Time for a catch up

Looks like I've been neglecting the blog.  Although the weather has been a bit pants, to say the least, I have actually been out on Ciao Bella a couple of times.

OOh... fast

Back at the end of May Lapwing Paul and myself made our way to Yarmouth, we had intended to go to Cowes but the wind didn't really help and we decided it would be nicer to sail to Yarmouth rather than motor to Cowes.

Lapwing on route to Yarmouth

 The wind was unhelpfully from the North East and ranging from F2 to F1 so had to make big tacks (100 -120 degrees on port & 005 - 025 on starboard) with occasional motoring.
Yarmouth was really busy with it being a Bank holiday weekend.  We were both rafted out but not together.. Paul was four boat out and I was five boats out.  Despite paying for a walk ashore it was easier to inflate the tender and punt between the two boats.

Tender inflated

The tide for the return leg on Sunday was mid afternoon so instead of killing time in Yarmouth we whizzed across to Lymington with a full main and reefed genoa.  The breeze had really picked up and it was a great 45 minute blast.

Rafted up at Lymington

After a wander around the pubs shops and ice-cream parlours it was time to head on back to Poole.
The wind really helped today, much more consistent and nicely on the rear quarter.

Getting blown home

The next trip was not until the end of June, I went for a weekend to Weymouth with John as crew. The high tide at Poole was around midday, which gave us time to help Bede drop his mast and re-step it on the mooring so he could sort out his jamming jib furler.   The weather was, once again, unhelpful.  A F4/5 SW on the Saturday made us take the outer route around St Aldhelm.  It was a bit torturous and we eventually got into Weymouth around 9pm.

There was very little space in the harbour as the Cove was reserved for Squibs which must of been having a substantial meeting. We ended up rafted out five deep again, at least the neighbours were nice :)  After a trip into Weymouth to find some food and a couple of pints in the wonder that is Wetherspoons, we made it back to Ciao Bella for an early nights sleep.

The return on Sunday was at a civilised 0830. This time the weather was with us and we had a cracking sail back to Poole.   As we came flying back into the harbour I even considered  going around the islands but thought better of it. Felt good to be back on board again, seem to be having long periods off the boat this year.

A new tender for my Bella

I picked up a cracking new tender on a trailer for the enormous sum of £30. 
It looks gimpy but is fantastic... Stable to stand up on, motors lovely with my 2hp 2 stroke, rows pretty well and tracks really well. 

While down at the club I took the opportunity to go for a little potter in the Mirror dinghy... Life is good :)   Thanks to Lapwing Paul for the photos. 

Being a spur of the moment thing I only had jeans as sailing attire so getting along side and not capsizing were important considerations. :)

Studland

Sunday turned out to be a cracking day for a sail.  Forecast was F2/3 and it was perfect for taking my sailing averse son out for a day sail... I had to sweeten the deal with a promise of a pub visit :)
Aiming for a lunchtime departure, we wandered down to the club.  After a mercy mission to get a stranded boaters engine running we needed to get ourselves back on track.  Kirk on 'Hannah Snell' was circling us like a hawk, keen to get going.
Away under full rig we tacked out of the harbour, no need for engines today. We had a good sail out past the training wall and tacked our way into the moorings at Studland.  Picking up a Banks Arms buoy, we rafted up;  Kirks Seal 22 rafts up much easier than Paul's Corribee,  I think because we have similar freeboard and the fenders stay in place.
Time to inflated our tenders... Oh boy, I thought my coracle was funny, not a patch on Kirks.   He'd have looked insecure in a paddling pool :)

We spent a pleasant couple of hours at the Banks Arms, Mrs Ciao Bella and a friend dropped by for a drink while out on a walk around the headland.

Having paddled back aboard, the kettle went on as we settled down for a chat.  Only to see Kirks rubber duck drifting away, a bit more exercise for yours truely and it was recovered.

The sail back to Poole was great, tramping along at a good pace.  James took the tiller most of the way back while I trimmed the sails.
We sailed right onto the mooring first time, tidied Ciao Bella and headed home. I think James enjoyed it, what a successful day sail :)

Christchurch cruise

We had a little cruise to Christchurch last weekend.   Christchurch is quite shallow so is restrictive to the fin keelers but for us bilge keelers and lifting keel boats it is an absolute dream of place to visit.
Three boats made the trip, Pete and Cathy on their Shrimper 'Coffee Bean', Kirk on his Seal 22 'Hannah Snell' and John and I on 'Ciao Bella'. We had a civilised start time, leaving the mooring just after lunch.   The forecast was for F2 or F3 Northerly on the way there and very light SW on the return.

Coffee Bean Goose winging towards the bar.

The Northerly turn out to be a southerly which made no odds, once out of the harbour we had a nice easy sail around Hengistbury head and goosewings our way to the bar.  The beach along the East side of Hengistbury head is lined with some lovely beach huts but beware if you are thinking you'd like to buy one... they are chuffing expensive.

Why spend 1/4 million on a shed when you can have a small sail boat instead. 

The run was against us slightly on the way in but not too bad, nothing could prepare me for the attack of the flying crabs being launched by a couple of kids on the sea wall,  strangly funny :).  Although we kept the sails up until well into the river the engine did the work as we avoided various small craft.

Christchurch Sailing club had reserved some spaces on their visitor pontoon for us and we were greeted by the Commodore. The club has a fantastic location with a balcony overlooking the river and great views to the Isle of Wight. We whiled away the afternoon and evening out here until the chill got to us.

Ciao Bella and Hannah Snell with the club house in the background

The welcome at the club was really nice, the members chatted freely and bar and food were good quality and value at £3 for a decent pint of Doom Bar and less than £7 for Fisherman's pie.
The return was necessarily early.  The latest we could leave would be 8am.. Coffee Bean left at 6:30 but Hannah Snell and us made the most of ever second to relax :) To be fair I wasn't feeling tiptop and had picked up some kind of bug which was making me very lethargic... some may connect this with the £3 a pint at the bar but I can guarantee that a hangover wouldn't last five days and I'm still suffering :(

A misty morning start.

We motored back down the river and out through the run before hoisting the sails.  Hannah Snell extended his trip East bound into the Solent and we turn back West for Poole.  The Wind was SW and our first long tack took us at good speed almost due south.  My ailment was taking hold now and I completely handed over control to John while I slept, waking occasionally.  I helped tack back towards Poole then woke sometime later as, due to the lack of wind, it was time to fire up the motor.
I recommend a night in Christchurch, it's a lovely location and you'll be well looked after.

First stretch of the legs for the season.

The bank holiday weekend was the first EDSC cruise of the season.  The plan was to go to Lymington.. the racy type boats would race there and the bimblers would bimble.  Being in the later group I didn't wait for silly things like starting signals,  I knew that I'd have to leave earlier than the others to make the tidal gate at Hurst.

I'll keep out of the way then

I left the mooring about 0920 and made my way to the entrance.  The Condor was just leaving it's berth at Port of Poole and there was other shipping around as well as the usual harbour ferries, chain ferry and bank holiday leisure traffic.. all a bit busy.

Maris Otter pops by for a chat

I motor sailed out of the harbour and heard the foghorn voice of Mike on 'Maris Otter' hailing me.   They were doing a PYRA race to Bembridge. After a quick chat and turning down the offer of a cuppa, we went our seperate ways. 

 The sailing across Bournemouth bay was pretty good.  The winds felt light but I was maintaining 4.5 to 5.8 Knots most of the way... can't complain at that. :)

Racing fleet sliding by Hengisbury head

By 11am the sky was clouding over, plenty of bigger yachts were also starting to overhaul me.  Into Christchurch bay and the wind started to mess around a bit.  Dropping off completely at times and changing direction, I had been expecting northerlies all day. Seems bizarre watching the windex spinning!  The rate of progress really started to drop off.  As I only had a day pass  I decided to cut it short and go to Totland bay on the Isle of Wight.  It has a good pebbly bottom, I know how it feels :O,  which holds the anchor well and a cafe type thing on the beach.

Ciao Bella anchored at Totland

The cafe on the beach didn't really look my thing so I took a walk up to a country pub just outside the village. The High Down had a good selection of real beer and some pretty tasty food, although £14 for bangers and mash and a pint felt a little steep.  While sat inside the rain came poring down... not looking good for the return journey.  It was still drizzling as I walked back to the beach but soon cleared up.  Back onboard, I stowed the inflatable, made a cuppa then set of back to Poole.  With full sail I was only making 3.5 knots into the North Westerly... a few minutes later the wind really picked up.. I heavily reefed the Genoa and hurriedly put a reef in the main. Things were very uncomfortable for a while.. although the speed did pick up :)

Out near the needles the wind just turned off again and went fluky.  I un-reefed every thing, still no movement, so the engine went on.  Five minutes later and there was breeze to push us along at 5 knots again, great, off went the engine.  The engine went on and (mostly) off all the way back. When there was breeze it was great but when it stopped it wasn't gradual, it just stopped! About a mile from the entrance the engine went on again and stayed on as it was getting late and I had to be somewhere. I was back on the mooring around 8:30 so 12 hours give or take from climbing aboard to jumping off again.

The table below is the windspeed & Gusts in knots and the direction at the needles during the day.  As you can see, lots of changes :)

30.04.2016 21:00:00		5		-	NNE
30.04.2016 20:00:00		10		36	NNE
30.04.2016 19:00:00		7		-	ENE
30.04.2016 18:00:00		3		-	WNW
30.04.2016 17:00:00		19		31	N
30.04.2016 16:00:00		3		37	ENE
30.04.2016 15:00:00		12		25	WSW
30.04.2016 14:00:00		10		-	WSW
30.04.2016 13:00:00		8		-	SW
30.04.2016 12:00:00		9		-	NNW
30.04.2016 11:00:00		8		-	NNW
30.04.2016 10:00:00		9		-	N
30.04.2016 09:00:00		11		-	N

Track of the day

GPS gets a reprieve

I plunged into the depths of my Garmin handheld GPS this afternoon.  I have a spare one which I'd goosed the NMEA by wiring it up incorrectly some years ago...Luckily I have an aversion to throwing things out :)  I'd bought a second hand replacement off ebay which has done sterling service for several years.

This year while clearing off the green crud from the earth pin, the pin just fell off.. no worries, I had the spare so I replaced the back with the one off the original.

When I took it out to play yesterday it would fire up but I could not cycle through the screens.  Once stripped down it was obvious what the problem was.  The pcb keypad, the brown bit under the screen, was corroded.  Unfortunately I couldn't swap that out as it is all one pcb and the good keypad was attached to the none working NMEA.   

I gave it a good dose of contact cleaner and wiped off with a glasses cleaning cloth.  Looked a lot better, so I left it to dry thoroughly before reassembling, with all the best bits from each, and putting the batteries back in.  Touch wood it all seems to work ok now.   I will assume that because I've opened it up it will be less water proof than before, so more care required.  These things seem to have got very expensive.

A proper shake down sail

I took Ciao Bella out for a proper trip around the harbour yesterday to sort out all those little bits and pieces which get forgotten over the winter..  The forecast was for dry but cold and getting windy later on.  I wrapped up warm and winged my way to the club.

ELF... my other passion, keeping an eye on the tide.

It was a bracing topless drive down only to find a distinct lack of water in the harbour,   no worries, it gave me time to tip toe out to the tender and tip out all the rain water :)  The little outboard for the tender fired up straight away but started to run a little off key as I approached Ciao Bella.  Maybe it needs a bit more TLC after its dunking.

Looking back at Brownsea castle.

It was great to be back aboard and in control of Ciao Bella.  The wind was so light, we barely moved and eventually had to motor away from the mooring.  Eventually the breeze soon started to fill in and with full main and a slightly reefed genoa we headed of towards the haven.

The Haven with the Isle of Wight on the Horizon.

I could have gone out to Studland but going around the islands makes me work a bit harder.  There will be plenty of time during the season to to get out of the harbour.  Having had a great sail across the harbour entrance the gusts really started to pick up, possibly upto F6, laying Ciao Bella right over at times..  I rolled in a big chunk of genoa and made my way from Bramble bush bay up to Goathorn point.

Peaceful scene at Goathorn point deviously hides the true strength of the wind.

The tide was still coming in so I cut the corner, keeping a careful eye on the depth. It was nice to see it increasing as I approached Furzey island.  The wind, although not as gusty was increasing.  I set about reefing but got caught out by the channel edge, the keels found some soft mud and spun Ciao Bella around.  No drama, I just dropped the sails and waited for the tide to rise enough to float me off.  After about 45mins I realised that 1; I had no teabags and 2; she wasn't going to free herself on her own.  So with 10mins of engine forward and reverse, vectoring it side to side, pushing from the bow with the boat hook, she slowly, slowly released herself from the mud.

Hmm 3.8knots with this rig :)

Hessitant to put the main back up I sailed around green island with just a handkerchief of genoa, even like this we made 3.8 knots.  In the clearer water of Ramshorn lake I pushed her nose into wind to raise the reefed Main again.  The wind was on my tail now and we made 5 to 6 knots back around Brownsea island.  The cloud cover was really coming over now, I took the opportunity to drop the anchor in the lee of Brownsea to tidy up the reefed sail before cracking on back to the mooring.

Looking cloudy over Poole.

Picking up the mooring under sail was a little difficult, partly because I'm ring rusty but mainly because of the strength of the wind. I grabbed it at the third attempt right at the bow, I still had trouble pulling the pick up buoy onto the boat over the bow roller. I thought my shoulder was going to pop out!

A great shake down sail, glad I didn't have a passenger, they'd probably never sail again :)  Next steps... provision the boat with tea, coffee, chocolate, crisps and bisciuts and more importantly, fix my GPS which, although is still sending NMEA data to the VHF and recording the track (above), it's not playing ball when you want to use the buttons.