New Propellor and a cheeky blast around the harbour.

I picked up a new propellor for my Tohatsu 6hp from Holes Bay Marine yesterday, unfortunately it was far too windy to get out to Ciao Bella so I took a trip over this evening  to fit it.  

It was a nice easy job, done and dusted in a few minutes.  I hung the outboard back on the transom. The engine had ended up sat on the wrong side for a minute or two at the weekend so I was mindful that it may have drained engine oil into the cylinder, so before staring it I removed the spark plug and gave it a few pulls to blow out any standing oil. I then checked the oil level and then started it up.  I don't think any oil have got in but better safe than sorry.

but 

With the evening still in front of me I took the opportunity to take to old girl for a spin around the harbour.  The weather looked like it was going to turn wet it actually held out nicely.  I headed towards the RoRo before formulating my plan to whizz around the island.

It was a great sail, I practiced my tacking, made a complete B's up of one of them, didn't get the Genoa sheeted in quick enough and the nose dropped back through and backed the genoa.  Still all the others went well. It was lovely to get an impromptu sail in, for some reason I haven't been doing as much of this kind of sailing since selling Jelly Bean... I'm not sure why, it doesn't take any longer to set her up and she's quicker once she is set up so maybe I just need to force myself to get out in the evenings more often :)

Back at the club a few of the dinghy sailors were just packing up, it was nice to catch up with a few people before heading home.  

Mirror Progress

It's been a long time coming but there has been some progress on the Mirror Dinghy.   The outside of the hull had been previously stripped of paint as best as I could get it without going through the outer ply or taped seams.  
The artful Roger had supplied me with some special epoxy which he'd used to seal voids in the hull of his Hurley 24/70.  I was able to use this to coat most of the outer hull of the dinghy.  This has really helped to soak into the wood and seal it prior to the undercoat.  I applied two coats of undercoat, flatting back and filling gauges and fairing in between the coats. Then finally a coat of Black Toplac was applied.. I wouldn't have chosen Black but it was available cheap from a family member who bought it for an abandoned project... thanks Adam, it's gone to good use.

All that's left to do is varnish the bare wood, varnish also came from Adam,  and source any parts which are missing... Then it needs a name.   In the mix at the moment are... 'The flying Coal Scuttle'  'Baby Bella'  'Nero Porco' and 'Black Pearl'... other suggestions welcome :o)

Noisy night in Wareham

Friday 19th July

More fantastic sunshine had me grasping for a days holiday on Friday.  It's great to be able to get out on a week day, especially before the summer holidays start in earnest.   I didn't have much of a plan, however, I had said to Jewels that I'd go to either Wareham or Poole yacht haven for the night if she wanted to come along for the evening.

After my success with the fishing rod last week, I thought it would be fun to head out of the harbour and try and catch some mackerel again.   No such luck this time, I meandered around for a while trawling for the little blighters but they were too cunning for me.   Resigned to the inevitable fact that I'd be having Tesco's sandwiches instead of fresh Mackerel I scooted over to Studland and dropped the hook.

  Now I know Studland has a naturist area so I aimed for a part of the beach with lots of people on it... Assuming there'd be more clothed people than naked... Wrong! After spending five minutes in my own world making sure the anchor had set and generally tidying up it dawned on me that there was rather too much wrinkly skin on display.  Tough, I wasn't moving until I'd had a cuppa and a sandwich.
Around 2pm I lifted the anchor and tacked my way back to the end of the training wall. Once around the marker I was on a run back to the harbour entrance with a handful of other boats.

A shipmate senior heading out of the harbour

With it being a weekday there were a few proper working vessels out and about.  The harbour entrance was being dredged and the Parenco ferry, Parenco run the Witch Farm Oil field now, was shifting trucks around.  Most other boats were smaller sailing yachts.. looks like the posh stuff comes out at the weekend :)

Dredging the harbour entrance

Parenco Ferry

  I took the straight route between Brownsea and Furzy Islands then followed the stakes up towards the Wareham Channel.  This was feel good sailing.  I was going with the wind and tide, on a rising tide, it felt great.
I arrived at Wareham Quay at about 5.30pm and rafted up along side Bob and Sally in a Shetland 570.   They turned out to be good company.  Jewels came down about an hour later and after having a drink or two we walked into town for a nice bit of nosh at the Red Lion on North Street.  Good food at the right price in nice surroundings, that's all I every ask for :)

Back at the quay and things were livening up.  Kids were jumping off the bridge into the river, the pubs were getting busier and the ferry had arrived with a load of brash women on board,.. time for a walk along the river.

Escaping the rabble

It doesn't take long to get away from the noise and regardless the ferry man had announced that he'd be leaving at 9.15pm so I knew we didn't have long to wait.

An  old friend

I spotted Lady of Ower, a Fantasie 19, moored on a trot close to the Quay, I'm guessing shes been sold now as she was at North Haven.  I know her previous owner had bought a Falmouth Gypsy. Glad to see she still being cared for.

Tranquil away from the Quay

Back at the Quay and Jewels headed off home, I haven't managed to persuade her stay onboard yet.. probably best as this night was going to be noisy all night.

There was a band playing covers in the Quay, they were pretty good and managed to avoid some of the Top Gear sound track old faves. Bob and Sally had some friends over and were having a full on 1980's disco... Gary Newman, Joy Division, OMD... they kept coming.  After all the music had stopped, the local teenagers were still swimming in the river and shouting at each other until after 3am.  I eventually got to sleep, only to be woken by the guys setting up the market at 6am.  Oh boy, I was a shell.

Saturday 20th July.

I eventually came to terms with the fact that I'd have to get up.after all the necessaries I sat in the morning sun reading a book.  Eventually the kids reappeared and started jumping off the bridge again.. I couldn't cope so packed up and set off.

The wind in the morning was coming from the NE and was a good F4. Unfortunately it was on the nose so I had to motor the first 4 miles to Rockley Park, As the channel widened I was able to unfurl the Genoa and get going.  It was a bit too much  in the gusts for full main but as it was up I continued with a good reef in the Genny.My first stop was at Brownsea. I'd planned to stay here a while but Jewels called and said she could meet me at the yacht haven for lunch.. 

Tudor Rose - Another Hurley 20

Off I set, this time with a reef in the main and a good chunk out of the Genny.  As I passed pottery pier another Hurley 20 'Tudor Rose' was heading in the opposite direction with just the Genny up and towing a tender.  Out of the lee of the Island and the wind picked up.. so much so that it blew my new hat clean off my head... Time for an impromptu MOB drill ( around 9 on the track above).

The casualty retrieved

 Safely recovered , I headed full steam ahead for the marina. The wind was getting quite exhilarating now and I felt like we were flying. I had to drop the sails before entering the marina which was a bit bouncy to say the least.  Within the marina it was instant calm and I found a free pontoon berth.   After finding Jewels we went to pay at the office, we had to move to another berth as the one I was on was taken.  We motored to a hammerhead pontoon as ask before tucking into our lunch.

Walk ashore in Poole - A bit of  luxury

After lunch Jewels headed off while I attempt to catch up on some sleep.  That was not easy and in the end I gave up.  I did make use of the showers while here as the facilities at Wareham extend to a public toilet.

Since repairing the tiller and rudder pintle the tiller alignment had been a little bit off.  Being on a pontoon gave me the opportunity to play with it.  I wanted to take up the slack in the vertical movement so dropped a line over the stern, under the rudder blade and tightened up on the cleats. You should be able to see in the picture below.  This by chance also sorted my second objective. The rope had also pulled the rudder blade into a central position.  Nice and easy, all I had to do was tighten it all up again.

Lifting and centralising the rudder

I could see the burgees on surrounding boat were still flapping furiously so I had some idea that it wouldn't be pleasant in the harbour.  I motored out and considered motoring back to the mooring, that was until I found I couldn't make any headway using the engine.  Everytime I opened the throttle it was like the prop was losing grip in the water.  I raised the main, still with the reef in and unfurled a small amount of genoa.  with all the faffing of getting the sail up I'd drifted onto a bank and the keel swing me round.  I was stuck for a moment but decided to let out the main which powered me off the bank and back into the channel.  Once I'd regained composure I began the long slog back to the mooring.  As you can see by the track, every gain was hard to make.

I was worried about being able to pick up the mooring but as the afternoon went on the wind dropped to a more friendly level and I managed to pick up the mooring first attempt just using the sails.

The tiller had felt easier to use with it now being centralised.  I'd better get someone to have a look at my engine / prop to find out why it's not driving me forward.  Once again another great day or two on the boat.  More experiences and learnings... Tip top :)

Gentle potter in the sun

As the sun continues to beat down on us I thought Sunday would be a great day to entice the reluctant Mrs Ciao Bella onto the boat :)  With absolutely zero wind in the morning, the excuses could not be found as we made our way to the club.
My mission was to ensure that there was no stress,  I planned every maneuver, not easy when relying on a seagull outboard; but even that worked perfectly.  I raised the sails and drifted away from  the mooring,  there was barely a breath of wind so the engine went on, it was more motoring with the sails up than motor sailing :).

Cap'n Jewels on the helm

I even managed to persuade Jewels to take the helm for a while.  We gently motored around pottery pier and onto South Deep.  It's nice and quiet around this part of the harbour, even on a busy sunny sunday.  I dropped the anchor in the opening to Newton bay (4 on the track) and put the kettle on.  It was so hot that I dug out the Spinnaker and draped it over the boom to give us some protection from the heat of the sun.  

After having our picnic and a snooze we decided to go to Brownsea Island for a little walk about.  A gentle but reliable breeze  had picked up so with just the main sail up we pottered along South deep past Goathorn point (5 on the track) and back towards the harbour entrance before turning to Port to get up Blood Alley (6 on the track), I know, it's an odd name for a channel, I have no idea why it's called that but I'll have to find out ?  

I dropped the anchor for the second time today, just off the beach, and pumped up the inflatable to ferry us ashore.  Climbing the steps up the cliff made me realise just how unfit I am, maybe I should get a kayak for windless days like this :)

On the steps at Brownsea with Ciao Bella in the background

I love going ashore at Brownsea, we are National Trust members so no guilty conscience here over not paying, we'd get on free anyway.  Going ashore on an island just feels different to going ashore on the mainland... I don't know why.  Despite realising just how unfit we felt our main activity while ashore was visiting the cafe where we sat out on the lawn drinking tea and having  an ice lolly.   As it was now late afternoon the armada of boats of all shapes and sizes were coming back in through the harbour entrance, it had a look of the London marathon about it except with boats instead of people and water instead of tarmac.. sorry about the ramble, must have been something in the tea :o))

We eventually made our way back to Ciao Bella and prepared to get under way again.  The breeze had picked up a bit more and we were able to beat up between Brownsea and Furzey Islands, having to tack twice to get us to Pottery pier. From here it was a run back to the mooring.  

What a lovely day we'd had, best of all Jewels had enjoyed it.  The next plan is to put the boat into Poole marina for a few days during the holidays a use it some more, maybe be even persuade Jewels to stay aboard one night... maybe a step to far :)

Channel crossing, first attempt.

Dreams of mixing the Red Ensign with the French Tricolor

Best laid plans and all that. Last week I had planned to Cross the Channel in company, unfortunately when planning things that are beyond my current comfort zone / experience they usually need a few attempts. Two other boats had agreed to make the passage, Peggotty, from the Isle of wight; another Hurley 20  bilge keeler with her ever enthusiastic skipper Liam and Lapwing, a Corribee bilge keeler from EDSC skippered by Paul.
The loose plan was to leave from Swanage on Wednesday first light and make the passage to either Alderney or Cherbourg depending on wind direction. We had a few simple rules: We'd only go if there were three boats, there would be at least two people on each boat, we'd keep within sight of each other, go at the pace of the slowest boat and assess pace and direction after three hours to see if it was worth continuing.
After a week of all the signs that the weather was going to be great with a high building over the Azores it became apparent that Wednesday was not going to be very nice, with F5 gusting F6-7! Also we were having trouble finding crew for Peggotty.  Also Peggotty wasn't going to be able to plan to go to Cherbourg as Liam doesn't have a passport,  he did agree that we may have no choice as a port of refuge.
We put off the start day until Thursday and agreed to sail to Swanage on Wednesday evening.  Liam had some good news in that he'd picked up a couple of experienced sailors who were prepared to crew for him and had been on his boat before.
I'd arranged to meet Paul at Wetherspoons on Poole Quay on Weds afternoon for a bit of nosh before setting off.  Bad news, Paul's crew had disappeared and was uncontactable.
Liam came to the rescue, His crew were happy to sail Peggotty on their own and Liam said he'd crew for Paul. With boats and crew organised Lapwing and Ciao Bella left Poole around 6pm on Weds evening to meet up with Peggotty in Swanage.

Swanage from Handfast point

It finally felt like we were going to do this, we met up with Liam, rowed ashore and hunted out an Indian restraunt. Time to relax.

Misty start and a change of plan. I had a terrible nights sleep in Swanage and woke up with a splitting headache.  The waves just rolled into the anchorage making for a bumby and noisy night.  I'd also learnt that I needed a cushion between the bulkhead and my head!  I looked out through the companionway to see.. well not a lot. It was pretty darned misty.  We motored over to lapwing and rafted up for a quick discussion. The mist was starting to lift and the forecast was good so we decided to go for it.

Lapwing leaving Swanage with mist sitting across the Dorset countryside.

The weather was quite bleak looking and the waves were choppy, not what we'd hoped for.  We made the best course that we could to the west but beating into the wind in a choppy sea doesn't help with speed over ground.  Peggotty kept falling behind and we had to wait for her two or three times.  Eventually after a couple of hours and with Peggotty nearly out of view we decided we'd have to change our plans.  There was no way we'd make it across the channel at this rate so we decide Yarmouth on the IoW would be our best bet with  a few days spent having fun in the Solent.

Searching for a needle... Here was one of my firsts, usually I'm close to land so navigation is more a case of looking around and pointing the boat towards my destination, with just a cursory look at the chart to ensure there are no hazards.   This time I was out of sight of land with no visual references.  I plotted a course using the the paper chart and Breton plotter.  I set the compass grid to 50 degrees and followed it faithfully with the wind directly behind for the next few hours until the needles loomed out of the mist. We'd made a perfect course.

As we approached the needles the waves really picked up and had the boat rolling.  I was having a nap on the cockpit bench seat when a rogue sideways wave hit the boat, rose up and landed on me... that woke me up!  After one involuntary gybe I rolled away the Genoa, it wasn't giving us much more speed but was drawing attention away from watching the main.  Lapwing had taken a more Southerly route to take advantage of stronger tide but we both arrived at about the same time.  Peggotty was quite distant but still visible. Even down wind she'd been incredibly slow.

Once into the Solent the waves died right down and we had a pleasant sail to Yarmouth.   It was only lunch time but it felt like evening. We'd been up quite a long time.

Yarmouth.. I have a history of being rubbish when maneuvering around pontoons and small spaces, being on a swinging mooring it's not something that I get much practice at. I was even more conscious of this as there were plenty of people watching.  No worries here, I made a perfect approach and was soon secured to the pontoon.

Who needs to cross the Channel anyway? here we were, no more than 30 miles from home surrounded by French and German boats in a land famous for it's Garlic :) We'd gone onto the cheap pontoon which meant we had to inflate the tender to row ashore, poorly thought out when your tender is more of a corrical and the occupants are not exactly small :)

Ashore, I paid the marina fees then we strolled into town. Coffee and Cake at Gossips with John, Paul, Liam and Caroline. Peggotty's crew had fled to a B&B in Yarmouth to do what newly aquainted couples do best, I didn't see them again :) I then went to the chandlers to look for a new cleat for my outhaul,  it had died during the Gybe.  Liam and Caroline went home and said they be back around 12 tomorrow, I left Paul a John to peruse the pubs while I went back to Ciao Bella to replace the cleat.

Entente Cord(less)iale.  The screw spacing on the new cleat was different to the old plastic one.  The boat behind me was a very functional looking metal motorboat and I guess that they might have a drill that I could borrow.  I knocked on the gunwale and was greeted in French.. How do you ask for a cordless drill and bit in French... I know, I say it in ingleesh with ow you say a Fronch acsont.  Well it worked, I was soon furnished with a cordless drill and suitable drill bit.  The new cleat turned out to be a great improvement. I was able to get the sail much flatter over the following few days.

After catching up on some sleep we ventured back into town for food,  the menu at the Kings Head caught our eye, standard pub food reasonably priced and as it turned out... very nice.

Friday Surf and Turf.  I was woken early again this morning,  I could hear a huge diesel engine which then motored past us and then there was the rhythmic thump of a pile driver.. more asprin please.

 As my cool box was stuffed with bacon, sausage and eggs I thought it would be best to get them cooked and eaten.   Paul came along to help get through the mountain of meat.  You can't beat a Sausage, bacon and egg sandwich when boating. I think they went down well.

 Our plan had been to have a short sail to the Folly today and stay there for the night but the want for decent showers, a walk ashore berth not wanting to queue for food had us agreeing to go to Cowes instead.  The tide wouldn't be in our favour until after 2pm so we decided we'd spend the morning walking to Freshwater along the river.  There are two paths from Yarmouth to Freshwater, a bridleway on the East side and a footpath on the West.  I thought it would be nice to go one way then back the other.  It's a real shame, but usually when I sail to the Island I don't venture far from the immediate area of the pontoon.  The island is beautiful to explore and it's compact nature keeps it interesting.

Looking East from Saltern Wood

Kindred spirit :)

The walk to Freshwater was just over an hour and we felt we'd deserved a pint overlooking the bay.  The weather was fantastic, so much different to yesterday. Unfortunately the Albion Inn really doesn't make the most of it's position.  It feels like the owners must be lazy, there is no effort to entice people in, the once in there is no real choice... hence the cider.

the usual suspects

Fully refreshed, we set off back the same way until the paths part at the causeway.  From there it's a gentle walk back along the bridleway and we were soon back at the boats. 

The Causeway

Liam and Caroline were there when we got back.  Peggottys poor performance was put down to the amount of weed growing on her. Shes been in since Feb but even so it looks like the Antifoul wasn't suitable.  After a quick chat we got underway, motoring out of Yarmouth to raise the sails beyond the pier.  There was very little wind today and we were mostly tidal assisted but it was a lovely afternoon for messing about in boats. We were able to sail close enough to each other to be able to chat trade insults :)

Liam and Caroline on Peggotty

Peggotty and Lapwing

Ciao Bella and Lapwing

Ciao Bella off Yarmouth

As we approached the entrance to the Medina Paul and I moved off to drop our sails and motor in, Peggotty had already dropped his sail and was motoring in when he called on the VHF to declare that under Liam's rules, he'd won the race. Liam took Peggotty back to her mooring at the Folly while Paul and I motored into Cowes Yacht haven.

In Cowes Yacht Haven

After the luxury of a shower the evening was kicked of by a selection of Ciders followed by a night in the Anchor. There was a dreadful live band on, we knew to play list as soon as they strummed the first cord.. it was all the old rocker favs.. You aint seen nothing yet. Dreadful band but a good fun night. Back on the boat for a night cap unfortunately I was falling asleep, sorry chaps.

Homeward bound.  Tiffins is an absolute must for breakfast when I go to Cowes, I'm fairly predictable.. sausage and egg butty with a cup of coffee.  I have to say, Paul's milk shake did make me chuckle.. very kitsch.

Paul's elaborate milk shake.

This was then followed by Icecream, all before 9am... Faaaaantastic :)  The haven wanted everyone out by about 9:30 as there was a big event on with Classic boats.  We Left the pontoon, once again without incident; most be getting better at this, at about 10am.  There was very little wind in the solent, what there was was right on our tail.  We drifted along with the tide for a hour but decided we'd need to motor sail if we were to stand a chance of getting home at a reasonable time.

Out of  Hurst Channel and the wind had changed completely.  It was now coming from the SW and was strong enough to give us some forward motion.  The trip back was uneventful, The wind gradually shifted to allows us past Hengisbury head without tacking.  Into Bournemouth Bay and the breeze dropped off again. Paul soldiered on but I decided to motor sail back, we'd caught some mackerel and wanted to get them on the Barbie tonight.

OK, so we didn't go to Alderney, in fact we didn't get close. But we did make the right decisions and our confidence has built.  We now know that the boats can make the required speed, even on a beat so long as the hull is clean. We had a great time and that's what my kind of sailing is all about.