Yarmouth, Isle of Wight

              Mooring at Yarmouth

After leaving Southampton we spent six days on a mooring buoy at Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

waiting for enough wind to sail further south to Torquay.  Yarmouth was a lovely picturesque anchorage outside the local yacht club.   

With no RIB (dinghy to get off the boat) we were fortunate the marina offered a water taxi service so we were able to go ashore, fill up the gas bottle which ran out during dinner, and explore the local region.  

 

Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes 

The Pinnacles on departure

The local bus service was excellent so we were able to visit the infamous Cowes which is 'home' for international yacht racing since the founding of the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1815. Although smaller than expected Cowes was a beautiful seaside village to stroll around.  We then caught the bus out to the headland to hike towards the Pinnacles.

While at the mooring we had plenty of sailing activity to watch over the weekend with the local yacht racing start line about 30 metres from our bow so there were several close tacks to Sabbaticus which at times were too close for comfort.  The tourist steamship Waverly, which is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world, would pass about 50 meters from us twice a day.  She was impressive to watch as she belched steam from her funnels.  

Waverly passing Sabbaticus's bow

 

 

Next stop Torquay.

Southampton for the Boat Show

A real pleasure to host Cliff and Heather on our boat for a change!

Our four nights in Town Quay Marina in Southampton was a very busy time with numerous boat show and boat maintenance tasks and a social schedule. Cliff and Heather managed to fit us into their busy holiday plans and joined us for a couple of nights.  It was great to see them and catch up with news from home.  

Raising our pennant

Cliff also delivered our 'Wing Commanders' pennant which is now flying and reminds us of our previous life - thanks!

At last we have a cat!

Cliff & Heather also generously added to our crew with the gift of Freddy the Ship’s Cat.  Freddy is pretty cool and looks quite comfy curled up behind the sofa.  He is low maintenance though we don’t think he will be very effective in keeping rodents out of the boat.  However, Freddy make Sabbaticus feel quite homely seeing him when we open the hatch on returning home.

 

Bigger is better!

With the growing shopping list for Sabbaticus we were ready for the boat show with us ending up spending three days there.  The major purchase was a Rocna anchor - at 40kgs this should give us more flexibility in choosing our anchoring areas and allow (hopefully) a worry free night knowing the anchor will hold.

Paul and Paul from Dolphin Sails

The boat show was a good chance for John to speak with the different manufacturer’s on the equipment and ask any technical questions - of which there were many (who would have thought!). We also caught up with Paul and Paul from Dolphin Sails during one of their quieter moments.  A company with a real focus on quality.

 While at Southampton we also purchased an Ocean Safety life raft which John installed. This life raft is installed on the stern rail and is a huge improvement as previously the life raft was in a valise stored in a locker.  The valise life raft  would have been impossible to deploy as Leanne can’t lift it out of the locker let alone deploy it in an emergency situation.  

Karen & Chris trying out the helm

We then enjoyed a social evening onboard with Karen from Ocean Safety, and her husband Chris, who did a fabulous job in assisting us with purchasing numerous safety related equipment upgrades for the boat - which we hope to never use!

We were also fortunate with a visit from Kerry and Tracey Cousins and their boys which was great to see them and hear about their exciting European travel adventures and lifestyle in the UK.  We had forgotten how a 2yr old boy will find every switch that was left on - note to skipper to turn off all winches next time!

The Cousins Whānau

Next stop is Yarmouth, the Isle of Wight.   

Passage to Portsmouth

Sleeping off watch in comfort

After waiting five days at anchor in Stangate Creek we finally had some favourable winds to continue our journey south.  This trip was 170 NM and took about 36 hours with an extremely busy coastline off Dover with the shipping and ferries.  With light winds John decided to pole out the genoa – just before dusk, another new evolution.  While easily manageable, gybing the genoa while approaching Dover is not recommended practice.  Leanne had just heated up dinner at 2030hrs when the call came we needed to gybe and she was needed on the helm for 15 mins.  Yeah right – 45mins later the gybe and pole were completed and by the time we had both settled down again it was 2230hrs before dinner was served.  With the amount of shipping traffic we finally managed to go down to one person on watch at 0100hrs so we could get some rest.  The challenges of shorthanded sailing! The hot showers in the early hours when changing watch was sheer luxury and one advantage of motoring for a few hours.

No Man's Land Fort

For the first time we arrived in daylight to our next location and anchored of Stoke Bay in the Solent and were able to see ‘No Man’s Land Fort’ built in 1867 is a conspicuous seamark approaching Portsmouth. The forts are now luxury venues for hire complete with helipad, 22 bedrooms, cabaret club, 200 person banquet hall, jacuzzi and sauna -  a stunning venue if you were after a luxury treat. Tired but satisfied we had a recovery day before moving into Portsmouth Harbour to spend a couple of nights at the Royal Clarence Marina to enjoy a couple of days sightseeing.  

 

Portsmouth is steeped in maritime history and wherever you are the senior service (Royal Navy) is evident.  One of the highlights was visiting HMS Victory which was launched in 1765 and had a crew of 850. Victory was Nelson's flag ship and led the Battle of Trafalgar where Nelson was fatally wounded – it was quite spine chilling to stand in the spot where Nelson was shot.

HMS Victory

Victory is the oldest commissioned warship in the world and has been beautifully restored to allow an appreciation of what live onboard would have been like - as expected the lower you go down the decks the more challenging the living conditions.  Viewing the surgery was particularly gruesome when seeing the tools used for amputations, with no anesthetic or alcohol it was a ‘short’ 1min 30 secs to amputate a leg. Thankgoodness for modern medicines:).

  

Cannon deck

Sleeping and dining amongst the cannons

  

 

We then visited the warship HMS Warrior launched in 1860, with a crew of 750, she was a revolutionary design and was Britain’s first iron-hulled, armoured warship. Powered by steam and sail she was the largest, fastest and most powerful ship of her time.  Influencing naval architecture Warrior, was in her time, the ultimate deterrent.  Yet within ten years she was obsolete!  

 

HMS Warrior

 The Mary Rose Museum was also impressive.  The Mary Rose was King Edward VII's warship and was launched in 1511.  She served for 34 years before being sunk off Portsmouth in 1545 in a battle with the French.  She 437 years underwater and was raised in 1982 and has spent 35 years in conservation.  The conservation project was fascinating – 12yrs to excavate the Mary Rose from the sea bed, with a 15 years restoration project including four years of preserving sprays before drying her out (one year remaining).  

 

Mary Rose hull structure being 'dried out' 

Next stop is Southampton for the Boat Show.