Weekend from Haslar 25-27 November 2022  – report by Reg Morris

Solent Yacht Charter, Haslar Marina. ‘Nordic Mist  ’ - Jeanneau 36i

Crew: Nigel Alltimes  , Mick Hewitt  , Chris Perry  and Jeff Woolmer  (Mate,) Reg Morris  (Skipper)

The charter was arranged by Jerzy

We left early on the 26th on a rising tide, just as soon we had enough water for the inner swash way. The winds were southerly and gusting into the high 20’s so I warned to crew to expect a choppy passage based on my experience of similar wind strengths from the NE during a Solent trip last April. However, this time we were in the lee of the Island, so the trip with one reef in was in fact very pleasant, with only the occasional gust rounding us up. We headed for the south channel to stay in the lee of the Island and made good time with a favourable tide. Everyone had a chance to helm. We rounded Egypt point and set a more southerly course down the western arm of the Solent, tacking now, assisted by a strong south-westerly setting tide to arrive off Yarmouth. We had thought about stopping for lunch in the lovely Newton Bay, but Yarmouth Marina couldn’t give us a definitive answer about whether they had space for us, and with a Force 8 gale arriving overnight we thought it prudent to get closer to Yarmouth for lunch. We moored up for a spot of lunch and then each of us practised picking up buoys under power against the 3 or 4 knot tide before motoring into Yarmouth in the late afternoon. The facilities in Yarmouth Marina were excellent and we had showers and headed for a pint or two and a good meal at the Bugle pub.

The southerly gale blew through overnight without affecting us in our well-sheltered location and next morning we set of in tranquil but slightly hazy conditions with a very light following wind and a favourable tide. The aim was to sail past Cowes before the tide turned at 1200 which we did thanks mainly to the tide and then we went into Osbourne Bay where everyone had a go (or two) at practising man overboard under powered before anchoring for lunch. Then it was back to the marina under power due to the absence of wind to make the handover by 1600. The only event was entering Portsmouth where we were followed into the outer swash way by the IoW ferry and faced with a destroyer and accompanying tugs passing the exit from the swash way into the main channel. Not a problem, but then another IoW ferry came out of Portsmouth and a speeding hovercraft popped out from behind the ferry behind us, all converging on the meeting place of the swash way and the main channel. The solution was to slow down, let all the other vessels sort out their various routes and proceed towards the main channel and on to the small boat channel when it was all over.

Back in the marina we fuelled, cleaned and prepped Nordic Mist for its next charter and arranged for the charterer to do the checks the next day since there were no problems to report. I did get a call from the Charterer the next day to say that one of the water tanks had been left empty. I must remember to remind crew that most boats have two tanks!

Finally, we decided to do our expenses using the excellent and free SplitWise app where each crew member signs in and can then add their own expenses with a brief description of the expense. It then does all the sums at the end and tells each person what they are owed or owe, using the least number of transactions. I’d recommend it and I think the crew would too. The only hitch is that I set up the account and added myself as a member of the group, which I need not have done since the set-up person is automatically added. I had to get SpiltWise support to delete the extra account before we could make the reconciliation. A lesson learnt!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip with a great crew and would gladly sail with them all again. I fact we did have some discussion about the Scillies in 2023!