duncan
Well-Known Member
Can't take the pressure any more - I have to own up!
It all started with the confuser flashing 'you have mail' and, if the post office had been involved it might never have happened. My application for the position of 'guest stinkie' on the trip to Cherbourg had been accepted and I had been assigned to Asterie on the simple basis that I would feel at home with a big turbo Volvo.
Various posts had indicated the possibility of StVaast first and I duly got out Reeds. Here I note my first observation on sailing - there is a hell of a lot in this Almanac that I haven't usede all season; but needed now! Local port differences became significant, Dover tide times vital to establish tidal streams - oh what fun! Seriously I use my Poole tidal curves and the Almanac for telephone numbers and VHF channels of marinas - the odd metre of tide outside the harbour is a luxury and the 2 metre line on the CPlotter marks the no go areas!
Back to the story............I end up at Northney 1920 Thursday and have a beer thrust into my hand at the same time as the introductions - good start. A thorough safety briefing has me marveling at the number of fire extinguishers aboard, and leaves me still trying to workout why I should hold a lit flare upside down (great tip) before we are off to the pub for food and a meet with Tome.
Ian and Tome address each other as longstanding friends and it comes as a surprise that they have just met - spooky.
Back on board we decide to utilise the forecast beam winds (picked up the ingo eh?) and head off at our leisure.
Ian nudges Asterie out of her berth with a gentle sensitive hand appropriate to someone at one with their craft and showing a clear concern for her well being.
15 minutes later she's hard aground........... !
So how does it happen? On the one hand a reasonably experience guy on the helm, lots of electronics and the consumption of only 1 and a half pints over the last 3 hours (just in case anyone jumps to conclusions). At the briefing I had asked what we drew, and whether the sounder was set to water or clearance.
In simple terms the answer came down to 3 things - (1) darkness and a lack of any reference points within a mile (2)we were all looking out for a lit Shand beacon that was not lit (including the helmsman who should have known better) and (3) all motor boaters I know (including importantly me!) use their chartplotters in track up mode and, apparantly, all yachties (including importantly Ian) use it in North up. This had not really been apparant fromt eh magnified streach of channel on the screen when I took the helm, or from progressing along the middle of the channel. However when glancing down and seeing us heading off course I instinctively corrected the wrong way and was still trying to work out what the hell was happening when we hit.
I have to say here and now that I jst didn't know what to say - or what to expect from Ian - so I said "sorry" and he said "that's OK the tides rising so lets get off and get going" - what a nice skipper.
The rest, as they say, is pretty much history now but, whilst on the admissiions kick I would like to advise both the individuals on this board who have not already heard that I also made one hell of a mess over the decks for a good number of hours later in the trip - remarkably Ian left me with the helm for another 4 hours after the above incident - but having gone below to get some sleep I failed to get the mental lights out fast enough and succumbed about 15mins later (finally recovering from the rigours yesterday!).
Ian's concern for the wellbeing of his crew led to a couple of further 'charges' in the threads below which need clearing up too - firstly he put the engine on to head into C'Bourg to ease the suffering of 3 crew, and we had suffered, as Amaya spotted (amazingly) from 2 miles; note this also explains why few motorsailing craft fly an inverted cone, why when it's that obvious the craft is under power? The second action was on the return trip when, despite being overhauled slowly by Bedoin, he shortened sail in deference to an even more comfortable sail for his crew. OK we got duly overtaken a few hours later but no one was seasick on the return! A big thanks from the crew.
Having attended most of the forum on water events (except the Thames ones) in the last year I have to say that the detailed organisation that went into this by Ken, BIGNICK and all the skippers was amazing; generally with a mobo it's a last minute 'are we going', switch on and go - sort out pub/marina/anchorage on the night. The camaraderie is similar but after the journey (that journey) I think it was a few notches higher! Everyone could empathise with the crew of other craft in the way that a 48ft Targa and a 23ft sportsboat just couldn't for the same conditions.
I had a fantastic time for which I thank you all, and hope I made some new friends for year to come. May God watch over Stingo (and my burgee!) wherever he gets too.
A final thanks to Ian and the rest of the crew for putting up with me
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It all started with the confuser flashing 'you have mail' and, if the post office had been involved it might never have happened. My application for the position of 'guest stinkie' on the trip to Cherbourg had been accepted and I had been assigned to Asterie on the simple basis that I would feel at home with a big turbo Volvo.
Various posts had indicated the possibility of StVaast first and I duly got out Reeds. Here I note my first observation on sailing - there is a hell of a lot in this Almanac that I haven't usede all season; but needed now! Local port differences became significant, Dover tide times vital to establish tidal streams - oh what fun! Seriously I use my Poole tidal curves and the Almanac for telephone numbers and VHF channels of marinas - the odd metre of tide outside the harbour is a luxury and the 2 metre line on the CPlotter marks the no go areas!
Back to the story............I end up at Northney 1920 Thursday and have a beer thrust into my hand at the same time as the introductions - good start. A thorough safety briefing has me marveling at the number of fire extinguishers aboard, and leaves me still trying to workout why I should hold a lit flare upside down (great tip) before we are off to the pub for food and a meet with Tome.
Ian and Tome address each other as longstanding friends and it comes as a surprise that they have just met - spooky.
Back on board we decide to utilise the forecast beam winds (picked up the ingo eh?) and head off at our leisure.
Ian nudges Asterie out of her berth with a gentle sensitive hand appropriate to someone at one with their craft and showing a clear concern for her well being.
15 minutes later she's hard aground........... !
So how does it happen? On the one hand a reasonably experience guy on the helm, lots of electronics and the consumption of only 1 and a half pints over the last 3 hours (just in case anyone jumps to conclusions). At the briefing I had asked what we drew, and whether the sounder was set to water or clearance.
In simple terms the answer came down to 3 things - (1) darkness and a lack of any reference points within a mile (2)we were all looking out for a lit Shand beacon that was not lit (including the helmsman who should have known better) and (3) all motor boaters I know (including importantly me!) use their chartplotters in track up mode and, apparantly, all yachties (including importantly Ian) use it in North up. This had not really been apparant fromt eh magnified streach of channel on the screen when I took the helm, or from progressing along the middle of the channel. However when glancing down and seeing us heading off course I instinctively corrected the wrong way and was still trying to work out what the hell was happening when we hit.
I have to say here and now that I jst didn't know what to say - or what to expect from Ian - so I said "sorry" and he said "that's OK the tides rising so lets get off and get going" - what a nice skipper.
The rest, as they say, is pretty much history now but, whilst on the admissiions kick I would like to advise both the individuals on this board who have not already heard that I also made one hell of a mess over the decks for a good number of hours later in the trip - remarkably Ian left me with the helm for another 4 hours after the above incident - but having gone below to get some sleep I failed to get the mental lights out fast enough and succumbed about 15mins later (finally recovering from the rigours yesterday!).
Ian's concern for the wellbeing of his crew led to a couple of further 'charges' in the threads below which need clearing up too - firstly he put the engine on to head into C'Bourg to ease the suffering of 3 crew, and we had suffered, as Amaya spotted (amazingly) from 2 miles; note this also explains why few motorsailing craft fly an inverted cone, why when it's that obvious the craft is under power? The second action was on the return trip when, despite being overhauled slowly by Bedoin, he shortened sail in deference to an even more comfortable sail for his crew. OK we got duly overtaken a few hours later but no one was seasick on the return! A big thanks from the crew.
Having attended most of the forum on water events (except the Thames ones) in the last year I have to say that the detailed organisation that went into this by Ken, BIGNICK and all the skippers was amazing; generally with a mobo it's a last minute 'are we going', switch on and go - sort out pub/marina/anchorage on the night. The camaraderie is similar but after the journey (that journey) I think it was a few notches higher! Everyone could empathise with the crew of other craft in the way that a 48ft Targa and a 23ft sportsboat just couldn't for the same conditions.
I had a fantastic time for which I thank you all, and hope I made some new friends for year to come. May God watch over Stingo (and my burgee!) wherever he gets too.
A final thanks to Ian and the rest of the crew for putting up with me
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