2015   Mostly bimbling about but an epic trip on Macaret

17 January  Hoegh Osaka

Wintry sail to view the Stricken Hoegh Osaka Tim and I plus Andy (Tim’s pal) took advantage of the short break in the relentless January storms to have a sail. We went to see the Hoegh Osaka, which we found listing 52 degrees and looking very sorry for itself. A great day’s sailing which included an incredible icy squall that gave us a bit to think about at the start of our day. After that it was just plain sailing. I was most pleased with the ipad chart plotter which I tried for the first time.

21 February      High Spring Tide

A day sail with Tim in cold F 5 to 6 NW winds, notable for being one of the highest spring tides. Some very fast sailing.

6 March       Getting Ready for Our Summer Berth

With our time running short on B4 in the POG marina we had a quick sail out to Bembridge and then went up river to inspect our new ‘permanent’ berth (WW18) for the summer. Glorious sunny day and a good steady breeze made for excellent sailing.

6 April      Messing About In Boats

Jan came with me to meet up with Tim and Max at the new mooring. Spent a few hours trying out the new tender and practicing mooring up and leaving our berth at W18, Half Nelson’s home for the summer. The recent gales had not affected HN.

7 May      Two stormy days in April

Set out for Yarmouth with Tim for a couple of days sailing. Forecast was for westerly 4/5. It was our first full transfer to the boat with the new dinghy etc which we timed at one and half hours from arriving at Vector to setting off. All went well but progress was slow getting to Cowes, which meant that by the time we rounded Gurnard point the tide was not helpful. An incident with a large power boat that was so close to mowing us down was very scary. After 30 minutes or so battling into strong head winds with the tide slowly turning against us we decided to change our plan and go to Ocean village. This option meant loosing our overnight fee (pre paid) at Yarmouth but it did give us some excellent broard reach sailing up Southampton Water. Just like old times. A great curry at the Cardamon. The next day saw the wind move 180 degrees so it was on our nose for the return to Portsmouth. Still 4/5 but Easterly. Progress once again was good until we neared Gillkicker, when the tide turned and we were getting nowhere despite all Tim’s guile and cunning. Nothing for it but to out the engine on for the last 2 miles into harbour. About 50 miles sailed. Highlight, seeing Ben Ainslee out practicing in the strong winds for the Americas cup.

13 July    TYC to The Rivers Blackwater & Crouch

This trip had been on the calendar for a very long time. I promised Colin I would help him take Macaret out to sea before he sold her. After a day’s postponement (due to a bad weather forecast), Colin, Jeremy and myself met up on Wednesday 8th July and had a drink with Nigel at the Twickenham Yacht Club (TYC), before setting off at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning. Colin had done all the passage planning and the weather was set fair. We were off Southend in about 6 hours looking for a lighter to moor up to and await a favorable tide. This didn’t appeal to me for several reasons (not least was that there were no lighters!), so I proposed carrying on as it was only midday and the weather was perfect. The journey proved un problematic and we were cruising in to Bradwell on Sea Marina on the River Blackwater at 7pm. Now a whole day ahead of Colin’s original passage plan.

Day 2 saw us exploring the immediate area around the marina in glorious sunshine. Jeremy had done some research and wanted to make a ‘pilgrimage’ along the roman road to St Peter’s on the Wall. Founded in 654 AD it is reportedly the oldest remaining saxon church. After refueling the thirsty Macaret we motored up the Blackwater to Malden, passing, to all our nostalgic delight, an old radio ship that was used for Radio Caroline. Malden was full of historic thames barges, some of which we saw last during the Greenwich Tall Ships Festival last September. When the tide was right we locked into the Heybridge canal basin, just a few miles away from Malden. We ate at the Jolly Sailor immediately adjacent to the lock.

Day 3 was again a glorious day and we motored round to the River Crouch, specifically to Burnham on Crouch, where Colin had an appointment with a yacht broker that he was thinking of using for the sale of Macaret. Again we refueled. After a pub lunch at the marina restaurant Jeremy and I had a stroll into Burnham. We found it quite enchanting, and a visit to the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, followed by a pot of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge completed our exploration. I found the lunchtime beer and the walk into town a little exhausting in the relentless Sun, and took siesta. On waking at 7pm I found the rest of the crew had followed suit. It was back to the Marina restaurant for dinner.

Day 4 started very differently weather-wise than previous days of this trip. Wet and windy. We knew this was going to be the situation and had been monitoring this very careful for our return into the Thames. SW Force 4 to 5 occasionally 6 forecast, which could make things a little exciting. The tides indicated that optimum departure time was midday and the morning was spent with intensive chart work entering waypoints to get us round the maplin sands safely. With only a couple of hours of unpleasant rock and rolling in very steep wind over water situation, we managed the return journey in eleven and a half hours. Macaret was found to be a very sea worthy but somewhat leaky boat when waves were crashing over the deck. The Journey up through London was magical as darkness closed in for the night. All that was left to do on day 5 was to and clean up and do as much as we could to allow her to dry out after the rough passage of yesterday and get Macaret to her mid river berth. All accomplished after an excellent full-english-breakfast in a local Twickenham cafe. An excellent few days.

1 August   Day sail with Tim

11 August     Tim and Tom to Poole

A chance to get Tom on board as Tim wanted to take Half Nelson to Poole for a 10 day period. Some excellent sailing on the Lymington leg through fleets racing during Cowes week and some poor visability, but the leg across Poole bay was windless with a glassy sea.

2 September    Cowes

A break in the weather allowed for a quick trip to Cowes. Rob Main and Jan crewed and a very pleasant time was had by all. 26 Nm