21st June – Hamble to Newtown Creek

Not the best start to the day with a visit to the dentist for a rather deep filling. Despite injections this was not an entirely pain free event. However it was done by 0930 and with a slightly swollen and numb mouth I returned home to finish packing the car to go down to the boat. Surprisingly this would be Gillian’s first outing of the year having been able to avoid contact with water due to grandmother duties – which I agree are far more important than sailing. It was pretty gusty out on the water – it has felt as if it has ben windy all year even when the sun has been shining. I was conscious that Gillian would be a little nervous, so a reef was put in and we gently sailed on an easy tack to Newtown. Our timing coincided with Cowes Classic wek sailing and there were some magnificent sailing boats on the water which the photos fail to do justice.

We timed arriving at Newtown Creek to perfection. Two yachts were leaving No 1 and No 2 buoy just as we arrived with Maggie and Pat about 10 minutes behind us. Buoy picked up and secured at first attempt and we settled down below for a late lunch before blowing up the dinghy – I hasten to add with an air pump rather than explosives ready to go ashore in the evening.

Maggie had organised a BBQ on the beach to see the sun go down. The dinghy was loaded with the Cobb, drink, plates and cutlery – not forgetting the matches to light the BBQ – and we motored ashore with our reliable electric motor – which proved later in the story not to be that reliable! The wind had dropped and the crews from the 4 boats from RSrn (Rin Jinn – Maggie and Pat, Ninette – Paul and Anne plus guests Janet and Caroline, Hacienda – David and Judith and Purrfect Tale) gathered together overlooking the entrance to Newtown. The chilled white wine went well with the BBQ chicken wrapped in smocked streaky bacon and salad. There was a bit of a plaque of very small back creatures that no-one could quite identify but they seemed particularly attracted to Maggie’s bag!

The sunset was beautiful as we made our way back to the moored boats.

We could not resist a late night drink before slipping into our cabins.

22nd June – Lay Over Day Newtown Creek

The tides were just right to take the dinghies up to Shalfleet for a look around the village, visit the Church of St Michael the Archangel and have lunch in the local pub. Maggie and pat were quicker off the mark than we were. I enquired as they rowed past at an impressive pace where the landing was to get ashore. I was assured by Maggie that it was obvious – just follow the river was the response. Mmm – it was not quite that clear if you had not been there previously and after a couple of wrong turns we did arrive at what we had to admit was an obvious landing/quayside right next to a lifeboat. We were on a flooding tide and having secured the dingy and climbed the metal rung ladder we took the short walk into the village.

The Church was one of those that has a sense of being a place of permanence and constancy in a changing world. It was first established around 1050. When you walked in it had this dense air and smell that felt like you were breathing in the history of a place that had seen much happiness and sadness. It was also the resting place of tow people close to Maggie who had died at a far younger age than should have been allowed. Without sounding sentimental we all took time to pause and give thanks for the lives we had lived and the friends we had made.

As every good church goer will know after a good service there is only one place to go and reflect – the local hostelry. There was one close to hand the New Inn – but just before we crossed the threshold there was a need for some shopping – yes of course basic essentials but even more importantly top up of rum and wine. The food at the New Inn was excellent – we each had a 1/2 pint of prawns washed down with cider and beer – but not too much that it made the walk back to the quayside a challenge!

Having made it back in a straight line I gallantly offered to tow Maggie and Pat back to save them rowing. Sadly this was not to be as the ever reliable electric motor turned out to be not so quite ever reliable. Having cast our line off and pressing the ‘go’ button the error message E45 illuminated the screen. Taking off cables and batteries and resetting proved to be useless. So there was no choice but to dig out the oars and battle our way down the river trailing Maggie and Pat by some distance.

The afternoon was spent trying to work out what was wrong. E45 indicated an electric motor problem. So propeller came off and the locator pin was found to be snapped. This was replaced, weed removed, cables refitted and motor remounted on the dinghy – numerous times – all to no avail. After 2 hours all hope was abandoned and I resigned myself to very inefficient rowing for the rest of the stay in Newtown. My inefficiency was brought home by a large blister on my thumb from the pathetically short row from Shalfleet back to the boat!

That evening we were invited by Maggie across to Rin Jinn to join David and Judith for supper. It was a bring your own meal as we were interlopers into a pre-planned event. We spent a lovely evening on board – good wine – good food and even better company. Fortunately the row back was about 30′! So not a major issue.

23rd June – Lay Over Day Newtown Creek

The original plan was to leave Newtown on Friday and either go back to the Hamble or find a berth in the Beaulieu or Cowes. However exchanging messages with Julian and Alison we discovered that they were planning to come to Newtown on the Friday and stay overnight. As we had not had the opportunity to catch up with them on the water this year we changed plans and remained on No 2 buoy.

We were both relaxing in the cockpit when Julian came past on his way on. However we were so engrossed in whatever we were doing that I missed them. Feeling a little guilty that I had no acknowledged their arrival I rowed the boat up to No 11 buoy for a quick hello. For both Julian and Alison it was a work at boat day – with Alison on a conference call down below and Julian waiting to start one. They did invite us for dinner that evening – so I left them to earn their honest pennies and came back to Purrfect Tale to pick Gillian up and go ashore for a walk with Maggie and Pat.

We walked along the shore line and then up above Gurnard Ledge where the path and cliff were showing signs of aggressive erosion. On through a wood to some open fields that eventually lead down to a road to Yarmouth – not that we made it quite that far.

The afternoon was spent relaxing and I made no attempt to rebuild the electric motor. Julian picked us up in his dinghy with a more reliable petrol outboard to join him and Alison for dinner. Another lovely evening catching up on news and friends.

24th June – Newtown Creek – Cowes

This was the start of the Motor Boat rally. We left Newtown around 1000hours. For the couple of days we had been here it was very quiet with few boats around. With the weekend starting the boats were flooding in by the minute. There were already a number circling our buoy just waiting for us to cast off. When we did there were boats everywhere – reversing and motoring full on to grab it. Whilst this might have been amusing it made manoeuvring a bit stressful to get away.

Outside of Newtown there was very little wind and we drifted down the Solent towards Egypt point. There was a dinghy race that was taking place behind us with the boats catching us up fast. We adjusted our position as well as we were able and managed to keep out of their way. By the time we made Cowes entrance the wind had picked up surprisingly – but by then we had sorted out the sails and made our way slowly into Cowes Marina. It has been some years since I have visited this marina and to be honest did not have a great option of it – average facilities and noisy pontoons aggravated by too much drinking – wow I must be getting old and grumpy! I was pleasantly surprised. There was a boat on the water to welcome us and plenty of hands ashore to take lines to guide us in – a stressless mooring. By now it was very hot and both of us needed a shower. We stopped by the bar in the marina for a drink before finishing off admin. A bit of shopping for the pontoon party completed we changed for supper and joined the remainder of the very welcoming Motor Boat Rally which had been organised by Doug Fisher.

Supper was taken in the Island Sailing Club on the terrace. It was pretty packed with a wedding downstairs, members upstairs and our large party. Prior to dinner we found a couple of spare seats next to the owner of a Contessa 32 who had a excellent track record in the Round Island Race and was at the Club to return his trophy before the start of the 2023 race. There was clearly a great deal of mutual and tactile attraction with his fiancé at the table! For dinner we sat with Martyn who was a house builder based in Leicester, Mark Haines who was a senior renewable engineer plus another friend who was a car dealer. We had a very enjoyable evening swapping stories and experiences.

After a few days on the boat and not a great deal of sleep we retired straight after dinner and sat on the boat with a drink people watching. There were two sail training boats in with school children in the age bracket of 13-15 who were clearly enjoying the freedom of being away from home. Control was regained with the offer of hot chocolate all around by either the skipper or mate!

25th June – Cowes – Hamble

We left early to get back and sort out the boat alongside ready for Alice plus the babies coming down the following week. Not much wind and we had to motor to clear the restricted area well ahead of a freighter making its way down the Solent from Motherbank. We had plenty of time but it was motoring in the wrong direction so it took a little longer than I had expected to get back in. Perfect docking alongside Mercury. Then it was down to work clearing out the locker, washing down the boat, scrubbing the floors and head as well as emptying the fridge. It was hot and sweaty work. We planned to stay on board another night as Hampshire were playing Day 2 of a county match the following day and I had arranged to drop off the Torqeedo Electric Motor at Golden Arrow to be fixed.