Just back from a week on the Solent

[jheynder]

We just got back from a week on the Solent. We had big plans for an overnight sail to the West Country, but after a few nights out we decided that it was just too cold to do a long passage. It was at or below freezing most nights, getting down to 25 degrees F one night in Lymington and covering the boat in frost. (We were lucky to have along a Bright Spark butane-powered indoor heater to take the edge off the evenings and mornings.)

Still, most days had sun, even if they were cold when the clouds showed up. We sailed from Gosport to the Newtown River for two nights, and then to Lymington for three nights, and finally one more night in the Newtown before our best sail of the trip back to Gosport yesterday. Best day trip was a bike rental in the New Forest, which the kids really enjoyed.

We have a full photo album of the trip here:

http://sailingvoyage.com/photos/index.php/Sailing-Trips-UK-Europe/Spring-Break-Sailing-2012

A more complete write up is here:

http://sailingvoyage.com/?p=215

A few more sample images:

As a reward for enduring the cold, we're off tomorrow to St. Ives to stay in a fisherman's cottage for four nights. It has a wood stove!

 

[capnsensible]

Good to see some nice pictures, ta.

Its sometimes fashionable to knock the Solent, but I reckon its a great place to cruise and taught me a lot!

Many fine memories.

 

[rotrax]

Hi Guys- Great trip- we met you at Lyminton visitors pontoon when we came alongside behind you Tuesday afternoon. We were on Jess. We shall look forward to catching up with you later in the season. Good Sailing!

 

[Chrissie]

Whats the story behind the boat on its side in the top picture?

 

[jheynder]

Whats the story behind the boat on its side in the top picture?

It was low tide at springs in the Newtown River, and that boat happened to have a drying berth (and maybe a short, fin keel). Most of the white, visitors' buoys are supposed to have 1.5 to 2 meters of water under them (and ours had at least 1.4, which was fine for our 4' 8" draft), but it appeared that the last two visitor buoys on our stretch had less than that. It's worth asking the harbor person when they collect your fees to make certain the depth will be okay.

Two others were caught out and went aground near us, but mostly because they were trying to leave or coming in at almost low tide. We have also seen boats well over in the anchoring field because they dropped too close to shore.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

It's worth asking the harbor person when they collect your fees to make certain the depth will be okay.

Thats what tide tables and your depth guage are for. Dont rely on others - they might be right or they might not.

Sorry if that sounds a bit pious but so often people are reluctant to say " I dont know" and instead give an unreliable answer to a question.

 

[jheynder]

Thats what tide tables and your depth guage are for. Dont rely on others - they might be right or they might not.

Sorry if that sounds a bit pious but so often people are reluctant to say " I dont know" and instead give an unreliable answer to a question.

So local knowledge is always to be ignored?

Anyway, in our case, we had exactly 2.9 meters under our keel when we took the mooring ball, and my tide tables showed a oncoming drop of around 2.5 meters to the next low tide, which would normally be a bit of a concern, but we had been on the buoy before with no problem, and it was in a basin with decent depths all around, and as it turned out we never touched bottom in the ensuring two low tides (at springs). Two boats, however, ran aground on either side of us.

As for the visitor mooring buoys further up the channel, you are right that driving a circle around each to determine the actual available depths would be important. Just because there is a minimum 1.5 meters right in the middle of the 10 foot wide channel that the mooring is in may not help much when one swings around into much less depth.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

Thats what tide tables and your depth guage are for. Dont rely on others - they might be right or they might not.

Sorry if that sounds a bit pious but so often people are reluctant to say " I dont know" and instead give an unreliable answer to a question.

Bison Hoggs 'pious'..... never!

 

[BlueSkyNick]

ah, I saw you on the HM pontoons mid river at Lymington, (The stars and stripes is kind of conspicuous here !!) and thought to myself that your boat had done quite a few miles !! Looked great, too.