Last night in Brixham?

Returning to Brixham, we were given a berth next to the Westerly Riviera that was next on our list of boats to view. Had we not purchased our Hunter Legend 37.5. 

  The owners showed up this weekend and on chatting to them, got to go onboard and look inside. A tidy boat! Spacious inside with two helm positions,(one inside, one out) plenty of headroom, split level to bedrooms and big heads/shower rooms. I much prefer it to the Moody's we viewed. 

Anyone looking for a liveaboard yacht at a good price - would be worth a look. 

     The Riviera is regarded as a motor sailor and not a serious yacht, but I disagree. The windage looks no more than ours when you consider our large spray hood and the Rivieras small one. 

Westerly Riviera for sale at Brixham 

Westerly on the left. Hunter on right.

We met a chap today ( Peter) who is planning a trip across Biscay. He's been before, so was a mine of information but is going ASAP. A pity we can't join him as we are still learning our boat and have spares to pick up in Falmouth. 

The weather is looking up for tomorrow, so all being well we will set out for Plymouth in the morning. 

A sign from the wine

With the rain, zero wind and no sign of things improving we motored to Torbay and berthed in Brixham Marina. The marina was a great help on the VHF, giving us precise directions. 

   The next day I woke with a headache. Later on, we walked around Brixham. When we holidayed in Torquay last year we would have liked to visit Brixham but didn't get the time. 

   A charming harbour town if your not with a bad tempered migrainal husband. Sorry Alison. 

The  day after, we were ready for a skip to Plymouth. The wind was up and we took the marinas offer to help us get off the berth as a stiff breeze pinned us to it. 

    The parting words of our hosts were ' if you don't like it, give us a call on channel 80 and come back' 'will do' I replied. 

   We headed out into the bay. Rocking and rolling on the incoming waves. Whoo ! A bit of a fairground ride. A fishing trawler passed us, crashing about returning to port. 

   'It will be calmer once we get out the bay' we thought. Well. It wasn't.

Turning west it was time to put a sail up. We hadn't taken the mainsail halyard off the end of the boom yet. So I put on a harness and clipped on the life line. Crawled up the deck to the mast. 10 minutes later, after a few attempts got the halyard on the mainsail. Phew! Returned to the cockpit. 'You haven't taken the sail  gaskets ( straps ) off' shouted Alison. 

Back out again !

      Up with the mainsail. It folded and the batons bent like a broken umbrella! Even facing in to the wind, it was no better. 

   Down with the mainsail. We thought about pulling out a bit of jib. Then thought better of it.

 The wind instrument read 25 knots. 

The local forcast on the VHF said Force 7.

Alison investigated a crash downstairs not an easy task given the conditions.

A crate of wine had burst out of a locker, smashing one bottle on the floor. 

It was a sign. 

 'I dont like it' cried Alison'

Neither did I.

Time to return to base. 

I speeded up and cut the headland to get us back quicker. Beam on, the boat rolled alarmingly. Feeling like we were going to tip over. The auto pilot couldn't handle it, signalling 'off course' and turning us towards the rocks. 

I squared the corner to ease our motion. 

Heading back to port with the wind and swell following us wasn't as bad. 

I think the design of the yacht helps here. Narrowing at the stern and tapered. 

   On returning to Brixham Harbour we had to ask for repeated instructions as the clipped on, handheld radio, got kicked onto the floor and changed Channel  without us realising. Doh!

    We got help mooring up and boy were we glad to get back to shelter. 

Lessons learned. 

No photos due to adverse weather conditions. I struggled to push buttons on the chart plotter!

'Do you fancy a chicken sandwich' 

The bait we had made up for the trip!

  The forcast is bad for a week. We could be stuck here for a while. 

Gosport Marina

We gave way to all the out coming yachts and some power boats had to give way to us - we had nowhere left to turn. We were sails down and motoring, threading our way through. 

     Gosport Marina answered our VHF calls eventually ( busy channel, what with the race an' all ) and allocated us a berth in their Northern section. 

We entered on a rising tide and moored with the bow just kissing the pontoon. (10.30 am) Bit more reverse next time. 

  We had brought with us, a hitch hiking wasp from Eastbourne. He had been in and out of my ear a couple of times on the way. After we moored he buzzed off. 

    We paid up for two nights and had breakfast at the Boat House Cafe and went to bed. 

Late afternoon Alison washed the hull and scrubbed the decks and cockpit. (Don't stop her if she's in the mood) while I tidied downstairs. 

     That evening we had dinner at The Castle Tavern - big portions - as we had switched our fridge off to save power. So the Gammon and huge pack of bacon ( thanks Seamoors bar at Eastbourne ) went in the bin. 

With all the electronics, we were drawing 16 amps, which halved without the fridge. 

    The next day we repaired the Dutchman system on the mainsail but need to buy some spares tomorrow if we can source them. 

    There is a storm sail on board that I would like to get operational. Might be possible if I get some hanks and use the spinnaker lanyards. 

   Also on the list is phone calls to make and some kind of cockpit lighting, as seeing which rope to pull at night required shining a torch. 

Looking over to Portsmouth 

    We stayed an extra night as our list of jobs took longer than anticipated. 

Silicone spray hood lights 

Off again destination Falmouth. The spares for the mainsail will be waiting for us there. 

Busy again leaving Portsmouth Harbour and rather foggy. Gave me chance to try out our fog horn. 

After a good start, the wind died so we got out the fishing rod. 

Bored after 10 minutes we put the fishing rod away. 

The wind was on and off, so was the engine, as we kept drifting off course. 

We saw a small pod of Dolphins heading the opposite way with the current. 

We took turns resting on the night shift. Painfully slow going. But we are moving in the right direction according to the GPS. 

Now it's raining! I didn't order that!

D-Day

We cast off to make the 09.30 lock out. Matthew and George had just arrived and waved us off ( which made me a little nervous. I could have reversed a bit straighter )

     We tied up in the lock without any drama and watched as another yacht looked very clumsy tying up behind us. That would have been us pre tuition. 

    The current wasn't turning down channel for a couple of hours but we had decided to finish any jobs whilst bobbing about. At least we had got the lock over with. 

    The Chart Plotter wasn't responding and kept emitting three loud beeps. Eventually sussed out that it was the 'man overboard' alarm. Must've pressed the wrong button. 

       We had decided to follow the way points that Mick had put in for us. We couldn't have done any better. Unfortunately the wind was blowing WSW and yes you guessed it, that was to be our course. We had to tack or go back. We tacked. We could have easily made it to Brighton and waited for a favourable wind. But we continued through the night. I wouldn't advise it. It was very tiring and when the tide turned we actually went backwards. 

I like the auto pilot me. 

After this shot we put on our Gill offshore gear and life jackets

   The 4 hour shifts didn't happen as we were reefing or tacking together. We pirouetted a couple of times trying to sail to windward. No problem, just try again. Alison was having a bad day emotionally, up one minute, down the next. She sympathised with me afterwards. 

   We sailed as near to the shipping lanes as we dared, to get the best angle in, to make some headway. 

A passing tanker

The last tack was huge, it gave us chance for a breather, apparently I was snoring whilst Alison kept watch. We got within 200 yds of a tanker and then turned to make the Isle of Wight. 

    Then the Dutchman mainsail control line snapped, giving a flapping bad shape to the sail. We took it down and just with the jib we were still making 6.5 kts. Cool!

    What now? Go on or go in? We didn't have much in the way of pilotage and marinas although plentiful in that area were difficult to find on the chart plotter. 

      If the wind dropped the jib alone wouldn't cut it. We radioed Solent Coastguard to recommend us a nearby marina that was easy to get into. Gosport was the answer. We had the Premier Marina booklet for that one!

     Looking harder and harder on the plotter the detail is there if you persevere. Although the Solent map is packed with contours, tidal diamonds, buoys etc. it's not as bad as I had feared. 

   On entering Portsmouth harbour there was a multitude of yachts streaming out in a race. Ferries going backwards and forwards, power boats, jet skis, tugs, fishing boats and a paddle steamer and a hovercraft.

JESUS! MARY! & JOSEPH!

  

    

     

Friends at Sovereign Harbour

We test drove the boat with Freddie the next day and again the day after. 'Your driving' he said, and gave me some great instruction. 

The outboard engine works!

    We were now waiting on the weather which had turned stormy with high gusts.

 No one was going out except a few hardy fishermen when there were small gaps in the weather system. 

       Moored near the fishing boats, Alison said 'Good morning' to the guys who passed. They looked a bit surprised but 'Morninged' back. 

    We got chatting to the owner of the nearest boat, John, who turned out to be a really nice bloke. He brought his other half Jill down to meet us, whom suffers from a similar condition to Alison. 

They compared symptoms and we all got on really well. We went round their house for a return visit and met the family, and the three dogs, two cats, two parrots, Dollar fish....  The list goes on. Jill has a strong caring motherly instinct, I think. 

John and Trevor the dog ( they say owners look like their pets HeeHee )

    Alison asked John if he knew any other yachties in the harbour. 'Not really' was the reply. 'If they were all like you, my job would be great.'

Lovely Jill

   At the harbour we also met Mikey. A young man originally from Yorkshire. A good fisherman and charter boat operator. 'Misty Blue' if you fancy a fishing trip. 

   He is always at the Harbour and popped on board most days for a chat. 

Never a dull moment with Mikey. 

    When we eventually get going we will miss the friends we made at Sovereign Harbour ; Ray and Sally T at the Chandlery, Tim, who sorted out our batteries as well, ( he does charge, but he's worth it ) Kev with the power boat ( FPB eh Kev! ) and Mick, owner of EmmaLouise the smartest charter boat in the Harbour and also recommended, who showed us how to use the Chart Plotter. Then there was Matthew and son, George, who gave us endless support and advice. Matthew took us out sailing on 'Artemis' as he knows the yacht like the back of his hand, having worked on and crewed on her for the previous owner. What a master class that was. No wonder they call him 'Neptune'! Would that make George 'Nemo'?- just a thought. 

Alison repairing the Autopilot steering system. 

    The weather was forcast to turn good on Friday 20th September so that was when we would set sail. 

  On the evening before, John and Jill insisted on taking us out to dinner and we said our fare wells. 

The scene was set. 

    

Back in the Water

After 2 weeks on the hard we are back in the water. Thank God. 

The anchoring set up is just about sorted, 

I did that 

the engine has been serviced and purrs nicely and Matthew has tightened and strengthened our wobbly push pit railings. 

    The weather has changed and its feeling like Autumn. We have just read and viewed pictures online about the severe flooding back home in the North East. 

We are getting itchy feet. The last bill has just come in and southern climes are beckoning. Thought we'd have a practice manoeuvring the boat around the marina. 

It didn't go well. 

We started the engine and cast off. Forward, reverse, forward, reverse, the engine revved up but everything I didn't want to happen err did. I got a handful of reverse and then no control whatsoever !

   Wind assisted and with lots of shouting (screaming more like) we careered into the fishing boat behind us. We still had the inflatable dingy on the davits and it was almost squashed flat! We rebounded off and the wind pushed us back towards the pontoon where Alison managed to jump on and tie up. 

  We were both in shock. 

It turned out that the gearbox controls hadn't been tightened back up after the service.

 To be fair the boat hadn't been 'signed off' by the yard yet. We were very lucky. The fishing boat wasn't damaged - told the owner when we saw him - no damage to our boat or us. 

   Our confidence is rather shattered at the moment. But we've decided to have another go tomorrow. 'Get back on the horse' as they say. I'll be checking forward and reverse while still tied up mind you.