Saturday
As a member of Ocean Youth Trust Sea Staff I always try to attend their training weekend near Southampton.

Not only does it allow us to do some specific RYA training and specific topics related to the charity and Prolific, but means Sea Staff can meet up socially and remember trips and look forward to the summer season.

After an early start and a three hour drive through thick fog I arrived at the training venue and was able to park the car nearby.

Saturday's excitement was to renew my RYA First Aid at Sea Certificate, something that needs to be done every three years. And given COVID I was interested to see how we were to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Not long after we got started I met the new 'blow up' Resusci Annie, a few giggles went round the classroom.


Resusci Annie

As we ploughed through the material during the afternoon it occurred to me that I have held a first aid certificate, in some form or another, for 50 years!

The other thought that struck me was that the RYA First Aid at Sea book has very little to do with doing first aid at sea! While the content is great it is written for an audience that has easy access to emergency services!

Sunday
A very different day with a series of lectures and activities on OYT and Prolific specifics.

0000 hrs

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Sutton Lock

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Enter a position
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55 07.19'N:001 29.73'W


All times are UTC.
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Crew: Ismail Tezdiker (Skipper), Phil Kingerlee and Sandy Garrity.
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Sunrise: 0542 hrs Sunset: 1931 hrs

Weather: The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at 23:30 (UTC) on Thu 8 Dec 2022 for the period 00:00 (UTC) on Fri 9 Dec 2022 to 00:00 (UTC) on Sat 10 Dec 2022.

Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth

North or northeast 3 to 5. Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate in west Plymouth. Showers, occasionally wintry in Dover. Good, occasionally poor in Dover.


© Met Office Synoptic Chart 08/08/2022
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Trip Stats: Distance: 141 nm, Under way: 24 h 00 m, Moving Average speed: 6.00 knots, Maximum speed: 12.00 knots.


[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52303272364_8e0130b7e4_z.jpg[/img]

I was not planning to do any sailing in December but an email from Halcyon Yachts dropped into my inbox looking urgently for crew to do a delivery from Plymouth to Brightlingsea in Essex. I promptly replied saying I was available, in Devon and could be down at the boat two days later. Almost by return I had a reply saying, great I was on the crew list and to await instructions from the skipper.

On Wednesday 07/12/2022 I hopped on a bus, jumped on a train to Plymouth and walked down to Sutton to meet the boat, Phil was already onboard and the skipper was on his way from Southampton.

It turns out that the delivery had been started, but due to technical reasons had to turn back at Start Point. Then the skipper and one of the crew had run out of time. Phil from the original crew was still onboard and we were to be the replacement delivery team.

While waiting for the skipper to arrive Phil and I popped to the Barbican for some fish and chips, and very good they were to.

Ismail arrived just after 2030 hrs and we set about with introductions and briefings before turning in for the night.

0700 hrs An early start as we needed to vital, water and fuel Rhapsody, a Jeanneau SO 379. Ismail and I popped up to the CO-OP to do the food shopping while Phil went on a hunt for a chopping board and jerry can.

On return to the boat I found Andy, one of the Ocean Youth Trust's Relief Skippers, had arrived from Cowes and tied up next to us. While loading Rhapsody with stores we caught up on news and chatted about conditions out at sea. Cold, very cold was the message.

0930 hrs Filled with diesel and headed to the lock and the start of the 290 NM trip to Brightlingsea in Essex.


Sutton Lock

After a short wait the outer locks opened and we motored out into Plymouth Sound. A stunning, but cold December morning.

As Plymouth is my home port Ismail passed me the helm and I steered Rhapsody through the Sound. It felt a bit odd as this was the first twin wheel boat I'd helmed, quite sure twin wheels don't work for me as you need to move between wheels to get a good view of what is going on.

As is customary I called up the National Coast Watch station at Rame Head for a radio and AIS check. They replied and wished us a good trip.

Without a formal watch system agreed I remained on the helm as we motored in zero wind past the Mew Stone and SE towards Start Point our first tide gate.

1400 hrs Ismail took over watch as we settled into a 2 on 4 off watch routine as it was bitterly cold and doing the usual 3 on 6 off was going to lead to very cold people and poor decision making.

1600 hrs Phil came up on watch and I got my head down for a nap before my watch.

1800 hrs A arrived on watch. EEEK, it is dark and rather cold. At this point I discovered I had left my thick winter buff and charcoal hand warmers on Aphrodite. Hood pulled well up and hands planted firmly in pockets to keep warm I started my first of three dark hours watches.

All times are UTC.
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Crew: Ismail Tezdiker (Skipper), Phil Kingerlee and Sandy Garrity.
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Sunrise: 0803 hrs Sunset: 1613 hrs

Weather: The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at 23:30 (UTC) on Wed 7 Dec 2022 for the period 00:00 (UTC) on Thu 8 Dec 2022 to 00:00 (UTC) on Fri 9 Dec 2022.

Wight, Portland, Plymouth

North or northeast 3 to 5. Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate in west Plymouth. Showers. Good



© Met Office Synoptic Chart 08/12/2022
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Trip Stats: Distance: 75 nm, Under way: 13 h 50 m, Moving average speed: 5.00 knots, Maximum speed: 11.00 knots.

I had been looking to do my RYA Sea Survival course for some time, but for some strange reason it is not offered by many sea schools in the Devon and Cornwall area.

One of the Sea Staff at the Ocean Youth Trust runs his own RYA Training Centres in Dorset and I decided to support him and jumped in the car on a cold November morning to drive to Dorset for the course.

After several hours driving the car GPS announced that we had arrived, but this did not look right. A residential street and no sign of a swimming pool nearby. I double checked the email that Dom had sent and realised my early morning navigation error - I had transposed two of the figures in the post code and was still 15 miles from the course!

On finally arriving in the classroom some 45 minutes late I apologised and blamed 'a bit of a cock up on the navigation front' in true Jimmy ,from The Rise and Fall of Reggie Perrin, style.

The morning was spent looking at the theory of how to stay alive if it hits the fan.

The afternoon was spent in the pool doing a number of drills that took me back to my Royal Lifesaving Society Bronze Medallion and Silver Cross days as a teenager, with the added delight of playing sardines in an inflatable liferaft.

The big takeaway from this was do everything you can not to get in a liferaft.

A very enjoyable day and do wish that more RYA Training Centres offered the course as it is one of the most useful courses I've done.

Having spent three relaxing days in Fowey, wandering about the town, reading onboard, enjoying the beer and at The Ship Inn

There were few boats on the pontoons and as sailors the world over we all met up and had coffee and a chat. I was delighted to see a French boat over with all the shenanigans about Brexit.

When it was time to head back we slipped our lines and poked the bow out of the river, conditions were still as bouncy, and headed east under a single reef. Visibility was less than a mile

The French boat that was on the second pontoon also departed heading for Plymouth.

As we arrived at Sutton Lock the lock keeper called out and asked if Andrew would ring then Coastguard at Falmouth as they wanted to check we were OK. It turns out that the French skipper had lost sight of us and we disappeared from AIS, hence he reported this to the Coastguard. They were able to confirm that they could see us on AIS doing 7 knots heading east.

All in all a cracking few days.

All times are UTC.
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Crew: Andrew Pascoe (Skipper) Morag Thomson Findlay and Sandy Garrity
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Sunrise: 0542 hrs Sunset: 1931 hrs

Weather: The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at 00:15 (UTC+1) on Thu 8 Sep 2022 for the period 01:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 8 Sep 2022 to 01:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 9 Sep 2022.
Portland, Plymouth
Southwest 5 to 7. Moderate or rough. Thundery showers. Good, occasionally poor.


© Met Office Synoptic Chart 08/09/2022
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Trip Stats: Distance: XX nm, Under way: X h XX m, Average speed: X.XX knots, Maximum speed: X.XX knots.

One of the great things about social media is the ability to contact people, share ideas and do stuff. After offering to crew in a Plymouth Group I was contacted by Andrew to see if I was interested in doing a trip.

After meeting up for a quick chat on the previous Thursday we had planned a trip to Guernsey in the Channel Islands, but over the weekend the weather turned very windy with a low pressure system sat off Ireland. Lots of ideas were pinged back and fro about possible places to sail and we settled on Salcombe or Dartmouth.

I drove down to Plymouth and abananded the care at Andrew's place and then we went down to the marina where we met Morag. We dropped our kit and supplies on Papillon and got her ready for sea then headed for the Sutton Harbour lock and waited to be let out.

Into Plymouth Sound we motored, the wind was 'a bit brisk', but warm and on raising the main I got a thorough drenching with the amount of water that had been trapped in the sail.

Heading out of the Eastern Entrance we all detected that there was far more east in the wind that the forecast had predicted and casually people started to once again look at different forecasts on their phones and wondering if going east was such a good idea.

Poking our noise out beyond the Great Mew Stone confirmed our suspicions, the forecasted F4 - F6 was at the high end of the range, we would spend a good few hours bashing into it and we knew the wind would increase.

Almost together we asked if this was a good idea and decided that Fowey was a much better option and turned Papillion west. With a reef in the main and under full genoa and settled down to enjoy the downwind sail.

A bouncy couple of hours followed as we headed west in a choppy sea, but the sun shone and the sky was clear blue.

Enjoying the ride and free of the demands of skippering I sat back and watched the world go by.

Entering Fowey for the first time was interesting as Andrew pointed out all of the landmarks, perhaps the most comical one was 'the firework' a red port light that did look like a firework.

We tied up on one of the pontoons and reflected on a fun, but challenging morning.

All times are UTC.
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Crew: Andrew Pascoe (Skipper) Morag Thomson Findlay and Sandy Garrity
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Sunrise: 0542 hrs Sunset: 1931 hrs

Weather: The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at 00:15 (UTC+1) on Mon 5 Sep 2022 for the period 01:00 (UTC+1) on Mon 5 Sep 2022 to 01:00 (UTC+1) on Tue 6 Sep 2022.

Plymouth, Northwest Biscay

Southwesterly 4 to 6 backing southerly 5 to 7, perhaps gale 8 later. Moderate or rough, becoming rough or very rough later in west. Thundery showers. Good, occasionally poor.


© Met Office Synoptic Chart 08/08/2022
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Trip Stats: Distance: XX nm, Under way: X h XX m, Average speed: X.XX knots, Maximum speed: X.XX knots.