Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

Learning from experience

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Binks has been a

keen sailor since Scouting

showed him the joy of

the water. He has taught

sailing in Craobh Haven,

the Scillies and Windermere.

He sold Impulse when a Hurley 22 came

up at a silly price on eBay.

T

his was potentially a dream

coming true. I had been

looking for a cheap dinghy,

but what I had found was so

much more exciting. In a

poorly-written and badly-

photographed eBay post was a functional

mini yacht with anchor, engine, mooring,

tender and sails, going for what I was ready

to spend on an old Wayfarer. If I entered the

right bid within the next two minutes I could

end up with my own Leisure 17 (which

actually turned out to be a Starsailor 18).

Impulse was bid upon blind, in the slow

lane in rush hour (I wasn’t driving). My bid

was successful, so we suddenly had our own

yacht, which at that time resided on the

South Coast. We lived in the north-west,

and our top priority was going to be bringing

her up as soon as she was ready – by water.

Preparation took several visits and much

spending. The engine ran perfectly when fi rst

tested, but only provided thrust for 20-

minute bursts. Also, the anchor chain was

only about 3m long: these discoveries were

made on our first outing as we floated

rapidly backwards out of Langstone Harbour.

So, we invested in a replacement engine, a

suitcase back-up generator, new battery, new

anchor chain, new anchor, a complete rewire

and nav lights, and repaired the radio – but

we were running out of time. The only

chop steepened; and we discovered a rather

concerning attribute of short yachts with an

outboard on cantilever brackets. Impulse

see-sawed dramatically, and while one tall

chop lifted the bow the previous wave rose

behind the boat, submerging the engine.

The engine steadfastly carried on, but the

plate on the mounting bracket was

delaminating and breaking up with the

surging motion. Lines were added to reduce

the leverage, and this helped somewhat, but

the bracket’s condition was still deteriorating.

We could now see the lights of Poole; we

were nearly there. As this wasn’t our planned

destination on this sail, and as I’d been too

busy running the boat to get below, I needed

a last-minute plan. I nipped below at roughly

the same time we switched from fighting the

westerly tide to being assisted by the water

flooding into Poole. I was just reading the

strong tides at the entrance when I heard a

shout from the deck. On emerging, I saw

that we were flying past the lights of the

groynes and converging rapidly with the

chain ferry – and this sent a jolt of adrenaline

through my tired body and mind. The

outboard was put hard over and the throttle

opened up. ‘Go-ey’, as we christened the new

engine for its tendency to actually go (unlike

the previous one, which had accrued various

unkind nicknames), instantly stopped dead.

I spent a few moments fruitlessly trying to

three-week window we

had for sailing up to the

north-west was upon us.

Work on the boat wasn’t quite

completed; the solar regulator

was lying about how much charge

the battery held, and the outboard

bracket needed work. We couldn’t find the

parts we needed in Portsmouth, but were

assured that we’d be able to do so in Poole.

Off the end of the passage plan

Early in the morning, we three set off – one

experienced sailor, one beginner and one

novice. We got the tides bang-on on the

fi rst day, and sailed neatly into the Beaulieu

River. The following day worked out equally

well at fi rst; we had the spring tide with us,

passing Hurst Point and ferry-gliding

sideways under sail around the south

cardinal buoy and working her upwind

towards Christchurch, intending to

arrive about three hours before sunset.

Successfully handling the boat had

swollen my self-confidence and boosted

my faith in the plucky little craft.

However, en route it had become apparent

that night sailing wouldn’t be possible

with the new crew member – she was not

having fun – so, with timetable in mind,

contemplating the attraction of waking up

in Poole, ready to fit the part and be off

again, we tacked 1,000m from the entrance

light to Christchurch Harbour into reducing

light, a turning tide and a head wind,

and off the end of the passage plan.

The consequences of this impulsive

decision soon became apparent: every tack

gained less ground than the last. I started

the outboard and turned straight into the

wind. In the decreasing light we contoured

around the bay on the depth sounder,

looking for the lateral marks of Poole. As we

progressed and the tidal flow increased, the

Chris Binks explains how a spur-of-the-moment

decision touched off a series of potential

calamities – not least a near-miss with a chain ferry

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Beaulieu River

Christchurch Hurst Point

PORTSMOUTH

POOLE

ISLE OF WIGHT

Chain of events

0 10 20

NM