HADEDAH

On Saturday 8 March 2025 the crew for the ARC Portugal met for a get together and to decide on a few things together.

After the meal we had a group photo.

fltr; Back Row: Heather Houston, Fiona Conway, Charles Dace.
Front Row: Peter Stonestreet, David Houston, David Royall.

After seeing the cushions on friends, George and Pat’s boat, Leonis, we used the same fabric when renewing the cushions in Hadedah’s saloon.

We did this passage with the two of us crossing to Alderney to join some friends in Channel Islands prior to joining the Normandy Landings 80^th Anniversary Commemorations at the beginning of June.

It was not planned to be such a long passage.  When we did the planning for our passage from Gosport to Alderney Harbour on the 22 May 2024 the wind looked like it was going to be on or abaft the beam from roughly NW at about 20 kts.  The tide at Alderney was at its slackest around 1530 to 1630 and so our departure was based around that.  On the expected beam reach at 7 knots on a course of 217° it would take about 11h30 so we planned to leave at 0500.

We slipped at 0510 and motored out of Portsmouth Harbour and hoisted the sails, main to first reef, as we passed the Outer Spit Buoy at 0545.  As we turned onto our course to round the Isle of Wight on the East side we stopped the engine and were sailing beautifully with the wind from 300° at about 20kts.

When we turned around Bembridge Buoy to a course of 217° the wind had backed to 270° but this was okay.  With an East setting tidal stream our course over the ground(CoG) was 213° and this was quite normal.  Once the Isle of Wight was behind us the CoG was shifting East and eventually it was about 197° with speed over the ground(SoG) of 7 to 7.5kts.  We were to the East of the rhumb line course but once the tide turned at 1200 we would be set to the West and this would bring us into Alderney very neatly.

By 1100 the wind had further backed to 235° at 25kts and we took another reef in on both main and genoa.  We were still making a reasonable speed of just below 7kts but our course had moved even more to the East because it was impossible to steer much more than 195°.  This continued for an hour until the tidal stream slackened and we tacked to the West, to a course of 268° and a speed of about 6kts.  The sea state was not very comfortable on this course.

Once the Westerly set was noticeable we tack South again, having gained some 6.5miles in westing. By this time the tide should have been pushing us well to the West but the wind meant we were not steering a course that would eventually put us into the entrance to Alderney harbour.  So at 1500 we tacked again to the West.  Each of these tacks meant that our distance through the water was increasing and our ETA was getting later.  After going in a generally Westerly course for another ninety minutes, by which time we had done at least an extra 20 miles at right angles to the direction we wanted to go, we tacked South again.  It seemed that our ETA would now be about 2030. WRONG!  The tide had turned again and although we could sail at close to 7kts the Northerly set from the Alderney Race was slowing us down and our SoG was less than 2kts.

It was now 12 hours since we set sail and we were starting to get tired so we organised some easy food and started spelling each other every 30 minutes to avoid getting exhausted.  Luckily we were no able to head towards our destination albeit very slowly.  As the light started to go we started the engine to keep our speed up as the wind eased.

The tide stated easing at about 2100 and our SoG crept up to 5kts by 2200 when we raised Chateau a l’ Etoc Lt dead ahead at about 6NM.  Just after 2300 we crept in a pitch dark Alderney Harbour and after a few vain attempts to pick up a mooring buoy we dropped anchor in the rather rollie anchorage area having travelled 103NM in 18h45.

What lessons did we learn from this ….

1. Always be prepared to adjust the plan. Once we realised that we could not make the tidal gate at Alderney we should have gone to Cherbourg.  We would probably have been in the marina there before dark.
2. We (David and Heather) do pretty well together when faced with fatigue and adversity.
3. When it’s pitch dark don’t waste time trying to pick up a mooring buoy, especially if you are tired. It’s almost impossible to succeed, so just anchor.

On Saturday evening we enjoyed the pontoon party and our dinner at the Loch & Quay, in Woolverstone.  We had decided to leave at 05:00 the next morning, which would give us the right swoosh and also allow enough water to get out of the marina without getting stuck on the mudbank.  The idea was to ride the ebb tide from the marina to Harwich and the catch the flood to propel us down the Medusa Channel into West Mersea, so we turned in early because we knew we had a critical departure window the next morning.

I heard the first alarm clock go off at about 0415 from another cabin and I knew mine would be going in a few seconds.  After dragging on sailing kit I looked out and saw four pairs of eyes looking accusingly at me.  The unspoken comment seemed to be, “Whose idea was this?”

Anne made tea all round and we went out on deck to get ready to go.  We looked at the boat on our starboard side and I thought, “Well bang goes our timing for today,” because they were in darkness and not a soul seemed to be stirring there.

As we prepared for sea we made rather a lot of noise and soon Geoff appeared in the cockpit followed by Joy who was desperately trying to live up to her name.

We all greeted each other as cheerfully as we could and as we started the engine and switched on the steaming lights I noticed that the echo sounder was reading 0.2m which meant we had about 10cm under the keel.  I briefed the crew that we would spring out and then go hard astern to get clear of the pontoon and into the channel before the ebb could push us back.

BANGOES slips and leaves, and as the echo sounder reading drops to 0.1m I call, “Let go aft.”

Chris slips the aft line, “All clear aft.”

Helm hard to port and engine ahead.  The stern starts to swing away from the pontoon.  Anna and Anne doing great things with fenders and headrope on the foredeck.

Stop engine, wheel amidships, “Let go forward.” Hold my breath as we start to drift back.

“All clear forward.”  I hear the cry from Anne and put the engine hard astern and we shoot back from the quay and as we clear the pontoon and pass the Marina PHM to starboard, I see the welcome depth reading of 3.7m.

Stop engine, line up with the channel and go ahead just as the collection of lines, fenders and crew all return to the cockpit and gear is stowed away.

We look at each other – job well done.  “Coffee” at least three of us say together and the tension disappears as we look around and see the lights of PIM, BANGOES and AVENTURA which we also identify on AIS.

An hour later we see the sun rise over the cranes of Felixstowe and we have just completed the only hour of night sailing on the rally.

So HADEDAH has been in the boatyard since January and has had quite a lot of work done.
Bottom has been grit blasted and repainted to look really smooth and lovely.
The side has been polished to a new gleam – see the boat alongside reflected in the side.
You can’t see it here but a new spray-hood has been fitted.
Now she is due to be re launched on 9 April just in time to be able to stay aboard from 12 April.
Sailing season 21 is about to kick off.

On 12 July we started off on our first real adventure of 2020.  Sailed from Hamble to Yarmouth and Lymington and then to Poole to join 3 other boats, for the Little Ship Club (LSC) Breakout Rally.  Great fun was had by all and we visited Studland Bay, Swanage, Weymouth, Brixham and Dartmouth.

One of the lessons we learnt on this trip was that when you are away from base for nearly three weeks we needed to do laundry, so on one rainy day we converted the HADEDAH saloon into a Chinese Laundry.

Then we went ashore for lunch!