SELENE - CAPTAINS LOG

EYH BBQ / Hog Roast  3/4 August 2007

We decided I would take the boat to Haslar single handed and Julia would drive to Emsworth, and I’d pick her up in the dinghy. So Friday lunchtime 3^rd August, I headed down to Haslar. It was odd coming out solo, but challenging too.

I had beautiful sunny weather with a SW 4-5, and had a splendid sail to the visitors’ pontoon. A bit of a big gybe at West Pole, since I had full sail up, but most enjoyable.

Seagull wasn’t far behind, and as they appeared, I came off the pontoon and then rafted outside them, ready for the early trip into EYH at dawn on the Saturday. (Lorna had to be there for 0600 anyway)

Keith and I picked up Julia and Lorna cooked us a meal, and we ate outside enjoying a lovely sunset.

At 0515 Saturday morning, we took the last of the tide into EYH, moored on the fuel pontoon and Lorna went to meet the Hog Roast man. Then I cooked breakfast, and then Keith and Lorna disappeared and spent the morning preparing the do.

Julia and I snoozed, and unfortunately the mains cable had snagged around the bollard above, and I was woken by a crack as the mains socket was ripped out of Selene. I had some jobs to do that morning, so I had to add another!

I got some Sikaflex from Jim and already had some larger screws and fixed the mains socket, whilst Julia went shopping. Later I re-wired the auto-helm, as I had problems with it the day before in the gusts, and chatting it through with Andy at Greenham Regis, we suspected some crap wiring. Sure enough, whoever had wired the auto-helm originally, had not done a good job. Suffice to say, I think it won’t fail under load any more.

By now it was a glorious day and the BBQ / Hog Roast started. Lorna had worked her socks off organising this (with Keith helping) and it was one of the best do’s we have been to there.

Malcolm broke a chair! Selene was the EYH flagpole!

Lorna got flowers for her efforts, and we won some boat show tickets in the raffle!! Malcolm and Mave had drinks before we left on the tide.

We dropped Keith and Lorna off on Seagull, motored down to Hayling Island SC, hauled sails up and turned right straight across the bar (HW - big spring) and took a delightful southerly 4 reach in glorious sunshine at speed across Hayling bay. We sat back and let Otto steer - and this time he coped with the gusts

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Kotka followed us into Haslar, and we arranged the berth next door for them.

We had drinks in our cockpit, and then Julia and I hosted supper for Keith and Lorna. Sunday was a lazy morning, and the four of us had lunch at Loch Fyne over at Gunwharf, and Julia and I came back for some rays in the garden and a BBQ with Aly & Graham.

Cowes Sea-Lift, Gins & Ocean Village with Malcolm & Mave 10/11/12 August 2007

Malcolm & Mave joined me on the Friday morning in glorious hot sunshine. We motored through the Cowes week fleets drifting and waiting for starts to the Sea-Lift, where we took out the log and cleaned that up, cleaned the waterline with Y10, and scrubbed off including taking the barnacles off the prop. Now that we’ve checked the log fitting, we can clean this in the water in future.

We then arrived at Gins Clubhouse, and took lunch. Keith had been out in a mobo on a corporate day out, and we had seen him at Cowes and moored in the Beaulieu River. He joined us at teatime, and Lorna picked Julia up from Southampton Parkway Station and they joined us in time for dinner on the balcony and a view of the Cowes Fireworks.

Robert had placed us in a good spot and we had a great evening. Keith and Lorna went home.

Saturday was again hot and sunny, and after bacon sandwiches we slipped out of the raft and motored round to Ocean Village. Before leaving, we said our farewells to Robert, and saw Peter Whatley, The Commodore, who said he had seen us signed into the Yacht Club(s) in Jersey and Guernsey!

The weather was so nice, we canned the idea of going into Southampton and sun-bathed in the pool. We then treated Malcolm and Mave to Champagne and a meal as a thank you for all Malc’s hard work on Selene.

Sunday was grey and rainy at first, so we finally managed a sail down Southampton Water, but motor-sailed the last bit as taking the time to sail put us against the tide more than planned! The sun came out at Haslar, and we had brunch in the cockpit, and departed our separate ways.

Summer Cruise 2 Honfleur & Deauville & Fecamp 17-27 August 2007

The forecast for Friday night into Saturday morning was not good, so I felt there was a 24 hour window Thursday night – Friday to get to Honfleur, so I rang Malcolm at short notice and he kindly agreed to come to Honfleur for the weekend. We spoke at 1400 and by 2150 were leaving Haslar.

It was force 4-5 westerly all journey, and I put full sail up and although the sea was bumpy we had a cracking sail averaging 6.25 over the whole journey of 107 miles in 17 hours. Malcolm must have scared off the shipping, because instead of the 36 vessels on the last crossing we only saw 15. We did however have to avoid the Mont St. Michel Ferry that was headed for us.

The only drama was a fuse blowing, and we lost the autohelm and C80. It was the auto-helm working so hard in the difficult seaway and it drew too many amps – I knew that I should have up-rated that fuse and had forgotten to do so! Anyway, Malcolm steered while I fixed the problem and that was that.

Dawn came and the sea was just as confused as ever, but it was a pleasant sail into Honfleur. We locked into the harbour and then jostled with everyone to get into the basin. Of course, nearly all the others were people that I knew on the Sea Horse Rally and were also weekending in Honfleur before the rally start on Tuesday.

We were lucky enough to get a finger in the corner and this made for a great stay, although the weather then turned ugly.

Julia arrived Saturday morning and Saturday wasn’t too bad weather wise. We took the dinghy for a trip and enjoyed the cockpit. Sunday it just rained. Malcolm went back to the UK in the afternoon, and it rained. We met a couple called Chris and Kat in their Konsort from Shoreham YC and Julia & I had dinner with them Sunday night. During dinner we were invited aboard Krackpot for drinks with David and Diana and so we drank Calvados into the small hours.

Monday we left on the 1030 footbridge opening along with the others (Krackpot, Seven Stars and Drake) and we locked out into a wind over tide in your face bumpy ride up the Seine. I had calculated the tide heights and we cracked off early straight for Deauville. Thus we were first at the gates and first in and moored alongside Kir Royale (Peter & Betty) outside Avalon.

The journey was only 17 miles so not an epic. The weather wasn’t too bad in the morning but when we wandered into the town later it poured. Unfortunately, Drake ran aground in the entrance and it took three goes for a fishing boat to get them off, and they snapped the end off their rudder. (Later in the week they were craned out for repairs)

Pia, the lady organising the rally is fantastic fun, and we all enjoyed drinks in the club house and then a meal at Les Vapeurs in Trouville. We met Simon and his sister Mel from Tavi and I was sat opposite Bernard the President of the YC because of my French. His English was actually very good anyway, and it turned out he knew the Villercotteret people and the whole Compiegne area.

The Rally “officially” started on Tuesday and unfortunately it continued to rain.  There was a trip to a local Calvados place, where we had lunch in a barrel and saw how Calva is made. We were bussed back in time for our rendezvous with an old friend.

Finally the sun came out for a while just as Philippe arrived and we had champagne in the cockpit and then wandered over to the “Welcome Cocktails” which wasn’t terribly well organised. We slipped off with Philippe to Trouville and let him choose an excellent restaurant. It was so good to see him again.

Next morning, we went and had breakfast with him in his hotel, and he had a business proposal for me, so I’ll be going to see him and his partner (in his new business) in Compiegne in a few weeks’ time.

We were then taken by coach to the Clairefontaine Racecourse in rather miserable weather and after much waiting around and being herded, Julia and I just booked a taxi and left. We spent the afternoon in Deauville and readied ourselves for dinner at the Casino.

This was extremely well organised, and it was a great evening.

Thursday, Julia and I went for a walk to see the sand bar that Drake ran aground on, (That entrance is positively dangerous and should be dredged!) and then we met Aaron for lunch. He had driven up from Swiss Normandie to see us. We found this great Pizza place and the meal was excellent.

We said Goodbye to Aaron and in the evening in the pouring rain we went to a really nice cocktail party at the Villa Strassburger. The cocktails were in a marquee, but we were allowed to take drinks into the splendid villa. We walked back with Bob & Jackie and popped into a restaurant called Le Garage which had been recommended and had some of our gang in there already.

Next day (Friday) Julia and I avoided the organised lunch at the Race Course and preferred to re-visit the super Pizza Place. Before lunch, the Mayor got the bells outside the Mairie to play God Save The Queen, so we all gathered for that.

We then joined the Horse Racing in time for the race sponsored by the Royal Southampton Yacht Club, and Shan and Martin presented the prizes to the owner, trainer and jockey.

Julia and I helped organise the food for the RSYC Pontoon party, but I decided I should go and join the J80 training for the racing the next day as I was going to be skipper. It was a great 4-5 and I had a cracking sail, and enjoyed sailing it in a breeze. However, the forecast for the next day (of the race) was for no wind, and I was dreading that.

The pontoon party was a great success and we had drinks aboard afterwards.

Saturday was foggy with no wind as forecast, but they still went ahead with the racing. It was truly awful - and I was lucky not to be last - in fact I was 6^th out of 7. Of course the locals won, and some of the other yacht clubs were better prepared. We had Alex a local girl crew who was great at teaching our team (Bob, Martin and Simon) but in fact wasn’t an asset.

Anyway it was a horrible drift and something I’d rather forget. Julia however, got to ride in Jerry and Wendy’s superb motorboat and enjoyed the sunshine. Many thanks to Jerry for drawing alongside and giving us a beer!

At last the weather was fine and we held a mini Pimms party with David, Diana, Ben and Suzie in Selene’s cockpit.

We then went to the prize giving and at least we won some wine!

We were then invited for drinks aboard Arabesque with John & Jackie, and we ended up going out to dinner with them in Trouville.

By Sunday, most people had had enough, and there was quite an exodus. We had planned to go to Fecamp as soon as the gates opened at 0744, but it was really foggy, so as we were in no rush we waited for the fog to clear a little and agreed with Peter and Betty inside us, that we would leave at 1000. However, by 0915 the crowd for St. Vaast had gone and Peter was keen to follow, so we untied and headed into the fog.

We had 0.25 NM viz for about an hour and then it gradually got better, but stayed foggy pretty much all the way to Fecamp. The cliffs were spectacular with their arches and it took us 5 hours to cover the 31 miles since we were motoring.

At last the sun came out as we arrived, and we had a wander round Fecamp and saw the Benedictine Palace. We bumped into Mel and Simon from Tavi, who we had obviously overtaken in the fog, since they left before us and weren’t there when we arrived. Julia and I then went for a meal and after our meal, we invited them aboard for drinks.

Next morning at 0415, I got up leaving Julia in bed, and got us out of Fecamp. However, the forecast NE wind was actually a SE from behind, and because of the damp, the auto-helm wouldn’t work, and coupled with that the bulb in the new stern light failed. As dawn wasn’t far off and there was no traffic, I ignored the light problem and hand-steered. It was quite gusty and difficult. Then the auto-helm decided it would work a bit, so it switched on and fought me for the helm, spinning me in circles.

At this point, I asked for all hands on deck and needed to keep turning off the instruments power to try to reset the autohelm. By the time Julia was all dressed up, it was early dawn, and the autohelm decided to work!

The NE then came in as forecast and we had a couple of hours of great sailing, but it was getting lighter and lighter, and eventually I had to motor sail. It was a glorious sunny day, but being slightly to windward and with some North in the wind, it wasn’t sun bathing weather. We made good time though, getting into Haslar at 1830, just over 14 hours for the 86 NM.

The traffic in the Channel was also very light and we didn’t need to avoid anyone. We had two close encounters, and one ship did alter course for us when we were the right of way vessel. We had just tied up when we got a text from Keith and Lorna, and we ended up having drinks and dinner with them in Landers.

Tuesday, we packed up and came home! The end of Summer Cruise 2 for 2007. Total miles 241.