Hobie Challenge

As always the weather forcast first thing this morning had changed - and it wasnt ideal! Gust of up to Force 7 wind direction varying from North Westerly (ideal) To South Westerly - headwind - awful!

We left camp ahead of Tony and Giz moving for the final time to Salcombe. We all agreed that it didnt feel different to the other moves - it has become so routine, almost automatic - we are now a well oiled machine!

So we left camp at 7am, arrived at Castle cove 7.30 - amazing how quickly you can get through Weymouth when there is no traffic - not sure the Olympics will work here unless the roads are upgraded - it cannot manage with the local traffic let alone the extra traffic generated by the Olympics.

Having pumped up the tender rowed out to the RIB we finally set off at 8am.

Portland Bill is notoriuos for having massive tides and usually large seas, today was no exception! On rounding the bill the wind blew - and quite hard - perhaps a good Force 5. And it came from the West meaning a MUCH harder sail.

Because it was so lumpy out at sea we were unable to take the straight line across the bay - quite simply doing 42 miles offshore in those conditions in a dinghy - whilst exciting - would have been nutty. This meant that we had to sail into lee of Lyme bay for protection. Of course having done so the Wind was now a headwind so we had to go under tow.

We tried sailing again later - having stopped for a quick lunch off the wreck of the Napoli (container ship that the locals stole the contents from the beach) - but by now the wind had dropped away - it was hard to believe it was the same day.

Whilst having lunch the coastguard issued a weather update on the VHF (A useful source of info throught the trip except they have been on strike on and off throughout the summer) and it gave - NW Force 2-4, veering Southwest 4-7 later.

We were pleased to be able to sail the last secor! and the sunshine came out in force for our return - seeing Salcombe in all her glory. Of all the places that we have visited on this trip - i still say (Yes i am bias)that Salcombe is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful!

Our welcome in Salcombe was great - if a little unusual in part!

Jamie Fisher - thanks for the personal welcome - a naked salute - i will blog a photo if i can get my hands on it, also Caroline and Milly as well as the Merrimans came out to greet us as did a hole host of other small boats.

Pete (RIB Skipper) nipped into salcombe and brought a load of supporters including Dad and others to welcome us in.

Having spent 10 hours on the water and managed to get ahead of the unsailable weather that is to follow - Stuart and i felt relief rather than elation, but also a great sense of pride at our achievement, and that of the rest of the crew also.

One strange comment from Caroline was - "Have you whitened your teeth"? It appears that due to the sun tan my teeth appear whiter!! An unexpected bonus i guess?

Once boats were safely stored away for the night we all ajourned to the Kings Arms top bar for a celebratory drink. It was lovely to see so many old faces - Tubes(From BVI) Trippy, Frenchie, Katherine and many more.

We The team and Mum and Dad then adjourned back to camp - Alston Farm Nr Kingsbridge for a curry fest - a takeaway from Kingsbridge - and excellent it was too.

Must admit that by this stage we were a little tired and all headed for bed by 10.30pm

All in all a great day!

SATURDAY 9TH AUGUST

We awoke to heavy grey skies and teeming rain - quite a contrast to the glorious day yesterday.

I looked out of the window over the estuary and noticed a large RIB gently slipping its mooring and trundling down the estuary! Into action - ran down the hill, jumped into my little tender RIB and retreived it!! Not quite the start to the day that i had in mind!!

Sturt, Pete, Charlie and i then set about emptying the RIB of its kit, de-rigging the Hobie and putting it on its road trailer - ready for the journey home - in the pooring rain. Remided me of getting ready for the trip, the only difference being that this rain was walm - thankfully. All of this had to be completed by 1pm. The Red Arrows are supposed to be displaying this afternoon in Salcombe and all roads were being closed at 1pm - seems a little excessive to me!

This afternoon is a quite on ahead of Red Arrows (If the weather improves), a drink in town then a final Giz supper back at camp for the team and prize giving - i will tell all tomorrow.

My aplogies for not having photos to put onto the blog - i am borrowing my parents computer to write this but will endeavour to have some within the next 48 hours.

So its done. We did it. and we didnt even capsize - sadly that is the part that amazes me most.
It has yet to sink in, we all still feel like it is ongoing. I think it will take a week or so to filter through.

Tomorrow Tony and Stuart are leaving with the caravan and heading back to Rutland, Giz is going to collect her car and drop Charlie off at a station so he can train back to Haslemere and Pete is going to ride his motorbike back to Exmouth. I am planning to stay for a couple of days and spend time with the family - having said that if the weather doesnt improve we will head for home sooner rather than later. Back to routine, back to reality.......

Till next time......

As predicted today was a no sail day - wind from the South West - meaning a head wind, so we took the oportunity to enjoy a relaxing day here in what turned out to be sunny Dorset.

Having looked at the weather forcast first thing - ish - we realised that the optimum time to sail tomorrow is 8am. The issue we had was that the Hobie is securely locked in the Castle cove sailing club and we dont have a key.

Pete called the Sarah the vice - commodore who kindly agreed to meet us so we could take the Hobie out to the mooring with the RIB.

Because the forcast rain had failed to materialise and it was a clear sunny day, we siezed the oportunity for all of us bar Stuart (who had to write a baord report for work) to hop in th RIb and explore this amazing coastine. I wanted to see Lulworth cove from the sea!

I promise to upload some photos when in Salcombe, the speed here is such that it would take 20 minutes for each photo, suffice to say the scenery was stunning.

On arrival at Lulworth cove we grabbed a sanwich and sat at anchor in the bay lapping up the hot sunshine and enjoying the view - and to be honest not being on the pebble beach with the day trippers.

Having refulled the RIB from jerry cans for the very last time - we headed back to camp via the local supermarket to vital up.

This evening was a jolly affair, remeniscising about the trip, peoples highs and lows and enjoying another delicious Giz feast - one thing is for sure the waistline will not miss her cooking!

Tomorrow the forcast is still for a 4 from the North west, there is talk of it being a westerly which will cause us to head south way off shore and tack all the way back - adding significantly to mileage - just have to wait and see! Its a 60 mile day - in a straight line.

So we plan to leave camp at 7am and be sailing by 8-8.15. All being well we aim to arrive in Salcombe for mid afternoon. There is a chance that marco, the Salcombe lifeboat Coxwain may come out to greet us which would be lovely, also i have to do a couple of interviews for local radio and papers - i hate it but it goes with the terratory. I am also rally looking forward to seeing Caoline and Milly again.

Tomorrow is an early evening drink at the Kings Arms then head back to campsite for a takeaway curry with the crew plus my parents and hopefully Milly and Caroline.

Saturday is a day of preparing everything for home - Take the Hobie out, de rig etc, clean out the RIb and caravan etc.... We hace acquired sooo much kit i am afraid it will take an age.

Saturday evening has been titled - "The last Supper". Giz is going to wow us with her final ensemble and i have a couple of awards to present to the crew.

Sunday then is the day that everybody heads off - not one that i relish. We have formed a really special bond and often it is not until you reflect on these events that you realise how special it was - i think this will be no exceptioh.

So tomorrow is Lyme Bay a biggy - one of the biggest offshore legs - hitting circa 25 miles offshore - i hope that the winds are favourable and we have a great sailing day - no towing PLEASE.

I may well struggle to blog tomorrow due to other demands - but i will blog on Saturday and hopefully have time to upload some photos.

Till next time...................

The day started well with a drive to Lymington taking us for 30 minutes throught the beautiful New Forest. It appears that a number of ponies have recently foaled as evidenced by the numbers seen - Milly i know you would have loved it. Went through a lovely village called Burley - well worth a visit.

On arriving in Lymington we quickly prepared and set off. Due to the wind direction and hugh tidal race we always knew we would have to tow until the needles - which we did.

There was a hell of a tide race at off Hurst Castle and a number of very rough looking overfalls also.

Havign passed the needles we soon set sail. The forcast was a 3-4 from the South. Direction was accurate but sadly not wind stregth. We sailed at about 3 knots for a couple of hours until it died off then reluctalntly towed- Agghhh!

Having passed St Albans head as we rounded the corner, the scenery changed to beautifully dramatic sea cliffs - stunning

We are currently moored at Castle Cove sailing club in Portland Harbour - Sarah the vice commodore and Barry the boatman were lovely and have sorted both boats with moorings until we leave.

On that subject - have just checked the weather and it still remains unsailable tomorrow and OK for Friday - so fingers crossed.

it is going to chuck it down tomorrow - the plan is to visit Lulworth cove - and the surrounding area - it looked stunning as we passed at sea.

I feel sad that all being well we only have one more days sailing - i cannot believe that this fantastic adventure is comming to an end. We will have sailed 1,700 miles (Becasue of the Caledonian canal - i now wish we had continued round it - my only regret of the trip), the car has clocked up over 10,000 miles - and generally some of the kit is starting to show wear and tear.

I must dash for a shower as we are having an early supper then plannning on watching the Bucket list.

Till next time.......

This is take 2 - all due to the internet line crashing as i was uploading it so please forgive me if this falls below standard!!!

On Sunday night i rechecked the weather and the focast for Monday was force 4 in the morning increasing to 6 perhaps 7 in the late afternoon. Also to consider was the fact that the RIb was in Itchenor, The Hobie somewhat abandondened on the slip in Cowes. Further,being Cowes week the racing usually starts at 10-10.30am and we would need to be clear of the area by that time to ensure we didnt get in the way of the 1,000 yachts that are racing this year.

Although Lymington is only 8 miles from Cowes we also faced a 4-5 knto tide against us and the wind was a South Westerly - a full on headwind.

This all meant that there exited a window of oportunity to leave Cowes early, avoid the racing yachts and the strong wind and get to Lymington. This would enable camp to be moved ahead and reunite the RIB and Hobie once again in the same location.

So it was decided to move on Monday - Giz and Tony moving on to near Puddletown in Dorset, roughly equidistant between Lymington and Weymouth - our next planned port of call.

We packed up and left camp at 6.30am, collected Charlie from Itechenor and finally arrived in Cowes at 8.45am.

We were releived to see the Hobie still in place - nobody seemed to be bothered at all - much to our surpricse - we quickly rigged her and launched her. Having done so we were very please to see Ellen McArther on the Island Sailign club jetty, adjacent to the one the Hobie was on, with her dog, setting off for a days racing, sadly we didnt get to chat as she supports the Rainbows charity also.

It took from 9am to 12.45 to sail the 8 miles to Lymington. Our GPS recorded a distance of 25 miles covered - all due to tacking between the mainland and The Isle of White many times to reach our destination.

Having found a place to leave the Hobie at the Lymington Town Sailing club and the RIB on the Harbour masters jetty, we set off to Bucklers Hard for a qucik sandwich.

This was a very exciting journey - the wind had - as predicted - increased and was now blowing a good force 6, perhaps 7. the VHF in the RIb was constantly ringing out Maydays as yachts collided and had engine failure - to such an extent that the Coastguard ordered a total radio silence!

We passed through the fleet at 25 knts - ti was stunning, all the boats heeling over with numerous crews sitting on the rail to counterbalance the boat - i have raced here several times and love the buzz and atmosphere of it all - and it seems infectous, all the others including Tony, Stuart, Pete etc.. all felt the same.

On the way back from Butlers Hard, i put the RIB through her paces, 20 knts plus into the wind and seas, luckily the later were small due to the shelter offered by the Isle of white - nonetheless, it was a ride that excited us all!

Giz collected us at 6.30 and we returned to our new campsite - about and hour and quarter by road from Lymington.

On first impresssions the site was good (we have evolved a scoring system for each element of each site from view, showers etc, and the immediate environment was promising - located in a wooded disused quarry - THATS WHERE I ENDED!

Where do i start?

Trains - yes the tent is 50 meters from a railway line that each time a train heads North - it Hoots is horn - right by our tent - as it approaches the level crossing near the site entrance - we all still jump every time. I can confirm that the trains start at 6.30am!!

What next?

The Loos - oa reasonable looking loo block - i selected trap No2 for my morning constitutional and in i went. On closing the door i was surprised by a sign that read "please shut toilet lid after use" Seemed somewhat bossy?

I duly prepared myself for the tak at hand and having removed the appropriate clothing, lifted the loo seat - to find myself staring down at 10ft cesspuit. Undeterred i adopetd the pose, but found myself imagining numerous small children who fell down the loo never to be found again. I must confess that i normally loiter when undertaking this task, but today was out in 35 seconds flat - i dont look forward to repeating it tomorrow.

So the Loo was done and it was off the the shower block, which for some reason is a fruther 100 meters away. I was drowned in yet another downpour en-route which annoys.

The showers are a key element to us all - when camping. I can confirm that on this occasion that i was wetter and walmer before the shower than i was after it - Really not good.

Finally there is a quarry 100meters away and the lorries are fitted with reversing beepers - which they used with regularity this morning.

TUESDAY 5th AUGUST

A no sail day due to high winds again

Clothes washing etc this am - trying to ensure all as clean as possible to keep Caroline sweet on my retrun home.

I popped to Carolines Aunt and Uncle - Mike and Jill Olivers this afternoon for tea - as they are only 20 mins up the raod - lovely to catch up - and they have 2 new puppies - Jack Russell and boarder terrier - great.

Tonight is a quiet night in - planning for tomorrow.

This morning i checked the weather and tomorrow looked potentially sailable, Thursday a right off and Friday ideal with a 3-4 North westerly.

So the latest plan is to try and reach Weymouth tomorrow - 40 miles, and on Friday to try and get all the way from Weymouth to Salcombe, because Saturday is a no go as the high pressure moves in. I havent re-checked it this evening but i am concerned as it is a very small window of opertunity - fingers crossed

Oh nearly forgot Giz went to the loo just before bed and got lost - nearly had to send a search party out.

Today was a no sail day force 7 winds!

As is normal on a no sail day we tend to wash clothes, prepare routes and look at met info in the hope of understanding what the next few days will bring.

Pete Tony and i went into Chichester to look at the Cathederal and also i met up with some old friends - Emma and Christian Heyman - great to catch up after many years of us both being too busy with children and everyday life.

On Friday night Stuart and i were invited to a party in Itchenor with the Woolfenden / Birkett clan - in a lage tent - theme - footballers wives. A really enjoyable evening great to catch up with my best friend AND we raised £500 for the charities - Thanks to all who kindly donated.

Stuart and i spent that night at the Birkett summer cottage - Pink cottage. I think this is a beacon of how families should spend time. It is a large cottage and by cramming in bunks there is the capacity to sleep up to 20 people at a time thereby ensuring that the parents all 3
children 8 grandchildren and friends are all welcome at any time. Sensibly there is NO TV and becasue of that everybody talks - Great.

So Stu and i were on futons on the sitting room floor and slept well thanks to a good night out.

SATURDAY 2ND AUGUST - ITCHENOR TO COWES

Having had a lovely breakfast at Pink Cottage we waited until midday to be collected by the others with a view to sailing to Cowes.

Whilst sitting and chatting with the crew in the sitting room, the door to the stairs opens and a rather sleepy looking 16 year old with bed head hair appears says goodbye and walks out of the front door hops onto his bike and proceeds to pedal off. It appears that nobody really knew he was there, but that he was a friend of one of the childrens - hillarious and a really great environment for the kids.

Back to the sailing - Forcast for the day was force 4-5 from the South west - meaning a long tack up the Solent from Itechenor to Cowes. We promised Charlie a proper sail on the Hobie and this seemed the best time.

On collecting the Hobie from the beach at Hayling Island Sailing club we headed out to the Solent and had a reasonable sail. After about an hour the wind dropped away and we towed the last few miles until off Cowes the wind really picked up again and we resumed sailing - i really wanted to sail into Cowes if at all possible - having raced yachts there on previous Cowes weeks.

We set off at a cracking pace - 20 knots+( Althought there was too much traffic to verifiy this) but after a couple of minutes only - DISASTER STRUCK!!! - WE WERE DISMASTED.

I always expected a mast falling to go with a huge bang - no such luck it simply fell away from the boat landed in the water and we stopped - all rather dull really.

Picture the scene its cowes week, there are literally hundreds of yachts in the area around us the mast is now lying on the deck and we cannot take the sail down. A huge container ship is bearing down on us and its now blowing a full on hoolie!

I am pleased to say there was no panic, we quietly decided to tow Hobie alongside Destiny back into Cowes - which Pete did really well calnt have been easy with a 30ft sail in the water and a 4 knt cross tide.

We found a slipway next to the Island Sailing club and put Challenger on the hard. We first de-rigged her, worked out what had broken - The Pigstail which is a short section of metal shroud wire that had simply snapped in the middle under the strain! Little other damage was sustained except the junction of the boom to the mast which is bent and (Still) needs to be straightened in a vice.

Luckily we had a spare - and with the benefit of hindsight we should have changed this sooner - but it meant taking the mast down - a big job.

So we set to and after a couple of hours we had the rigging repaired and the mast back up, ready to sail.

During this time Pete popped back to Itchenor to collect Jeremy, his wife Carrie, her sister and husband - Roger and Helen and bring them back to Cowes. It was expected that the journey would take 45 mins each way so i became worried after 2 and a bit hours that they were not back. It transpired that the wind had continued to rise and it was bumpy on the way back meaning that they had to go slower for part of the trip.

Anyhow we left the Hobie on the Slip and went to explore the infamous beer tent - bumping into a great friend of mine - Chris Merriman - Chris thanks for the beers - and also John Wood from Rib Eye.

We then headed to the Cowes Tandoori and had a great curry (Although they tried to charge me £1200 instead of £200!

We then tried unsucessfully to find a home for Challenger and had no choice but to leave her on the slip. We pulled her as far up it and too one side as we could but wires supporting a lampost meant we couldnt take her right up and off the slipway.

Pete was a star and drove the 10 of us back in the pitch black the 18 miles to Itchenor dodging the many ferries and commercial shipping. Destiny was moored in Itchenor again and we drove back to the campsite in Bognor (we near it) arrriving a little weary around midnight.

Rather perversly i really enjoyed the day regardless of the de masting. I am SO glad that this didnt happen when we were 20 miles offshore in a big sea.

SUNDAY 3RD AUGUST

I am writing this at 11am. We planned to be up at 7.30 but overslept by 1 1/2hrs! waking at 9am.

As always i immediatly checked the weather forcast. Today was meant to be the day the shore based crew moved on to Salcombe - us sailing ideally to Weymouth staying in a B&B then on Monday sailing across Lyme bay to Brixham (and then staying in the caravan in Salcombe) finally arriving in Salcombe the following day.

It is not to be - the forcast is not good at all. The forcast for Cowes between now and Thursday is strong wind from the South West. Not only is the wind too strong but the direction is awful. So we cannot sail today, we have abandoned the Hobie up a slip in Cowes which is far from ideal, we have to extend our stay at Bognor, re-arrange Salcombe camp site and then sit and wait for the weather to become sailable.

In addition there is an Azores High pressure system sitting off the SOuth West which implied that once this wind has gone through, it is likely to be replaced with clear skies - with little or no wind!!!!

So feeling a little gloomy here, it is grey and tipping it down as i write this, still there is one positive - its warm.

Till next time..................