Practice Trip 29 – 31 March 2019  – report by Alan Howells

Yacht ‘Cleo  ’, Bavaria 34 chartered from Richard Brown

Skipper: Alan Howells  . Crew: Alex Barry  , Don Hirst  , Mick Hewitt  and Nigel Alltimes  .

As promised and requested this trip offered opportunities for practising boat handling under both power and sail and there were plenty in various conditions. Starting with some motoring in and around Yacht Haven Quay, we added in a bit of night pilotage in the Sound and spent the Friday night moored to a buoy North of Drake’s Island.

Saturday conditions varied between no and light wind during which there was much practice of various manoeuvres under power and sail and we visited Mayflower Marina (a difficult astern mooring near the fuel pontoon), Yacht Haven Marina, Yacht Haven Quay, a river mooring between fore and aft buoys before finally QAB for the night. [There was a supplementary reason for the multitude of marinas but they offered additional practice anyway.]

Closure of the footbridge meant a longish walk to the Dolphin, which still offers the facility of eating excellent fish and chips from the shop next door in a traditional pub.

Wind arrived as forecast (E5-6 occ 7) the following day so there was lots of tacking and gybing under a fair bit of pressure and a heave-to, all of which accompanied a sail around to the Yealm for a quick lunch moored to the pontoon before sailing back to the Yacht Haven, fuelling and handing back.

Alan Howells

This trip was something of an experiment so comments by crew members follow:

Alex

Brilliant trip, real learning curve. Many thanks for your help and patience. Saturday we also anchored off Cawsand then sailed back through east entrance.  Sunday put up working jib and reefed underway. Used transits at Yealm.

Don

Thanks again for an excellent trip, several sailing conditions experienced, many learning points arose. A few thoughts following a super trip with ideal practice weather conditions.

The training reinforced the saying Good Planning Prevents Pixx Poor Performance. 

Learning points:

Recognise potential situations which can cause difficulty. If you choose to moor at right angles to the flow of a river it is likely to cause difficulty unless at high or low water even then there is the natural flow of the river. When mooring at right angles even the slowest flow will have a massive effect compared to mooring in line with flow. If you intend to moor at right angles plan in advance. With the flow taking you off consider a centre line as first ashore to secure the boat parallel to the pontoon. If flow is onto the pontoon consider extra fendering to spread the load.

Familiarity breeds contempt. Boats all seem to have their differences even those of the same make and size. Check things like depth gauge calibration and reefing method before leaving the berth as well as usual inventory items.

Mick

Many thanks for your patience and knowledge. Same goes for all I really enjoyed the trip seemed like a proper sailing experience with many different tasks and conditions. 

Nigel

Thank you for a great weekend. I really enjoyed the learning and the company.