Beaulieu Boat Jumble Weekend

Saturday 22nd April … Firstly Linda had to amend the title of the previous blog as she found out that Saffy had sabotaged it and wrote all about her own weekend’s antics, naughty dog.

A great start to this weekend….. Dean won his ebay country flags and wind scoop that he bid on yesterday. Then Saffy was a good girl and peed on the pontoon. It’s Beaulieu Boat Jumble weekend and so we set off from Portsmouth with the tide. We found out from a QHM Notice that three swimmers were about to swim across the Solent at 12.30pm from Gilliker Point to Ryde Sands. However, we didn’t see any sign of them. Just before we approached Cowes Roads we passed a race going on, here’s a picture. Just beforehand they were all flying cruising chutes.

Who will be the race winner? 

Very old Spanish ship with crows nests in Cowes

The sun was beginning to show itself. We passed Cowes and the wind dropped to zero, so after 10 minutes or so drifting we motored to Thorness Bay, where we had decided to anchor for a few hours whilst we waited for the tide to rise. There’s a sand bar at the entrance to Beaulieu River which only has about one metre at low water Springs …. not enough for Thesee’s 1.8m draft, even though it’s a Neaps weekend we wouldn’t take any chances.

So we anchored in Thorness Bay and it was gorgeous, so warm and peaceful we did some sunbathing. The only little annoyance keeping us from napping was occasional wash from passing boats in the distance.

Wake me up when it's time to raise the hook

If i were a cow i would live here

Saffy never rushes her lunch

We’ve got a problem with the AIS again, so Dean spent some time troubleshooting, but to no avail as yet. Also, we’ve lost our heading vector on the Chartplotter so something seems to have gone amiss.

It was a shame to leave the anchorage, but nevertheless we headed across to the Beaulieu River at 4.30pm and navigated our way up to Bucklers Hard, our home for the next two nights.

Entrance to Beaulieu River

River Pontoon at Bucklers Hard

Sunday 23rd April … and a happy St George’s day. Here at Buckler's Hard we were up before 8am for breakfast and shower.

Buckler’s Hard (originally named Montagu Town) is an 18^th Century shipbuilding village situated on the western bank of the Beaulieu River, here in the lovely New Forest. It’s here where Sir Francis Chichester began and finished his single-handed voyage around the world in Gipsy Moth IV. Three ships built here went on to see action at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, including Admiral Nelson’s most favoured ship, Agamemnon. The onsite Maritime Museum tells all the stories. If you've never been here it's well worth a visit.

Ready to set off to the boat jumble...look at that sky

So, this morning we waited outside the marina office for the shuttle bus to Beaulieu, but the day got off to a bad start when the bus driver said Saffy wasn’t allowed on board. For some reason or another he had a quick change of heart and so we hopped on and were on our way to the Boat Jumble. 

Waiting in the boatyard for the bus 

On arrival we could not believe the monstrous queue to get in, it was moving fairly quickly though and it took about half an hour before we arrived at the pay desk.

Once inside the grounds we made our way methodically around the stalls. We were feeling disappointed as we couldn’t find much to buy from our list. Dean picked up some pilot books and an almanac for a snip, and there were a few other small purchases but nothing of any note. 

Picnic lunch in the sunshine

Everyone's looking for a bargain

The afternoon wore on and we were feeling a bit fed up with not being able to find anything. After treating ourselves to an ice cream we decided to take one more look around, and we were so glad we did. Dean spotted a Honda 2kw Generator, negotiated a good price and bought the thing there and then! Meanwhile on the RNLI stand Linda picked up a life jacket to fit Isaac for £5 (you have to come and visit us now kids!) and the lovely RNLI ladies sold Dean a trolley bag for £2 (they only asked for a mere 50p) to transport his new generator. So all the action took place in the last 20 minutes.

 Fantastic mansion on the Beaulieu Estate... how the other half live

On the way out Linda and Saffy took a well earned rest on the grass whilst Dean treated Saffy to a collapsible water bowl. The RNLI Search & Rescue helicopter appeared and flew a quick display above us. Then we caught a glimpse of the Beaulieu Monorail.

It's a waterbowl Saffy, not a hat

RNLI helicopter....hope we never need to call you

The Monorail

Saffy’s put up with us well today having been dragged around for hours in the warm weather, and now back onboard Thesee she’s tucked up in her basket fast asleep. Dean’s on his laptop making a good job of emptying his wallet further and he’s just bought 3 Electronic Navigation Charts for the Chartplotter from Ebay. Looks like we’re going to be heading to Iberia, Central Med, and Eastern Med. Yippee!!

Monday 24th April … Lovely local stroll this morning with Saffy. Saw Tom Cunliffe having his boat hoisted back into the water. Departed around 11.30ish and motored back to Portsmouth as tide was against us. It never seems as good when you’re on your way back, maybe because the sun wasn’t shining today. Here's some photos we took this morning.

Thesee on the river...

I know....we're here

The SS Persia was torpedoed without warning by a German U-Boat

Museum closed...we're too early

The Village

The Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary

These were the launchways -  in the olde days...arrrr

Told you

The Master Builder's Hotel

We stopped off at Gosport Marina for a quick walk to the Chandlery, where Dean bought us two new life jackets. Thank you Dean. Then it was just a short hop up the river back home to Wicor. Not many yachts about today. We seem to have fixed the AIS problems….all to do with the infamous NMEA 0183 baud rates, but some other issues with settings still exist. The most unusual one being the sea temperature at 50 degrees….. If only!

A very pleasant weekend enjoyed by all