When I last visited Bembridge with Jacque and few weeks ago, he was so taken by the beauty that he told his wife, Stella. And so a trip was arranged, for all three of us the visit again.

Jacques and Stella arrive promptly at 1030, on the morning of the 2nd of June, and after a cup of tea, we slipped lines and headed up the Hamble and into Southampton Water.

We set our sails and managed to tack our way over towards the Isle of Wight. Approaching Osbourne Bay, Jacque suggested that we anchor for lunch in the bay. As the time was approaching 1400 and we were rather peckish, we all agreed.

We anchored, under sail, in 4 meters of water, 2 cables off shore and 2 cables south of Norris, red lateral mark. The Spade anchor set immediately and it was fun doing it under sail and remembering the techniques required. Lunch was provided by Stella, a wonderful home made chicken pasta, with pesto.

We weighed anchor at 1400 and with the lack of wind motored to our destination for the evening, Bembridge Harbour. We approached St. Helen’s fort at 1630, which was 2 hours of high water and made our way to our finger pontoon.

Having moored up, we had a few light refreshments and then made our way to The Brading Haven Yacht Club, where I had booked a table for us so days ago. We had a wonderful outside table, with fantastic views of the entire harbour and even a dinghy race at at club. The meal was good, and made better by the company and the fine weather.

After our meal, and with the sun setting we walked back to Seraphim, via the beach overlooking the entrance and with Portsmouth on the horizon. The ambiance was amplified by driftwood fires, used as heating, lighting and bbqs, by what we presumed to be locals taking their families out. A fantastic end to a wonderful day.

It’s time to test out the true potential and one of the main reasons I bought Seraphim. With a lifting keel and the ability to lower the draft from 2.2 metre to 0.7 m, I decided on a trip to Ryde, accompanied by my friend Jacque.

The day before departure, I called Ryde a harbour, to check out accessibility and draw on local knowledge, always an invaluable asset. This was readily given by Shaun, the harbour master at Ryde. The main problem was the slitting on the right of the entrance, and the other advice was to not necessary stick to the buoyed channel. The buoyed channel, is primarily used to avoid the hovercraft and not for depth. I was advised to make my way from the end of Ryde Pier, and head straight for the entrance, which is what we did.

We slipped lines at 0923 and causally entered the River Hamble and the raised sails and headed to our destination.

We arrived at Ryde Pier at 1230, two hours before high water Ryde, and gingerly made our way towards the entrance. Depth dropped to 1.1m and we made notes of times and height of tide, to aide our departure, the next day.

True to Shaun’s word, the entrance was indeed silted up and we had to stick as closely as possible to the green mark when entering, to avoid the build up of sand on our port side.

Once in the harbour, we reversed into our space on the visitors pontoon, and put Seraphim to rest in her new temporary home.

I happened to have friends , Monika and Marcin, who sailed to Bembridge the same day and we arranged to meet for a drink and lunch in a delightful pub called the Boathouse, in Puckpool, not far from Seaview. Needless to say they joined us for drinks on Seraphim after lunch.

The following day we have to wait for the tide to permit our exit, so we took the opportunity to take a walk through Ryde.

It wasn’t until 1330, that we had enough water to venture out. The wind was a Force 6, which aided our turn out of our berth, but we had to be pretty careful manoeuvring through the exit of the harbour, especially as we had both the keel and rudder raised. We managed it without issue and had a cracking sail back to Southampton in squalls and F7 winds. Seraphim handled beautifully and the sail was exhilarating and a perfect finish to a perfect weekend.

Another early start, as I promised Warren a hand with the re launch of his yacht, Honolee. I left home at 0540 and with a stop for fuel and breakfast arrived at Keyhaven just before 0800, for an 0830 launch, we were to be the first launch of the day. Needless to say, West Solent Boat Builders, were working to their schedule and not that of their customers. They had a small lifting keel yacht in their sling, trying to free a jammed keel with a sledge hammer. So we had a coffee and Keyhaven Sailing Club.

We were eventually launched at 0940and after the usual engine check and re fitting of lazy jacks were on our way and winding our way through the small, unmarked channel and towards the Solent.

I was very kindly invited by my friend Paul, to join him for a couple of days on Izzy Wizzy.

I arrived at Gosport marina at 0830 and explored the marina and surroundings before meeting up with Paul. Our two Aircraft Carriers were in port and looked magnificent against the scenic and historic background of Portsmouth. It’s an amazing, magical city, steeped with history. The Historic Dockyards are a must if you visit. https://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/

Paul, wanted to brush of the cobwebs, and we decided to sail to the Nab Tower, neither of us had been before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nab_Tower

We slipped lines at 0940 and couldn’t resist a sail pass by our carriers, which were both leaving for duties and exercises. The Queen Elizabeth to the South China Seas and the prince of Wales to Scotland.

We then motored out of Portsmouth, which is always filled with much emotions. One cant help thinking about the centuries of activity in this extremely important Naval base. Glimpses of memories flooded back to me of my first visit in 1969, when I was only 9, on a school trip, “Little Ealing Junior School”

We had a mixture of sailing and motoring to the Nab Tower, passing the Solent Napoleonic Forts. https://welcometoportsmouth.co.uk/solent_forts.html

We returned back to Gosport at 1545 and relaxed with a walk to Clarence Marina for a pint and snack, before returning to Izzy Wizzy, for a relaxing evening with a wonderful meal presented by Paul.

After being in Portsmouth for a few days and seeing both the Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales, I had a notion to see them departing Portsmouth harbour. After checking the Portsmouth VTS website, I discovered that the departure of the Queen Elizabeth was schedules for the 1st of May at 1550.

The evening of the 30th of April, I texted some new friends, ” Monika and Marcin” and asked them if they were interested. They immediately agreed, now the decision was on which boat??

Their yacht, “Spellbound of Narnia”, is based in Southsea, which has a cill gate, and restricted access times, whereas, Seraphim, at Universal is only minimally limited at extreme low water during spring tides. And so, it was decided to go on Seraphim.

I drove down to Universal at 0600, stopping en route to get provisions for or trip. I later found out that Monika had made a chicken cassoulet. So we had plenty of options.

Monika and Marcin promptly arrived at 1000, and after showing them around Seraphim, doing a safety brief and having some coffee and cake, we slipped lines at 1105.  We gently made our way into the Hamble river and upstream into Southampton Water.

Surprisingly, the wind picked up and as we entered Southampton Water we raised Seraphim’s sails and entered the peaceful world of wind and waves.

As we crossed the Solent and neared the Isle of Wight, we noticed the ferries entering and leaving Wootton Creek. I reminisced the last time I had been here, several years ago in Yaga. I suggested we change our plan and go into Wootton Creek for lunch. The reasoning was that waiting for the Queen Elizabeth would mean we would come back close to low water and that’s without any delays.

So we started our entry into Wootton Creek by approaching the North Cardinal mark and then following the buoyed channel. We made it just before the ferry started to make here way into the channel. We moored up at the end of the visitors pontoon at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

The club was open, indeed this was their first day of serving lunches outside. We decided to forgo our onboard delights and refreshments and partake in a helping of Fish n Chips on the terraces of the club. Such beautiful views and peacefulness, and people milling around, almost made one forget the Covid crisis.

After lunch, we slipped lines at 1526 and made our way back, predominantly under sail, to Universal marina. Arriving back at 1840 we reversed Seraphim into her berth. Marcin stepping of the stern, attached our stern line to the dock cleat, whilst I powered forward and brought Seraphim gently into her pontoon.

Having settled Seraphim in, it was time for some light refreshments of beer and wine and discussions about our trip and sailing adventures in general.

A most pleasant day and it just goes to show that changing plans can be rewarding, and exciting, an in many way better than the original one.

Today is brighter and warmer than the previous day. Indeed, it’s tee-shirt weather. Our plan was to take a trip up stream, on the river Medina, and to the capital of the Isle of Wight, Newport.

But, all plans change and Ed decided to stay on for another day and we both decided to return to Beaulieu. We were going to have another attempt sailing towards the village as I was disappointed that I backed out on the first attempt.

We booked our lock exit for 1130 and had to be ready by 1115 for instruction from the marina. Promptly, at 1115, the marina radioed us. We were instructed to slip lines and make our way towards the lock. This time it wasn’t free flow. We entered the lock and were thrown bow an stern lines, by the marina staff. Once locked in, the water emptied and we dropped some 2 metres to the level,of the welcoming river Medina.

We motored downstream crossed the Solent and to Beaulieu. Passing Bucklers Hard, we continued upstream, for our second attempt at reaching Beaulieu village. This time I was braver and more determined. Passing the point we had reached the day before, the depth kept decreasing and the river narrowing. However, this time my resolve prevailed and after a few more bends we reached the village and could see traffic crossing the small road bridge, that prevented any further progress, well that and the fact that we were running out of depth.

Goal achieved, we headed back downstream, and to Bucklers Hard. This time we had a very private berth on C9. Another meal and refreshments at “The Master Builder” beaconed.?⛵️

Today is another sailing day, this time with Jacques, a friend from my Ealing days, who I met again in 2009 by sheer coincidence. I re met him, hen I was returning to my then home berth at Town Quay marina , Southampton ,and had a noticed a motor boat next to me. This time someone was one board. At a closer glance, they looked familiar. After mooring we had a chat and discovered that we knew each other from the 1980’s. Some coincidence.

Anyway, back to sailing. Our plan is to sail to Bembridge, my favourite place within the Solent area. We slipped lines at 0855 and motored downstream, through familiar sights along the Hamble and into Southampton Water and the eastwards towards Bembridge.

Within the hour we raised sails and turned off the iron maiden. The silence of our surroundings was, as usual wonderful. We sailed towards Horse Sand Fort and as we approached put a tack in. The tack got us through the channel and we soon passed No Mans Fort. A couple of more tacks and we were in sight of St Helen’s Fort and the approaches to Bembridge.

We dropped sails and engined our way towards the small buoys marking the Bembridge approaches. We were on low water neaps , and this was the first time I had entered this channel on low water, only made possible by my beautiful lifting keel beauty, Seraphim. The depth went down to 1.5 metres, but with the keel lifted and only drawing 0.7 metres, it was not a problem.

By 1330, we were moored up and having a beer on deck. Later that afternoon I showed Jacques a little of Bembridge, taking a walk to the other side of the harbour. We walked to the beach, where we were going to dry out. We didn’t attempt this, as we were on neaps and didn’t want to risk being neaped.

Our walk back took us past Bembridge Sailing Club and Brading Haven Yacht Club, both of which we visited for a pint or two. Then back to Seraphim, where I prepared a homemade Tuna and rocket spaghetti.

Lovely day, great company and in one of my favourite places.