A Sailing Guide to the Solent and Poole Harbour - With Practical Hints as to Living and Cooking on and Working a Small Yacht
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A Sailing Guide to the Solent and Poole Harbour - With Practical Hints as to Living and Cooking on and Working a Small Yacht - Lieut-Colonel T. G. Cuthell
CHAPTER I.
Introduction.
THIS little book is intended to enhance the pleasure of those who go down to the sea in ships during the summer months cruising, in their temporary floating houses, along the beautiful southern shores of our island. Many yachtsmen, other than enthusiastic racing men, grow weary of day after day at sea, and like to combine the pleasure of yachting with that of sight-seeing on shore, done comfortably from their own movable hotel. Land guide-books merely treat of the country as accessible by road or rail. But when lying in harbour the yachtsman often finds himself, without being-aware of it, close to objects of interest which he would have journeyed far to see if he had been on land. Our island is so rich in beautiful scenery, especially near the coast, so teeming with interesting remains, with history written in stones, with ancestral homes
and stately fanes, which we are all too apt to ignore and neglect because they are not in a foreign land.
It is hoped that this guide will prove useful to the experienced yachtsman, the owner of a large vessel, for he will find in it much information respecting places of interest up creeks and rivers, which, though too shallow for his yacht, are yet accessible to his steam launch and gig.
But it is for the increasing class of owners of small yachts and sailing boats of ten tons and under that this book is especially intended. It will open up to them inlets and rivers of smooth and safe water, which will indeed call forth all their skill in navigation, and tax all their judgment, but which will well reward their exertions by the fresh fields and pastures new
along their shores.
This increasing class of amateurs consists, generally, of amateurs unaided by paid hands, of men out for a cruise of it may be days, it may be weeks, intent on living a joyous, untrammelled, healthy picnic life in flannels, doing their own sailing, and cooking and cleaning. What the delights of such a life are, only those who have tried it can realize!
In endeavouring to unite the pleasures, therefore, of camping out and sailing in waters less circumscribed and monotonous than those of a river, the Solent naturally suggests itself as the most suitable place on our coasts. No waters are so sheltered, or offer so much variety both in estuaries and in coast scenery. The Americans affirm it to be the best sailing ground in the world; neither so shallow as their own, nor so deep as the Scotch, affording an anchorage everywhere afloat. This guide has therefore been arranged for a cruise beginning and ending at Portsmouth, as the nearest starting point to London. But it can be taken up at any point where a yacht can lie, and can be made to cover weeks or only days. Eastwards we have gone as far as Chichester Harbour, which, though open to the English Channel, can be easily reached by coasting round from Portsmouth. To the west we have taken in Bournemouth Bay, Swanage Bay, and Poole. Harbour, though these lie beyond the limits of the Solent. For they can be reached from thence through the Needles passage, or taken as centres for separate cruises, Swanage Bay opening up the Isle of Purbeck, a little-known corner of our S.W. coast, and Poole Harbour being a paradise for small yachts, where many days can be well spent.
With a view to the camping-out element in a cruise in a small boat we have added a chapter on what to take on board, and also a six days’ menu of three good wholesome meals a day, which can be concocted over a spirit lamp by the most inexperienced cook.
This is not intended to be a text-book on sailing. It pre-supposes that the amateur has had some experience and knows how to sail his boat. But we have appended a few practical hints on the navigating of tidal waters and on getting on and off moorings, which are the result of practical experience and will prove useful. Rather is our intention to supplement the English Channel Pilot Book, which should lie on every cabin table, but which does not enter into details concerning the shallow tidal waters where small craft can penetrate. For practical instruction in the art of sailing we refer the yachtsman to Mr. E. F. Knight’s book on Sailing
in Bell’s All England Series, a handy little compendious volume, which may be studied with advantage.
In the Sailing Directions which head each chapter no directions have been given as to lights. The Pilot Book supplies all such information. But in this book no night sailing is contemplated. The cruises are intentionally short, for it adds immensely to the pleasure, comfort, and safety of amateur yachting if an early start is made in the morning, and the vessel on her anchorage with everything snug well before dark.
It has often been said that the two greatest difficulties for amateurs in working yachts are—first, to get away from your anchor; and secondly, to take up moorings. This is certainly the case with the Solent. The strong tide running under one, the narrowness of the channel, and the number of vessels about one in harbour, all add to the difficulty.
In getting away, all these things must be considered—how the tide is running? how strong it is? how much sail should be set? how the wind is blowing? from what quarter?
In a narrow river it is often necessary to swing on your moorings by means of a rope, to set your jib and to run out to sea, setting the rest of your sail as you go out. But if you are on your own anchor, of necessity you must get it on board, and then bring the yacht sharp round. Sometimes the tide is running in, and the wind blowing in also. It is then necessary to set all your sail, and do the best you can to stem the force of the elements, often to no purpose. When, on the other hand, the wind is blowing out and the tide running out too, and you have all sail set and want to get out, it is advantageous to run up the river a few yards and then gybe round to get clear of the other vessels, and thus come round in as short a space as possible.
In taking up moorings it is best, if possible, to avoid scandalizing your mainsail or jib, and for this reason. If you miss the moorings, and your anchor is not ready to let go at once, you are not so likely, under certain conditions of wind and tide, to take the ground. If it suits, shorten sail, if you will, but always bring the vessel’s head to wind over the moorings, with very little way left on her, if possible. Even a lady can manage this, with practice, by keeping away from the wind and making a graceful sweep round up to the mark; and a very pretty manœuvre it is when well