On Friday 14th April I arrived at Eagle after a day’s work and a 3 hour drive, ready to forget the office and enjoy a sail whilst getting to know other club members. Andy had already done the boat checks and stored the victuals before Jane and David arrived, let alone me. Top quality service! One safety briefing and clothes change later we’d left our home mooring heading towards the Folly Inn for the night. After a chilly sail we arrived in the fading light. Not wanting to raft up due to our early departure the next morning, we moored to a mid-river pontoon. Andy was chef for the night, preparing a fine meal – he even asked us how we would like our steaks cooked. Details matter!
Saturday was an early (at least for me as a night owl, not a morning lark!) start. After a quick porridge and fruit breakfast we slipped and headed for Yarmouth: we needed to refuel before going south of the island, and it was too early for the fuel pontoons on the Medina. The wind was definitely up the Solent and we needed to put a reef in for a chilly but fast sail. With Eagle refuelled, we took the opportunity for a second breakfast in Yarmouth – I could get used to this! Having waited for a ‘gin palace’ to clear the marina exit, we were finally off towards the Needles, still enjoying the wind in our sails. With significant waves breaking over the Shingles bank, we made sure to correctly navigate the Bridge West cardinal and South West Shingles PHM. After all, details matter!
The southwest side of the island provided a good sail, albeit we needed to point more towards the shore than towards St. Catherine’s Point, which meant we had several lobster pots to avoid! We’d established a 2 hour watch system, making duties very clear and allowing time for the warming of hands (although Jane’s electrically heated gloves were much coveted by others aboard 😊). Our navigation plan was to sail south of the overfalls at St. Catherine’s Point, however when we got there the tide was slack and there were no overfalls to be seen! Carrying on round the southeast side of the island, we made plans to head into Bembridge, a first for me. To cross the sandbar at the entrance and navigate the channel we needed a higher tide, so we had a play with tacking and heaving to while the tide rose sufficiently. Details really do matter!
Sunday morning we left Bembridge at high tide, thankful for the showers, food, drink and banter on board. Safely out of the harbour entrance, we spotted a plastic milk bottle floating on the millpond sea: a great opportunity to practice ‘MOB’ recovery and do a little for the environment. Andy then tasked Jane with a blind nav exercise to take us to an exact spot in Osborne Bay, one which she completed perfectly. After an eat-up lunch we weighed anchor and Andy asked me for a course to Fawley Creek. Under instruction not to use my phone (a bad habit!) I set about plotting our current position on the chart, using the tidal curve to calculate the height of tide and decide on a course to steer: all skills I’d recently been assessed on in the RYA Coastal and Yachtmaster theory course. Details do indeed matter, however the pinpoint accuracy achieved in a classroom setting was simply taking too long: a lesson well learnt to do good enough and get back on deck where I can see what’s going on.
I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend and, as every time I sail, learnt loads. I’m looking forward to my next time on Eagle and sailing with many more members.
Matt Folkes