Peppermint
Well-Known Member
Had a bit of a sail last week. Picked up the Najad 361 thingy we were using and headed down to my reserved berth at Clarence yard Gosport. Marina in a building site and not that near to anywhere including it's own shower block but at £12 a night with lectric quite good value. Dumped the boat and crew on Sunday to go on a press RIB for the start of the Global Challenge. WOW do I need to sharpen up my photo technique for the stormy conditions. I've been wet in my day but crickey RIB's take it to another extreme.
Forecast being the way it was we hung on in Clarence for another night and Monday headed West to nowhere specific. We'd had a broad plan to go to somewhere French but not if it was going to be a slog. Now a Najad looks the complete package, nice build quality, plenty of comforts and a nice ride but the up wind stuff was a bit disappointing really. This boat cries out for a third reef and without it anything over 30knots windspeed from ahead is a bit of a handful. We played in the Needles Channel for a while and then rocked back into Lymington for the night. Big bucks in Berthon, £30 for the night. I hadn't been to Chichester in a while, so with a forecast that was less than encouraging for the chickens among us we had a run down to the Chichester marina. What a great spot. Friendly staff and good shelter for only £16 per night. Thought we'd do the tourist thing and then potter about in the harbour for Wednesday evening and then try Sparkes marina. More big bucks £25 without much to amuse us as the bar was shut and the only entertainment seemed to be finding your way through a maze of parked boats to the showers. The fishermen and the dredging company tried to keep us amused with early morning diesel reving though. More aimless sailing on and into Cowes on the next day and then back up the Hamble and finished. Well what can you expect in the UK in October.
An interesting feature of the Najad is the outboard facing chart table. I always get the crew to put valuble stuff like passports and phones in the chart table if there's room. This on ate things like a conjurers box. You put things in prior to departing and when you arrive they are gone. We lost a phone, we could here it ringing but not find it. We discovered that there is a large vent at the outboard end of the chart table that drops stuff down behind the pannels below. We found a treasure trove of lost charts, nav stuff and the pesky phone.
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Forecast being the way it was we hung on in Clarence for another night and Monday headed West to nowhere specific. We'd had a broad plan to go to somewhere French but not if it was going to be a slog. Now a Najad looks the complete package, nice build quality, plenty of comforts and a nice ride but the up wind stuff was a bit disappointing really. This boat cries out for a third reef and without it anything over 30knots windspeed from ahead is a bit of a handful. We played in the Needles Channel for a while and then rocked back into Lymington for the night. Big bucks in Berthon, £30 for the night. I hadn't been to Chichester in a while, so with a forecast that was less than encouraging for the chickens among us we had a run down to the Chichester marina. What a great spot. Friendly staff and good shelter for only £16 per night. Thought we'd do the tourist thing and then potter about in the harbour for Wednesday evening and then try Sparkes marina. More big bucks £25 without much to amuse us as the bar was shut and the only entertainment seemed to be finding your way through a maze of parked boats to the showers. The fishermen and the dredging company tried to keep us amused with early morning diesel reving though. More aimless sailing on and into Cowes on the next day and then back up the Hamble and finished. Well what can you expect in the UK in October.
An interesting feature of the Najad is the outboard facing chart table. I always get the crew to put valuble stuff like passports and phones in the chart table if there's room. This on ate things like a conjurers box. You put things in prior to departing and when you arrive they are gone. We lost a phone, we could here it ringing but not find it. We discovered that there is a large vent at the outboard end of the chart table that drops stuff down behind the pannels below. We found a treasure trove of lost charts, nav stuff and the pesky phone.
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