Getting to the Isle of Man and Back - August Bank Holiday 2009

Crew: Tony (skipper), Nicola, David, Piero, Jo

For some of us it was our second attempt to get to the Isle of Man this summer, and this certainly fuelled our motivation. Early in the week David and Piero were furiously emailing weather forecasts while Nicola was heroically searching for a liferaft to rent. Tony and Jo headed to the boat early on Friday afternoon to sort out a halyard problem and stock the boat with food (not that we ended up eating much!). What a team....

Friday

On Friday evening early, we sat around the table to begin the weekend by celebrating David's birthday with cake and candles (some people even wore hats). The evening turned wet and windy (F6) so the crew considered Howth but instead turned to Milanos for shelter and sustenance. Unfortunately we missed our debut on 'Seascapes', thankfully we could listen later!

Alarm clocks were set and an early departure planned.

Saturday

After a fuel top up at 8.30 we departed in Force 4-5 and SW, hoisting main and genny, and running at 6-7 knots on course 50 degrees (true) pointing just south of Calf of Man. Initially diagonally crossing an adverse tide (HW was around 8 a.m), but after 5 hours favourable tide with us and pushing ENE towards Liverpool Bay. Obsession was rolling a lot, so those who were eating managed a limited soup and crackers diet.

With the log reading 30 nautical miles and no land in sight, the wind dropped and with it our speed to 3.5 knots. The crew were a little weary (some more than others), so we discussed whether we would make IOM by nightfall. We decided intrepidly to keep going. After two hours, at 3pm the wind rose again, and we saw the Isle of Man on the horizon - yippee!

We were making good progress and at 5pm when the wind dropped again we decided the try the spinnaker. A fantastic wineglass was produced, quite the worst I have ever seen but eventually unwound by the crew members with amazing biceps. Navigation lights were switched on at 9.30, eyes peeled for Port St Mary, and finally we sailed in and tied up alongside two other yachts at the harbour wall 13 hours after leaving home. That was the easy bit.

Sunday

Most of the crew thought a shower was an excellent idea on Sunday morning and the local yacht club was welcoming, so most of us were lovely and clean heading into Douglas.

Piero had a tenner in sterling so we managed to scrape the bus fare together to get into town (Port St Mary doesn't have an ATM)! We got a great view of the island from the top deck eating jellies and admiring the island's landscape of rolling hills, traditional villages and holiday homes.

In Douglas we walked the prom, along the crescent shaped bay lined with Victorian terraced hotels and buildings. We saw an anchored mega yacht, complete with helicopter and sailing yacht on its deck. Douglas was very pleasant, ice cream, beer, horse drawn trams, dinner (only one restaurant for the under 70's though), so nice it was a mad dash to the last bus home at 9.30! Fortunately the bar was still open in Port St Mary so we managed to spend all the funny money.

There was more cake to be eaten and more candles to be blown out back on board for Piero's birthday (it wasn't his actual birthday, but we all knew we wouldn't be able for chocolate cake on the way home, considering the soup and cracker diet on the way there). We got forecasts on Sunday night- good news! A good chance that tomorrow's wind would back SE and would enable us to beat or close reach home. Alarm clocks set again, for a long day ahead........

Monday

We departed 7 am Port St Marys, forecast upgraded overnight from 5-6 to 6-7, so we put 2 reefs in the mainsail. There was large swell and winds of F6-7 all the way home. Wind direction was SE so we were on a close reach all the way, heading 230 compass (225 True).

Obsession proved she could handle very heavy seas (although the already damaged/ torn mainsail was further damaged by heavy winds, we lost a batten and tore two batten pockets). Down below was interesting, tricky to negotiate, no one was interested in food, the biggest achievement of the day was using the head. Piero fell across the cabin when a wave hit 'taking out' the dining table (he did fix it), even with two reefs she was over canvassed.

In the cockpit, she felt in control when helming though and we were harnessed on all day. There were lots of waves wetting us crashing over the port bow. The watch system ensured that two or three crew were always on deck. With wind against tide from 10 am until 4 pm, we got our strongest battering mid tide from 12pm to 2pm and eventually arrived in Dun Laoghaire at 8pm. A tired, wet and weary crew but a never to be forgotten experience.

It was a great trip and one of my best sailing experiences so far. 136nm, plenty of them pretty tough going. Some of us would like to return some day to the Isle of Man to find the cats with no tails, some of us not so much...