Late June - Solent

This is just an initial post to create this event which was discussed at the AGM. Full details will posted in this thread by the organiser soon. If you want to declare your interest in this event you can go ahead now and post here.

36 Comments

Re: Late June - Solent

Hello Mike,

This is just to record my intention to come on the Solent Rally in June.

John Richardson 26M 'Sonny'

Re: Late June - Solent

Aharr all Solent sojourners!....since this was listed for the end of June I guess it will naturally be from Friday eve 21st or Sat am .
I shall reserve a weeks holiday but will be interested to guage the level of interest for short weekend/extended weekend / full week or second of the two weekends.
It would be helpful for anyone interested to indicate their preference in order that I can plan itenery to suit the majority.
I usually try to organise things so that anyone needing to start or finish early can be accomodated .

Roly

quentin.sands's picture

Re: Late June - Solent

Just wondered if I'd missed something. Is there a list of all proposed gatherings for 2014?

Quentin Sands (Editor)

1993 MacGregor 19, Margarita 

rick.jones's picture

Re: Late June - Solent

Yes, in the Rallies section, under 2014, there's a topic for each planned event. Some are yet to be fleshed out with detail, but all proposed events are there.

Rick Jones (Treasurer), former 26X & 19 owner, Isle of Wight

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly,

I'd be up for a full week.

Regards, John Richardson 26M 'Sonny'

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly,

I will join on one of the weekends, my crew has exams during the week so unlikely I will be around in the week

Kevin

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly,

I could be interested but would have to leave on Tuesday 24th June so would come down the previous week or even for the previous weekend to make it worthwhile.

Stephen Hinde
"Duette" 26X

Re: Late June - Solent

I am doing the Round the Island Race w/e of Sat 21st June and need to return home on Monday 23rd so, sorry am otherwise
engaged.
Simon Armitage
Sowenna (26M) :(

rick.jones's picture

Re: Late June - Solent

Seeing as Simon's reminded us that 21st is the Round the Island race, it might be worth arranging Saturday so we can watch some of the boats finishing (I assume no-one's going to want to be up and out before 7:00 am to see the start!).

The fastest boats should be back at Cowes by 11:00 am, although I fear Simon may be somewhat later! A passage out of the Hamble heading East along the Solent would give a good view of the homecoming race contestants.

Something to think about?

I expect to join the event, not sure for how many days as yet.

Rick Jones (Treasurer), former 26X & 19 owner, Isle of Wight

Re: Late June - Solent

Much later, I fear, maybe even after tea or nearer supper time :(

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi guys, its looking like I probably wont be able to take the whole week off in the end...something has arisen for our partner wrt cover in that week. The rally may have to be finishing on Wednesday as far as Im concerned.
Simon it would be a pity to miss you totally. Do you have plans for Sunday to Tuesday....any chance of a rendezvous? I expect Cowes will be teaming till later on Sunday.

Roly

Re: Late June - Solent

We are travelling down on the Friday and are booked on a ferry at about midday so will spend the afternoon rigging the boat, sorting out victuals, checking weather and all that stuff.
We are booked into the Island Harbour Marina and have a house for the weekend in the nearby complex.
We return home on the Monday and the only plan we have for the Sunday is to take family and friends out for a gentle sail, weather permitting and trusting we will have recovered sufficiently from Saturday.

Re: Late June - Solent

I'm interested in the Solent Rally but I will need to book holidays very soon.
Is the 21st looking definite? If so I could probably mange 5/6 days.
Jim Rotheram Pen Gwyn

Re: Late June - Solent

Yes. Definate for start of rally friday 20th pm onwards w possible arrivals sat am 21st. I suspect that 5 days will be ok for most. Maybe pull out wed or Thursday. I shall prob need to get back to work thursda or latest Friday am.
hope you can make it jim. What about crew. Frank Higgins is due to sail w me

Roly.

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly,

Do you plan to meet, presumably on Friday 20th, at the same Hamble marina that we met at a couple of years ago? Bob & I will be sailing to the rendezvous from Christchurch and it's a question of when we should leave. I realize that your plans may not be well advanced at this stage but if you could let me know as soon as you've decided it would help.

Cheers,

John Richardson 'Sonny'' 26M

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi John, Yes plan to meet up at Mercury Yacht Harbour. Hamble River , same as before. so if you can manage to sail up for Friday evening that will be good.
Look forward to it. I have heard from a couple of others who hope to come and shall ring around a bit in the next week.
Roly

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly,
We have commitments Friday and Saturday so will plan to meet up with you either late Sunday or Monday depending on where you are.
Cheers Kevin

Re: Late June - Solent

Great.kevin. will that be with your son. Will he have finished rxams?.how long do you think you could be free for?
Roly

Re: Late June - Solent

Roly, yes with James, we are fairly flexible will stay through to the Wednesday or Thursday, depends a little on when you all plan to finish and any work commitments that may crop up. Kevin

Re: Late June - Solent

hi guys ,
Having got out on the water last weekend , for the first time this year , I am really looking forwarrd to our week away.
so far we have interest or confirmation from

Me...(and Frank Higgins)....Aranah
McNearneys.....Hera
Rick Jones ....Milestone 2
John Richardson.....Sonny
Kevin Blackmore.....Heron
Stephen Hinde ....Duette
Jim Rotherhan....Pengwyn
john Tamar.....(uncertain)

plus one other person who rang me definately interested but I have lost the details...( please reveal yourself !_)

It would be great to have late interest from any others , especially if there any relatively new people ( maybe ladies to balance out our male bias !?)
It should be possible to arrange things so that we can do a short Solent trip on Saturday , taking in the Round the Island action (cheering Simon on ) and returning any weekenders on the Sunday before making off further afield.
As stated before , poor weather options can easily be arranged on / around Southampton water.

Please can everyone confirm on this site whether they are coming and what dates they expect to be around.
PS, for those able or interested I believe that the 28th is due to be the Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival, which is a very lively event.

Roly

Re: Late June - Solent

I am also interested in coming along. I am part way through buying a Mac 26X. Assuming this continues as planned I should be on the water by then :D .

Cheers
Dave.

Dave Newton Sailbadthesinner

rick.jones's picture

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly, looks like a good plan. I intend to be there, will probably finish on the Wednesday or Thursday.
BTW, Old Gaffers is this coming w/e, not 28th.

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Rick Jones (Treasurer), former 26X & 19 owner, Isle of Wight

Re: Late June - Solent

Ahoy Roly et al,

Sorry, unfortunately I will not be coming down after all. I have commitments from 24th & it does not look as if anyone is going to be there the previous week.
I have just made an interesting 3 day trip with Duette from Suffolk Yacht Harbour up to the Broads, via Southwold, Lowestoft & in at Gt.Yarmouth, about 75 miles. In Lowestoft I met the owner of a magnificent "Jeanneau 53" who needs an extra crew so I am looking forward to some more big boat sailing!
Hope the Event goes well & you have good weather.

Stephen

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi everyone

We will travel straight to Mercury on our way back from Morbihan ready to launch on Friday 20th June.

Is anyone else using the Mercury slipway? Do we need to book it?
Is anyone else staying on the visitor pontoons on Friday night. Do we need to book a berth for Friday night?

Looking forward to it.

Regards
Mike

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly,

We will be there until Wednesday, maybe Tuesday - it depends on where we are. I need to be back at at Christchurch entrance by midday on either Weds or Thurs, so we'll peel off accordingly. We'll arrive Friday at Mercury.

Looks like the Solent will be invaded by a Mac fleet! Hope there's enough beer!

Cheers, John Richardson 'Sonny'

Re: Late June - Solent

Ah.... I must have got mixex up w the month when I read a out old gaffers...sorry. scratch tbat.
re slkpway at mercury I have already discussed in principle . I have mooring just off there so am regularly there and can sort

Roly

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly
I am expecting to arrive at Mercury around tea-time on the 20th and hope to stay for about 5/6 days.
I'm hoping to get Pen Gwyn rigged on the Friday
but it may be too late to launch.
I seem to remember that last time one or two of us kipped on the car park for the first night without being charged.
Will that be a possibility this time?
Regards
Jim

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly,
We have a family celebration on the Saturday and so will meet up with you all on the Sunday. We will aim to get to the Hamble by midday Sunday and we will come and find you and the rest of the Macs wherever you are! We will stay until Wednesday afternoon as we are off to Wimbledon on the Thursday.

Looking forward to the event as we have not been out much this year.

Kevin

Re: Late June - Solent

Sowenna is still the only Mac out of about 1300 or so entries in the Race.
We think we will be starting around 07.50 - 08.00h but still waiting confirmation.
We have the Mac emblem on our main and our sail number is GBR 3529L
We are white hulled but please don't burn your BBQ or let the beer get warm waiting for us.

We have been out and about on the Thames practising stuff and drilling the crew. Our 'cabin' boy is Jim, honest and another crew member is called David Jones, again honest. Jim can now make a decent brew in the galley and 'Davy' Jones knows better than to run aground on Ryde Sands again so things progressing well but the most wind we have experienced so far is 12mph (which, co-incidentally is the current forecast's wind speed on race day); even though we have reefed many times for practise we don't really have an idea as to what wind speed to look for when deciding to reef or not.
Has anyone any idea at what wind speed we should consider reefing.
Thanks in advance
Simon
Sowenna (26M)

rick.jones's picture

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Simon - reefing is not so much a matter of wind speed, but control of the boat, which depends on point of sail. E.g. downwind you usually want lots of sail, even in a brisk wind. But turn to a close hauled track in the same wind and you could be fighting to control the boat, and be in need of a reef. Heel angle is a good guide, if you're being tipped to 20° or more then that's too far, and in fact you'll go faster if reefed because the whole sail/hull dynamics become inefficient at a steep angle. Optimum heel is between 10-15°, although Macs are very "tippy" so keeping under 15° isn't always practical.

I'm not sure if I'll see you at Island Harbour as I don't know if I'll be heading for the Hamble on the Friday or Saturday. Best of luck anyway!

Rick

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Rick Jones (Treasurer), former 26X & 19 owner, Isle of Wight

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi simon. I am wishing all the best and wish aranah could be there too.
I shall be very happy to sponsor you for 20.00 pounds.
I would expect to be on the standard reef at force five unless gusty in which case four.
It all depends if you are being rounded up too much and hence losing rudder steerage and having excessive braking effect.
too much main will cause this as will excessive heel. I find that sometimes I just ha e to let the main semi luff or ideally create twist in the main by pulling the main block right up to the windward side of the track. This allows boom to rise in the gusts and hence to spill the excess wind.. I you have crew then can be prepared to spill wind in advancr of gusts.
12knots sounds like a lovely speed but surely too early too predict.
Roly

Re: Late June - Solent

Thanks, Roly, for your generous offer of sponsorship.
Herewith a link to the just giving website
http://www.justgiving.com/iowroundtheislandrace2014

Also, many thanks for the advice. Yes it is far too early for an accurate forecast and last time I looked it said 4mph. So shall wait until the day. I have been pointed in the direction of 'windguru' but have been using metcheck mostly.
Thanks for advice on main block traveller. Sowenna does have a tendency to round up and by trial and error we have managed to control that by spilling wind from the main. Using the block, as you suggest, will give us more options.
I do hope your rally goes well.
Thanks again
Simon

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi all Solent event participants,

Just one week to go!

Looking forward to meeting up at Mercury yacht Harbour on 20/6/14.
So far I have booked slip-way and storage of car and trailer for Hera and Pengwyn plus berthing for those plus Aranah and Sonny on night of 20th.
We may be joined by Dave Newman either in his newly aquired boat or as crew. Buffet/limited menu dinner at Mercury , No booking needed
21/6/14 ETD 9.00 , fuel and then East with tide from 9.30 destination Chichester Harbour with optional short beach on Ryde Sands to watch Round the Island participants. (low Portsmouth 12.11)
5 boats booked for Birdham Pool next to Chichester Marina night of 21/6.
22/6/14 high Portsmouth 08.10, sailing on Chichester Harbour and fuel at Sparks Marina nr entrance then sail to Bembridge , access from 5.30 pm I think , booked for 6 boats ( Heron joining ) at Bembridge Duver Marina for pub or beach BBQ.
subsequent itinery flexible, suggestion
23/6/14 , long sail ,either around far side of IOW or down the Solent to Christchurch
24/6/14 back up to Solent for choice of Yarmouth , Newtown Creek, Beaulieu or Medina river
25/6/14 sailing on Solent , return to Mercury pm. final dinner , (optional late pull out)
26/6/14 high tide 11.33 for pull out.

Dave , if coming as crew then suggest you leave car elsewhere or train to Hamble.
Frank , suggest you bring car to my house in Southampton and we go from there on 20/6/14.

Roly

Re: Late June - Solent

Enjoy your rally. Sometimes I wish I was with you there being safety in small numbers but not 1500 or so. Still the only Mac in the race!!!
We have been put in fleet 10 with a start time of 08.00, the penultimate group which I think is strange. This implies we are a slow boat. Well we might be but the advertising blurb says that Macs are quite fast. Maybe registering the facts that we are taking taking 50 litres of fuel and 25 litres of water with us and having to have the outboard down has resulted in this handicap. It just means we have more boats to overtake so gins and tonic on the foredeck will be few and far between.
Did a recce around the Solent, prohibited zones, starting line etc, IoW, Medina River and island Harbour where we shall berth and stay for the week end. Met Rick Jones who just happened to be launching his Mac. We were very impressed that he did this single handed and so calmly. We shall attempt to emulate him when we put Sowenna on her trailer. For us, this is a 3 person job though!!
This trip was in a friends RIB; couldn't have done all that and had lunch in Bucklers Hard in a Mac.
Many thanks for the kind messages of support, advice,information and donations. These are much appreciated.
Metcheck and the weather people at Island Sailing Club seem to disagreeing on the weather right now so we wait and see.
Good Sailing
Simon
Sowenna (26m)

Re: Late June - Solent

Hi Roly,

We plan to be at Mercury on Friday evening at about 6pm in the hope of meeting you and other old friends for a drink and, if it's not too crowded, join you for the buffet supper there.

Bill & Jean

Re: Late June - Solent

It'll be good to see you again Bill and Jean
Roly

any more for thr party?