Ciao Bella is a Hurley 20 bilge keel sailing yacht, she is my second 'proper' boat. having had some great times in a Fantasie 19 called Jelly Bean I decided it was time to increase my sailing range with a boat that could successfully bridge the gap between the huge fun of being able to explore every nook and cranny of a harbour or estuary and proper sea going ability. I hope this will be the case :~)
Now I know why I had so much weed high on the bow of the boat, beside the anti-foul not being high enough. Looks like Ciao Bella has dug out holes in the sand, where she keep touching down, and then nose dives when there is no water to support her. As the tide comes back in the bow sits low in the water until there is enough to level her. This gives her the dashing squadron leader Moustache look :o)) A neighbouring Hurley 20 is doing the same so looks like there is not much I can do about it..
As far as chilled out and relaxed goes it doesn't get much more horizontal than my drift around the harbour on Sunday. We set off from home late morning, stopping at Tesco's for the obligatory pack of Chicken salad sarnies... Far too lazy to make a picnic.
On the boat and I remembered that as well as the main sail being torn at the first reefing point, I had removed the jib sheets as they needed replacing. Fortunately I'd left the old halyards on-board so a makeshift jib sheet was soon attached.
So off we set with barely a breeze and two reefs in the sail 8o)) It was going to be a slow but pleasent journey. Most boats were heading for the entrance but we struck out for pottery pier, goosewinging our way up the harbour at a breathtaking 2.5knots.
Pottery pier was rammed so we went a bit further round and dropped the anchor away from the hustle. I nearly put the kettle on but Jewels insisted on having beer instead. It's hard work all this sailing lark so after our beer and sarnie it was time for a kip.
It seemed that red sails, in all there sizes, were the order of the day between the islands. Great to see them drifting by.
Yarmouth 23
Cornish Crabber
Mirror dinghy
After our kip it was time to make our way back. There was a tad more wind on the way back and we hit a dizzy 4 knots but we were never in danger of spilling our cocktails. It really feels like summer is actually here.. it better hang around as I'm off the France for two weeks soon and I'd be mighty unhappy if I came back to more of what we've had if the weather had been like this while I was away.
Saturday:
As an honouree Fantasie 19 owner (My last boat, Jelly Bean, was a Fantasie 19) I joined the planned meeting at the Folly Inn. This had been planned for a while but the great British summer was doing it's best to cancel everything.
I had intended to come back from Alderney via the Solent but as that had already been scuppered I made a late decision to go based on information from WindGuru and the Met office. The forecast was for F3-F4 from the west on both days, just a bit drier on Sunday.
I slipped the mooring 20mins later than planned, at 0920, listening to the ominous broadcasts of a mayday in progress, a sailing yacht off Portland taking on water, S&R helicopter performing a hi line rescue. It wasn't the last serious mayday I would hear this weekend.. The coast guard would be kept busy.
As predicted the wind was from the west, however is was somewhat lighter than expected, I was coasting along at 2 to 3knots. About an hour after leaving the entrance, a rather nasty shower caught me up, it was almost biblical; the scuppers in the cocpit coun't keep up and I was soon splashing around in the cockpit. Fortunately it was short lived and my jacuzzi subsided.
A hurley 20 battling out of the Solent.
Past Hengisbury head and things started to pick up, I was soon back on track, regularly achieving 5knots.
I had planned to be at Hurst for 1300 and in line with my late departure, I was there at 1320. Once through the race and I caught my first glimpse of Mudlark flying along the Isle of Wight coast. I thought she'd be easy to catch but it took me until Yarmouth to get within shouting distance.
I couldn't see the name on the back of Mudlark as she had an emergency ladder pack hanging there but I could see that it started with an 'M' which explained why I wasn't getting a reply on my calls for 'Sapphire' 8O))
Mudlark passing behind the Lymington / Yarmouth Ferry
We sailed the remainder of the solent together, turning to wind to drop the sails just outside Cowes. Motoring into the Medina we passed the East Cowes ferry, surrounded by police bouts and sniffer dogs being led up the ramp. The Olympic Torch relay was expected and I assume this was the ferry it would travel on.
Papillon arrived about a hour before us.
Onto the Folly and I spotted Papillon moored on one of the middle pontoons. I led Mudlark onto the pontoon where Steve greeted us. It had been quite a long day, about 8 hours, so we had a swift pint aboard Ciao Bella, thanks for supplying the beer Steve, before having bit of a nap. We'd planned to reconvene at 1930 to get ourselves over to the Folly. I didnt' get much of a nap as Ciao bella needed tidying and also I needed to pull the Nasa log out to clean it. It hadn't worked all day, not surprising as it was covered in slime and small crawly things.
Living slime stops paddle wheel.
This was my first visit to the Folly Inn and I can highly recommend it, the food was good, service excellent considering the amount of people in there, live music, dancing on the tables... an all round excellent atmosphere. As well as Steve Shiela and myself (Sorry, two Steve's but as Mudlark Steves email is Sheila, he will forever be Sheila :~) ) Liam (Hurley 20 owner) and his wife Caroline joined us. Well I was sat with great company... I just hope the others can say the same :o)
Back on board Ciao Bella with a mug of coffee reflecting on the day. It's great to organise these things with other people because if you don't, apart from being lonely, you probably wouldn't set off due to the weather.
I had a great sleep and while laying awake contemplating when to get up Steve wrapped on the hatch and asked if I wanted a bacon roll.... I don't even get this at home!
Pontoon Bistro... you can't beat it.
It felt almost summery, wel at least spring like and the smell of bacon was just the best. As we all had length journeys home we packed up our stuff and motored away from the Folly back down the Medina to the Solent. Once at the entrance Papillon headed East back to Emsworth and Mudlark and myself turn right towards Hurst.
Steve on Papillon heading East with the Spinnaker tower on the horizon.
The morning weather was much better than yesterday and Mudlark and Ciao Bella both had full sail up. We we're able to make big tacks along the Solent and initially made good time but the wind was right on the nose and the tide would turn shortly. I was concerned about how long it was going to take to get home so hailed Sheila and said that I would have to get going as quick as I could. I wish him a good journey and said goodbye.
Mudlark with Full sail
The nearer I got to Hurst the stronger the wind got, and constantly from the direction that I wanted to go. I had reduced the genoa by now but still had full main. I was enjoying the conditions but was concious of time. I eventually came through Hurst narrows around 1300, I was over towards the needles side and although this wasn't my usual path I had been here before with no problems. As I approached Totland, still with two or three meters showing on the sounder I struck something solid, it turned out to be Warden Ledge... Well marked on the chart. It spun the boat round. I moved out to deeper water, luffed up and went below to check for water ingress. I'd been lucky, no doubt there will be some grp damage but at least I was not shipping water. Lesson learn't, keep the charts handy and check for hazards.. I'd had a lucky escape.
As I now wanted to keep closer to shore in-case something suddenly failed, I had to broad reach back across to mainland to avoid the Shingles bank. As I came back I spotted Mudlark motoring past the Fort. The incident and having to change course had cost me a lot of time.
I heard more Maydays in progress, a yacht had gone aground at Hurst and another Yacht had gone aground and had a fire on board in Chichester... I even heard the French Coast guard coordinating a Mayday but could quite make it out.
From now on it got harder. The wind was dropping but was still on the nose and the tide had started to flow against me now. The course over ground for the tacks was getting ridiculous and one even showed me going backwards. I spent about 2.5 hours trying to sail around Hengisbury head but in the end I had to resort to the engine. Motor sailing against wind and tide is not comfortable and even with the engine on full song I was only making 2 or 3knots at times. I was glad to see the harbour entrance. Once out of the tidal flow the motor revs dropped to a tick over and I slipped through the harbour, between rows of Cornish Crabbers in search of my fourth Fantasie 19 of the weekend. Lady of Ower was sat serenely on her mooring.
That was a hard day and I probably won't plan another trip against wind and tide but I had, on the whole, enjoyed it and it's always good to meet up with fellow sailors and exchange stories.:o)
A collection of video clips from the trip.. I hope you enjoy them.
Hi, A fellow Hurley owner has had some misfortune so I was wondering if any of you good people could offer advice ?
The chap in question has a Hurley 22 which he is currently living on on the Tamar. As you can see in the picture his tiller bracket has broken, leaving him unable to steer the boat. I've already passed on the contact details for the Chandelry Barge, but in the meantime if anyone has any advice, suggestions or even knows where to get a new one I will pass on the information. He's living on student income at the moment so commissioning a naval architect is probably out of the question? :o)
Today I should have been setting off bright and early across the channel to Alderney, but the great British summer has put paid to that. Fortunately a chance meeting with Roger at the weekend hatched a plan to go for a potter today instead.
The forecast had been for F4- 5 but it turned out to be F6 for most of the day. We made our way out to the boats at about 10:30. First onto 'Big Easy' for Rog to check all was ok. She still looking good inside, Rog has made a great job of refitting her. We then slid across to 'Ciao Bella' and prepared to set off.
With two reefs in the Main and no Genoa we fair flew across the harbour.
Once settled down I unfurled a small amount of Genoa just to help with going to windward. We practised a few tacks, getting better with each beat, then made one long beat towards the town centre.
I had considered meeting James in Town for a bite to eat but the conditions had got our blood pumping so we carried on, tacking away from the town towards pottery Pier. Beating into this wind was quite exhilarating. As we passed the commercial dock I noticed that there was a new marina near the ferry terminal. I had heard that there was going to be one but hadn't realised it had been built.
Once into Blood Alley, I never did like that name, we had the wind on our tail and the whole feeling changed, it was now almost serene. We were still tanking along at over 5knots but it just felt calm.
We moved in towards the beach and dropped the anchor and spent a pleasant hour eating our lunch and chatting.
The sky looked much better, almost summer like, however the wind was still blowing. Pulling the anchor up was a chore, it had really dug in and it was like tug of war trying to break it free. it eventually came up with a huge clod of mud on it. By the time I'd got the anchor stowed and the chain away Roger was steering us towards the harbour entrance at 5knots with just the reefed main up.
Back around the bottom of Brownsea and the harbour was busy, we deviated to avoid the Condor catamaran. We were back at the mooring before we knew it but picking up the mooring was not going to be easy. Eventually we sailed out to open water and dropped the main sail before motoring back to the mooring. Even without the sail up it was hard to get the mooring on board and secure.
Well it hadn't been my big adventure to Alderney but we had had a great day... Cheers Rog.
Last night I found myself at a strange junction... I had time (every one had gone out) and a weather window, so I took the opportunity to slide on down to the boat.
I had a couple of jobs to do. The VHF needed refitting and also the MMSI number needed to be programmed in.
I had also recently bought a passive radar reflector from the on-line chandlery / junk store that is eBay. This turned out to be a good buy, having read the report into the sinking of the Ouzoafter buying this I was glad to read that although none of the radar reflector are great, this one performs better than the tubular ones that I was originally looking at. It's quite large and in good condition. Also, the trick to improving your chances of detection is to raise it in the catch rain position.. I took this to mean with the opening upper most as opposed to pointy end up. Not sure how I'm going to keep it like that with 30 degrees of heel!:)
I considered attaching it to the back stay but eventually plumbed for a line slung over the spreader to hoist it on. I experimented on were to cleat it off. I eventual decided on using the cleats on the mast as this way it doesn't rub against the shrouds too much. I think judicious use of the guy line while on each tack will be needed to try to keep it in the correct orientation.
I then turned my attention to the VHF, I installed it in minutes and then ran through the private channel selection process to ensure I knew how to do it before needing to do it.
Having done something useful I thought I should reward myself with a pint and a chocky bar while watching the sun go down... Marvellous.
When I bought my radio I had no idea that there were private channels or even if there was that there was a possibility of them not being programmed in.
When I went to Castle Cove I was unable to hail the taxi because they monitor channel 37.... Easy I thought except when I pushed in 37 it wouldn't stick. Channel 37, I later discovered, is private channel M1.
On my return I checked the manual and followed the instructions but couldn't find these fabled channels, it must need reprogramming so it was time to take it to a dealer.
I took it to Greenham Regis in Poole where a very nice man plugged it in and started playing with it. "These old Simrads have odd menus" he said. After a bit of head scratching he phoned another sage who talked him through it.... The channels were there all the time, you just needed to be a code breaker to find them.
He didn't charge me any thing for his time so I promised to stick a couple of quid in the RNLI tin.
So here's an unashamed plug for a very nice man who deals with boat electronics. Greenham Regis. Use them :-)
