Well, this is us at anchor:
But I'm skipping ahead here. We had 18-24kts SE predicted for Saturday so out we went on the high tide (about 09:30) and got some motorsailing in up and down Chichester Hbr. After a brief visit to one of the local marinas to drop off crew and fuel up, we figured a nice blast outside of the harbour would work a treat. Unfortunately though, a combination of wind against tide meant we had a choppy blast out to West Pole at 6kts, followed by a rather slooooooooow return trip back into the harbour at 1.5kts.
After that, and a subsequent six failed attempts to pick up a mooring ball, it was time for some impromptu anchor practice before eeking ourselves in at 21:00 in pitch black, back to the marina.
Now, we knew we were a bit early coming in but that beer was waiting to be opened, so we powered through the mud a wee bit (well, we draw 6ft and the depth was 4ft, so I'll let you work out how much mud we eeked through......) then it was back tied up for a well deserved night's sleep.
Sounds like a great day, right? Frankly, I could've sold the boat when we were sat at anchor. It had been a terribly trying day of testing the new rigging setup, pounding through the chop, the palava of wanting to be moored up and instead sitting on edge for a few hours wondering if the anchor had bitten, and of course coming back through the mooring field channel in the dark. Add to that we're still breaking in what is effectively a new & untested boat, and it was an incredibly exhausting day.
On reflection though, we learned two big lessons on Saturday:
- The weather was a tad breezy but more importantly was from the wrong direction. The prevailing SW puts us in the lee of the Isle of Wight, whereas SE means we're getting everything straight off the channel. Couple that with a fast flowing outgoing tide, and we should've known conditions would be trying.
- Mooring balls. Why faff trying to pick one up (six attempts and a lost boat hook later) when we anchored first time and sat comfortably on the hook for 5.5 hrs? We're going to be anchoring all around the world, so might as well get used to it now.
Anyways, it's not all doom and gloom. We took some great positives from the day out:
1.) We finally got out of Chichester Hbr! Result.
2.) Anchoring practice and successfully tested the manual windlass.
3.) Nothing broke inside the boat, even with all the heeling and pounding. Again, result.
4.) Whilst the Dickinson failed to light at anchor, we worked out how to sure-fire light it the next morning.
5.) The ol' rudder is heavy under power, but quite light when the rig is balanced.
6.) The engines did a great job against the fast running tide and recharged the battery bank quick smart. (Those of you who remember the shit-bag that was Voyager's engine will understand why I'm so happy about this point.)
7.) We both got that bit more confidence having been out for the first time without assisting crew. It's going to take some time for us both to get our rhythm but that's what this summer's all about.
So there you have it. A tough, but overall successful first trip outside the harbour. We're off doing other things for a few weeks but will be back soon enough for more shenanigans...
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