On returning to the sea

It is not too far-fetched to think that one of the greatest 20^th Century adventure writers is Adlard Coles. He wrote books describing his voyages on the South Coast of England and beyond, noting the simple pleasures of yachting in a small boat. His voyages were mostly unexciting, but his detailed writing captures the essence of such sailing in a way unsurpassed by others.

Adlard Coles in later years

His classic book ‘Sailing Days’ evokes carefree days of exploration in the 1930s.

Illustration from Sailing Days

A follow up book, ‘More Sailing Days,’ was written at the end of the Second World War.

At the start of the book he describes how he sailed his 22 foot yacht called Zara from Itchenor to Wooton Creek on the day war ceased in Europe.

Zara

 His sense of gratitude is as follows:

‘I had bought the yacht in 1944 when, like multitudes of others, I was longing for the time when I could get afloat again. And so you will understand that it was a great moment in my life when a year later these fancies grew into a reality and I found myself making the journey down to the sea and to the little ship from which I had been separated.’

Adlard Coles 'on board'

PicoMicroYacht will launch again as soon as it is possible and of course also my small yacht, Lady Elizabeth.

The Boot Trick

Cold and windy weather has limited PicoMicroYacht's voyaging recently, but I was able to visit Chichester Harbour and a favourite spot, East Head.

East Head - anchor locations marked with a cross

This sand dune promontory is a great place to beach a boat. Due to the inclement weather, it was fairly deserted.

It was too cold to hang out on the beach, so I went for a walk.

I had to calculate the tides carefully, to be able to get back to the boat before PicoMicroYacht floated again. It could not be easily dragged up and down the foreshore due to the damp sand.

PicoMicroYacht was beached about four hours after high tide. With approximately six and a half hours between high tides, I had just over four hours until the boat would float again.

To be cautious I attached it to an anchor borrowed from my larger boat, using a long warp.

I then did the boot trick.

I learned this trick from Dylan Winter. If you leave a boat in such circumstances and do not want people to meddle with it, then leave a pair of boots by the anchor. His view is that it has the effect of making people think you just about to return. Of course, they could walk off with the boots, but I think that unlikely!

Three hours later, I returned and lay on the shingle upper foreshore, watching the sea and the sky.

The tide came in and PicoMicroYacht was readied.

The photo shows a newly acquired depth transducer mounted on the bottom of the rudder