Forethought 2007 log

This is now the story of year 12 of owning a GK24.

Royal Southampton Frostbite Series 2008

After a one year gap we went back to taking part in the series. The regular crew all came back apart from Eerfan who has now bought himself a shiny but needs- work Contessa 32. His space has been filled by Nigel Nicholson who has crewed on Forethought over many years.
So I have been taking Forethought up to Ocean Village on Saturday and then staying overnight , bringing the boat back on Sunday to Hamble.

Royal Southampton MDL Frostbite series Race 1: 13 Jan

The first week (13 Jan 2008) had Force 6, we broached several times under white sails and Steve fell overboard. The main hatch was kicked off during the race but was fixed afterwards.
The single handed return delivery trip was extremely unpleasant as the wind was SE on the nose and the chop slowed Forethought to about 2 knots.

Royal Southampton MDL Frostbite series Race 2: 27 Jan

The second week was extremely quiet. Racing was postponed until another day.

On Saturday 2nd February, I put Forethought up on the piles, and scrubbed the bottom.
As well as the scrub, I managed to fix a cold-start problem. Actually the stop cable was jamming so that the stop lever was held in the stop position until the starter motor vibrated it loose.
As it turned out the atmospheric pressure increased during the day with neap tides and the tide went out further than expected but did not come in again .
Using a block attached to a strong point on Forethought and attached high up a pile, we pulled up and away from the shore at high water and escaped. The strong winds forecast for the Sunday began to show at 2030 when we finally headed back down the river.

Royal Southampton MDL Frostbite series Race 3: 10 Feb

On the Saturday I fitted a new solar vent, (solar cell plus battery plus fan in the fore hatch) the old one had worn out so would run if you poked it and for a few minutes until it seized up.

The Sunday dawned cold and clear. The walk down to the tender was lethal. It was low tide , the pontoon was sloping down hill on the mud and leaning over at about 10 degrees. Fortunately the steep ramp down to the pontoon had strips of wood across it every foot. The pontoon was passable provided I did not stand on the white planks just visible in the twilight. Carrying an engine and a bag I kept my weight low to minimise the effect of falling. But I got to a tender. Forethought was barely off the bottom of the river when I got there. Fortunately she had done her usual trick of the keel sliding off the mud into the deeper channel.
I had to wash the ice off the decks. A thermometer in my bag was reading -2 degrees C. I know it dawned cold and clear. I was there.
[sunrise 10 feb 2008]

0730 : Can see the sun.
The race started badly. We went the wrong side of the committee boat on the tide with no wind. When the wind filled in it came from the southeast rather than the northwest which is where it began. By the first mark we were in the middle of the fleet despite taking about ten minutes to re-cross the start line.
Class1 start

This is the Class One start. The Hunter 707 is in class 2, and they remained within 20 metres of the committee boat for about 20 minutes before their start. They started well.

Apart from the start, the race went well. In fact the Race Officer phoned me afterwards because the start was 'dodgy'. I assured him we enjoyed the racing despite the out-of-specification start (more than 5 knots wind needed ). Was there for the first two starts but not for us. We didnt mind as we caught up so soon ...

Man Overboard ! (but not Forethought this time)

I spent some time putting the boat away , as the rate of ebb of the tide increased. When I came up to the buoy there was less than half a knot of tide, but by the time I left it was over two knots. I was glad I had taken the outboard on the trip with me as the tide was so strong I would have had difficulty performing the rescue I was about to perform.
As I was passing a boat I noticed a tender behind a boat and something dark in the water . It did not look right. So I turned round the tender and had to open up the throttle to stem the tide. At one time the kill cord fell off my engine and the man in the water asked for help in the silence. So I came along side him and his boat and we gradually worked him back into his tender from lying in the water one hand on the tender, feet in the tender and the other hand on the stern ladder. That was all that was holding him and his tender to the boat.
Once he was in his tender I towed his tender alongside for a couple of minutes talking with him, in the direction of Mercury Marina about half a mile up the river. Progress was slow. In the end he decided to start his engine and headed off by himself.
As far as I can tell he fell in when he went back to get his life jacket having forgotten it. He overbalanced while grabbing his boat. Judging by the fact it was his right hand on the stern ladder which is on the starboard side of his boat he might have tried a down tide approach and been hauled out of his tender by the tide.
When I got ashore at the Royal Southern I reported the incident to the Harbour Master. He said he would check with Mercury Marina to see if he got back ok.

Comments to:

mike@hamble.demon.co.uk