Solent Sailing on “Lady Emma” 6/7 April 2013 – report by Bob Buchanan

Bob BuchananBecky Goddard(Bristol sailing)

Mike, Kevin, Dave & Caroline “Lady Emma” crew

We all met up at Haslar marina (Lady Emma is now berthed on the same pontoon as Spellbinder)

After the usual Friday night meal and drinks on-board we were up the next morning ready to go at 08.00hrs. The plan was to go clockwise around the island and into Yarmouth. It was then discovered that the aft heads were not working, the forward heads were not working as well, but was due to be repaired. We removed all the old seals and put in a new set and got it going. A call to the boats maintenance man was made and we were told the seals had been replaced three weeks ago. (Didn’t seem to last very long, did they?)

We finally got under way at 10.45. It was a very sunny day and not a puff of wind. Our only plan was to motor to Yarmouth. With the tide with us all the way we had a nice easy trip and berthed in Yarmouth at 15.00hrs.

That night we booked a table in the Bugle for 19.30hrs, it was a very good meal and by the time we had finished a band had set up and started to play. We all had a very good time that night with lots of bottles of wine and pints of beer appearing on our table, everyone ended up dancing as well. Back on the boat some more wine appeared for a nightcap, it was 02.00am before we all got in our bunks.

The next morning, we had planned to get away at 08.00hrs and go into the Island Sailing Club for Sunday lunch. The two trips previously we had booked a table but had to ring up and cancel, so this time we decided against it in case we had to cancel again. The next morning that plan had gone out of the window as most of us didn’t get up until 09.30/10.00hrs. It was decided to have a breakfast and sail back to Haslar.

Not long after breakfast it was discovered that the aft heads were not working again or not as they should be. Another call to the maintenance man was made to put him in the picture. It was 12.00hrs before we got going; the good news was that the wind was up to S/E F3/4

We pulled up the main and the no1 genoa and had a very lively sail all the way up to the bottom of Southampton water. From there the wind was on the nose so we decided to pull the sails down and motor the rest of the way. I was on the mast pulling the sail down, mike and Kevin were on the end of the boom flaking the sail and Caroline was sitting in the cockpit watching and Becky was on the wheel. Suddenly the boom came down into the cockpit, narrowly missing Caroline, Mike and Kevin tumbled into the cockpit with the boom, (the topping lift had broken at the end of the boom) there were no bad injuries but Mike had a very bad bruise on his hand.

Back in Haslar we got the bosons chair out to go up the mast to pull the topping lift down, and a repair was done. Another call to the maintenance man was made to say what had happened and what repairs were done.

Another good sailing weekend even though we had a few problems.