* = Did Not Finish: A = Race Abandoned
| Name | 4/6 | 11/6 | 18/6 | 25/6 | 2/7 | 9/7 | 16/7 | 23/7 | 30/7 | 6/8 | 13/8 | 20/8 | 27/8 | Points | Position | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | |||
Report by Geoff Warren
Michelle, Gill & myself, joined that “old sea dog” and ex Naval CPO John Norman aboard his Hunter Horizon 27 foot sailing cruiser KIR, based in Dover, to cross the channel.
Gill acted as 1st Mate & did the Nav planning. Spring tides were forecast for Monday, therefore strong currents were to be expected & in order to take advantage of these we couldn’t leave Dover until late morning on the Saturday. However to be prepared we moved the boat through the sea lock on Friday evening & stocked up on supplies from Morrisons in Dover.
Saturday brought favourable weather & moderate seas, therefore we left Dover on schedule & made a fast crossing to Boulogne helped by the favourable spring tides.
That evening we had a good meal of moule marinières in the Brussels Restuarant in Boulogne helped down with a nice bottle of red Bordeau. The following day we sailed along the French coast up to Calais, passing old 2nd World War German Gun emplacements & excellent coastal scenery in nice sunny weather.
The yacht basin in Calais can only be entered via a sea lock close to high tide, therefore we tied up to a mooring bouy in the outer harbour. John & Gill did all of the cooking & have very contrasting styles. John specialises in meat pies & Gill does a nice line in healthy salads, by the end of trip John was really into lettuce! I must put this down to Gill’s good influence.
On Monday I did the Nav planning for the return to Dover. We left our mooring in Calais at 7:00 a.m. in order to take advantage of the strong spring tides.
We crossed close hauled in a north-east force 2 wind which increased to force 6 later. We made a fast crossing helped by some excellent helming by Michelle & motorsailed into Dover after a fast 5 hour passage.
We all enjoyed an excellent trip, enjoying good company and having a good laugh. John speaks excellent French having spent 4 years in the British embassy in Paris. When he described me as “un vieux chien de mer” the French seemed to find this very funny!, anyway I would stongly recommend the benefits of cruising with John on Kir and the quality of his meat pies!
Crew :
Friday: Ships log - Cowes to Portsmouth Harbour, 3 hours at sea, 10 miles, Max wind F5-6.
Crew contribution - Crew safety brief, shake down sail. Drinks on the lightship at Haslar Marina. Roy says freezing cold, worn out, staying onboard! Andrew says meeting the crew he was to be with for 9 days was very exciting and all got on well.
Calamity corner - Smoke alarm in Andrew’s cabin bleeped all night so blurry eyes not just the beer!
Saturday: Ships log - Portsmouth to Southampton, 6 hours at sea, 20 miles., max wind 2-4
Crew contribution - Basic crew training, ropes, fenders, sails, winches etc. picked up fuel from Hamble. Roy says no warmer! Supper at Royal Southampton YC with usual excellent service cheered him.
Calamity corner - Smoke alarm bleeped all night again in spite of new battery, gas sensor prevented us lighting gas, grill didn’t work anyway so no toast and a crew who will be nameless blocked heads by accidentally flushing a baby wipe
Sunday: Ships log - Southampton to Cowes, 3 hours at sea, 12 miles, max wind F5-6
Crew contribution - Phil’s valiant efforts failed to unblock heads. Jenny made quick trip to Argos to get a toaster. (Preps for going to sea now begin with “take off sail cover, double up lines” etc and end with “unplug toaster and shore power” just to prevent any exciting or electrifying unberthing moments!) Returned to base with maintenance problems to be fixed. Roy says cold wet and miserable again so escaped with most crew to The Duke of York for Sunday roast while Jenny and Phil faced the music at UKSA. Crew training alongside on ropes, knots, buoys, safety and distress. Andrew cooked supper of sausage, mash and beans. Very good.
Calamity corner - NONE (Jenny removed battery from smoke alarm!)
Monday: Ships log - Cowes to Lymington, 3 hours at sea, 9 miles, max wind F6-7
Crew contribution - Shopping in Cowes. Andy bought flash sunglasses. Cracking sail to Lymington when Roy topped 7 knots on the helm. Andy took the ropes ashore for the first of many times. Drinks at Royal Lymington YC after short walk along the river.
Calamity corner - Only in Jenny’s dreams about how we were going to get out off difficult berth in F6-7! Actually worked fine.
Tuesday: Ships log - Lyminton to Poole via Yarmouth, 9 hours at sea, 25 miles, max wind F3
Crew contribution - Berthing practice in Lymington. All crew getting to grips with handling warps and fenders. Practiced picking up buoys off Yarmouth under sail balancing wind and tide. Found the yacht sails well on just the sprayhood! Michelle secured to the buoy for lunch. before setting sail through The Needles and across the bay to Poole. Priscilla practiced three point fix and lat/long plotting with superb accuracy. Roy finally concedes it’s warm and sunny. Michelle cooked supper of pasta bolognese.
Calamity corner - None, fingers crossed.
Wednesday: Ships log - Poole to Cherbourg, 15 hours at sea, 73 miles, max wind F2
Crew contribution - Managed to sail over half the distance in spite of light wind. Flew the spinnaker but got a twist. Roy got dizzy circling trying to untangle round the forestay. Must have looked strange on anyone’s radar! Fun light spotting on final part of the passage. Crew arrived tired but happy and too late for showers.
Calamity corner - Cooker gimble came off one side, nearly got kettle on lap! Spinnaker got a tear catching on the anchor coming down.
Thursday: Ships log - nil
Crew contribution - Morning off for shopping and sight seeing. Priscilla bought lots of Camembert. Maintenance and repair tasks done, by Jenny and Phil. Took on fuel. Crew brief on emergency situations. Crew practice on launching and rowing dinghy. Priscilla causing great hilarity and Michelle showing her how it’s done. Supper at Cherbourg YC.
Calamity corner - Everyone wondering whose socks were smelling? Oh it’s just the Camembert.
Friday: Ships log - Cherbourg to Yarmouth, 15 hours at sea, 80 miles, max wind F5 (F6 forecast)
Crew contribution - Very early start and long slog against NE winds. Some crew a bit tired and seasick. Priscilla made lunch mid channel in rough weather. Quite a feat with metallic and vocal sound effects. From brief glimpses down below it was difficult to see whether dividers on the chart table were going to join sausages in the oven or vice versa.
Calamity corner - Engine overheating problem at 12.30. At first Jenny thought it was Roy’s hearing aid whistling then a great cloud of white smoke and steam shot out of the exhaust and up the companionway from the engine compartment. We found later when it cooled that we had lost the top of the heat exchanger and consequently all the fresh cooling water. Alternative options considered included sailing to Poole Bay and anchoring, tacking round to Portsmouth to avoid Needles in strong wind and without an engine! However, the wind dropped off and a temporary repair done by Phil got the engine re-started at 16.30 to get through The Needles into Yarmouth. Priscilla took charge tying up. UKSA said we were very resourceful! Thanks Phil.
Saturday: Ships log - Yarmouth to Beaulieu, 4 hours at sea, 11 miles, max wind F4
Crew contribution - Morning off in Yarmouth for shopping, sightseeing and a trip to the pier. Priscilla navigated to Bucklers Hard and kept the log. Also took charge tying up.
MOB practice en-route was great fun and kept everyone warmed up.
Calamity corner - engine held up well.
Sunday: Ships log - Beaulieu to Cowes, 3 hours at sea, 11 miles, max wind F2
Crew contribution - Sail trim training, tacking and gibing off Cowes before berthing back at UKSA. All hands to the cleaning and clearing.
Calamity corner - Only coming to the end of a good trip. Priscilla wrote “a very big thank you to Jenny and Phil for their unending patience.” Andrew wrote “We left the yacht clean for the next group of sailors and I was hoping they have as much fun and excitement as I did with my new friends and colleagues. Thank you for your patience and valuable time”
Totals:
The following students successfully completed Day Skipper Theory:
The following students gained their radio licence:
All look forward to put it into practice on the sea.
Well done all of you, and many thanks to Jenny for running these courses.