was mercifully quiet and empty. The sail down to Yarmouth on the Isle Of Wight was an uneventful, moderate afair. The nearest to a bit of drama was when I touched the mud in the Hamble River which bought us to a gentle stop, it was soon reveresed out of though. Who moved the channel from the nice big empty bit of river?
Yarmouth is a pretty place, but there is not a lot of it. After a short stroll around the town it was time for a chip shop tea and an early night. Sea air and sailing is tiring, I slept like a log.
Friday started with light winds. As I had arranged to meet up with my Poole based friends Dave, Lydia and Andy it promised to be a day of motor sailing at best. I had to wait until after 12 to leave to catch the outgoing tide through Hurst narrows at the end of the solent. It gets very narrow here very suddenly, and if the tide is against you it is a recipie for going backwards!
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| Hurst Castle at the narrow outlet of the Solent. There can be some viscous currents here if you get your timings even a little bit wrong. |
Once out of the Solent the wind began to pick up a little, then quite a lot. The forecast had been for 6 to 9 mph of wind, which is really not much for sailing. When Isosceles was sailing at up to 7.9 knots then there must have been around 15mph of wind, probably more in the gusts. We shot across Christchurch and Bournmouth bays in record time, for me anyway!
In Studland Bay, just outside Poole Harbour entrance, there were more boats than I had hoped for. As I dropped the main sail the solid kicking strap (the bar that holds the boom level) chose now to fail and the boom dropped far more than it should, luckily no one was underneath it at the time. Temporarily I could move the main Halyard (the rope that pulls the main sail up) to the end of the boom to pull it up and out of the way, but another job had just added itself to the list.
The anchor was dropped as close to the shore as I was comfortable with and I sat for a while taking in the glorious sunshine and scenary, and enjoying the customary anchor beer. The others were already on their way to join us, but as we sat there it became more and more rolly. As I saw Dave & Lydia approaching in Powder Blue I decided to move closer to the south end of the bay which had now been vacated by the 3 or 4 yachts and motor boats that were there before. The threeof us managed to line up pretty well under the lee of the cliffs for what would be a very comfortable night.
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| All lined up in Studland Bay. Photo courtesy of A. Martin |
After a night of BBQ, and far far too much rum, amongst other forms of alcohol, we all eventually managed to find our way back to our boats, though in some cases that took quite a bit longer than others!!
The Saturday morning was not an early start. The plan had been for all of us to sail out towards the Isle of Wight, and the others would turn back at some point and either go round to Lulworth Cove for the night, or head home. Mysteriously there seemed to be a bug going round and all ther others decided they were going straight back to Poole. Isosceles very quietly sailed off towards the Solent, retracing yesterdays footsteps. The autopilot was an absolute boon on that leg!
The sail back across Bournmouth and Christchurch bays wasn't quite as fast as the day before, but we did manage to sail pretty well. Unfortunately, with leaving a little later than planned and not always keeping the speed we needed, we got to Hurst narrows just a little later than we should have. Luckily the new engine was going well, but even with this our speed dropped to less that one knot (sea miles per hour) over the ground at one point, the current had turned dramatically against the boat. We managed to get through and as soon as we rounded Hurst Castle we were out of the main tidal stream and making reasonable progress.
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| Sailing back into the Solent past the Needles |
As we were now north of the channel and the main flow of water, and going back to Yarmouth would require crossing the fast flowing channel, we made for Lymington on the mainland side of the solent. Its easy when you're going into these places to be fooled into taking the direct route to where you can see the marina, but with a wide expanse of mud either side of the entrance we had to motor a fair way up the solent before turning into the channel. I'd already had one play with mud this week, I didn't fancy another one.
Lymington yacht haven is a little way from the town and so a walk to and around town was out for this visit. After a Chinese takeaway was delivered it was time for another early night.
The following morning was a relatively early start, up before 9, coffee and on the way by 10am. The tide was with us all the way, but the wind certainly wasn't. It was a long motor for those 16 miles from Lymington to Swanwick Marina. About half way the Solent began to become its usual weekend busy self. Motorboats were everywhere, and even less people than usual seemed to know how to drive the monsterous things!
The constant throwing about from the wake of these motorboats was stiring up the diesel in the tank, and my long suspected diesel bug problem began to rear its ugly head. Intermitently, usually just after a motor idiot had roared past and thrown us about, the engine revs would drop as if there was no fuel getting through. After a moment this would clear, but it was not only annoying but also potentially dangerous in busy channels. Isosceles was nursed through, but another job has moved up the priority list, sorting the fuel tank out.
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| Back home on her mooring after a fab few days sailing and catching up with friends. |
