A Breezy Day On The Solent.

On Saturday we had a little sail in the Solent. Having checked the weather and coastal forecasts we knew that a big fat weather front was approaching for the weekend carrying lots of well needed rain for the Island.

So Skipper planned a short sail out on the Solent while the wind was still manageable for our small Sunstar 18.

Once out of the river Medina we had a good SW F3-4 and we raised full sails and creamed along making 4-5 knots of speed.

I like to think we gave this lovely "Round The World Clipper" yacht a run for her money! sailing on the same tack together before she sped off- well she was much bigger than our 18foot and had a lot more sail area, especially when her crew raised a third sail!

The wind blew stronger the more we headed to the North shore and the sea was pretty lumpy out in the centre of the Solent. We tacked around heading back to the Island shore and lowered our mainsail and sailed under jib only. We were in more sheltered waters here and making 3 knots we leisurely made our way back to Cowes.

Arriving at " Cowes Roads" the entrance to the harbour just as both the Red Funnel High Speed Red Jet and the Car Ferry were passing.

Also spotted this Helicopter which had landed on a very small space on the harbour wall!

The pilot was taking photos of his amazing feat too!

Sailing back up the river under jib only was a bit tricky as the wind was swinging through a westerly and then southerly direction, but here on the Island the sun was still shining.

Back on our mooring we had a delicious late lunch of Cornish pasties, hot coffee and a generous slice of ginger cake.

The Isle Of Wight Music Festival was on all this weekend just up the river and when the weather is good we sleep aboard on our mooring, enjoy listening to the music, have a glass of wine and cook our supper on board. Sometimes we take the dinghy up a little closer to view the big screen of the main stage from the water.

Not this year, we knew what was forecast...

Heavy rain and F7 Winds

Skipper little planned quick sail before it was too windy was excellent. Sunday was a snug day at home happily watching the rain "water" my garden. Those poor Festival goers, hope they enjoyed the weekend all the same.

Retained The Cup For Weaving!

I'm very pleased to say that I have won;

The Marleen Upson Memorial Cup For Weaving for the second year running!

It was presented to me by the Isle Of Wight Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild.

The following photos are the stages of the winning item in creation on my loom.

My inspiration, my beautiful new rambling rose in my garden, just coming into bloom.

I chose the colours of the warp


Warped up the loom.

Weaving in wide stripes of multi colours

A close up of the woven fabric.

On display.

The finished piece makes a lovely table runner or small throw to decorate a chair or drape at the foot of a bed. It's soft muted and blended colours of early Summer gives a warmth and easy country style.

Mirror Dinghies- A Race To The River Fest!

The River Fest is an event held at Newport Quay (I blogged about it May 2010-see old posting).

This year the MMA organised a Mirror dinghy race up the river with the finish line at the Quay.

Five Mirror dinghies took part on a glorious day of sunshine and a good F3-4 S to SW Breeze.

The start was delayed for about half an hour as the safety boat was still aground on her swing mooring, but once the tide had washed in a little more, the five minute hooter sounded and we all tried to gain the best position for a good start.

I was hoping to take photos of the actual racing but we had superb conditions for sailing and it became a very exciting race So I was very busy crewing!

Out in the open river (opposite Island Harbour) we had a fantastic sail; choppy water, a strong breeze and all the little dinghies with sails hauled in tight beating up against the wind, each trying to gain an advantage and calling Starboard on each other. It was tight racing.

We needed to tack all the way up river and as it was about 3 hours before High Water the river became more and more shallow as we approached Newport with a combination of this and the wind becoming less and less as we passed through the more built up banks of the Medina we needed to put in shorter tacks.

Carefully daring to tack last minute before hitting the mud, the race became tense and painfully slow. Every tack crucial, Skipper whispering "Lee ho - make it a good one".

We were in the lead by the time we reached the Newport Rowing Clubhouse, but slipped down to 3rd as we entered the Quay.

Amazingly bit by bit Skipper edged us back to 2nd and then it was neck and neck for the line. We put in two very quick tacks and got a little wind lift and using this to our advantage we glided over the finish line!!

We had won!

A brilliant race, quite exhausting but excellent fun!

So I'm pleased we have won a Cup for the season already.

On The Wheel

I'm really looking forward to this seasons new fleeces from this Springs shearing

In the meantime I'm just about to start work on carding and spinning up a small dark fleece, the last one I have in stock.

It has been lightly scoured just to remove the dirt, leaving some grease in for ease of spinning.

I shall spin a yarn for hand knitting and see how many skeins I can make from it.

My original idea was to use this fleece to spin with another to produce a mixed yarn because it is on the small size and with it being of these lovely soft, black ,grey and brown hues it lends itself well to blending to give me a naturally coloured yarn.

But I have decided to get this fleece processed before I take delivery of any new fleeces to give me storage space.

ALSO I love seeing a basketful of hand spun yarn just already for me to dive in and Cast On!

Sailing In The Sunshine

It was perfect weather over the Easter holidays to be back sailing our little flotilla of boats.
First we rigged up our Mirror dinghy and had a leisurely sail around the River Medina with a light Easterly breeze blowing. A hot sunny day developed and we sailed her over to our yacht and went aboard to have a coffee and sunbathe.



Another day we went out with our little Pup dinghy "Peewit". She is a Tender to our yacht as well as ideal for solo sailing just for fun.

We motored down the river to East Cowes Marina in our yacht and as the wind was a Northerly we raised the jib and were able to sail back up river.

The Marina was lively with visiting craft, the river sparkled, the Sun warmed us against the Northerly breeze; it is just wonderful to be back on board.

Peewit to the Rescue!

Peewit and Skipper had a little adventure on Monday-
Having just arrived on board our yacht, we were off loading our gear from Peewit when Skipper noticed a small dinghy had broken free from her mooring and was drifting swiftly up the river.

Not a good sight to see as it is always a worry that someone may have fallen out of it, we knew this wasn't the case in this instance.

However loose boats can do damage to other craft as they hit and scrape by.

So manning the oars he and Peewit rowed out to the rescue and drawing alongside Skipper grabbed the escaping dinghy's painter and towed her to the safety of a pontoon mooring nearby
where with help of a fellow boatman they made it secure.

Then off down river they rowed wind and tide against them to a little day boat where the occupancies on board were unaware that their little dinghy had decided to go on a solo voyage!

Peewit collected the owner and Skipper rowed them to the pontoon to retrieve their lost boat.
I'm sure he will be using a few more knots when tying on from now on!

Skipper has earned himself a beer with all that rowing.

And Peewit just loves being on the water, rowing, sailing and being helpful.

Back On the Water

"Lift in" day for our Sunstar 18. It has been a bit of a mad panic getting ready for Saturday morning as it became apparent that our old outboard's gearbox has packed up leaving us without an engine! Fortunately a few phone calls around to local chandlers and outboard suppliers I was able to source this fantastic "nearly new "Mercury 4 stroke outboard from Cowes. Skipper fitted it in place with a few hours to spare! Had a morning coffee and did some knitting while we waited for our turn to be lowered in by crane. It was a warm cloudy morning with no wind, quite muggy at first with a light Easterly later in the day. The Sun was shining by mid day, so I was pleased to be on board this trip. As there was no wind we motored down river to our swing mooring and we practised a few manoeuvres with the new outboard, it is lovely and quiet, nice and nippy too. The only concern is that it is heavier than our old one and with the full tanks of fuel and water she seems a bit low in the water aft. So for now I have re-arranged stuff from the aft locker into other lockers thus taking a bit of weight out. We may want to raise the outboard bracket, we'll see how things go after a proper trip out in the Solent. We took the Folly Launch taxi to shore and had lunch at the Folly Inn. Then walked along the riverside foot path back to Newport to collect the car and home. It's good to be back on the water and with the Easter and Bank holiday days just around the corner we are hoping to get out there and enjoy it!

Preparing For Sailing

What a lovely sunny April Weekend.

It was Skipper's Birthday and our Wedding Anniversary so we had a houseful of family over and spent a wonderful time celebrating in the island sunshine.

Last week preparations now, plenty of jobs to do to get our little yacht ready for her "Lift in day" next weekend. A major concern is the outboard engine which is in the repair shop having a new part fitted.

I hope the good weather holds! I hope for a light southerly breeze in warm sunshine as then we can shake out the genoa and sail our way down to our swing mooring.

Looking up in my logbook the last couple of year's it has been a strong cold northerly blowing and Skipper and son have donned their woolly hats and coats to motor her down to the mooring, while I have stood at the river edge taking photos and met them afterwards in the Folly Inn for a warming hot lunch!

Rigging her out again and putting the mainsail back on the boom. In the calm conditions we were able to raise the sail to check for smooth running, giving me an interesting photo opportunity.

Firstly because I'm usually on board so I only get to see the sails from that perspective and secondly seeing the hull and twin keels while the sail is up gives a great view of all her lines.