Easter Four-Day Cruise

By Nick Tull

The weather forecast was true to form as we left Chichester Marina in a scrum with half the Marina trying to get a place in the lock queue. The yacht I was on, Lucrece, was 43rd in line. The weather was benign with light airs veering from north westerly to easterly. Inevitably we motored for most of our passage to Lymington, except for an hour or so when we managed to sail sedately past the Brambles bank. The bonus was bright skies and sparkly water except for a very brief interlude when we had a light shower. During this, the crew of Lucrece managed to find important jobs below decks, leaving a nearly speechless Alan holding the tiller and getting wet.

In addition to Lucrece, four boats were on the cruise, Summer Song, Blue Scherzo, Lady J, and Layla. In Lymington we met up with Opalescence - out for a family sail, which was a bonus.

The evening was spent as usual, eating, drinking and chatting, but when the others went off for a beer to the pub, those on Lucrece fell asleep and lost out! We all tried to imply that it was working hard all week at stressful jobs (yeah, right).

One very useful thing we did do was practising easy ways to tie common knots (never a dull moment).

I like to rise early, which is just as well, because all were up before 7am. The early morning sun facilitated this and after breakfast we strolled into town.

Leaving the pontoon at Lymington was not so easy because we had to back out, however, once under way the wind seemed to strengthen from the east, so the master plan was to use the Needles Channel on a run and then Broad Reach all the way to Poole. Nice idea, and we had quite a good sail for about an hour and the wind died. More motor sailing.

Having never been into Poole, I was asked to sort the passage to the town quay. Alan was particular about this because he has bad memories of Poole and getting stuck in the mud. I took the straightforward passage and all was well (phew). At the Town Quay, we rafted up six deep and had a good evening, which ended up in The Antelope for refreshment.

Amongst the boats rafted up on Town Quay, was a Royal Naval training vessel 'Trumpeter'. She had cadets on board and despite some ceremonial tasks, they spent all their time cleaning and polishing. Just the way to enthuse young people into a career in the Navy!

When it was time to slip away, engines were started and a tangle of warps unpicked. Various yachts left for East Cowes, including Layla. Then Mary (one of Layla's crew) turned up on the Quay, to see them steaming away. Alan was more than quick to offer a gentlemanly lift to her, but the shouting and waving gained the return of Layla.

Sailing back to the Needles Channel fairway buoy was good, but I soon found that sailing on instruments was a very poor substitute for more intuitive sailing. Once I'd changed to sailing her more like a dinghy, all went much better. We were also shown what a barber haul was on Lucrece.

Blue Scherzo played 'man overboard' and collected its danbuoy. I suspect any suggestions to use the skipper, were discounted, and Summer Song set an interesting course to go round the south side of the Isle of Wight instead of our more conventional route.

As we approached the Needles Channel, the wind died and we motored back to Cowes. The Marina was busy but we all managed to be berthed together and frequent the Lifeboat for an evening meal. After dinner drinks were served on most boats on the cruise and we all finished somewhat squashed into Summer Song, which was convivial.

Monday started as the other days - fair and little wind. The crew of Lucrece visited Cowes town, and we left for home at 12 noon, followed by Blue Scherzo. Our expectation was to motor sail back because of the forecast, however, when we passed Old Castle Point, we seemed to have some good wind and started to sail. The wind was southerly and we had a fantastic sail all the way back to Birdham Pool. We made the bar in two tacks and were at times sailing through the water at seven knots. At the Marina, we were held for about 30 minutes in a queue, and because of the number of boats, they opened the lock gates for free flow early, creating a bit of a salmon leap for Lucrece to negotiate. We went through the lock at 6.2 knots. When berthed Alan excused us cleaning up duties as he was staying on overnight.

I really enjoyed the cruise and would like to thank Pam for organising it. Everyone was very friendly and especially I would like to thank Alan and the rest of the crew of Lucrece who corrected my mistakes with a smile. I have become quite a fan of the Nicholson 32, a great boat to sail.