Weekend from Haslar, March 22 – 24  – report by Alex Barry

Skipper: Jerzy Wieczorek  . First Mate: Jeff Birkin  .Alex Barry  and Nigel Alltimes  . Passenger (?) Phil Steele  .

‘No Optimist  ’, 36 Bavaria. Haslar Marina, Portsmouth. From Solent Yacht Charter

Jerzy and Alex took over the boat on the Friday afternoon. The weather had turned distinctly colder for the weekend but was dry at handover. The others arrived and after a briefing from skipper over tea and cakes we set off at 6 pm for Northney Marina at the northern end of Hayling Island. Wind was light and behind us as was tide and we headed under sail for the opening in the submarine barrier. As the light began to fade we looked out for the first of the red lit cans marking the entrance to Chichester Harbour; this was by no means easy due to the plethora of lights on land in the distance. It being approaching high water there was confidence in having sufficient water over the Bar. This being a boat with 60 percent heavily qualified skippers the exchanges soon settled into the familiar pattern of niggling questions from the non-acting skippers sufficient to have the real skipper popping back down below to check the charts and reconsult the almanac. In darkness under engine alone we followed the well-lit Emsworth Channel up to the point at which it divides, where we turned west in the Sweare Deep, running alongside the moored yachts before turning into the Marina where an end berth was waiting for us. Jeff had successfully lit the oven some time before which meant his kind wife’s vegetarian cottage pie was ready to be eaten and greatly enjoyed by all with sufficient beverages.

The morning brought sunshine but a cold and fierce westerly and with it thoughts as to why had we decided to come out this early in the year. The facilities at the marina were very good, but the £55 price tag for the night came as something of a shock. With the wind blowing us off the pontoon we slipped at 09.00, destination somewhere west Solent. A rowing fleet were out in force and we motored alongside them following the route of the evening before. In the channel we hoisted a double reefed main and a bit of genny and carried on under a nice broad reach. Out in the main channel we turned into the strong wind on tide and soon realised we were overcanvassed. We put a third reef in and reduced genny and found we were not going anywhere very fast and with tacks being of the 180 degree order we were travelling north/south instead of west. Engine went on and we continued westward, agreeing that Cowes would be about as far as we would want to go. To our left a number of racing yachts flew past with spinnakers up making a fine sight. We laboured on, caught in icy squalls of drenching rain and stinging hailstones which momentarily obscured everything for short periods. We were grateful to arrive at West Cowes and into a ‘white cap’ berth, the white cap being the cap on top of the pontoon posts. Lunch and banter followed and then an exploration of the territory. The aged skippers retired to the bar whilst the more sprightly took a walk along the seafront to the west past Egypt Point, apparently so named after a nearby 16c gypsy encampment. We rejoined forces for a pint in the Anchor, followed by a decent dinner in the rather posh Harbour Kitchen just up the road. Back to base for further nightcaps before an earlier night.

Sunday was a lovely day, sunny with a more moderate wind. Lots of activity in the harbour as the racing crews prepared to go out. We were positioned in the innermost part of the berth which meant extracting ourselves between a parked gin palace and a yacht with a hair’s breadth of space to our sides. Happily with three skippers offering opinions as to how this should be best achieved the result was a perfect release. We set off again at 09.00 along the IOW coast eastward and just off Osborne Bay we tried out some MOB practice under engine under Jeff’s directions. We tried the RYA ‘standard’ method of an upwind side on approach as well as a ‘transit’ sideways approach. It being a choppy sea it was alarming to watch how the hull pounded its way up and down toward the bucket in the water, which more often than not ended up caught under the bow. It got me thinking that if only there could be a system whereby the lifejacket released a tethered contact point which would then allow the MOB to be retrieved from a safer position to the rear of the boat… I wondered if anyone had ever thought of that. (Secretary’s note – for the benefit of members who may not know about it, this is a reference to Jeff Birkin’s OscarLine system.) MOB practice over we lunched under anchor before a decent beam reach back to Haslar, again passing a multitude of colourful spinnakered racing boats before taking the main channel into harbour. We refuelled which is just to the north off Gosport Marina and then returned to berth, lunched, cleaned up and reported our issues which were for information: -a broken port side jammer -the oven plates had the habit of turning themselves off for no apparent reason. -a heads broken door handle. Trip distance 52 nm and 2 night hours logged. With many thanks to Jerzy for organizing and to Jeff for his MOB training and to all for their enjoyable company. A fun, if at times cold, weekend