UK WWPA Sail to the Isle of Wight

The WWPA trip to the Isle of Wight took place as advertised. Five Potters, an A-type, a B-type, 2 C-types and my AX gathered at Northney, Hayling Island on Thursday evening, 14 Aug 97. For the record, A and AX types, though nearly 30 years apart in construction are built of plywood, all the others are grp. The following morning 4 craft motored, mast down, westwards under the viaduct in to Langstone Harbour. The A-type, COWRIE, [Peter Collings] left later for operations on Chichester Harbour. Weather was sunny with little wind, less than F3.

The Potter squadron departed west from Langstone, past Southsea and Portsmouth hoping to reach Newtown on the western Solent but light winds and the tides prevented this. The 4 boats rafted for a break at a buoy in Wootton Creek and then motor sailed through Cowes Roads and up the Medina River for a night stop at Island Harbour.

On Saturday, after early fog had cleared, DOLLY POTTER [Bob Lomas], ROAMER [David Morl] and URSA MINOR [Bruce Longstaff] sailed for Newtown. HORNPIPE [Harry and Pauline Jackson and Schnauzer dog Gladys] remained at the mooring for a land exploration of the Island.

The Newtown group had a good day's sailing, with a lunch time break moored well up Clamerkin Lake. The return into the Medina at Cowes in late afternoon was choppy and bouncy. The east setting tide meant motoring through the fairway before drifting on light winds and flooding tide up river back to Island Harbour. Boats from the Dinghy Cruising Association, including 2 more Potters, joined us for a beer at the Folly Inn.

Sunday morning was wet and we had thunder overnight. We were disturbed at about 5 am, while it was yet dark, by bait diggers alongside the pontoon. Predicted tide flows delayed departure from Island Harbour until 1330 and the group of 4 Potters motored much of the way past Ryde, Portsmouth and Southsea. The wind didn't come to anything until late afternoon when a very modest version of the promised westerly took us the last couple of miles to Langstone entrance. As usual, the noise and confusion of PWC riders, and their complete lack of seamanship and thought for others, makes the entrance a patch of water to hurry through. The harbour authority are quite derelict about enforcing their own speed limits.

After a tea break on low tide sandbank adjacent to a D-Day Mulberry relic, the posse of Potters motored back to Northney for recovery ashore as night fell.

BNL
Uxbridge GB
[email protected]

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