Mid-Week Rally – Royal Southern Yacht Club 11th-13th May
Hamble-Island Marina Cowes-Hamble
11th May
A little bit of a dash to the Mercury Marina on Tuesday morning to enable us to depart by 1000hrs in order to hit top of tide getting into Island Marina. Approach dries out to around 1m-1.5m. With a 2m keel we need to be in the window HW-1.5/+1.5hrs. In the rush to leave, the wallet and face mask was left behind. Gillian who is ever resourceful and no doubt able to anticipate my occasional forgetfulness had a spare mask and the all important credit card. The wind was a strong S/WW (18-20kts) – more or less heading us. We could have tacked across but decided to just to crack on and get across the narrow strip of water that separates Southampton from Cowes. Unbelievably for an overcast blowy day I ended up getting sunburnt on my face. The upside was that the only medication we had on board consisted of double gin and tonics! The approach did not end up being as difficult as I had expected and we had at least 1m or more beneath the keel. Coming into the berth itself was tricky – with a wind blowing us off the pontoon – Richard and Dot picked up our lines and which helped a lot. The evening was spent aboard Dino Volante with Pat and Maggie, both of whom had sponsored us to join the Royal Southern Yacht Club. We then made the mistake of going to The Breeze for dinner. Bl*** H*** was it cold sitting outside. A quick scuttle back to boat relatively early and 3 glasses of whisky later I was beginning to feel human.
The Island Marina is a fair way up the River Medina – South of Cowes and near Newport. You swing left off the river, down a narrow a channel and if you are fortunate through the free flow lock gates. Once inside it is extremely peaceful and protected. First time we have been here. We had intended to stay one night but ended up stopping over for two.
On the bank opposite is the factory where they build the large ‘blades’ for the wind turbines. The factory gives you a sense of the size of these ‘propellers’.
12th May
On Wednesday we caught the No9 bus into Ryde. A town that has a very Victorian feel to it. It is on the North coast of the Isle of Wight – sort of mid-way between Portsmouth and Southampton. A very long pier with its own railway line. It also is the home of I think the last commercial hovercraft in UK – but I could be wrong. Runs between Hyde and Old Portsmouth.
After a bit of shopping and a coffee now in the customary pose – huddled in a coat hunched over a table – we caught the bus back for lunch, drink and a nap for Gillian.
The evening we had Maggie and Pat across for pre-dinner drinks before lighting the Cobb BBQ for dinner. Not very original menu – sausage, burger, new potatoes and Heinz Baked Beans – but it tasted great!
13th May – an auspicious day – my birthday!
A lovely walk in the morning along the River Medina towards Newport. The birdsong was amazing and with a watery but warmer sun it actually began to feel like late spring. Just as you start the walk you pass the wreck of the Paddle Steamer Ryde that was commissioned and run by Southern Railway as a passenger ferry between mainland England and the Isle of Wight from 1937 to 1969, with an interlude during the Second World War where she served as a minesweeper and then an anti-aircraft ship, seeing action at D-Day. After many years abandoned on moorings at Island Harbour Marina on the River Medina, she was purchased by the PS Ryde Trust in late 2018, with the intention of raising money for her restoration. That project was abandoned in January 2019.
The weather was not ideal for sailing! However if you purchase sufficient weather apps for your mobile you can generally find one that will tell you want you want to read – sadly not today. In order not to alarm Gillian I decided we would just leave and sort it out on route. Gillian clearly guessed that all was not going to be well when I suggested we shortened sail quite considerably under the guise that as it was a new boat it would be nice to see how she sailed with smaller sails! My attempt at sub-defuse was not entirely successful – the give away was the number of boats heading for safe harbour and the wind-socks being near vertical as we passed them. Stoic as ever nothing was said! We did make it across the short piece of water – we did not founder or take on water – in fact Purrfect Tale behave extremely well. Nevertheless it was not only the wind that was a little cold on the boat.
Mooring up also proved a little tricky as with the strength of the wind we were being blown off. Whilst I steered the boat, this was the easy job, Gillian had rope to hand and had to lasso a small cleat on a floating piece of wood, pull it in and all before I was blown off. During this process I had learnt to say NOTHING. But she is very good at doing this – okay we did miss first time and okay when the loop did go over, Gillian pulled in the wrong end but 3rd time we were lucky. The guy on board the boat next to us as we were coming in looked as if he needed some urgent medical attention as he saw us hurtling towards him with a strong wind blowing us onto his beloved yacht. But success – a rope ashore, no damage and sighs all around.
Next stop was the Gaff Rigger for pizza and coffee. Still of course socially distanced, huddled in blankets around a heater.
Next trip is Bank Holiday Weekend to Bembridge. This is combined with a cross country race – Gillian offering encouragement rather than participation. Although I suspect she will be snuggled up in the forward berth as I leave the Purrfect Tale.
Purrfect Tale 