After a month of delays, and many years of planning, the time had finally come to set off on my Round Britain trip.
Sunday 7th May
The first day was a short trip round to Portsmouth. I’d always planned this as a short starting trip, easing myself in to life on the boat for the next several months. It would have been nice to get the sails up, but it was important to get out and get started. At least I was finally on the move.
The Solent was its usual busy self, especially as this was a bank holiday weekend. I left my mooring at 10am and by the time I got to the mouth of the River Hamble I was in a queue of around 15 boats all heading out. I don’t know why people were rushing so, even the lightweight racing boats with full crews and huge sails were barely moving. I motored on through the myriad of boats, keeping the usual eye out for the Idiots-in-Motorboats, those who seem to drive their boats purely with the intention of causing the biggest waves they possibly can.
One thing I will not miss on my travels is The Solent.
Monday 8th May
Second day and an early start towards Brighton in the sunshine. This time an early start saw a quiet departure, motoring out as far as the Solent Forts before setting the sails. The weather was almost as forecast, blowing l 12 to 14 knots of wind from around the south. This pushed me along towards the headland at Selsey Bill at a cracking speed. Soon, looking behind me, the Isle of Wight was disappearing into a haze of cloud and rain, which I was sure was heading my way.
Sailing around Selsey Bill was a little nerve jangling for the first time. There are banks that extend for a couple of miles south of the headland, then a channel that is less than a quarter of a mile wide called the Looe channel, then Boulder Bank bends its way round for another couple of miles. With the brisk wind and waves coming from the south you could see choppy disturbed seas all around and the current was pushing me through at an extra 2 to 3 knots of boat speed. I wouldn’t fancy doing that in worse weather or with reduced visibility!
Brighton, Hove and Shoreham are 3 towns all connected along the coast. I knew from passing through Brighton before that the Marina in a little way out of town and so I thought I’d stop in Lady Bee marina in Shoreham. The staff are lovely and I had a very warm welcome (the marina is owned by the port authority and run by the chandlery) however the whole area is a little on the industrial side in nature. If I was to visit again I’d probably chose Brighton marina next time.
While there I took a day out and had a wonder around the sights of Brighton, which seems to have plenty to see from the historical sights of the Pavilion and the pier, a fine mixture of chain shops and the small boutique type shops that cater for the more individual tastes, and of course an abundance of watering holes.
Wednesday 10th May
I was up early for the trip from Shoreham to Eastbourne. The wind was due to pick up later as well as expecting rain and possible thunder storms. Unfortunately I had miscalculated the locks into and out of the marina, I wouldn’t be able to lock out until two hours after low water at 11am. I had a fall back plan that if I got out and wasn’t happy with the conditions I’d head into Brighton Marina, I’d be able to leave there at any state of the tide the following day if needed.
The wind was brisk, I’m quite a cautious sailor and I elected to put two reefs in both the sails (for those who don’t know, reefing a sail is reducing it’s size by a pre-set area so it slows the boat down and puts less stress on everything, including me!). Initially the boat was still sailing at around 6 knots so I was quite happy with this, though after an hour I did unroll another reef in the Genoa (the sail at the front) which added a little to the speed. The seas were rolling the boat around from side to side quite a lot which didn’t make for a very comfortable sail, but the boat was going well so I decided to press on.
After around 3 ½ hours I finally passed the imposing Beachy Head and I could turn so the wind and the waves were much more behind me. Comfortable and fast sailing under a blue sky, it really doesn’t get much better than this, real Champaign Sailing!
A note to the non-sailors – Turning the boat comes in two forms, you can either “tack”, which is turning the boat so the front of it goes through the wind. The other is called a “jibe”, where you turn the boat so the wind goes from one side of the back of the boat to the other. If a jibe isn’t controlled then everything goes with a bang from one side to the other and the stresses can be quite high, it feels like it damages something on the boat every time. I prefer to avoid this manoeuvre when I can, I’ve even been known to “Granny tack” which is turning the boat all the way up towards the wind, tacking, and then letting the sails out again on the other side, so you turn the boat almost through 360 degrees. In this case I did an “old man jibe”. I started the engine to be sure I had control, furled the front sail down to a small size (this has more to do with the semi-permanent inner forestay that gets in the way at times like this) and pulled the mainsail right in, then turned the boat so the wind went behind, then let the sails out again on the other side. Remember I said I was a cautious sailor?!
As I sailed towards the entrance to the harbour it was time to take the sails down. I turned the boat into the wind and began to furl the foresail in, I got it half rolled in and then it stuck, I tried again, but there was no budging it. I went along the rope to the furling drum to make sure it wasn’t twisted or caught anywhere but nothing, and still it wouldn’t go over half way furled. I had no choice but to drop the huge foresail onto the deck. Driving into the wind and with the bow rising and falling over the waves, and with no sails keeping the boat steady it was a challenge to pull the sail down without any of it going over the side and without any of the ropes going into the water. A rope around the propeller now didn’t bear thinking about. Once I had secured the sail so it wouldn’t go anywhere I still had to get the main sail down, but that is something that happens every time I sail and so it’s set up to be relatively easy to do.
Finally I get back to the cockpit and can start taking the boat towards the harbour entrance again. There’s a fishing boat there but he doesn’t seem to have been doing much so I assume he’s fishing off the far side of his boat. After my exploits I’m keen to get in and out of the wind so I decide to go a way in front of him. As I’m passing I hear yelling and when I look his way they are pulling up a line of lobster pots, on the other side of my boat I can now see a small white jerry can marking the other end of his line. I slam the boat into reverse and she complains bitterly at suddenly being made to reverse into the wind and waves, but she does as I ask. I manage to turn and go behind the fishing boat, we are a bit closer than either of us would have liked, but another catastrophe is averted. As I lock into the marina they follow me in, and one of them comes over to help with my lines and make sure I’m okay, they’d also watched me have to drop my sail earlier but didn’t realise I’d done it all alone.
There were a few anchor beers had after that sail!
The furling headsail turned out to be an easy fix. With the wind pulling on the sail it had pulled the rope in between two of the coils around the rope drum. I had obviously let the furling rope out too quickly / loosely at some point and it had created a loose roll around the drum, which had got caught up. I will take it as a reminder to myself to keep some tension on the rope as I’m easing the sail out in future.
After sorting the roller furling headsail out on the Thursday it was too late to sail anywhere, my next step is Dover, and that’s a full days sail away. With the winds being as they are it looks like this weeks sailing is over, but hopefully the weekend will see me moving on.
