SimonFa
Well-known member
I rather hubristically made this comment on the Seaworthy Skippers thread yesterday morning while waiting for my wife to run me down to Portland as our son has my car:
Ha, little was I to know that sailing gads had marked that one for a few lessons.
I'd spent the morning doing final weather forecast checks for my plan to sail down to Studland and return the this morning. The wind forecasts ranged from ~15kt gusting ~18kt at midday and down to about ~10kt gusting ~13kt by 5pm at the lowest to ~20kt gusting 25kt dropping off to ~15kt gusting ~18kt by 5pm. The 5pm forecasts were for Poole entrance. As it was a Westerly I was planning on using genoa only so was comfortable with those although the worst one getting close to my limit. The sea state was forecast to be 1m to 2m swell, may be a bit uncomfortable but not in Studland so I'd live with that.
At midday I checked Weatherfile at it showed ave 19kt gusting 22kt at the NE breakwater. A bit high but from experience I know it reads a bit higher because of where it is, so I decided to go ahead and left the pontoon at 12:25. On clearing the marina I got permission to exit via the East channel after I'd got the fenders in. Normally I'd have put the genoa out and left the engine on, but as their was a couple of Laser fleets racing and the bottom of the course for the outer loop was quite close to the entrance I decided to make sure I had full visibility. As it turns out a mistake.
On clearing the the harbour I went to haul out the genoa and it was jammed about 1m out. A quick glance I realised what had happened - I take the starboard genoa sheet out when I'm on the pontoon and tie it off at the bow, one less thing to trip on, especially on the rare occasions my wife joins me. I'd obviously managed to wrap in round the genoa when I re-ran it before setting off. This meant a trip to the bow in rougher conditions than it would have been had I done it in the harbour. I could have turned round but that would be another 30 mins or so, at least, and I was already cutting it fine on tide times. As I was still in the lee of Portland I decided to get on with it, I've been outside the cockpit in far worse. When I'd finished and was finally sailing I could see sailing gods smiling to each other as if to say "lets see if he's leaned his lesson yet".
Sailing was a little rough but not unpleasant, the swell built as I cleared the lee of Portland as did the wind. By the time I reached Durdle Door I was seeing a steady 18kt wind with gusts of 22kt and it was starting to be hard work with the swell on my starboard quarter. The wind kept building and by the time I got passed Worbarrow Bay I was seeing a steady 20kt with the odd gust of 25kt. My plan had been to put the engine to cross the race at St Aldhems Head as I knew that would rough, even though I was planning to be at least 3 miles offshore. Level with Kimmeridge Bay I was seeing 28kt gusts and I wouldn't be surprised if they were a bit stronger so that was decisions made, engine on and genoa in. This time I knew the sailing gods were saying, "see, it can be the outliers and even stronger".
The rest of the trip down was exciting and as expected, 2-3m swell through the race and some of it a bit steep, once round Durleston Head the water flattened but the wind was still gusting high 20s. It had dropped to 17kt when I anchored, me and about 3 other boats in Studland, and by bedtime at 9pm it was flat and perfect for a good night's kip. I always sleep well at anchor.
The sailing gods weren't finished with me yet, though. I departed at 5:30am expecting to motor for a couple of hours. Its amazing how calm it can get in 12 hours and it was uneventful until I got to St Aldhem's Head. I was expecting it to be rough still, but hadn't gone too far out and it really was rough. I couple of times I was looking up at the bow and wondering if it would ever come down. With about 200m to go to clear the worst of it the engine alarm went, a real heart stopper that was. I glanced across and it was the temp alarm, and I managed to cancel the audible alarm. I didn't think the revs had been too high, about 2000rpm, which usually is a nice comfortable setting for my Volvo 2020. That was a bit worrying as I'd checked the coolant and oil before I left and had topped up the coolant. I eased off the throttle and checked the wind speed in case I needed to sail out, I probably could but it would be difficult, fortunately the main was up.
When I'd cleared the race and was under sail, just, I could hear the gods talking about getting too close to shore in an onshore wind when its rough. After that the wind picked up and I had a cracking sail on a reach most of the way. Just occasionally I got a gust that was pushing in to reef 1 territory.
As I approached Portland it was next decision time and by now I know what's coming. I usually sail in to the harbour if I can, but always with the engine on, just in case. So now I had to decide what to do, sailing through the entrance, even with the engine ready, when I'm close to needing a reef, might be OK but the winds are a bit tricky in the entrance and there's often a fisherman in a small comes wandering out from behind the wall not paying attention. I'd just made my mind up when I heard a call on the radio saying another vessel was outbound, that clinched it, I really didn't want to be rounding up when another vessel was on my Port side in the entrance.
The gods had their final say with probably the strongest gust of the morning just as I was going through the entrance. I could seem them all smiling and nodding, knowingly, I'm, sure they were saying it looks like he's learned his lesson.
One final event, I dropped a fender in the middle of the harbour. Rather than call up the mark layer I could see I used it for MoB drills and went round and alongside and picked it up using my boat hook.
After all that I got berthed and packed away 5 minutes before the heavens opened and I have to say a satisfying, if tiring, two days sailing.
Ha, little was I to know that sailing gads had marked that one for a few lessons.
I'd spent the morning doing final weather forecast checks for my plan to sail down to Studland and return the this morning. The wind forecasts ranged from ~15kt gusting ~18kt at midday and down to about ~10kt gusting ~13kt by 5pm at the lowest to ~20kt gusting 25kt dropping off to ~15kt gusting ~18kt by 5pm. The 5pm forecasts were for Poole entrance. As it was a Westerly I was planning on using genoa only so was comfortable with those although the worst one getting close to my limit. The sea state was forecast to be 1m to 2m swell, may be a bit uncomfortable but not in Studland so I'd live with that.
At midday I checked Weatherfile at it showed ave 19kt gusting 22kt at the NE breakwater. A bit high but from experience I know it reads a bit higher because of where it is, so I decided to go ahead and left the pontoon at 12:25. On clearing the marina I got permission to exit via the East channel after I'd got the fenders in. Normally I'd have put the genoa out and left the engine on, but as their was a couple of Laser fleets racing and the bottom of the course for the outer loop was quite close to the entrance I decided to make sure I had full visibility. As it turns out a mistake.
On clearing the the harbour I went to haul out the genoa and it was jammed about 1m out. A quick glance I realised what had happened - I take the starboard genoa sheet out when I'm on the pontoon and tie it off at the bow, one less thing to trip on, especially on the rare occasions my wife joins me. I'd obviously managed to wrap in round the genoa when I re-ran it before setting off. This meant a trip to the bow in rougher conditions than it would have been had I done it in the harbour. I could have turned round but that would be another 30 mins or so, at least, and I was already cutting it fine on tide times. As I was still in the lee of Portland I decided to get on with it, I've been outside the cockpit in far worse. When I'd finished and was finally sailing I could see sailing gods smiling to each other as if to say "lets see if he's leaned his lesson yet".
Sailing was a little rough but not unpleasant, the swell built as I cleared the lee of Portland as did the wind. By the time I reached Durdle Door I was seeing a steady 18kt wind with gusts of 22kt and it was starting to be hard work with the swell on my starboard quarter. The wind kept building and by the time I got passed Worbarrow Bay I was seeing a steady 20kt with the odd gust of 25kt. My plan had been to put the engine to cross the race at St Aldhems Head as I knew that would rough, even though I was planning to be at least 3 miles offshore. Level with Kimmeridge Bay I was seeing 28kt gusts and I wouldn't be surprised if they were a bit stronger so that was decisions made, engine on and genoa in. This time I knew the sailing gods were saying, "see, it can be the outliers and even stronger".
The rest of the trip down was exciting and as expected, 2-3m swell through the race and some of it a bit steep, once round Durleston Head the water flattened but the wind was still gusting high 20s. It had dropped to 17kt when I anchored, me and about 3 other boats in Studland, and by bedtime at 9pm it was flat and perfect for a good night's kip. I always sleep well at anchor.
The sailing gods weren't finished with me yet, though. I departed at 5:30am expecting to motor for a couple of hours. Its amazing how calm it can get in 12 hours and it was uneventful until I got to St Aldhem's Head. I was expecting it to be rough still, but hadn't gone too far out and it really was rough. I couple of times I was looking up at the bow and wondering if it would ever come down. With about 200m to go to clear the worst of it the engine alarm went, a real heart stopper that was. I glanced across and it was the temp alarm, and I managed to cancel the audible alarm. I didn't think the revs had been too high, about 2000rpm, which usually is a nice comfortable setting for my Volvo 2020. That was a bit worrying as I'd checked the coolant and oil before I left and had topped up the coolant. I eased off the throttle and checked the wind speed in case I needed to sail out, I probably could but it would be difficult, fortunately the main was up.
When I'd cleared the race and was under sail, just, I could hear the gods talking about getting too close to shore in an onshore wind when its rough. After that the wind picked up and I had a cracking sail on a reach most of the way. Just occasionally I got a gust that was pushing in to reef 1 territory.
As I approached Portland it was next decision time and by now I know what's coming. I usually sail in to the harbour if I can, but always with the engine on, just in case. So now I had to decide what to do, sailing through the entrance, even with the engine ready, when I'm close to needing a reef, might be OK but the winds are a bit tricky in the entrance and there's often a fisherman in a small comes wandering out from behind the wall not paying attention. I'd just made my mind up when I heard a call on the radio saying another vessel was outbound, that clinched it, I really didn't want to be rounding up when another vessel was on my Port side in the entrance.
The gods had their final say with probably the strongest gust of the morning just as I was going through the entrance. I could seem them all smiling and nodding, knowingly, I'm, sure they were saying it looks like he's learned his lesson.
One final event, I dropped a fender in the middle of the harbour. Rather than call up the mark layer I could see I used it for MoB drills and went round and alongside and picked it up using my boat hook.
After all that I got berthed and packed away 5 minutes before the heavens opened and I have to say a satisfying, if tiring, two days sailing.
