A Sailors Diary.

2000

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Sailing, being very much an outdoor sport, one wonders how we ever get to sail. Around the Isle Of Wight, we are governed by the tide. High tide and Low tide. We are also very much exposed by the elements down here and it could be sunny and windless onland but be blowing a gale off shore. Also the river outlets when the tide is turning can be very dangerous indeed! The river Medina, stretching from Cowes to Newport, holds allot of water and is very narrow at the mouth. Properly only a few hundred meters. This means the currents are very strong. Also, there are a lot of shipping movements in the Solent like Ferry's, Yachts, Ships, Hovercraft, Hydrofoils, Fishing boats, Oil tankers, Container ships, QE2! With Southampton opersite on the mainland, we have even more water moving when the tide turns. We have two high tides around the Island each day. Southampton, I think has four high tides a day! This adds to the weird current movements around the Solent.

Picture from the IWCC. 02-06-00.

This picture shows Cricket being played in the middle of the Solent! It only shows up for 2 days every year and of these 2 days it is only visible for 30 minutes! The 2 tides are extremely low indeed.

With the weather, tide, wind, rain and available days off work. One wonders how we EVER get out onto the sea!

When I have, I have noted down a few times of my experiences on the seas.....................

2000

Sunday 9th July.

We set out by car to East Cowes. The weather was looking pretty good. It was 5.00pm when we unloaded the car with all the sailing gear including lifejackets. We prepared the Tender boat with the outboard and oars. You need to be prepared for engine failure!

We motored across the river Medina to Cowes and pulled up alongside the yacht `Impoverished`. We moored up along side the pontoon and unloaded the gear. We made the `Impoverished` sea ready. We checked the fuel, engine, oars, life jackets again, and a few other things to numerous to mention!

We untied the yacht and motored out of the river mouth, past the chain ferry, dodging the Red Funnel Ferry and into the Solent. We turned and headed to Osbourne Bay to see Osbourne House by sea. The `Oriana` sailed out of Southampton and went past us heading towards Portsmouth way. It was probably heading for warmer climates. Also a BIG container ship went past.

The sea was starting to get rough and the wind had got up. It was a force 6 - 8. We reached Osbourne House and turned round to go back. This time the tide and wind was against us and we were heading into it all! The `Impoverished` seams to like going against the wind and tide as we seamed to make way more easier. We decided no to use the sails as this would have been my first time and one has to be aware of the boom or ones lifejacket would be needed!

We turned into the river mouth by The Royal Yacht Squadron and the wind suddenly dropped as we were sheltered. The sea was totally calm and we headed up the river. We then landed the yacht at the pontoon and tied up. We set the springs and motored to East Cowes where we unpacked and put away the Tender.

Even through we didn't actually use the sails. We managed to test the engine that had (on another occasion) played up. We also tested out stomachs and they were ok!

Tuesday 1st August.

The day started lovely. While setting up the boat, I took time out to have a look around. I noticed that there was a life boat being tested for sea-worthiness. Not a sight you see much in ones life.

The lifeboat starts to be hoisted over.

The lifeboat is now fully over with its hull sticking in the air.

The rope that was being hoisted is now let go and the lifeboat is rerighting itself. This is quite a sight especially that this boat was built here on the Island by F.W.Marine and it is meant to be the last.

The day continued and we were actually sailing along to Ryde. Along the way we sailed past Osbourne House. This was built by

Albert, Queen Victoria`s husband. They lived here for a very long time. The bay that is in front of the beach is a good place to anchor and to go ashore by dingy and have a picnic.

We retched Ryde and it had got rougth. I had to get something from down below and I only lasted 40 seconds before I had to get out. I suddenly felt very ill and my head started to spin. I quickly went back up on deck and started to feel much better! It`s amazing how if you go down below and catch the horizon in the corner of your eye, you start to get a bit grogey!

We sailed back the way we came and headed out to Fawley. Here we met the Queen Elizebeth the Second. QE2 to you and me. The QE2 is a lovely ship to look at and it is my favorite. You feel a presents of majestic and excitment when in her

presents. When you see her coming you basicly get out of the way! We followed her out of Southampton Water and into the Solent. We continued and stayed well out of the the deep water channel (reserved for BIG BOATS). As we continued I cheched the depth gague and thought `i`ll no! 1.5 metres of depth! Look Dudley`, I said. !!!!!!!! THUD !!!!!!!!!!!! We had hit Brambles Sandbank. We put the engine on and reversed while taking down the sails. After 5 minutes we managed to `bounce` her off the sandbank and then into another! We did the same and changed direction. This time we were luckey and succeeded to clear it all. (See picture above about Bramble Sandback) We continued back to Cowes after an eventfull day and I basicly kissed the pontoon and did a big sigh. This was a eventfull day full of excitement. I really enjoyed it. I think a sailor needs to experience some of these things to be called `A Sailor`.

That`s it for 2000. Why not take a look at my diary for the season 2001.