HMS Victory, Sailing, and Cricket

[Jim H]

My brother and sis-in-law were in the UK for a visit last weekend, so we hopped the train to Portsmouth/Gosport to sail and play tourists. It was a three day bank holiday weekend.


Waiting for the ferry to Gosport

The wind was a touch high on Saturday to take them out sailing, so we spent the day visiting the HMS Victory, fishing and dining aboard our Rival 34.


Yes, Victory has lots of guns.


Three stern chasers could be fitted through the stern here.

On Sunday, we were ready to sail and took off for the Isle of Wight. We had a great sail to Cowes, motored up the Medina River, and rafted-up for lunch at the Folley Inn.


Classic boat on the Solent-- note the crew on the bowsprit.


Entering Cowes.


Southern Rival is rafted up.

The sail back against the wind was even more enjoyable, and SR did great in 10-13 knots of wind.


Southern Rival is in the groove.


Steph at the helm.

Back at Gosport, we had pints of hand-drawn ale on the upper deck of a converted Lightship with a beautiful view of Portsmouth Harbor as the sun went down. On Monday, we trained home and spent the afternoon in Hampstead Heath, enjoying Stella Artois and playing cricket.


Walking into the Heath.


David makes a play.

A full photo gallery of the weekend is available here--

Sailing and Playing the Tourist

My brother and sis-in-law are spending the next two weeks in Italy before returned to the UK for another three day weekend. We plan to sail farther afield then.

Meanwhile, my wife is off for a seven-day cruise across the Channel to the Channel Islands next week. I get to do a similar trip to Normandie in June. In July, we'll all be back in the states for a visit, and my brother and I will sail our Cal 20 about 100 miles up the Columbia River to Astoria.

[sailingdog]

Jim-

Thanks for the post and photos.

[T34C]

Sounds like a great weekend. Where are the pics of the boat??

[Jim H]

Originally Posted by T34C

Sounds like a great weekend. Where are the pics of the boat??

Here's an overall pic of Victory--


source

Or are you referring to another boat...

[Valiente]

Nice one, Jim. You certainly seem to be acclimatizing to the British way of life.

[Jim H]

Originally Posted by Valiente

Nice one, Jim. You certainly seem to be acclimatizing to the British way of life.

Thanks, Valiente. I'll admit that a Pimms and lemonade tastes pretty good on a hot afternoon.

As for the Portland-Astoria trip on our Cal 20, here's one of my favorite pictures of the boat, taken during restoration:



Full restoration photos are at:

Cal 20 Restoration Set 1

[sailingdog]

Damn... talk about a full restoration...

[Jim H]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Damn... talk about a full restoration...

I agree, but for $600 for the boat, and then about $2,400 in new materials (engine, sailes, rigging, paints, fiberglass, epoxy), it was a great education.

The trick is to start with a boat with good bones, but not so valuable that "learning" on it isn't a big deal. When we were done, our boat was put on display at the Portland boatshow, and it's still a quite pretty and original Cal 20.

[Cruisingdad]

Nice pics, Jim. Thanks for posting.

- CD