Sailing 19th, 20th, 21st - Our second solo sail on Troskala

We had decided to take the Monday off work so that we could have a nice long weekend and try to sail a bit further than before.  The weather looked great and the wind no stronger than a force 4, although these Northely winds are still with us so it was going to be cool. 

Our plan for this trip would be to head to the Isle of White and spend our first night on the Medina at the Folley, we made this decision based on the fact that myself and Carlotta felt comfortable in the approach and coming into the pontoon.  It was the Round the Island Race, so getting to the Medina early would secure us a good place.  We would then leave the Medina and head to Newtown Creek to practice picking up a mooring.  I have heard that Newtown Creek is a stunning place but it does get crowded on weekends, hence the decision to go on a Sunday night would hopefully prove th ebest choice for a quite night and seamless entry.

We travelled down Friday night and then after a glass of wine over planning our route and tides we went to bed.  Saturday we woke early as we needed to depart at 08:00 at the latest to get a favourable tide out of Chichester and to The Medina.  My concern is still with reversing Troskala,  I again managed to get her pointing in the wrong direction out of the berth and had to do some manoeuving to correct her direction; more practice is needed.

We made it out eventually and motored down Itchenor Reach, the wind was blowing a good force 4 and even in the harbour we decided it was a day for the genoa and not the main.

We made great progress passing the forts around about 10:00.  As Cowes came into view in the distant we realised looking behind that the winners of the monohull class in the 'Round the Island Race' where coming up to the finish line. It was a a spectacular sight and we even had a visit from the filming crew in the helicoptor.

We reached the entrance to Cowes around 13:00 and apart from a few issues getting the genoa in and accidently trailing a line we travelled down the Medina like true professionals and our arrival to the pontoon was even better (shame nobody was around to it).

For the afternoon we went on a stunning walk from the Folley to Newport.  The walk which takes you along the Medina, through fields and groves is about 3 miles until you reach the outskirts of Newport.  Our visit was short and after an iced coffee and a trip to Sommerfield we heading back to have a curry.

Upon on arrival to Troskala we found that the rest of race participants had come to stay at the Folley and we were trapped against the pontoon with 5 other boats attached to us.

We were in for a sleepless night with endless people crawling over the boat half drunk after a night at the Folley trying to get back their boat.

Sunday 20th June 2010:

We awoke around 09:00, we were in no rush to leave as we had the other boats alongside that had to depart first plus we only had a further 4 miles to travel west to Newtown Creek. 

We hung around until about 14:00, which was later than intended and meant we would have a foul tide for our journey. Once we were out of Cowes we tried to raise the genoa but it had jammed, we continued to motor and I continued to try and free the genoa whilst Carlotta was at the healm.  My actions were not fruitful so a left the genoa and raised the main, to which all wind died.  With a foul tide and no wind we had to motor all the way to Newtown averageing around 2 Knots - it took us 4 hours to reach our destination.

Entering Newtown Creek:

This part deserves a subtitle.  We approached Newtown Creek with caution, I was advised to enter around 4 hours either side of the tide so that I could see the mud banks.  As we came in I made two mistakes, the was that I had not realised that the tidal flow was so strong (incoming) and the second is that we both missed the Starboard post, by the time we noticed it, it was too late and we hit it, leaving a nice scratch down the side of Troskala.  Now we had a few spectators to add to the stress.  I had seen a couple of visitor bouys further into the Creek available but the water was too shallow, eventually the harbour maste came over and advised us to use a private mooring for the night as it was free.  It took only two attempts to pick up the mooring bouy, another lesson learnt. (Spot the leaning post at the entrance)

Newtown Creek was a beutiful place, we rowed over to a small slip-way on the East side and took a walk into the village.  The mooring was tranquil, safe and only £12,00 per night.  We cooked another curry, a took the genoa apart and after watching the sunset over a glass of wine we went to bed.

Enjoy the below photos:

TrosKala at Newtown Creek