What a great weekend, topped off by winning best boat. Totally unexpected!
We arrived on Friday to find skipper Denis & adjudicator Les already aboard "Fleur de Lis", a Benetau Oceanis 37.
It looked like Clare wasn't going to join us, so we were down to skipper and two crew. The first of many envelopes appeared - First Mate to give the safety brief - then time to get away. Leaving plan made & well executed by our skipper and we were off.
We motored out of the Hamble, then the next envelope. Crikey! Apparently we had lost the prop! Our first plan, to drop the anchor, was scuppered as the anchor was still in the locker! Plan B, to get the headsail out quick sharp, was completed only just in time but we managed to sail into deeper water, then the prop magically re-appeared!
Envelope number three. Predict the depth of water at a given position, get there and compare. We quickly discovered that finding out where you are, planning how to get somewhere else and knowing that you'd arrived is much more difficult in practice than theory! But we got quite close and our depth prediction wasn't far out. Lessons learnt - keep it simple and double check your bearings.
Then on to East Cowes, a very controlled berthing by skipper and the welcome aroma of lasagne from below. Very nice meal – thanks Denis.
Next day we were joined by Clare, who had arrived via the Red Jet ferry, the chain link ferry and taxi. Well done!
Off up the Medina, and then engine problems again. We needed a tow and, by pure coincidence, Trevor on “Porquoi Pas” was circling around just looking for someone to tow! A short tow completed, then it was “Porquoi Pas” that needed an alongside tow. It all seemed to go very well.
Out of the Medina through the small boat channel - watch the depth - then the next challenge, to pick up a mooring buoy. This went well but we'd only been there a few minutes before being "moved on" by the harbour master. A dredger was coming through. How inconsiderate!
The presence of a bucket and fender on the rear rail gave a hint of what was next, but crafty Les managed to take us by surprise when deep in conversation and it's surprising how far you can travel whilst getting a rescue plan together. Still, we recovered our "man" in four minutes at the first attempt, so it wasn't at all bad.
Anchor now in place (!) we were able to drop & recover it off Newtown Creek entrance, with Denis doing a sterling job of pulling it in by hand.
Then the (fictitious) fog descended, and we had to blind navigate to the entrance of the Beaulieu river. Beth at the helm, blindfolded, with course to steer instructions coming up from Denis & Clare below. The (real) weather just got worse and worse, but we managed to get very close before Les called it done. Despite the miserable rain we were soon moored at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club. Time for a quick shower before dinner, but no time at all to prepare anything like a good poem! We were certainly eclipsed by the excellent writing and performances by all the other boats.
Denis put an inordinate amount of thought and effort into constructing a splendid egg-protecting container. Looking a little nervous, Bethany was winched to the first spreaders and released the egg. It survived intact! And so did Beth, coming back down with a big grin and declaring "that was great".
Back down the Beaulieu and into open water for some reefing practice. Half way through putting a reef in, we suffered a non-fictitious gear failure! The second reef block had parted company with the sail, putting us on third reef for the rest of the day.
We had only just got the third reef in when the pesky "man" decided to go overboard. Again! Recovery wasn't quite so swift this time, but eventually bucket and fender were back safe in the locker.
Judging by all the Fairview boats criss-crossing each other just outside Cowes entrance, we weren't the only crew to find picking up a mooring buoy under sail something of a challenge. It must have all looked very amusing from the shore, but it was very frustrating. It took several attempts but we finally caught it! After successful completion of the final berthing challenge in Cowes Yacht Haven, lunchtime!
Les disappeared into a judgely huddle with the rest of the adjudicators then re-appeared giving nothing away. We were to gather outside the Marina building in ten minutes for the prize giving. Our crew (myself included) were so busy chatting however, that we lost track of time. It wasn't until Clare said "it's gone very quiet" that we suddenly realised that we should have been elsewhere. We got there just in time to see Peter get his well-deserved Best Skipper award. Then, hang on a minute, why is Denis holding a big cup? Surely not! Yes, we had somehow won best boat. Sorry everyone for not managing to make our own presentation time!! Bethany really appreciated her special award for her berthing and mast-climbing antics, so thank you for that little extra surprise.
A huge thank you to Kate, all the adjudicators and everyone else involved in the planning and organisation. I know Bethany and I learnt a huge amount and had a great time also. I'm sure everyone else did too. Definitely an event worth doing!
Doug & Bethany Hughes
