Yarmouth or bust

After the recent lack of sailing it was going to take some pretty miserable weather to stop me going to Yarmouth this weekend. The forecast was pretty good for Saturday, F4 NW all day.  Absolutely perfect for getting to the island from Poole. The return was going to be a bit more uncomfortable, F5 gusting F6 from the SW making it hard beats all the way home.

I left Poole about 1130 under sail, with the engine leg firmly in place and ready to fire up  until well clear of the harbour entrance.  Traffic wise it was really quite quiet, I must have been feeling quite magnanimous as even the power boats that went past got a nod and a wave :o))

The journey over was fairly uneventful,  the wind on the rear quarter was a bit of a pain as I couldn't balance the boat to be able to leave the tiller at all. Fortunately I'd made a flask of tea and one of Mediterranean tomato and red pepper soup to keep me going. 

Past Hengisbury head and I could hear some hooligans in power boats buzzing along at great speed,  there seemed to be more than just one or two and before long I realised that I was in the middle of power boat race.  I couldn't help but be impressed with the speed of these floating engines.   From seeing a plume on the horizon to flying by took no more than a couple of minutes.  The picture above serves as a reminder to check for hazards,  this yacht was firmly stuck on the shingles bank.. ooops!

No reason for this one.. I just liked it.

Safely moored up in Yarmouth

After a tidy up I changed the mainsail for my old one. It's a bit knackered but at least it has reefing points and I was going to need them for the trip home.  Then I gave myself a clean up before heading of to the pub.  I met up with a fellow Hurley 20 owner and we chewed the cud over pie and mash and a couple of pints.

Nicely lit to guide me home

I had a great nights sleep having got off early and not being in a rush to be up in the morning.  I wouldn't be able to get through Hurst until about 1230 so I had a nice leisurely morning.   There were some great boats in the harbour, these two were just stunning.

I decided to cook out in the cockpit as it was quite a nice morning.  I'd bought a pack of bacon and a pack of pork and herb sausages.  I had the bacon in rolls for breakie and stashed the sausages in my food flask for the trip home... I wasn't going to go hungry ;o)  While washing my pots I noticed the rudder was decidedly hairy looking, I got the broom out and gave every thing I could see a good scrub but it didn't do a lot of good.  I know she coming out in a few weeks but I'll try and beach her and give her a good clean. 

Hairy rudder :~(

It was eventually time to clear off so I got everything ready and spent a bit of time planning how to leave the pontoon.  Sounds odd but arriving at and leaving pontoons in a dignified manner is one thing that  I really struggle with.  This time both my arrival and departure were perfect.

Out in the open water I find some space and concentrated on getting the mainsail up.  I had a little play with full sail and reefed genoa but it was uncontrollable so I put a reef in and things were much better.  As I had left quite early there was no way I could make ground towards Hurst but I didn't mind. It gave me the opportunity to just play with the boat to get her sailing as well as I could get her to go.

Even though the wind had really picked up, Ciao Bella never felt unsafe.  The thing that I couldn't get my head round was that after a tack I would winch in the Genoa, if I then trimmed the main the genoa would start to collapse; I would then winch that in a bit more and could eventually get the sails looking spot on. This would however nearly stop the boat.  It seemed to sail faster with the main collapsed at the luff, I don't know why, maybe one of you kind souls could shed some light?

Coming out through the narrows was a particularly tame affair,  I'd come out quite a way to the south though so tacked back towards the main land. I had prepared a clearing bearing off Hurst point to ensure that I'd miss the shingles bank.

Windguru tells the story of the day, it was a long hard slog back to Poole but I kept my self entertained.  Unlike on the way over I was able to balance the boat and just put a light line on the tiller to keep her course while I sheltered behind the bulkhead. It was fully dark by the time I sailed into Poole harbour, a good seven hours after coming through Hurst channel.   One of the few benefits of a spring tide is the light from the full moon, not on this night; the cloud cover was so thick you could hardly see you hand in front of your face.  I instinctively found my mooring, tidied up and headed for home.  Considering it been a lousy summer, I have managed to clock up over 400NM this year.  Bring on next year with my new sails, wall  to wall sunshine and a constant F4 on the beam... no matter which way I'm going ;~P

The video below is a collection of snippets from the journey home, the quality is quite poor as it's all iPhone but it made me smile putting it together.  Hope you enjoy it.