On Our Own in 2021 – 27th-30th April
Hamble-Lymington-Beaulieu-Hamble
27th April – Onwards to Lymington
We nearly became stranded between the two sets of pontoon with an inability to turn the boat through 90 degrees against the wind and tide! We had been in this position before and you can end up moving forward and back with insufficient speed to turn. A moment’s panic as Gillian dashed from front to back of boat with roving fender ready to minimise damage. Then I remembered the bow thruster – a long strong burst did the trick and we were out into the river. At this point I should own up to the fact that the bow thruster did seem to die upon me at the end – but hey – I was sure it would sort itself out. Mmmmm – always expect the worst.
A great sail down to Lymington, tacking out of Southampton Water, across to Cowes and then down to Newtown Creek entrance before tacking back to Lymington Entrance. Wind kind at around 12kts-14kts. But still cold. We berthed on the Dan Bran pontoon – bags of space to aim for. Perfect alongside then off to the Mayflower Pub for a drink outdoors. Being manly I did not take a jacket – humph – back to the boat to collect one! A BBQ with the Cobb on the pontoons that evening followed by some excellent whisky kindly presented by Scott Gardner.
28th April – Beaulieu River
The departure the next morning was okay but that little niggle in the back of my mind as to whether the bow thruster was working came to reality. It completely died on me as I tried to leave the berth. It blew a 200amp fuse – yep that is correct 200amp! We were okay but Gillian was not too pleased that her talisman was now defunct. Not the size of fuse you tend to carry around with you. Front cabin taken apart as I looked to see if I could fix – complete failure despite being a Chartered Engineer! But it did not spoil a lovely sail into the Beaulieu river where we picked up a buoy with superb precision – Gillian on the bow with the boat hook and master mariner Mike at the help. We arrived just in time as the wind started to pick up considerably – 24kts+ – not the sort of sailing weather we wanted this early in the season.
A little bit of an uncomfortable night with much squeaking of fenders. But despite swinging around with tide and wind, we eventually with enough sleeping juice got off to a deep slumber.
29th April
It was the sort of cold and slightly grey morning where you really need a proper breakfast to get you going – bacon, egg and heavily buttered bread with strong coffee. Gillian’s one spoon of sugar was replaced with two. Bit of a spat as well left over confusion of hand signals. I have to put my hand up that it was my fault. The sail back was in stronger winds but was okay – we wanted to get in for top of tide and motored the last couple of miles up Southampton Water. To get back into the berth without a bow thruster required a slightly different approach – reverse down the channel and then forward into the berth. Reason for this is we are tight against a Halberg Rassy so rather than aim for his boat and turning, we aim for our pontoon and turn. We need not have worried absolutely perfect landing in some tricky winds. We normally sort out boat – pack sails, covers on, logs filled in before we venture to the bar. However as this was our first trip out alone this year, it was straight to the Gaff Rigger for glass of wine and a congratulatory pizza.
A great few days out.
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