The forecast was for severe gale force winds overnight and for once the forecasters got it right, including the timing. Most of the big ships anchored in the Solent reported to Southampton VTS that they were heading out to drift beyond the Nab tower for safety reasons. They are safer out there using their engines to hold position than risking dragging anchor in a narrow channel. The Normandy ferry used two tugs to get in and out of her berth and the Coast Guard reported an unmanned boat adrift in the Solent. Amongst all this, one small yacht in Chichester Harbour lost a set of oars when her tender flipped over (me). I think I got off lightly.
Here are some of my Facebook posts documenting it in real time…
30 knot winds and the anchor dragged, only about 10 meters but enough to trigger my anchor alarm and raise my pulse. Second anchor now out.
half hour after high tide, waiting to see which wins, tide or wind to see how she turns. I am hoping wind so I stay nose to the wind, if tide wins, I will have stronger winds later from aft.
Dinghy started to take off, thought I must take the oars out before I lose them, coat on and as soon as I got on deck the dinghy flipped. Apparently my oars float, I watched them float off 🤔
Everything is under control.
Gusts over 44, predicted to go up to 55. I have another 4-5 hours of this 😳
The wind is easing now, back to a more moderate 😳😅 30knots and dropping. It maxed at over 52 knots, over the last few hours it has averaged over 40. It’s been an experience. I learned a lot.. the main plough anchor can hold up to 30 knots in mud, the main anchor plus the secondary danforth anchor together can hold over 50 knots in mud. I learned not to leave the dinghy out in high winds but to tie it to the deck or deflate and stow it. I learned the boat sits well facing the wind even in high tidal flow and I learned I feel safe and comfortable on the boat in a gale.
Learned something else… it ain’t over until mother nature says it is. I was woken by the sound of high winds and boat bouncing.so switched the instruments back on.. over 40 knot winds 😳 dying back again now so hopefully just a squall.
Lady Cindy is a 32 foot, long keel yacht and was one of the first GRP production boats ever built. She was built in 1965 by Halmatic and Camper Nicholson. More information about the Nic32 can be found on the Nicholson 32 association Web site. I have yet to find a definition for a classic boat, but I think she qualifies.
Lady Cindy
She has a very thick hull and topsides and 3 tonnes of lead ballast in her full length keel. Nic32s are renown for their safe and kindly behaviour, a big factor in my choice of boat. She is slow in the water compared to modern lighter boats, but I am in no hurry to get anywhere and I do want to get there safely. They suffer from osmosis like all GRP boats but Lady Cindy has previously been properly peeled back and treated and shows no signs of problems since.
Lady Cindy was originally purchased new by a syndicate (hence the name) and has been kept for most of her life in the Portsmouth area. I think I am the third owner in her 56 year history; that is if you count a syndicate as one owner.
I bought her in the late summer of 2020, just before the second wave of Covid 19 in the UK. My intention was, and still is, to live aboard and explore the world.
Over her years, she has been well cared for and essential work done as needed. However, she needed updating especially the electrics, plumbing and eventually the engine. Priorities were the electrics and navigation, followed by the plumbing, both unsuitable for liveaboard. I have blogged the work done so far.
The engine, a Yanmar 2gm20, is old but serviceable, it’s got a few years left in her but I cannot see me doing 6 knots of speed for several hot and long days that would be required for Panama or Suez canal crossings. She has been serviced regularly and only smokes at startup, which is normal for these engines.
Rigging and sails were all in good condition as was the hull. I got a couple of spare sails with the boat but the storm sail will need replacing, it is the original 1965 one. She has a slab reefed mainsail, furling genoa and a spinacker. The cockpit is deep and a good place to be in bad weather. Although all sheets and the furling genoa run to the cockpit, you still need to go on deck to raise, lower and reef the main sail, running at least the main halyard to the cockpit and investigating lazy Jack’s and single line reefing options are on my list of jobs. I want at least enough control from the cockpit to get the mainsail down if I get caught out by high winds, ideally reefed from there as well. I will seek expert advice from a rigger for this.
She has two anchors, the original Danforth in a factory fitted deck locker plus a plough anchor mounted on a bow roller with 40m of chain and an electric winch.
The interior retains much of the original teak and is in the original mark V layout. This includes a galley, nav station and 3 bunks in the main cabin, a heads area and two v bunks up front. Eventually I want to improve this layout by converting the two bunks on the port side to be a wide single with storage over the top. The existing bunks are very narrow which is fine on a passage but not good for livaboard. The forward v cabin is where I sleep but condensation is a problem here. In time I want to improve the insulation and ventilation and move the chain locker and winch further forward and seal it from the berth area. Sleeping next to a smelly chain is not ideal.
The galley has a sink, gas cooker and there is a fridge under the nav station. I want to improve the cramped storage here by putting in a cupboard above the sink.
The heads has a jabsco hand pumped toilet that uses sea water to flush. There is no holding tank so I need to do something about this before visiting places like the USA where you must have either a holding tank or a composting toilet. I have heard a lot of good things about composting toilets but these are expensive. I can get the special seat to make one fairly cheaply so I may end up making my own that is built specifically for the space. The hull rise and the mast make it a difficult place to fit factory produced toilets. The sink now has running fresh and salt water, as does the galley sink, these are fed by pressure sensitive pumps. The taps have a shower attachment so showering in the heads area and using the bilge as a drain is possible. I do use it over the sink to wash my hair to minimise soap in the bilge.
After leaving Southampton, I stayed off Calshot for two nights, there has been little wind in the morning but biting cold Northerlies later. I did a bit of fishing with no success, even a collapsable crab pot I put down overnight was epty in the morning, I was hoping to catch something to use as bait on the hook.
While there I read a lot and fixed the damage to the hatch I caused when I had to break in. I have secured a stainless steel plate to both sides. Now even I would have trouble breaking in.
My plan when I left was to start heading West, a big storm is due Monday and Tuesday and needed to be sheltered from South Westerly winds. My plan was to get to Sandbanks bay which has a suitable anchorage but if I had problems, I could go to Chistchurch or Portland harbours. So off I went, heading toward the Isle of Wight initially due to the wind direction. Just before tacking to go West, my mum text me. “Its a shame you are not still in Portsmouth as the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier is duw out today. OK – see that and shelter from the storm in Chistchurch harbour or head West, turn left or turn right?… I turned left (Port). I am glad I did,
I had a great sail down the Solent in really challenging wind conditions. Twice the wind direction did a full 360 around me and at one point the mast top wind speed was zero but I could feel a good 6-8 knots on my face. I first thought the anenometer was broken – it worked fine later on A couple of times I was becalmed so did a bit of mackeral fishing (fishing is not the same as catching).
I arrived at a spot just outside the main shipping channel just before it widens out, hove to and put the engine on as there was a strong current. I got it all nicely balanced so Lady Cindy was not drifting and waited , and fished, and took some practice shots of passing traffic.
The wait was well worth it, altough the Police rib came and “had words” with me. I was outside the channel and holding station (not moving) but my bow was pointing toward the channel. He asked me to turn a few degrees to port, I did and of course that upset the boat balance so she started a slow drift. Luckily too slow for me to have to do anything to correct it.
And the second Queen? That was the Queen Mary 2 who left while I was returning to anchor. I am back at Chichester for a few nights. There are gale force winds forecast for Monday night and Tuesday morning so want to be sheltered.
