Did an assisted delivery of a Seamaster 815 with the owner from Beaulieu to Eastbourne over 2 days from 19th to 21st June. Brian drove us down to Bucklers Hard in the van, to find out that the mast was not on the boat, as boatyard hands had gone home because they went out earlier that day to assist a boat in trouble and got wet?! However we slept onboard at the dock that night and they did come early in the morning at 06:00 to put the rig up. We eventually left the dock at around 09:25 after getting the sails bent on, with owner having to purchase a few bits that boat did not have. Bucklers Hard is a beautiful place and is steeped in nautical history, being used as a shipyard since the 16th century and some of it hasn't changed, good pub-grub was had, Brian departed back with van for Eastbourne. The Beaulieu River exit  was no problem despite being Low water springs, passage through Solent no problem to with the wind on the starboard quarter we sailed at 4-5 knots most of the time. Through the Forts and out close to the Nab channel, had a few problems with the newly installed roller-reefing, and as we went through the Looe channel the wind over tide kicked the sea-state up a bit, which made it a bit uncomfortable as a corkscrew motion was experienced with a following sea and wind from the quarter. As at times the genoa was getting blanketed by the sheeted out main, we turned on the engine and motored most of the way to Brighton, where we arrived at 21:00 and slept the night there after a beer (or few) and burger at Weatherspoon's.

After a shower and breakfast we took off again this time into a SSE breeze that took us all the way to Eastbourne , breeze died a bit off Beachy Head, but we arrived back at Sovereign Harbour around 14:00 and moored in owners berth.....job done!

 

Tuesday 15th April was an interesting one! The previous day I got a call from Eastbourne Boprough Council Tourism department, they wanted a boat to take a model and photographer out to take photos of Eastbourne seafront and Beachy Head from the sea for an upcoming London Underground poster campaign. We met on the public dock in the main harbour at 14:30, it was evident that the land forecast of a couple of knots of wind was not accurate, it was blowing 10-15 knots from the SSW and the wind was chill! When the model told us they were taking photos of her in a bikini, it raised the eyebrows! So all the entourage alighted and we went out, luckily the sun was shining in a clear blue sky and the sea was calm, unfortunately it was at low tide so we could not get as close to the Pier and Beachy Head as we would of wanted, but did our best and got a few shouts from the fishermen on the pier....as presumably we were too close! As the model got her clothes off, she must of been freezing....but she did really well and as soon as she came down from the deck was covered in blankets and wooly socks! We had a great time and hopefully Guy the photographer got some good shots, we arrived back in the locks at 18:00 and toook a few more photos of the harbour and finished at around 19:00. The photos will be shared and hope to use a few to put on the web-site....please note no tax-payers money was expended on providing our boat or services.

The SHBHA had organised a Boat Jumble for Sunday 6th April, although snow was forecast, the day dawned bright and sunny. I arrived at 09:00 and set up, Flo and Janet from Premier Marinas were setting-up a coffee and tea tent, which was much appreciated and in the end collected money for the Lifeboats, I heard they collected in the region of £100 in place of charging for the coffee. Although there were not many people that set-up a pitch and wanted to sell something, quite a few people came by and chatted and had a coffee, I ended up selling a few things, having cleared out my storage space! But, then a large black cloud started to loom large on the Northern horizon and by 11:00 it had started to snow......and by 11:30 it had started to snow harder....eventually spilling 4-5 inches for the whole day. My boat was out on charter on a course, the visibility in the snow must not of been great and the temperature hovering around freezing, they arrived back around 20:00, no doubt grateful to get back in and much richer for 5the experience.

The winds topped out at 36 knots on our instruments......sitting comfortably having some hot-cross buns and coffee on the berth in the Sovereign Harbour we span tall tales of our derring-do!!!! Happy Easter to all!!

I am glad someone eventually remembered to bring a camera!!!

 

We ventured out on Easter Friday like intrepid explorers, Michael, Meyrick and me. Michael's enthusiasm was infectious. Michael's story briefly is that after growing up as a river rat on the Medway with his father owning dinghies and then larger sailing boats, hadn't done much sailing since then, marriage and then kids having gotten in the way. So after a shorebased Day Skipper course with Morgan Sailing some crewing was offered.....but this morning seemed extreme...but he was up for it!!

 

We were headed for the Sussex Regatta in Shoreham, as we caught the 09:30 lock, White Rose slipped in behind us. The lock keeper at the harbour informed us that racing had been cancelled that day! As we went through the outer harbour we put in two reefs, just to make sure we were not over powered. Coming out from the harbour winds were not that bad, the forecast was for a NW 7-9, we were in the lee of the downs, but were getting some gusts of around 25 knots. As we approached the Head we could see up ahead breaking water white in the sunlight and thought oh..... as we got into it water was coming up over the deck house and drenching us....see photos and then the winds kicked in gusts of 30-35 knots! White Rose had taken a closer route into the cliffs, on reflection this would have been better as it was partially out of the wind. As the wind direction was NW'ly it would of taken us a lot more time than we had to make Shoreham, so the decision was made to turn round...there were a few relieved faces....had agreat sail back, surfing at 11 knots in the waves and broad reaching at 9 knots....all in all we were glad to get back in......our hands were frozen! 

 

Just back from a pilot Charter for Morgan Sailing...a week sailing in Croatia....the Dalmatia region...specifically starting from Sukosan just south of Zadar. We flew out from Gatwick at some unearthly time of the morning 06:30 so had to be at Gatwick and checked in at 04:30!!!! All crew, (Brian, Meyrick, Martyn and Nick) and me of course. Everything went smoothly I used the VW Combi-van to pick most people up and we were parked and in the terminal at 04:45. We were flying Easy-jet, cheap but I have no problem with it, just as good as any other, yes no frills....but OK. We left on time and arrived early at Split, where we were met by Tea and her driver in a mini-bus for transfer from Split to Sukosan to meet our yacht. The drive was 90 minutes but quite pleasant...some of us took the opportunity for a snooze....others gazed out the window...first impressions of the landscape were of a rocky landscape with green shrubby trees and pines, with small communities of houses once out of Split, we were driven the coast road, but there is a motorway headed in the same direction.

 

We arrived at Marina Dalmajica close to the town of Sukosan around mid-day, this was a huge marina, some two thousand boats at an estimate, our destination was found and was all action, charterers checking in and out, check-in time was booked at 17:00, but we attempted to get the boat earlier, but because of formalities...crew lists, check-out, etc....we achived about that. As we waited we had a meal at the dock-side restaurant and got some provisions fron the small supermarket, which only had the basics! Formalities completed we left the dock and headed for the small town of Kuklija on Ugljan island, we motored the small distance as tyhe light was fast disappearing. We had decided to roughly follow the itenerary as laid down by the charter company, this was the first port of call. Kukljica was a small port/town as we entered the pilot gave us a couple of options for mooring, there appeared to be new moorings ahead of us as we entered, but didn't know if these were private or not, so we opted for going stern-to the outside harbour wall, close in to the headland. It was quiet so we took a walk round the bay past a caravan park, past a couple of empty restaurants and found ourselves a small bar for a couple of beers. We were all fairly tired after an early start, some hadn't been to bed, so we headed for our bunks early, back past the caravan park we heard a band tuning-up their instruments...this was apparently a wedding celebration..but didn't disturb us! Later on in the night though around 01:30 a gust hit us from the NE, it woke me and I decided to put an extra line on the quay, we were reasonably well sheltered by the headland, while i was watching, a motor boat from the Coastguard came alongside the quay and picked up a man from a waiting police car....too much action, I went back to sleep!

 

Sunday morning - the wind was still blowing, 15-20 knots from the NE a " bora ". Part of the Crew went to town to get some breakfast and bring back to us. by the time we were ready, to leave the cloud had cleared, but there was still a wind gusting up to 25 knots. We headed south down the Pasman Channel past Biograd to the bottom of Pasman island. We took the opportunity to "race" a couple of other yachts in the vicinity, reaching at 7-8 knots was a great sail, we rounded the bottom of Pasman and headed for the island of Zut. On the west side of Pasman the wind modified a bit although still gusty, navigating around this area is sometimes confusing, the pilot recommends counting islands as you pass them, but the PC chart plotter on the boat was excellent and everyone agreed that the boat was well kitted out for chartering. To be continued.......

 This week was another busy one....or felt like it!! Delivered a Dehler Optima 9m, from Sovereign Harbour to Poole, Dorset....what an unusual boat had a lot of vibration problems, and as had no wind apart from 2-3 hours, was rattle and hum all the way...did the voyage overnight and was from 12 mid-day to 3pm the next with an unscheduloed stop in Yarmouth to gert some fuel....still was interesting and great sunny weather,,,was my first entrance into Poole Harbour, we went up all the way into Rockley Park, just got in there before all the tide went out....another close thing. Caught the train back, arrived back in Eastbourne at 11pm, knackered....gladly I was assisted by a couple of crew, Brian from the Sailing Club and  Simon who worked for me in the summer a couple of years ago...and now was an instructor for Menorca Sailing in Fornells this summer.

 

On Friday went ti the opening of the Southampton Boat Show, only time for a couple of hours there, had to be back to check out the boat on charter for the weekend, a bunch of guys together, going to Brighton for the weekend....sounds like trouble!!

 Morgan Sailing is organising a Bavariaa 44 in Croatia (from Zadar) as a pre-cursor to a flotilla type event in MAY next year for several boats, will be in Zadar from October 6 - 13th, cruising the Kornati archipelago. Dave M will be onboard and Meyrick is coming too!

 

I assisted the new owner of a Hallberg Rassy 42 deliver his boat from Hamble Point Marina to Sovereign Harbour this week, nice people as they drove down to Hamble. Slept on boat on Wednesday night, wanted to make an early start but needed to fill up with fuel. Fuelled up at Warsash at 08:30 and made exit from Hamble River, turned down Southampton water with a following wind, sails up and making 7-8 knots. Wind inceased as we passed through Looe channel and was a bit bumpy over the Looe shallows, wind and sea was building up to 23-25 knots but still from behind. 5 miles off Beachy Head steering locked up, luckily in a hove to position, panic while we decided what to do, also temp alarm on engine was showing!! So, disconnected auto-pilot pump arm and filled engine with more water. Sailed into Eastbourne Bay and into loack for 23:00, a long day!!!