FullCircle
Well-Known Member
Well, out qweekend started with Dougie Three Bottles and Sweet Pea turning up at a very early time in Burnham, and I had Full Circle on the pontoon at Rice & Cole complete with new batteries, topped up tanks, and ready to rumble.
We sauntered up to the Royal Corinthian for dinner and had a very nice meal for not much money.
Amazingly, the food came to 85p more than the wine. A quick recheck confirmed that this was so. We were shocked, as we had only drank 3 bottles of House Red.
To make amends we did the 110m dash to the Royal Burnham, and booked in as Visiting Yachtsmen, ahem. Fortunately they weren't busy so whistled up the beers sharpish, which brought the drinks biull over the food bill, Phew, relief all round.
Then it went slightly wrong. The Girls went to powder noses, and we said we will meet them in the next venue. I thought I said White Harte, and Lynn thought I said Queens Head.
So we headed to White Harte for a quick stiffener, no Girls. Where are they? Dunno, but the Queens Head is worth a try....
Went to Queens Head and arrived 11.05pm. Girls engaged in conv with Engines Dunn and Silly Woman, Doug and me entreat the Landlord to err, give us a drink, but to no effect. Disaster!
So we patiently waited, looking at watches meaningfully while the girls slowly slid the contents of their glasses down the hatch.
What seemed like 4 years later we set off back to Full Circle and the Bowmore awaiting us and we righted wrongs and told tales of lore into the night.
Breakfast saw us looking at some cloud which hadn't formed part of the forecast, and photographed it. Weird formation seemingly surrounding us without being overhead.
Little wind about but a fair profusion of boats. Vreny and Solene came drifitng by under motor, and we slipped out into the Fairway behind them.
We were hailed by a beautiful Najad 380, just look at that tri radial furling mainsail.... must have cost a fortune.
The man on the Najad hailed us and asked 'Which one is Jim?' As Dougie thought I might owe the bloke money, he pointed at me..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Apparently this guy reads the forums all the time, but has never registered. How weird is that?
So, off in pursuit of Vreny and Solene, we passed another forumite, AliM on Vela Rose, and took a pic or two of him.
The wind then picked up to 3 or 4 knots, so the parsimonious pair hoisted the hankies and started sailing. As readers know, that is not a windspeed that my old donkey will work in so we pressed on under motor for a bit.
Dont they make a lovely pair?
We eventually got the main up, for the first time since the Girls Weekend, only to find that someone had kindly pulled in all the reefing line slack through the clutches, and I couldn't get the main up without going purple on the winches. We managed to sail along quite nicely for a bit, and the wind was on the beam about 6 knots.
Ooh goodie!! Cruising chute weather. With some difficulty we got it hoisted and sped off out the Crouch overtaking a couple of boats at up to 7.5kts Woo Hoo. However, the Wind Deity decided to monkey us around and the wind went further forward and picked up in strength. We had to dump the mainsheet and were getting heeled a lot, not cruising at all really. Lynn was calling my behaviour 'Laddish' which is an imprecation of the direst kind to cease and desist. More muddle from the Skipper and Crew, and we got the boat back under control at the expense of getting the Chute wet while recovering it. Visibly, the Crew relaxed, back to Cruising, much better, Ahh, make another cup of tea, thanks.
So, we meandered with a vague plan on the ebb toward the Spitway, and managed to put the keel to use as a depth measuring devive. It worked. At 2m we were brought to a temporary halt, oops not part of the plan. Swallowtail Spit 1, Full Circle 0. So with weasel cunning we lifted the keel clear of the floor and pootled off south of the channel, damn, added 1/2 mile to our journey allowing the Vreny/Solene ensemble to catch us at the Spitway entrance.
Lots of boats around, and we went through showing a reasonable 2.4m of water, and into the Blackwater.
With the wind a bit further behind, and now 6 knots, we unfurled the genny and set off on a course whcih dallied with depth but was a straight line. We got to the Knoll a bit too far south and Sweet Pea noticed the depth sounder was working. Downward, and rather faster than is prudent in these parts. 1.1m, turn right!! Vreny touched down and followed us, but Solene was not fast enough and actually turned into a bank of the brown stuff, and leant over, a bit. Both Vreny and Full Circle carried on, but when Solene did not reappear on the horizon and wasnt getting through on the VHF, we turned back for them. No need as it happened, they got off on the now rising tide.
Then we sailed in company with Solene at a steady 4.5kts or so, while Vreny romped away. Wood floats faster than GRP, apparently.
We had a tight squeeze into the Bradwell berth, assisted by the Moodysabres and Bellatrix. Inch perfect. Opened several bottles of wine, but went and saw in HMS Morgana who had been given massive berth, much better than mine. Who does he know?
All accounted for, we had some pleasant chat and aperitifs before the evening do......
We sauntered up to the Royal Corinthian for dinner and had a very nice meal for not much money.
Amazingly, the food came to 85p more than the wine. A quick recheck confirmed that this was so. We were shocked, as we had only drank 3 bottles of House Red.
To make amends we did the 110m dash to the Royal Burnham, and booked in as Visiting Yachtsmen, ahem. Fortunately they weren't busy so whistled up the beers sharpish, which brought the drinks biull over the food bill, Phew, relief all round.
Then it went slightly wrong. The Girls went to powder noses, and we said we will meet them in the next venue. I thought I said White Harte, and Lynn thought I said Queens Head.
So we headed to White Harte for a quick stiffener, no Girls. Where are they? Dunno, but the Queens Head is worth a try....
Went to Queens Head and arrived 11.05pm. Girls engaged in conv with Engines Dunn and Silly Woman, Doug and me entreat the Landlord to err, give us a drink, but to no effect. Disaster!
So we patiently waited, looking at watches meaningfully while the girls slowly slid the contents of their glasses down the hatch.
What seemed like 4 years later we set off back to Full Circle and the Bowmore awaiting us and we righted wrongs and told tales of lore into the night.
Breakfast saw us looking at some cloud which hadn't formed part of the forecast, and photographed it. Weird formation seemingly surrounding us without being overhead.
Little wind about but a fair profusion of boats. Vreny and Solene came drifitng by under motor, and we slipped out into the Fairway behind them.
We were hailed by a beautiful Najad 380, just look at that tri radial furling mainsail.... must have cost a fortune.
The man on the Najad hailed us and asked 'Which one is Jim?' As Dougie thought I might owe the bloke money, he pointed at me..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Apparently this guy reads the forums all the time, but has never registered. How weird is that?
So, off in pursuit of Vreny and Solene, we passed another forumite, AliM on Vela Rose, and took a pic or two of him.
The wind then picked up to 3 or 4 knots, so the parsimonious pair hoisted the hankies and started sailing. As readers know, that is not a windspeed that my old donkey will work in so we pressed on under motor for a bit.
Dont they make a lovely pair?
We eventually got the main up, for the first time since the Girls Weekend, only to find that someone had kindly pulled in all the reefing line slack through the clutches, and I couldn't get the main up without going purple on the winches. We managed to sail along quite nicely for a bit, and the wind was on the beam about 6 knots.
Ooh goodie!! Cruising chute weather. With some difficulty we got it hoisted and sped off out the Crouch overtaking a couple of boats at up to 7.5kts Woo Hoo. However, the Wind Deity decided to monkey us around and the wind went further forward and picked up in strength. We had to dump the mainsheet and were getting heeled a lot, not cruising at all really. Lynn was calling my behaviour 'Laddish' which is an imprecation of the direst kind to cease and desist. More muddle from the Skipper and Crew, and we got the boat back under control at the expense of getting the Chute wet while recovering it. Visibly, the Crew relaxed, back to Cruising, much better, Ahh, make another cup of tea, thanks.
So, we meandered with a vague plan on the ebb toward the Spitway, and managed to put the keel to use as a depth measuring devive. It worked. At 2m we were brought to a temporary halt, oops not part of the plan. Swallowtail Spit 1, Full Circle 0. So with weasel cunning we lifted the keel clear of the floor and pootled off south of the channel, damn, added 1/2 mile to our journey allowing the Vreny/Solene ensemble to catch us at the Spitway entrance.
Lots of boats around, and we went through showing a reasonable 2.4m of water, and into the Blackwater.
With the wind a bit further behind, and now 6 knots, we unfurled the genny and set off on a course whcih dallied with depth but was a straight line. We got to the Knoll a bit too far south and Sweet Pea noticed the depth sounder was working. Downward, and rather faster than is prudent in these parts. 1.1m, turn right!! Vreny touched down and followed us, but Solene was not fast enough and actually turned into a bank of the brown stuff, and leant over, a bit. Both Vreny and Full Circle carried on, but when Solene did not reappear on the horizon and wasnt getting through on the VHF, we turned back for them. No need as it happened, they got off on the now rising tide.
Then we sailed in company with Solene at a steady 4.5kts or so, while Vreny romped away. Wood floats faster than GRP, apparently.
We had a tight squeeze into the Bradwell berth, assisted by the Moodysabres and Bellatrix. Inch perfect. Opened several bottles of wine, but went and saw in HMS Morgana who had been given massive berth, much better than mine. Who does he know?
All accounted for, we had some pleasant chat and aperitifs before the evening do......
