Robinetta's staying put

Yesterday afternoon's forecast gale is now forecast to arrive earlier, and it will be continuing longer, so there is no point Julian and I waiting in Newhaven. Robinetta and Worm are safe and secure here, but we are on our way home, and will return next weekend to continue moving her east.

Gosport to Newhaven

It seems odd to be weekend sailing! This is a bank holiday weekend, so 3 days long, and we got to Robinetta on Friday evening so have the whole time to sail. Julian even has a smart shirt with him so he can go straight to work from the boat on Tuesday if needed. With this much time we should be able to get as far as Dover, BUT there is a force 8 gale forecast for Sunday afternoon.

The tides are also at unfriendly times, and strong so we have to get them right. Low water Portsmouth is at 04:56 BST, so we needed to be away from the marina at 4 to take the last of the ebb out of the harbour and pick up the flood to take us east. We were clear of the Royal Clarence Marina by 04:10, and motoring towards Haslar marina when Julian suddenly realised we had not turned the running lights on. We did have our AIS transmitting though...

The harbour seemed very quiet, but we kept over in the small boat channel anyway, and were glad of it when a cargo ship, escorted by pilot boats, loomed out of the dark in the main channel.

We turned to cross the channel by the Horse Sand buoy and went onto a course of 120°M, heading for the Looe channel. The wind was almost dead astern, but strong enough to be useful, so we raised the main sail then turned off the engine at 05:30. The sun was rising, but the air was cold. It felt good to be sailing, even though a run with swell coming from behind is not the most comfortable point of sail.

The swell was rather uncomfortable, and got worse as we neared the Looe channel. I had laid the course rather close to the Medmery Bank and sailing a very broad reach rather than a dead run had put us 2 cables inshore of the planned track so even closer... conditions eased as we got back into deeper water.

Ship anchored near Shoreham

We entered the Looe channel at 07:30 and our speed immediately went up to 7 knots from 5. We could see breaking seas to starboard and very short seas ahead, but steering remained easy and both speed and waves soon eased.
By 10:30 the wind had dropped too much to be of use, so we centred the main sail and put the engine on, and George was soon given the helm. We had over 25miles to go on the same course, with very little to aim at except a wind farm and an anchored ship, so the swell moderating enough for George was very helpful. We lowered the main sail a couple of hours later, and kept motoring with the stay sail up.

Occasionally George would start heading for Brighton rather than Newhaven, but the rest of us much preferred our intended destination and made sure George did not take Robinetta astray! The Brighton entrance is horrible, and we wanted to see what Newhaven was like.

I had a look at the CA almanack (2017 version) just to check the entrance lights. I had researched them on the internet but wanted a reminder. What I got was a shock, as the almanack said that the visitor pontoon was only available for 2 ½ hours either side of high water. I had been sure it was all states of the tide.... A quick phone call to the marina reassured me. There was all states access for Robinetta, and plenty of space on the pontoon. I was also reminded to call Newhaven VTS for permission before entering.

The wind freshened again around 14:00, but it was still from dead astern. After our early start neither Julian or I felt up to hand steering for two hours on a dead run, so we stayed under engine.

As we came closer to the shore the swell increased, and George was struggling to cope, so Julian took the helm instead. I went below to call the VTS as we got close to the end of the breakwater, and was denied permission to enter harbour. Apparently a cargo ship was on its way out. We spent an uncomfortable 10 minutes circling slowly in the swell waiting for the ship to appear. As soon as it was clear of the harbour mouth VTS called us up and gave us permission to come in.

Despite this delay outside the breakwater the Newhaven entrance seemed a lot easier than Brighton.

Entering Newhaven

I had given the lady in the marina office an approximate arrival time of 4pm, and we were tied up securely with the engine off by 16:03. Not bad at all! We had taken 12 hours to cover 48nm, which is pretty much the best we can hope for.

We headed up to the marina office to pay and get the codes, then had a walk along the coast then up to the fort. It felt good to stretch my legs.

Folly to Gosport

Our plan for today was to take the tide in the Solent east, heading for the Royal Clarence Marina at Gosport. They give a discount for CA members and we need to leave Robinetta in the Solent for a week since Julian has to go back to work on Monday.
After our late return to the Folly pontoons yesterday we were on the outside of the raft, so it was easy to cast off and set off down river at nine. We left Cowes through the small boat exit to the east of the main channel and once on course the wind came from almost dead astern. We tried running on just the foresails at first, but this made us slower than ideal, so we raised the main with 2 reefs in, and had a lovely sail across the Solent.
On a rising tide, at neaps, the Inner Swatchway channel was perfectly safe although a bit bouncy, and well away from any other shipping until we joined the main channel into Portsmouth harbour. The entrance was quite busy with yachts and not a good place to get sails down, but once we were near the marina the water was much calmer, and it was easy to stow them away.
We were safely moored up by 11:40, after four weeks on board. In that time we have visited two traditional boat events, so have been at sea for less time than normal, but we had a few good sails, one rather too exciting one, and covered over 400 mn.

Racing in the Solent

Last time we were in the Solent with Robinetta was for OGA50. OGA55 is a smaller event, based at the Folly Inn on the Medina River rather than in Cowes itself. There were well over a hundred boats registered, which included some open boats as well as yachts. It was only the yachts that set out to race on Saturday.

The race was due to start at 10:30, but we got ready to leave the pontoon at the Folly around 09:00. We had two yachts rafted outside us, who were not planning to race, and yachts rafted ahead of us too, so it was a bit of a wriggle to extract Robinetta, but with a lot of help from other boat owners we got clear, leaving Worm hauled up on the pontoon.

It was an overcast and windy day, but since we were racing we put up the no1 jib as we motored down river towards Cowes. There were a lot of boats milling around on the start line, as there was only a single start time for 6 classes, and over 60 boats on the line.

We did not get an especially good start. Both tide and wind were against us and in the crush of boats trying to tack towards the line we were inevitably sometimes on port and had to give way. However only clear of the line we made straight for the first mark, and made it without too much trouble, but the majority of the sail was spent in frustrating tacking as we tried to get to the windward mark. We could only make progress by short tacking on the northern shore; the one time we decided to go all the way across to the Wight side again we ended up loosing ground.

Elephantboatyard, the top racing mark

The time limit for the race was set at 5 hours after the start, which seems reasonable for a 10.3 nm course. This meant we needed to be back at the Island Yacht Club line by 15:30. There was also a discretionary extra 30 minutes...

We finally got to the upwind, up tide, mark at 15:41....

Cine Mara behind us on the line.

Did we give up? No!

We were determined to finish, and did so at 16:41

Much to our surprise we were not even the last over the line!

We put the engine on and motored back to the Folly, and made it in time to moor up and get the water taxi back to Cowes for the meal and prize giving at the Sugar Store.   

Lloyds Boat Register 1974

Every now and then we come across an old copy of the Lloyds Register of Yachts. We found this one at Ratsey & Lapthorn, when we went to visit their sail loft as part of OGA55.

This is the first record we have found of Robinetta having an "oil" engine (i.e. diesel). It is interesting to note that it is an 8hp engine, and built in 1965.

Yarmouth to the Folly

We had so much room on the pontoon this morning that I could get the bowsprit out and the No 1 Jib on before we left. Alison backed out of the berth and then we had space to head straight out. Susan J had just come in and they said Carlotta and Ariana and Minx were just behind.

We raised sail out in the channel and turned onto course just as Carlotta stormed past - they weren't stopping at Yarmouth after all.

It looked like we should be running but a broad reach across towards the mainland left the tide pushing us back onto course. Much more comfortable and faster!

A tall ship was anchored at the western end of Gurnard Bay so we gybed and went over to get a closer look. It was Tenacious and there were dozens of Sea Scouts on the yard arms. We went in front of her, being careful not to be washed down onto her by the tide and ran alongside waving with the scouts waving back and then gybed back behind her stern.

As we got near the Gurnard cardinal we decided we could carry on sailing past West Cowes and drop the main near the small craft moorings and come in near via the East Channel.

Alison spotted a yawl putting her sails up. It was the lovely Nobby yacht Bonita.

But our plan wasn't to be. The fast Cat went out in front of us and then the wind hit hard. With full main on a broad reach it was suddenly hard to control. We swung right round into wind and dropped the main quickly and put a sail tie on and resumed our course on fore-sails with a little engine in case.

It looks like they are making wind turbines in Bembridge again.

This had put us into the channel so we pottered along with the other boats. We had to keep well to the island side to let the big ferry out and then we were ready to turn into the river.

Several small gaff and lug dinghies were beating in. The wind was very variable and it veered 60 degrees in the gusts. So we gave up any idea of sailing up to the folly and just motored gently.

We were waived onto a pontoon berth in the river behind Molly Cobbler. The last time we saw her was in Gighe last spring. Both boats have done a few miles since then! Witch, Plum, Transcur and Emanuel are on the same pontoon too so we have several East Coast boats here now with more smaller ones.

Into the Solent at last

After a convivial evening in the pub with Susan J’s owners, followed by a drink on Robinetta I was not sure I would be up for leaving at 07:00 in the morning. However I actually woke at 6, before the alarm sounded, and we were off the pontoon in good time.

Castle on Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour

The weather promised fair, with bright sun and a gentle breeze. It was only an hour after low water, but the tide was already flooding into Poole harbour and we had a knot of tide against us as we entered the main channel. Luckily it was much slacker as we turned towards the North Channel. Julian got the main sail up on the run, but the wind was so light it was not a problem.


By the time we reached the curve of the North Channel where it rejoined the main one we were hard on the wind, and making 4 knots. Unfortunately I could see the water flooding in through the narrows, and doubted we would make much progress once we joined it. Julian kept trimming the sails for the wind, and with the engine on full revs we crept towards the narrows at under a knot. The chain ferry set of across the narrows and we sped up a little as it provided some shelter from the tide. Once it docked we slowed right down.

At times the chart plotter showed zero progress, but we were just about making against the tide.

We had nearly reached the line of the chain ferry when it set off again, and we had no choice but to turn away, letting the tide sweep us back towards Poole. I did as tight a circle as I could, and aimed Robinetta at the ferry’s stern. The chain stretched tight, but we were going so slowly, at ½ knot I knew it would be below Robinetta’s keel by the time we reached it.

Once clear of the ferry the tide slackened slightly and we made 2 knots. I wondered about using the Looe channel, but Julian had not plotted it, so it felt safer to continue out along the main one where we knew there would be enough depth. Once clear of the confining sand bank we turned due east and headed straight for the Hurst Channel into the Solent. We had to be through it before 13:00, and really 12:00 would be better as the tide would still be with us.

The wind was behind us, and it was difficult to keep the foresails drawing, but we now had the tide with us, and made a steady four knots under main sail alone. Calm sea, blue sky, and a steady force 3 westerly made for nearly perfect conditions. (Of course a broad reach would have been better than a run ….)
We got to the Hurst Narrows with three knots of tide under us, and were swept though some rather uncomfortable overfalls. Too bumpy for me, and I wanted the engine on to get through them faster, so we shot though at 7 knots.

Bumpy seas off Hurst Castle (taken from the shore later)

We were moored up in Yarmouth by 12:30, after a very pleasant sail from Poole. Not every journey is a tale of danger and near misses!

We went for a walk in the afternoon, and when we got back to the pontoon Robinetta and Worm had gone, to be replaced by children trying to catch crabs. We could see Robinetta on a pontoon in a different arm of the marina, but having made our way across a crowded pontoon to our berth we now had to go back through the crush to get onto a different pontoon. It also had a different gate code to the one we had been given before. Worm was jambed under the bow, her gunwales rubbing Robinetta’s paint work, the main sheet had been used as a mooring line... The berthing master did come and apologise for having put Robinetta on the wrong berth initially, but it did spoil our impression of Yarmouth.