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Solent sailing on “Edelweiss” Bavaria 38 August 11/12/13

Skipper R.Buchanan. Crew. Bob HayesBob Daniels A.Sawyer T.Chittem A.Claydon

We picked up the boat from Solent Charters in Saxon Wharf on the Itchen River.

Friday.

We left at 1800 hrs and motored down to Southampton water then pulled up the sails. We put one reef in the main and full genoa. With a westerly F4 it didn’t take us long to get down by the Hamble, our port of call for the night. A quick change of plan as the sailing was so good, was to carry on over to Cowes. In the middle of the Solent it was a little bit choppy and we took a big wave into the cockpit. We all had our sailing jackets on, but no salopettes, most of us got soaked from the middle down. Another problem we had was the boat was over at an angle and our dinner for the night was a spaghetti Bolognese that I had made was in a Pyrex dish in a cardboard box in the galley, I was wondering how much would escape the dish, to our amazement, not very much.

We moored up for the night in Shepards Wharf marina. A night in Cowes for a few beers was cancelled as some of us had no trousers to wear as they were hanging up to dry. We had a very enjoyable evening on the boat that night.

Saturday.

We slipped our moorings at 10.00 hrs but in the process Angus caught his finger (the next one to his little one) between a mooring line and a fairlead and dislocated it right at the end knuckle, with a quick pull on it he got it back to where it should have been. He then strapped it up with a bit of duct tape; it swelled up a bit but is now ok.

With a westerly F3/4 and east going tide we passed Ryde at 11.30 hrs. We still kept one reef in the main but full genoa. At 13.00 hrs we were passing Bembridge. At 15.30 hrs we went past St Catherine’s and carried on for another couple of miles, before turning west. It gets a bit lumpy around the lighthouse; also we wanted to get to the Needles on one tack.

With the tide west going now (it was just off springs) and the wind picking up to F5 we were doing 8/9 kts and at one point hit 10.3kts (over the ground); we got to the Needles at 17.30 hrs a bit quicker than I had planned and went up the Needles channel with still a bit of tide against us. We arrived at Yarmouth at 19.30 hrs and tied up to a mooring buoy outside the harbour as it was full.

That night we took the water taxi ashore and had a few beers and a meal in the Bugle.

Sunday.

We slipped our moorings at 09.30 hrs and put up a full main, it was a nice sunny day but not a lot of wind. We gybed our way up to Cowes and had a short stay in Cowes Yacht Haven. Then we went down to the Island Sailing Club for Sunday lunch. (We had pre booked it for 12.30 hrs)

Back on board, we slipped our moorings and headed back to Saxon Wharf, it was a steady sail and we got back at 16.30 hrs

Rob Daniels, Angus and I stayed the night on board as the other three had to get home. We went to the local pub for a few beers then back on board for a meal.

It was a very good weekend enjoyed by everyone. We did a total of 86 NM