I don’t often think of sailing East. I was at school in Seaford, my Grand parents lived in Brighton and I started married life on Selsea Bill. I did some dinghy sailing as a child with my father and Uncle who was Commodore of The Sussex Yacht Club in Shoreham. I knew the Hampshire and Sussex coast line pretty well and but for a few exceptions saw no very good reason to go East.
However, one day I was invited to a house party on the Isle of Wight. Northcote House is as you can see rather nice and the party was going to be, well, worth the effort in getting there even if I had to go East!
There was no contest, I was going to sail the short trip to Yarmouth, only just past the Needles from my base at Hamworthy.
I had been used to sailing out of the ‘swash’ channel and sailing on towards Old Harry rocks but my guru had suggested that if I chose a time when the tide was right I could take a short cut in front of Bournemouth beachs. Thus I did but my crew felt the rollers big time. Sea sickness is extraordinarily dramatic, they were definitely at deaths door for most of the trip, so much so that I wondered if I should request an airlift for them. We arrived along Hurst Castle and hugged the coast before nipping into Yarmouth in front of a ferry. Yarmouth provided an excellent lunch of moules mariniere for all the crew miraculously recovered from seasickness.
Needless to say the party was a great success, including several games of tennis, fabulous food, dancing and silly games.
But I had to sail home solo. No one was going to risk the the trip home with me. They missed quite a run for it too. Yarmouth marina is very pleasant and easy to get in and out of providing you avoid the ferrys. I encountered however the other hazard; The Royal Navy.
Quite frankly one needs to respect anything that is bigger than you at sea but perhaps more so to a significant warship. HMS Bulwark 8 nautical miles away was but a speck in the distance to me. A dark menacing speck may be, but a long way away. I took the decision to cross the Solent ahead of her, she was eight miles away after all. This was not a mistake but it was surprising how quick these ships move and I suspect the officer of the watch had fun turning up the speed to make the point as he visibly slowed down after passing me. Bulwark is a big ship smaller than an aircraft carrier but nevertheless impressive from the cockpit of a Moody 27. In future I will let them go first and dip my ensign!
“Mayday Mayday Mayday”,
I had past Hurst Castle and was proceeding at a pace back to Poole. The sky was growing a dark bluie gray to the West and I was going towards it. It was not a time to linger. By the time I reached the entrance to Christchurch I heard this painful cry on channel 16. A rib had got caught on a lobster pot and was in difficulty. The life boat was quick to respond and the ensuing rescue story played out on Channel 16 was a good reminder to us all that things can go wrong through no fault of your own. By the time I had reached my mooring the weather had turned nasty and I was very glad that the outboard motor worked like a dream and I safely made it home, wet, cold and bedraggled.
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