May 2011 - Evans Bay Yacht & Motor Boat Club

British W aters (Part II)The SpinnakerAn Antipodean in British WatersWe left John & Wendy enjoying the delights of the English winter, and the joys of British boat jumbles. Thestory continues…As spring approached the marina became livelier with people mucking about on their boats and we metmore people including Valentin and Daria, both naval architects, living with their dog Laika aboard theirbeautiful 1968 wooden planked S&S 50.During this time a previous owner of Beyond, Peter Hancock, who had sailed her from the UK to NZ cameto visit with his daughter Karen and grandson Rory. He was clearly moved to see Beyond again and notedshe had completed her circumnavigation.With Wendy departing for NZ to take up her grandmotherly duties with another grandson about to be bornI was faced with the prospect of having to sail alone which I did not relish. I turned to the internet, finding aBritish crewing website Sailing Networks with some scary results. What someone in the Ukraine with nosailing experience wants to sail the Atlantic for I do not know. However there were some good results frompeople I could meet, the first being Fiona who visited us on the boat and quickly established her sailingcredentials having sailed round the Cape of Good Hope up to St Helena and Ascension Islands then on upto Europe finishing in Holland all on a boat we knew. The clincher however was she shared my interest inred wine. The other was Matt a busy contracting computer systems engineer who wanted time on acruising yacht. As I pen this communiqué in Brest, Fiona has returned to her life in London and I am waitingfor Matt to fly out to help sail Beyond across Biscay.Towards the end of April with my visa due to expire and Wendy returning to NZ it was time to go. Insteadof being just Fiona and I departing St Katherine’s there was suddenly four with Wendy returning for a fewdays to sail to Dover, because her flight was delayed due to the volcanic ash in the atmosphere, and Gus aneighbour at the marina deciding at the last to come along for the ride.The sights down the Thames of Greenwich and the Thames Barrier were now known and familiar and wequickly made it to Queenborough, off the Medway, where I planned to moor for the night but Gussuggested we go on behind the Isle of Sheppey, anchor there and go out through the Swale in the morning.Despite not having a detailed chart for the area I foolishly agreed and off we went, waiting for theKingsferry Bridge to open dependant on the train timetable. We carried on navigating using the Mark 1eyeball. Having not picked up the change of bouyage direction at Milton Creek caused me some confusionbut we eventually found a sheltered spot to anchor behind Fowley Is. We had a couple of ‘shallow’moments exiting The Swale next morning at one point having to double back to relocate the channel and itwas with some relief we joined the Thames once again and made a quick passage to North Foreland wherewe picked up the next tide for the passage to Dover.It had taken me some time before departing London to get the geography of these passages into my headand also the concept of the tides entering both ends of the English Channel simultaneously allowing you touse the assistance of two tides on a single passage. The passages down the South coast were still quitechallenging for me, working the tides and avoiding the numerous offshore dangers of the coast plus thelack of safe anchorages necessitated incurring the considerable overnight charges at Dover and Brightonmarinas.Wendy and Gus departed the boat at Dover leaving Fiona and I to carry on, enjoying the white cliffs andmaking fast passages as far as the Solent, picking our way carefully, as it was approaching low water, up thewell marked channel into Chichester Harbour to find a calm and peaceful anchorage behind ThorneyIsland.Choosing to sail through the Solent because it is one of the most famous pieces of water in the world andthe busiest recreational boating area in Britain, Fiona having sailed there before, said I would hear all sorts- 11 -