May weekend cruise, how did it go!

[Contest1]

Just looking at an earlier thread on recent shake down mishaps I thought it would be good to check experiences.
My weekend cruise ended in a return to port following a cruise in company were the other boat had engine failure and a deployed head sail that wouldn,t furl. Coast guard escorted him back to his mooring and got the sail down.
My auto pilot seemed to have developed a mind of its own untill I realised it was switching off and going on standby, likley a loose connection. I also had a very sea sick crew so after 8 hours of unplesant sailing in a gusting 4/5 I decided I,d had enough when the coast guard took over just off the home port with only an hour till entry possible.
How did yours go?

 

[paulrae]

Club's opening muster. Exciting and close white-sails racing in 25 - 35 knots. Great chat in evening club social (in spite of threatening weather). 20-mile F4 beat back home today with no real issues, other than one nasty shower. I'd really appreciate it being 10 degrees warmer, but we can't have everything.

 

[uxb]

Looked at the forecast and decided to leave it to the last minute to decide if it was a go-er.

It wasn't.

Still, baked bread and Cooked boatie food at home while the rain battered the windows. Almost the same as being on board except for the steady floor, wood burning stove, underfloor heating and trips out with heated leather seats instead of a wet ar5e in a dingy.

Would rather have been bouncing around in the boat with a wet ar5e though.

 

[Boathook]

Communication problem between crew and myself. I'm on the boat alone doing some work, such as cleaning lockers and even testing dinghy and outboard. Crew (not wife, girlfriend or offspring) is doing something else. Saturday was to windy for a first sail of the year but today is another matter, though tides are all wrong.

 

[stav]

Had a lovely couple of days, no sailing but motored to Granville from Jersey Friday. Engine ran lovely and sipped fuel. Motored back today in flat calm as mist in forecast for tomorrow. All worked, wife happy and the kids I quote had a fantastic time. 12 or so dolophins.

 

[jonic]

Cracking sail with our two under eights and another non-sailing family with two under eights.

It had potential to be stressful but we had a pleasant sail from the Hamble to Osborne Bay, a splendid picnic at anchor (picnic supplied in full by the guests) then a boisterous but fun sail back at 7kts.

...and nothing broke!

 

[yoda]

Ideal weather on Sunday for a gentle shakedown. Autopilot set up, Mainsail sorted out, spinnaker fitted into sock correctly, engine proved, outboard gear lever repair checked correct, cockpit gel cleaned. Just need to get some double sided tape for 2 sail numbers that are starting to come off. Good shake down cruise if only one day long.

Yoda

 

[prv]

Been back working again. Ripping out about a hundred yards of redundant Seatalk and other wiring, rearranging some of what I didn't rip out, and adding some new. Now got a full set of working (almost, see other thread shortly ) instruments on the hatch garage and an autopilot control where I can actually reach it from the helm. Plotter once more has a GPS aerial connected, and the autopilot is back in commission. When we did the Poole trip, the only working instruments were a depth gauge on a temporary lashup power supply, and the VHF

Original plan had been boat work tomorrow too, but Chris (whom some of you will now have met in Lymington and Poole) is bringing his infamous eBay speedboat down for its second ever outing. At least the windscreen can't implode this time - he's removed the remaining bits of it and bought two pairs of goggles instead

Pete

 

[Mark-1]

We went from Hamble to Braye and back, leaving Friday evening. 22 hours to get there, upwind all the way. On arrival found out we would be there for Milk-o-Punch Sunday. Brilliant weekend.

36 per cent of weekends abandoned? I would never have guessed that.

 

[SlimRick]

A Sunday trip out from Portishead to Flat Holm, only slightly marred by a self destructing impeller.

 

[puddock]

A cracking downwind sail from Inverness to Lossiemouth. Weather in Inverness was pretty grim and gusty, so took the ebb down to Chanonry Point to do some "dolphin watching" and decided to take advantage of wind & tide to carry on to our homeport of Lossieouth. Thankfully the weather improved with each mile and we returned to a beautiful evening in Lossiemouth. Superb downwind sailing, surfing at 9+ knots at some points with sunshine and flat seas once we passed Burghead.

 

[Sans Bateau]

Motored from Chichester to Newtown creek into 30+ knts of wind, on the nose of course, with a bit of sailing just off Cowes. First time I have had solid water over the top of the spray hood. SWMBOS nice little dry cosy seat under the spray hood wasnt.

Chilled all day Sunday in Newtown, "it was worth it she said", yesterday sailed all the way home, with cracking sail from Portsmouth to Chi when the wind backed.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Saturday blowy and cold. Visited Petworth House and Chichester Cathedral (by car).
Sunday sunny. Went sailing.
Monday. Foggy, boat polishing then visited Uppark House on the way back to london

 

[neil1967]

Sunday, sailed from Portsmouth to Chichester harbour in light winds and anchored (first time in this boat) off Pilsea island. Nothing broke, but discovered that anchor windlass remote needs to be switched on before it will work and confirmed the calibration of the depth guage - zero really does mean no water under the keel. Woke on Monday to a beautiful morning but very misty, which lifted at about 1000. Motored out of Chi harbour and got the cruising chute up heading back to Portsmouth in the glorious sunshine - absolutely fantastic, until the fog came in for about 20 mins around Winner buoy, which was a bit disconcerting - plenty of boats milling around, so decided to go round Horsesand fort rather than through the barrier, at which point the fog lifted. Nice goosewing sail towards the entrance to Portsmouth in the sun then successfully on the bouy and home for tea (beer!) and medals. Nothing dramatic, no long distances, just sheer pleasure!

Neil

 

[[10753]]

Saturday, cracking sail up the Solent beating with 25 -30 knots of wind over the deck. Very wet indeed. Sunday, a very pleasant sail back down the Solent. All in all not a bad weekend.

 

[jac]

First proper trip in the new boat.

Saturday - tidying up some odd jobs.
Sunday - beat down to Newton - nice sail- anchored outside for the PM - children finding shells on the beach, then went to a buoy off Yarmouth overnight. Back yesterday.
Nothing broken, couple of minor niggles sorted so to do list a bit shorter.

 

[prv]

So the Infamous eBay Speedboat did come down yesterday, and was generally a success with nothing falling off this time. Only real problem was the steering jamming hard-over as I was poddling up and down off Crosshouse Hard waiting for Chris to get the trailer ready to haul out. Left me circling round and round in the channel opposite Wild Knight with the steering wheel slipping on its column rather than turning it hard enough to unjam. Fortunately this time there were some tools on board so I was able to do up the central nut a bit tighter and yank the steering back into action - not without twanging my elbow though .

Pete

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Pula - Mali Losinj - Balvanida - Pula.

Sunshine, Dolphins, not a huge amount of wind but did get some sailing in. On the way back, 1/2 hour from home the voltage regulator packed up and we ended up breathing hydrochloric acid as the alternator cooked the starter battery. No permanent damage, will be fixed this week. Here are the pics ....

 

[Seatrout]

Well Jel of Southerner's sunshine. We had a day sail SWIMBO and Son & Heir) in the rain and visibility of 4 cables at times.

On the plus side, we anchored at Ardentinny for lunch and the rain abated for 90 minutes while we put the world bang to rights.

Single reef all the way, given the exciting winds.

I hope I've put you Southerners off coming up here to enjoy our terrible sailing conditions for the season. Maybe I'll get a pontoon at Tob then.

 

[Seajet]

Went out with Lods of these forums, first trip on his new-to-him Centaur.

All went well, we just tootled downwind the length of Chichester Harbour to Dell Quay then motored back into what proved a F7 outside according to Chimet.

Lods did rather well to rescue a RIB with jammed steering from among the moorings at Itchenor, so it was a very worthwhile and enjoyable shake-down.