Weymouth/Portland Rally

[Jonathan Stuart]

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. We certainly did and it was great to see how capable and seaworthy our boats are. I will try to write a blog entry about the weekend sometime soon. In the meantime, I have created a gallery and uploaded some pictures. Unfortunately we didn't manage to take many this weekend given the "active" nature of the sailing!

http://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/?page_id=449&album=4&gallery=23

[Colin Morley]

Thank you Jonathan for such exemplary organisation and laying on a very good wind, and lumpy sea, for us to test our skills.
The more I sail the BR at sea the more I realise how stable and safe she feels.
We did not manage to get many reasonable photos but I will put one or two on the gallery if I can remember how to do it.

[Bill Rollo]

Jonathan

many thanks for an excellent day.

Best wishes

Bill

[Peter Cockerton]

Many thanks Jonathon, please do it again next year, perhaps order up a couple of slots down on the wind strength and less swell. The boat was certainly put through its paces and behaved impeccably.

The Breakwater hotel was clean and comfortable with a good breakfast thrown in which kept us going through lunch (well almost, we did break out the pork pies and ginger nuts once or twice).

The evening get together was also very enjoyable, the food and the odd pint of "Doom Barr" bitter slipped down nicely.

I reckon it built up to a F6 early afternoon Sunday, this was grandson Jake's first outing on my boat on the sea and on the way home he asked if he could come with me next time so it couldn't of been that scary.

Once again thanks for organising


Peter and grandson Jake

[Jonathan Stuart]

Glad to hear everyone enjoyed the weekend's sailing and we all seem to be impressed and reassured by our boats' performance. I am happy to organise this again for next year and will create a new forum post for that in time.

[Paul Wearing]

Hi All

Yes a very enjoyable weekend although with my lack of experience Saturday alone wore me out and the children decided Sunday was for sleeping. Lovely to sail with you all. Not sure when we'll be on the water again - possibly September. In the mean time some lessons to put into practice for the next sea time.

Thanks Johathan

[Reg Barker]

To Jonathan and fellow mariners

What an experience! Thanks for organising the venue, plus instruction for arrival. I am also grateful for assisting and the launching and mooring my Bayraider. Saturday was a character building experience for me and my crew Ken and Anne in a force 5 and nearly topping force 6 in a heavy swell which showed how safe the boats are (although I had two reefs to everybody else's one).

Next day was an even a bigger challenge for me as this was the second solo outing in Alice Amy. To start with there was a moderate wind and I ended up tacking back in a wind which reached force 6 (confirmed by two skippers from larger yachts on Monday before I left for home).   

Shore crew, Rosalind, enjoyed the nooks and crannies of Portland, plus the castle and a trip to the lighthouse.  She confirmed the Royal Breakwater Hotel was clean and comfortable and enjoyed the breakfasts and not having to make the bed! Places we dined at were mainly the Harbour Lights which was very good. Sunday we found an excellent pub, the Cove House Inn in Chiswell: the grub was good washed down by an admirable pint of ale and a half of cider.

Michael Rogers I hope has fully recovered from his ordeal.

Thanks again to Jonathan and everybody. Love to do it again, at a more relaxed pace.

[Michael Rogers]

Hallo everyone!

Those who were at Weymouth already know that Cavatina and I had an adventure which was rather more than a dunking. We are both unscathed, thanks to lots of wonderful, friendly, helpful people for whom I am soooooo grateful! My special thanks to Jonathan for his support. I apologise to him and all the others for causing them all concern, and am glad to hear that good sailing was had by all on Sunday.

What happened was MY FAULT. It is a story worth telling because there are approximately 15 lessons to be learnt from it, of which I am in the process! However I am on temporary Internet time here, so I will leave that until I get home from holiday at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Good and safe sailing, everyone!!

Michael

[Colin Morley]

Hi Michael,
Very good to hear all is well with you and the boat.

We left Weymouth feeling guilty that we had left you behind and so did not know what had happened and were not around to help you.

Perhaps one lesson we should learn is that rallys need some system for keeping an eye on each other in case of problems. I suggest a buddy system, as used in diving and climbing, would be easy to organise and work well.

I would be very interested to read your lessons from this experience. It would be very useful for all of us and hopefully prevent us becoming complacent.

Perhaps this could be a section in the forum library - how to keep safe in a Swallow boat at sea.

[Michael Rogers]

Back from our holiday. OK, so what happened? Herewith a brief (I hope!) factual account. I'll do a 'lessons learned' separately, under 'General Discussion'. NB if I've got facts wrong, please correct me: I don't like exaggeration.

Saturday July 5th. The fleet, more or less under Vice Admiral Stuart, set sail from the Sailing Academy bound for Lulworth Cove. Wind SW, F3-4, sea conditions on the upwind side of Weymouth Bay very easy. A dead run across the bay, Cavatina rather more than keeping up with the bigger boats because she planes down wind. However I knew I would be sorted out on the beat home, Cavatina being much smaller than the Bay Whatsits. My personal plan was therefore to make my lunch stop at Lulworth Cove short, and set out for home port before the others.

However, by the time we got there, the wind had strengthened and there was an interesting sea running, with a few breaking crests and quite steep waves up to 1 1/2 metres or so. It was therefore decided not to land, but to beat back home. Not surprisingly, the bigger boats made faster progress. I wasn't worried, and set off close hauled on port tack, about 300 yards from the (lee) shore, one reef for comfort, Cavatina a bit slowed by climbing and crashing through the seas, but making steady progress. At about 1.30pm, I had a radio call from Joybells, enquiring about my well-being: I replied that progress was slow but sure, and we'd be back in time for supper....

My mention of food reminded me that I'd had an early breakfast. I had sandwiches and jelly babies stowed forward - unfortunately just out of reach. A combination of having to leave the tiller to grab them and failing to flick the sheet out of the (recently fitted) cam cleat as I did so resulted in Cavatina coming up into the wind and across to the other tack, at which moment a larger-than-average wave and a sudden wind gust caught her. At 45 degrees on the lee slope of the wave, her sail pinned, and my weight now very much on the wrong side, over she went. Entirely my silly fault, not hers.

She floated high because of her buoyancy and, with those waves and wind, she turned turtle almost immediately, her dagger board sticking up - but before I could grab it, it slid back into the boat, and I was left with a smooth, beamy upturned hull and no means of righting her. (Had I been younger and fitter, I suppose I could and should have at least tried to dive under the boat and retrieve the dagger board.)

Two other things were immediately apparent: my cheap pay-as-you-go mobile was waterlogged, and my bargain-basement VHF handheld, which had functioned fine in the dry, sank. I had therefore no means of sending a mayday or 999, either of which would have had help there in, I reckon, 15 minutes max: and no way of letting you guys know what had happened. I was slowly drifting eastwards in roughish seas, but not getting any closer to the shore. 'Oh well', quoth I cheerily to myself, 'I can clearly see people on the beach and up on the cliffs, so they can clearly see me (in fact they were standing watching, rather than walking - I reckon 40-50 people. I was a side show, apparently). One of them will surely call for help.'

Huh......

(to be continued)

[Michael Rogers]

Part 2. (Technical point - I've divided this up because it occurred to me that, because I hold the record for slow typing, I might be 'timed out' before I'd finished and pressed 'Post'. Nothing would be more frustrating! Am I right, or is my fear groundless? If some such does happen, is there any way I can prevent it? Boffins to advise please.)

The next hour-and-ten-minutes was very strange. Here I was, in full view of quite a few modern, presumably mobile-phone-obsessed people, I was obviously in more than a spot of bother, and nothing happened except that the waves rolled remorselessly by, an occasional larger wave sweeping along the upturned hull and flinging a large dollop of cold salt water in my face. I stayed with the boat (= right thing to do) by clinging onto the rudder, and I moved as little as I could to conserve energy and warmth (I had plenty of layers on, and buoyancy)). Nevertheless I got slowly but steadily colder, battling also with disillusionment about the apparent unwillingness of Joe and Jo Public to help. I believe in prayer, and not just 'in angustiis', and I felt Looked After, but I did not enjoy my experience and felt quite scared at times.

At about 2.45pm two things happened. The rudder came unshipped (I won't explain how and why here), and tiller and rudder drifted off on their own. That meant I had nothing substantial to hold onto, my fingers were cold and tired, and I needed extra hands to keep everything together. I had to decide how to survive, and decided to abandon upside-down-ship and swim to the shore while I had enough energy (I hoped) to make it. Some of you are aware of how precious my little boat is to me, and to swim away from her like that was - well, difficult.

The other thing that must have happened about then was that someone at last phoned the Coastguard.
I had swum about halfway to the shoreline when a bloke in a RIB appeared and hauled me out of the water: I was VERY glad to see him!! After that, the rescue services were superb. In Lulworth Cove a Coastguard Land Rover and two capable young men took over. They decided I was cold (I was indeed) and wrapped me in warmth of all kinds. In less than 10 more minutes I was being ministered to by two angels in ambulance uniform and whisked off to the County Hospital in Dorchester, where - again - the A and E staff were great. They decided that I would live, and my wife, who thought until then that I was dining with the Fleet in Weymouth, was startled when my phone request was to be picked up from A and E! Also, Jonathan, bless him, tracked me down there; it was good to see him.

In my concluding instalment (ahem), I must tell you all about the next day (Sunday), which fully restored my faith in human nature. I can only apologise again for a) having been a mutt, and b) for any anxiety I may have caused. There are lots of lessons for me to learn from this adventure: I think I've thought of them all, and will share them (elsewhere) in due course.

To conclude this bit in lighter vein (and I do hope this doesn't cause offence to anyone) - in an A and E cubicle I was swaddled in lots of pale blue hospital blankets to warm me up, and I even had one wrapped round my face and over the top of my head. A nurse came in, gave me a huge smile, and said, 'Hello! You look just like the Virgin Mary!'

[david]

Hi Michael,
                 All I can say is WOW. Thank goodness you are OK. A harrowing experience. It all happened so quickly!

David.

[Michael Rogers]

Part 3. As I was whisked away from Lulworth in the ambulance, I was aware enough to overhear a radio or phone conversation to the effect that the boat involved (i.e. mine!) needed to be recovered because it was a potential hazard to other boats....

On Sunday (6th) my wife and I went down again to Lulworth quite early. Judith said afterwards that she had tried to prepare me for the possibility of a wrecked boat, but I wasn't prepared for anything really. What we found was Cavatina right way up and well above HWS, expertly made fast and apparently (and actually) undamaged. FANTASTIC!!! Later I learned that the lifeboat crew had done the honours. Almost all the bits and bobs which had been aboard (including the daggerboard) were there, but no rudder or tiller.

We went to Weymouth to collect the combo-trailer, via Durdle Door where, more in hope than expectation, we did a bit of beachcombing in case the rudder/tiller had come ashore. From the Sailing Academy I saw several Swallowboat sail plans on the horizon, and hoped it was good sailing. Back at Lulworth, while parking the trailer I explained to a young man who organised kayaking from there what had happened. He disappeared into his office and emerged saying, 'Are these anything to do with you?': he had the rudder in one hand, the tiller in the other, both undamaged. They had been brought in by kayakers! Then I met some of the Coastguards again, who produced almost everything else: the sandwiches were sodden, the Jelly Babies intact. People on the beach (including hunky Lithuanians) rallied round to help us recover Cavatina

The sum total of the 'damage' to Cavatina was - one batten slightly bent and loosened (fixed): a crack in the hardwood top of the dagger board (fixed): a broken fixing for the bitter end of the anchor warp (was unsatisfactory and needed replacement anyway), and a cut-through anchor warp: and some scratches on her bottom, one or two of which could do with (and will get) attention sooner rather than later. Otherwise she is pristine, and has been performing as usual since, including entrancing a doyen of junk boatery (who has raced ten times single-handed across the Atlantic, etc etc) who was in raptures about Cavatina's appearance and performance in Studland Bay.

That's it really. I am so fortunate to be unscathed and have an undamaged boat, and intend to apply ALL the lessons I have learned from the experience - of which more anon. Incidentally I spent time to thank all those who had rescued me, and still have some letters to write. Wonderful people!! The one rescuer who remains mysteriously unidentified is the RIB man. No-one at Lulworth Cove, or anywhere else, knows who he was.......

[Jonathan Stuart]

Thank you for sharing that comprehensive update Michael. It was a huge relief that you and the boat escaped relatively unharmed from a hazardous situation and that we are now in a position to learn lessons form this. On that note, Michael has posted a new topic for lessons learnt and that can be found via the following link:

http://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1007.msg6565.html#msg6565