Solent Sailing 15/18 August 2024 

Yacht.  Moody 33

Yacht name. Boadicea. 

Crew. Simon Mansfield (yacht owner)

Bob Hayes  . Bob Buchanan 

Thursday.

Bob Hayes and me travelled to Portsmouth offshore group to meet Simon, as he was already on the yacht.

We got there at midday, got our gear onboard and decided to leave for Cowes.

We left at 1300hrs, motored down to the transit point, then turned out into the Solent.

The wind was S/SW F4 so we just pulled up the Genny, but kept the engine going.

The visibility was not very good, and it started to get worse, also the wind started to pick up.

For some reason, we just could not make much headway, we were going sideways more than forward.

After about 5hrs, the wind had picked up to F6 gusting F7 and the visibility had got even worse. We could not see the Isle of Wight or the mainland.

We finally got to Cowes yacht haven after covering 26.5 NM and taking 7 hrs.

Simon, who has had his yacht in Gosport for 2 years had never been into Cowes.

That evening we went into the Island sailing club and had a pint of sea dog.

Then it was a curry in the Cowes tandoori, back to the boat for a glass of wine.

Friday.

We planned to go to Yarmouth, but had to wait until 1400 hrs  for the tide to turn, so we spent a few hours in Cowes.

We left, pulled up main and Genny, and had a good sail down towards Yarmouth. 

We had to tack all the way down, in light winds, F2/F3 and had to motor the last few miles as the wind died out.

We got to Yarmouth at 1900 hrs and covered 20 NM.

Simon, had also never been into Yarmouth before.

That evening, we had a beer in the Bugle then back to the boat for a meal.

Saturday.

We had planned to go over to Poole, but with the wind and tides not in our favour, we decided to stay in Yarmouth.

That evening we had a beer in the Bugle, and went around to a steakhouse for a meal.

This was 1900 hrs. the place was heaving, and they could not fit us in until 2100 hrs.

We booked it then went back to the Bugle.

We got to the steakhouse at 2100 hrs and had a bottle of wine and had a steak.

The steaks were 16 oz each and came out raw. There was a big bowl of chips and side salad.

The plates were very big, with a red-hot stone in the middle, and partitions each side to put you chips and salade.

You had to cut and cook your steak on the stone.

It was a very enjoyable meal, and the place was still packed.

The bill for the steaks and wine was £142

Sunday.

We had an early start to catch the tide, we left at 0700 hrs

With main and Genny up, we were having a good sail, the wind picked up a bit later to N/W F4. At one point we hit 8.1 knts.

We were deciding to go into Cowes for the night, or carry on back to Gosport.

We decided to go back to Gosport and got there at 1230 hrs.

Bob Hayes and me had a meal in a pub just outside of the sailing club, and Simon took his yacht up river to an M.O.D place where he keeps his yacht.

A very enjoyable long weekend.

We covered 66 NM