A Sailors Diary. 2001

The new season has started at last and another year is under our belts. `Impoverished`, the name of my friends yacht weathered well over winter. It also helped that it was under a roof and had maintenance carried out on it. I hope that this season will be a good one for you.

No Pictures yet!

Monday 14th May. We drove to Newport in the morning and had a look at `Impoverished`. It was in the carpark by a crane and the river `Medina`. We had some colleagues from the Newport Boat Museum (where it was stored and who maintained the boat ) who helped us put the engine back on and the mast! We finally put some cradles under the boat and lifted it up, over and into the river. We tied her up and tried to start the engine. We tried and tried and finally started the engine! We tied up the dingy and towed it up the river to Cowes. We arrived at Cowes and a catamaran was on our pontoon. Luckily, the crew were there and said they had broken down. They moved in a few minutes and we moored up. We checked over and locked the boat up and we then motored back to Newport to pick up the car. We then went home.

Friday 25th May. We kitted out the boat by putting the mainsail on. We then redid the cables with tape. We tried out the sails.

Tuesday 3rd July. This was a good learning day for all. We tried our boat with 3 people. It turned out to be a bit crowded, but it was acceptable. We started showing my friend how to `get the boat ready`. We prepared the sails and emergency procedures. The sails were ready, but not up. All we have to do is undo a bungie on the Genoa and Mainsail, then hoist up. None of this fixing ropes and halyards when your tossing around in a rough sea.

We motored out, and headed for Wootton. The skipper found the right lay of the boat and I raised the sails and we were sailing. Where we were sailing, the sea was quite choppy, which added to the excitement. We changed course and headed for Yarmouth via the `Mainland side`. The sea here was calmer and the wind kept on dropping to light winds. When we got near Yarmouth, I noticed that there was a strange mist coming towards us! and there was a very dark sky above it. We started to heel over at the best angle we had ever had! Then it hit us, a squall. Our first. The boat stopped dead in the water and started to heel over then it heeled over to the other side. We tacked to compensate and the boat kept on going from side to side. We were in trouble. We had to reduce the sails. Me, being the `sailsman`, was my job to do it all! The boat was heeling over from one side to the other. Right over! I managed to take down the Genoa, and then the Mainsail. We started the engine and continued back to Cowes.

What fun we had. Even through I was nervous and had the shakes afterwards. It was all part of the learning cycle and we had a good crew. People you can rely on to do there job quickly and correct.

Tuesday 10th July. A good day out sailing but with a new problem. We were sailing near Yarmouth again and I noticed that there was a rope in the water. It wasn`t a sail rope, it was a different colour. It was blue and made of nylon. The only rope of this kind on the yacht is the anchor rope. I look over by the mast and no anchor! Just one end of this blue rope attached to the mast. We were towing our anchor. Not panicking, I stood up and pulled on the rope and pulled the anchor up. all of this was done while still sailing! We now tie the anchor to the mast so when we heel over it wont fall in! If we were near Cowes then it could have been a problem as there a big cables (electric, gas, water, and telephone) all on the sea bed feeding the Island with services. You don`t want to pull up one of these!!! You will have to pay a VERY VERY BIG BILL and the whole Island may be without one of these services!

Sunday 15th July. A normal days sailing near Ryde.This was the big ship incident. The problem (not really) was the wake from the bow wave from this big ship. We saw this very big bow wave heading towards us!. We had time to prepare and did so excellently. We turned to yacht into the oncoming wave and rode it out.

Sunday 22nd July. A normal days sail. We checked the other sails that the yacht has but haven't used. We looked at the spinnaker pole. It needed maintenance so I took it home to repair!

Admirals Cup. This was a time to be cherished! We started the day bright and early. The race started about 11.00am so we made our way under motor then sail to Ryde, just of Ryde Pier. We passed many boats including BIG Gin-palaces.

`Lady Christine.` Note the Helicopter!

We sailed around the area, and at 11.00am, we saw alot of smoke coming from Cowes. It was the `starting guns` going off. We started to notice a haze (spray), just like fog coming from the distance. It was the Armada approaching. Yachts, I mean allot of them, 500 to 600 of them all coming towards us! I was working my video camera and also the sails! Quite a job in itself without this lot coming. I managed to get quite a few close-up shots of old and new boats.

A Yacht in Action!

My video camera is playing up and my golden shot came out in black and white! All the boats past us and we made our way slowly down to Yarmouth. We got their and had to wait about an hour until the winners arrived around the Needles. The waves got quite rough because of all the boats and helicopters. We sailed back to Cowes and tied up. What an exciting day. I think the Italians won but they got disqualified!

Video 1. This video is a 360` look at Cowes Harbour from our Berth.

Video 2. This video is of a yacht healing over.

Video 3. This video shows how rough the sea was.

All pictures on this page are from my home video.

Click thumbnails to view video clips.