Practical Boat Owner — January 2018

N

ISLE OF

WIGHT

Yarmouth

Hurst

Point

The Needles

River

Ya r

Alum

Bay

Totland

Bay

Freshwater

Bay

The Solent

Freshwater

Keyhaven

kilometres

0 3

North Channel

Needles Channel

Shingles

Shingles

Bank

Warden

Point

Lymington

Bank

Yarmouth

Road

Sconce

Bell

NE

Shingles

Bell

Warden

Mid

Shingles

Shingles

Elbow

Bridge

stuck mainsail but these had all been

resolved and I was confident that she was

now in good shape.

I did however have a nagging fear about

her vulnerability in challenging conditions,

especially with the anchor and warp

sitting free on the foredeck. Despite

asking for advice, the best I could do was

to tie the anchor and bucket of warp

neutral. We were in big trouble.

We immediately realised that we had a

major malfunction and even though we

were only 150 yards off the harbour

entrance it was clear we couldn’t sail into

harbour in those conditions. It was a

moderately hostile Force 6 wind over tide

and we were being swept west, and fast.

We told the harbour office of our

situation and focused on sailing north-

south on jib alone and staying safe. We

were in the main Needles shipping

channel but fortunately there appeared to

be no big boats around. We dismissed

beaching just north of Hurst Point as it

was very exposed to the northeasterly.

Unbeknown to us that same day, just a

few hours later, exposed to similar

elements, a grounded 23ft yacht was lost

just off Bembridge.

We sailed north-south on jib alone while

being taken west. We went past Hurst

Point and then the Shingle Bank at a

considerable pace. The Needles were

getting closer.

I wasn’t prepared for anyone to go

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charles Godden first
went sailing as a
teenager in a Laser
dinghy on Loch Earn
in Scotland, which
he says was “cold
but exhilarating”.
He and his partner,
Antonia (aka Horace) are both doctors
and got the sailing ‘bug’ in 2007. Six
years later, after Day Skipper courses
and flotilla holidays, they bought
Topsy, a Cornish Shrimper.

tightly on the foredeck. Nobody else

seemed too concerned, so I assumed that

my fears were unfounded.

Gone west

The next day the weather was similar, a

Force 5-6 northeasterly, so we left Cowes,

had a choppy exit and headed west

towards Yarmouth.

It was a fabulous sail; we only needed

the jib and made the harbour entrance in

two hours. We were looking forward to

spending an evening at the Red Lion in

Freshwater and Horace said it was the

best sail we had ever had. The engine

started perfectly, we took the jib down, got

on the VHF to Yarmouth harbour to get

instructions for our berth, got hit on the

port side by a big wave or two – not a

concern – and then: thump! The engine

had failed. I hoped it was nothing major

and restarted her straight away. Then a

different and more worrying noise, louder

and like nothing I had heard before.

Crunch! The engine stalled, the throttle

was jammed and it wouldn’t go into

Practical Boat Owner t http://www.pbo.co.uk 49

CHASTISED BY THE SEA

Topsy, the Shrimper, moored in calmer waters on the Isle of Wight before things got a

little more turvy on her approach to Yarmouth when hampered by engine failure