There’s nothing quite like a quick sail, especially when it’s not too busy. It might rejuvenate any of your winter blues.
My wife Janet and I left our mooring at Lymington close to Town Quay on a cold January weekend; rather later than planned, close to midday.
Dealing with slippery pontoons, a slippery dinghy; then rowing out to our boat, transferring food, beverages and clothes, bags etc., probably always takes slightly longer than you’d thought. After a quick stow, we left our winter pile mooring at the top of the river, leaving our dinghy secured between two posts.
Whilst motoring out, Janet had taken off the sail cover, readied the main, and then hanked on the genoa. After passing the ferry berths and two yacht clubs, the main went up as we turned on a short leg slightly more east.
Janet switched off the engine. What bliss! A gentle tide was still flooding upriver, but with our large, three-quarter-rigged main, Blauwe still made 3-4 knots over the ground.
The plan was very simple, with NE light to moderate winds forecast. Just reach across roughly seven miles to Newtown Creek after passing Jack-in-the basket and the starting hut. Two very large gulls started screaming at us when we passed…then our genoa went up.
We turned much more beam on to the wind. The wind chill felt much colder as the wee 26ft boat began picking up her skirts. Our spring tide had already started ebbing down the West Solent…meaning we had more of a fetch across and more wind in our faces.
A dull wain sun colored the Solent, and it looked a green, or probably grey. Most of our light was rapidly going by the time we closed the entrance of our small creek. Though we’d only been underway for about two and a half hours. Both my wife and I had popped down to warm up below out of the wind.
Once at anchor, I’d mentioned to Janet that we’d get the boggy stove lit. Perhaps we should have had it going during the whole trip. Being totally acclimatized myself to this weather; teaching sailing all year round. I’d failed to think that Jan would get so very cold!
It was easy to see the red and green buoys, then follow the posts through this narrow entrance. Any tide was still slack here. Rather than giving us any hard time, we dropped the genoa and started the engine.
Only a few weeks ago I’d come in here at night running a YM prep. course with a Contessa 32. There was full southwest gale with a very big spring. It had been an extremely tricky entrance for one of my students. It could have been a disaster if we hadn’t managed to hold onto this same buoy under sail…
Janet and I didn’t need that; the main was lowered as we turned left. I’d noted that there were still three white visitors mooring buoys available!
Nobody else was using Newtown this weekend. As opposed to the summer, when it’s rammed and hard to find any anchorage.
Janet motored us up to this last buoy, complete with pick-up and a strong warp. The chilly northeasterly had already begun to send down some sleet under a tiny cloud. Slightly understanding more now about just how cold she was! I suggested we should go below; make a cup of tea and warm up.
Going on deck again, I put the flue into our chimney, then went below to start the heater. I then returned quickly on deck to bag the Genny and make sure the mainsail was well sail-tied.
It was already quite dark. A small sea was still breaking against the low training wall as the tide drained out. I saw a couple of stars coming out; it was a lovely winter’s night.
Janet had made a wonderful Spag Bog (spaghetti bolognaise), even including fresh parmesan cheese (already grated). After unwinding with a couple of large gin and tonics, we enjoyed her meal with an excellent red wine. It was quite snug now, even beginning to get above 5 degrees Celsius.
With both washboards in and the heater going full blast, the wind was still whistling above. We knew why we loved winter sailing because of these adventures. Maybe our old classic loved it too; certainly, she didn’t leak or drip too much that night.
Sunday morning, as the sun raised its bleary head, there was a bit of ice on the deck, easily washed off with a bucket of saltwater. It looked bleak and beautiful to us, with a tiny bit of ice on the mud and marshes. We motored out and made sail, returning to Lymo extremely quickly. It had been an extremely short break, but we’d both certainly had a bit of fun with our boat.
Having any wee craft with simple wind, tide, and fine weather is certainly enough…long as there’s no crowding!
