We locked out at 10:30 on Saturday, with friends Allan and Tony aboard 'Chausey'.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Louise, Chausey in the background"]
[/caption]Winds gusting to 20+ knots from the West, and too much sail, really. We raced down towards Lavernock point, Chausey chasing us all the while
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Chausey, Lavernock"]
[/caption]When we passed Lavernock, the full force of the wind from the West, hit us broadside, still cold on this early spring morning. We should have reefed earlier, but stopped to do so now, leaving Chausey head off into the South Westerly chop.
Great fun, and we reached over 6 knots through the water as we headed towards Watchet, but hard sailing, and it was taking a toll on Louise, with three slipped discs in her neck. Earlier than anticipated, we decided to turn downwind, and head up the channel towards Portishead. Ishtar immediatly relaxed into a gentle downwind roll as we goosewinged our way towards the islands of Steepholm and Flatholm, in company.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Square rigger"]
[/caption]As we passed between the islands we started to catch up with the rest of the Cardiff yacht club 'fleet'. 16 boats converging on Portishead Marina, funnelled together by the Bristol Channel.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="CYC Fleet"]
[/caption]Periods of sunshine and broken cloud, and the light on the water was beautiful as evening approched, off Portishead point.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Portishead point"]
[/caption]As we all gathered together and prepared to turn out of the strong current into the Marina, the car transporter was arriving, ready to deliver her cargo into the port.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Car Transporter"]
[/caption]One of the reasons I've never been fond of the upper Channel is the strength of the tides. At up to 8 knots further up, they still reach around 5 knots at Portishead, and Ishtar's old engine could not hold us in that. We'd be fine with the new engine though.
Which cut out as we tried to turn out of the current, leaving us drifting towards the car transporter, now unable to manoeuvre, being towed to her berth by tugs.
I could anchor, but with so many club boats nearby, we radioed 'Alana' a few hundred metres away. Pretty soon, we were firmly tied up alongside, and safely heading back towards the lock.
Until their engine cut out too.
We had a problem now. Two boats tied together being pulled towards a commercial ship with no engine is not good. We quickly uncoupled and started sailing. With such light winds, we could not stem the tide, but could hold off the car transporter while we arranged yet another tow. This time, Allan aboard Chausey was our saviour.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Second tow"]
[/caption]Chausey left us on a buoy and went back for Alana. I managed to start the engine, but it cut out again as we entered the lock, and we accepted our third tow in an hour, this time from the much smaller 'Sunbeam'. Matt took us into the lock and then on to our berth.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Sunbeam, third tow"]
[/caption]We quickly established that a small piece of rubber hose had blocked the diesel pipes, and the engine was running well again within an hour, Louise, slipped disks notwithstanding, contoring herseld into Ishtar's tight spaces
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Engine room"]
[/caption]I have to say, organised 'dos' are not really my thing, I much prefer impromptu joviality, and I'm no great lover of yacht clubs either, but Portishead Cruising club picked us up from the Marina and gave us a great welcome at their club, and the real ale 'Doom Bar' helped take away the pain and ease the anxiety of events earlier in the evening. Very enjoyable.
Louise set the alarm for 06:30 to take Tigger for a walk - he'd missed one the previous evening. In the event, neither he, myself nor Louise was that keen, and we went back to sleep. When I awoke around 08:00, Louise and Tigger were returning. Hot coffee and alka seltzer helped my head, but our efforts to restart 'Alana' with her own engine trouble failed, and she was towed into the lock at 10:00
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Lock full of CYC boats"]
[/caption]Once out in the channel, we all set sail and raced away Westwards at 5, 6 even 7 knots, more when th etide was taken into account. It's strange how such low speeds seem so much faster when sailing, heeled over in the wind.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Bright Flyer"]
[/caption][caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Alana, and Severn Bridge"]
[/caption][caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Alana again"]
[/caption]A couple of hours sailing, all of us trying different strategies to avoid the Bristol Channel sandbanks (one boat failing in that respect.....) and beat the others back to Cardiff. We all ended up in he same lock, with minutes between us after a 2 hour sail. A very low tide saw a huge torrent of water fill the lock, thrashing us about
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Lock filling"]
[/caption]For an 'easy' weekend sail, I was surprisingly tired on Sunday evening. Louise, of course, set off for her night shift, slipped disks and all.
Great fun.
