Travels of Sailing Yacht Kitty B

At the end of August, our co-owner Steve, with whom we had happily shared ownership for some years, advised that he was thinking that he might want to sell his half share before the 2022 season. Coincidentally, Sharon and I had only recently had a discussion about the possibility of buying in Steve’s share, if he wanted to sell. Consequently, over the next week or so, agreement was reached on a fair value for a half share, and the timing of the transaction changed from during the winter lay-up already booked at the yacht club hard in Poole, as usual, to the end of September after he and Jeanne had enjoyed a final farewell cruise to the Solent.

Becoming owners of the whole boat opened up new possibilities for us; with Sharon’s father now living alone in Glasgow, we thought that if we had the boat in Scotland, we would be able to see much more of him – as well as exploring new cruising grounds, that we had only experienced slightly on two previous charters. During a September visit to Glasgow, we visited various potential locations to base the boat, and soon settled on Largs Yacht Haven as the optimum location, for the first season at least. We duly booked a berth from the start of October; whilst the marina was full, they were confident that they would be able to fit us in, though some shuffling of berths from time to time may be necessary to start with.

Whilst I am self employed and can be reasonably flexible, Sharon’s annual leave allowance was spoken for; as such, I was pleased to call on the services of Halcyon Yacht Deliveries to provide a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore to sail Kitty B north with me, to arrive in October. Halcyon put me in touch with their Skipper, David Smith, who, coincidentally, Sharon knew well in her schooldays as her best friend’s big brother and influenced her choice of surveying as a career!

David also arranged for a very experienced and excellent third crew member, Brian, to join us at Falmouth, as two handing for the whole passage could be quite hard work. Earlier in the summer, the autohelm had become unserviceable, as its electric motor coils had worn out; we had found someone to re-wind this (no replacement motor of this vintage being available) and all appeared well…so we thought!

Keeping an eye on the weather window opportunities, David proposed a departure from Poole on Friday 1st October; we met at the Yacht Club at 08:30, to get the first launch out to our mooring at 09:00. Before departing, I wanted to fit our new AIS transponder, so that we could be seen by other vessels – and followers on Marine Traffic! David was very happy to allow time for this. A quick temporary installation was made, sufficient to get it powered up and working, and we cast off. We were a little later than ideal to carry the favourable tide past both the Isle of Purbeck and Portland Bill (aiming, as usual, for at least 5 mile south of the Bill) but David’s view was that on a longer passage, it all equals out anyway.

With the wind being westerly F4/5, we motorsailed with main only to make the best progress, and had a slow and rather bouncy passage past the Bill and into Lyme Bay. Neither of us had much appetite; its about the only time I have felt seasick on this yacht!

We ran 3 hour watches, and made good progress as the tide turned in our favour, passing Start Point at 06:00, and entering Falmouth at 13:00; we secured a berth in Port Pendennis, and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in the sunshine, catching up with friends, fixing nav lights, and an early meal and pint at the Chain Locker pub.

First thing next morning, Sunday, Brian joined us on board, being delivered by his wife from his nearby home; once settled on board, we cast off, and made reasonable progress towards The Lizard, where once more, we were in foul tide, and going to windward; we motor sailed North West and into Mounts Bay to escape from some of the contrary current, tacking off Mousehole in the early evening, and finally passing Longships at about 21:00, where finally we could come north, and were no longer hard on the wind.

We had planned on a pit stop at Dun Laoghaire, just south of Dublin, to let the next storm cell blow through; but on hearing the forecast from the Irish Coastguard the next morning, when we were some 30 miles west of Pembrokeshire, it was evident that the storm would arrive before us; we had a good broad reach instead, and into Milford Haven, where we locked into the marina and spent the next two nights whilst the wind blew.

Finally, on Wednesday, we were able to escape the marina, after refuelling, and progressed back down Milford Haven; the coastguard clearly spotted us on AIS, and called to check our intentions, as there was live firing over the sea immediately to the East of the Haven.

Midnight saw us west abeam of Anglesey and watching the Holyhead – Dublin ferries through the windscreen, and on AIS; next morning, the Isle of Man was in sight, and by noon, we were closing the Ulster coast near Strangford Lough. During the first night on this passage, although the sailing was good, we found that the autopilot was not working reliably; a lack of battery power was diagnosed, and the engine went back on to keep George the autopilot fed with electrons! (In due course, we acquired a 2nd hand drive unit for our 2021 cruise, which sorted this properly).

Evening brought us into the ferry stream between Cairnryan and Belfast / Larne; then the lights of Alisa Craig and Arran were near, and we were nearly in our new home waters. Inevitably perhaps, the heavens opened as we approached Largs, with a heavy downpour as we entered the marina at 02:00 on Friday – 9 hours short of a full week since departing our Poole mooring! The cockpit tent was set up and wet oilies left to dry in the cockpit, before a wee celebratory drink and off to bed.

David & Brian were up and away first thing, to catch the train from Largs into Glasgow, and onwards to their homes, in Edinburgh and Cornwall. They were excellent company on board, and Kitty B was in very safe hands – which were also enthusiastically polishing and cleaning everything, as that is what one does on a delivery! Thank you both very much indeed!

Sharon arrived from her father’s house after a morning of Teams meetings, to a tidy boat.