As the season draws to an end, there was one more rally to attend. The gathering was in Yarmouth, which is always a lovely place to visit. There was to be an informal OGA gathering on the Friday night, followed by a race and formal dinner on Saturday, organised by Royal Solent YC. I couldn’t attend the Saturday events, as I needed to return to Gosport to pick Niki up, but I was treated to a magnificent sail down on Friday afternoon. The ebb was in full swing, so I had almost 2kt of fair tide. The unusual NW direction of the wind gave a fast point of sail on a single tack the whole way – a broad reach most of the time. This was my first long sail since I re-stepped the mast (more on that later) and I was hoping the heavy weatherhelm had been improved. I set out with 2 reefs in, as I was solo and wanted to check the reefing, but shook one of the reefs out as soon as I was out of the lee of Gilkicker point and could feel the breeze that would carry me to the other end of the Solent.
As usual it there was plenty to see – not much commercial shipping, but pleasure craft of all sizes, including many interesting boats (see photos). The trip was completed in very quick time; Molly was making between eight and nine knots from Cowes to Yarmouth! She handled beautifully – the helm was almost completely neutral with single reefed main, staysail and jib, the weatherhelm only pulling in the bigger gusts.
Yarmouth harbour had not been able to put all the gaffers together, so we were a little dispersed. I ended up on a pontoon with Marjorie, who I had sailed alongside down the Solent, rafted to me. Nearby was Mincarlo, a Norfolk Gypsy, whose Maggie and Huw we’d met several times at events this season. We enjoyed some excellent fish and chips from the Blue Crab (highly recommended- they have a booking system so you can be sure it’s been cooked to order!
The following day was much lighter, but still a NW breeze. I had to leave at midday, in order to catch the flood tide and was expecting to motor for at least some of the way, but ended up sailing the whole time in the sun, varying between a relaxed amble and a brisk trot. All in all, quite a treat!
Meandering Molly 