Summer Rally to Poole 5/7 Aug 2022

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Thanks to the 18 members of Oxted Offshore who made it to our summer rally, we don’t usually have a rally in August as most members have holiday plans and there is already a lot in the sailing calendar, so I was pleased with the turnout. In the end we had four boats making the trip down across to Poole which is always a popular destination.

  • Azanti – Stewart Coia – Crew of 5
  • Faux Pas – Jeremy Taylor  – Crew of 8
  • Magus Tao – Peter Puttock – Crew of 3
  • Nick Nack – Nick & Gail Leaver – Crew of 2

The tide ebbed out of the Solent on Friday evening and early Saturday morning and most boats choose to set off late on Friday and spend the evening on a buoy outside Yarmouth or in our case Newtown Creek. Yarmouth only has a few bookable berths which were already taken and the remainder are available on a first come first served basis so late arrivals tend to end up on a buoy.

I had secured Faux Pas a space on a raft outside Sheppard’s Marina in Cowes so we could attend the Cowes Week festivities, however as there were no fireworks this year the crew had little appetite for it so we pushed onto the Creek instead.

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Newtown Creek was busy; all the buoys were taken however after some circling and aware of the falling tide we managed to anchor in a clear spot behind a row of other sailing yachts. I would love to say I managed to draw a tidal curve with secondary port adjustments to work out a safe low water anchoring depth given our 2m draft, however a quick Google search was far quicker. It was tight though and as the remainder of the tide ebbed out of the creek that evening the land became worryingly close.

The calculations were fine and we spent a peaceful night in the creek having dinner (thanks Fran) and numerous sundowners. The sunset was particularly spectacular that night.

Next morning I heard from Peter Puttock on Magus Tau that they were leaving very early from Portsmouth to make maximum use of the tide and would potentially meet us coming out of the creek. We decided that would not be acceptable and left around 08:30 to ensure they were behind us and not in front. Peter later confirmed however Magus Tao had managed to reach 9.5knots (SOG) with the tide and had shot past Newtown Creek earlier than expected.

Leaving the Needles behind we headed straight for Studland Bay were we hoped to catch a spare eco-mooring and have lunch as it seemed too early to head up the channel into Poole. Anchoring in the bay is now frowned upon as the eel grass is home to a population of long-snouted seahorses. We managed to find a buoy on the south side of the bay and shortly after jumped in the water for a swim.

The water was cold, but the weather was hot and it didn’t take long to acclimatise. After swimming we soon dried off, had a very pleasant lunch (Thanks Bill) and headed into Poole for showers, shopping and Commodores Cocktails which was set for 18:30.

For dinner I had booked the Guildhall Tavern which has an excellent reputation and although expensive brought out some very tasty dishes.

Over dinner the now well lubricated crews put together plans for a race back to Portsmouth. The forecast however was for very light winds fading to nothing in the afternoon and given Faux Pas was a charter boat that had to be back at its berth for 16:30 we opted not to take part.

After the restaurant some of the crew headed to go back to Magus Tao for an afterparty where Peters 1st Mate Pedro dished out copious amounts of Dark and Stormy cocktails.

Many thanks to Kevin Roberts the next morning for cooking up an excellent Full English. We were washed up and ready to leave at 10:00 and set off after Magus Tau who had made race plans with Nick Nack and Azanti.

Magus Tao

With the winds dying and a favourable tide we motor sailed most of the way home only slowing down for lunch on the go.

Faux Pas Crew

As mentioned, Faux Pas didn’t have the luxury of time in order to take part in the race however I did receive an uncorroborated email from Peter Puttock claiming victory for Magus Tao.

Jeremy Taylor


2021 Summer Rally Report

Five boats and four competivive crews got together over the weekend of 21st/22nd of August to compete for the ARTI cup which was last contested in 2019 when it was won by Lesley Brooman on Jumunu.

Amadla Kulu ARTI 2021 Track

Starting at 08:15 between MV RipTide, which was acting as the Committee boat, and North Sturbridge Cardinal, all four yachts headed east against the wind and tide. Winds were light but steady at 10 knots gusting 15 until around 12:00 when they dropped, fortuntately the tide around the bottom of the Isle of Wight was favourable and pushed the rally past the St’ Catherines point.

Lutine on the Lean

Our final destination was Lymington however after turning the corner around the Bridge Bouy and passing the Needles the tide was against and the yachts slowly made it past the Jack in a Box bouy in front of Lymington. Lutine had a very fast run and completed the course at 15:14 having logged 48 miles.

Commodores cocktails took place on Lutine and Commodore Jeremy Taylor announced the results which saw Lutine take Line Honours, but after taking into account handicap the race was awarded to Stuart Coia on Azanti.

Commodores Cocktails on Lutine
YachtElapsed MinutesHandicapCorrected Time
Azanti4500.937421
Nick Knack4570.937428
Lutine4041.142461
Amandla Kulu4811.120538
Results

I’m pleased to say everyone enjoyed the race and evening dinner in the Mayflower, Lymington and are looking forward to the next event.

Compliments on the Whats App Rally Group
Commodore Jeremy Taylor sailing Lutine
Report by Commodore Jeremy Taylor