Gosport weekend Sept 2024
Saturday 7th Sept 2024
Club cruise / race Littlehampton to Gosport.
I was all set to make this trip single handed in Bay Leaf but David appeared just as I was getting ready and offered to come with me. The race course was from Boulder / Street in the Looe to the Main Passage outside Portsmouth with a dog-leg to Dean Elbow (green) and to Winner (south cardinal) to try and give us all points of sail in the NE breeze. Six boats from the club were setting off, plus one who had already gone 12 hours earlier. With HW Littlehampton at 1425 I knew the tide would be in our favour from 1330 so we got off the berth at 1200, hoisted the mainsail, and motored directly to the Looe making 7 knots over the ground. Bay Leaf's new engine is super-powerful and smooth, easily giving 5.5 knots through the water, with the tide behind us giving us 7 knots total. There was a little light rain on and off. David did most of the helming and I did most of the crewing - sail handling and fenders and stuff.
We were at the Boulder / Street buoys by 1410, set full sail and stopped the engine hoping to fly across the start line with the breeze behind us. Instead we found ourselves drifting slowly through the gap and on towards Dean Elbow making 3 knots over the ground of which 2 knots was probably the tide. We stuck this out for half an hour before it became obvious that we would miss the pub supper unless we got on with it. On the radio we heard other boats making the same decision and one had spotted dolphins but they didn't visit us. Spirits were higher then they appear in this photo:
With the engine back on we were through the Main Passage by 1600 with all sails away. David is very expert at approaching this harbour and knew exactly where best to cross the channel to the west side, and we were passing the No 4 Red buoy into the small boat channel at 1625. Haslar gave us a berth right down the far end on pontoon C and we were landed and tied up by 1640 ready to put the kettle on for coffee.
Everyone had retired apart from Reef Knot, who'd made the trip twelve hours earlier and was the only boat to complete the course and thus won the race.
To Gosport - 07-09-2024
Race officer D Robinson
Course - Boulder/Street, Dean Elbow, Winner, Main Passage
| Rank | Boat | Class | SailNo | HelmName | PY | Elapsed | Corrected | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reef Knot | Konsort | KT361 | J Penberthy | 1181 | 5;22;58 | 4;33;28 | 1.0 |
| 2 | Dedicated Dancer | Limbo 6.6 | 9943Y | D Robinson | 1037 | RET | 8.0 | |
| 2 | Moontide | Hunter 30 | 10 | S Gibbs | 1028 | RET | 8.0 | |
| 2 | Free n Easy | Centaur | 2157 | N Clare | 1294 | RET | 8.0 | |
| 2 | Polly B | Centaur | 1222 | J Webb | 1267 | RET | 8.0 | |
| 2 | Silver Moon | Cobra 750 | 7266Y | C Dunn | 1307 | RET | 8.0 | |
| 2 | Bay Leaf | Centaur | 1499 | A Tyrrell | 1305 | RET | 8.0 |
David disappeared off to get the train home and I spent a couple of pleasant hours wandering around my fellow club members' boats, had a beer with Tim and Debbie on Papyrus, it was great to have so many of us there together. We went on to have a super evening in the Castle pub - seven boatloads who had sailed from Littlehampton, two more boatloads of club members who berth within Portsmouth Harbour, and some had come by car to join us.
Sunday 8th Sept 2024
The next morning I was really looking forward to a good breakfast in the cafe opposite the pub, famous for their sailor's breakfast and open from 7am for hungry crews. Half a dozen of us piled in to find the place almost empty and a slightly disappointing breakfast was had. Back at the boat I got prepared for my solo sail back to Littlehampton, the forecast was somewhat variable but the threat of thunderstorms seemed to have gone away. Motoring out at 0845 it was a lovely sunny morning with hardly any traffic in the harbour, I was able to pass the Dolphin (aka Main Passage) with sail set for a fine reach into a SE breeze, starting my race clock at 0920. Others had gone ahead of me, two were behind. Bay Leaf then had a cracking sail making the Looe Channel on one tack, passing Boulder / Street at 1115. Stuart was single handed in Moontide and overtook me making a good speed.
Heading East until abeam the Mixon pole we turned into the bay towards Littlehampton. This is often quite a cruel leg as you can see the Littlehampton gasometer and you think you are nearly home but it's still ten miles to go. The wind had swung behind me and dropped away and we had a flappy time trying to goosewing, gybe around, downwind tacking inshore and back out again, near me was Silver Moon trying the same tactics. Eventually around 1300 the tide was turning foul and ground speed fell right away so at 1315 I decided just to start the engine and drive home. It still took another hour even at Bay Leaf's best speed before I arrived outside our home harbour. Bravely Moontide and Free n Easy kept going and came home an hour or so behind me but they had completed the course under sail. Back on my berth by 1430 and hungry after the disappointing breakfast I consoled myself with a cup of hot soup before tidying up. I found that my fellow Centaur owners, the Webb family, who's left earlier and used a spinnaker, had a brilliant sail and did the whole journey in just over 4 hours thus winning the race.
From Gosport - 08-09-2024
Race officer D Robinson
Course - Main Passage, Boulder/Street, AYC South
| Rank | Boat | Class | SailNo | HelmName | PY | Elapsed | Corrected | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Polly B | Centaur | 1222 | J Webb | 1267 | 4;06;00 | 3;14;10 | 1.0 |
| 2 | Dedicated Dancer | Limbo 6.6 | 9943Y | D Robinson | 1037 | 3;32;30 | 3;24;55 | 2.0 |
| 3 | Free n Easy | Centaur | 2157 | N Clare | 1294 | 6;05;55 | 4;42;47 | 3.0 |
| 4 | Moontide | Hunter 30 | 10 | S Gibbs | 1028 | 5;23;46 | 5;14;57 | 4.0 |
| 5 | Reef Knot | Konsort | KT361 | J Penberthy | 1181 | 7;04;05 | 5;59;05 | 5.0 |
| 6 | Silver Moon | Cobra 750 | 7266Y | C Dunn | 1307 | RET | 8.0 | |
| 6 | Bay Leaf | Centaur | 1499 | A Tyrrell | 1305 | RET | 8.0 |
I really enjoyed the weekend, particularly the trip back with just me and Bay Leaf out on the ocean making good speed towards home and arriving back with absolutely nothing broken or damaged! Since I cleaned her up for Open Day, had some friends visit and sit aboard, got a new gas bottle so the cooker works and then had a great weekend aboard I feel I have re-bonded with Bay Leaf and am looking forward to more sailing before the season ends.
Comments
Post a Comment