5 a.m. Saturday 3rd May, who’s idea was this? There is no wind at all in Douglas
Harbour and what little breeze there is, is NE, not good for Whitehaven.
We spend a hour deciding in which direction to head (Maverrick and Doublet)
and after a few phone calls for weather updates, Whitehaven it is.
We motor out into the bay in light drizzle and hoist our sails and immediately
the wind fills in from the East. We make good time and are across Laxey Bay
within 60 mins with Doublet, as expected, leaving Maverrick in her wake.
We start our engine and motor sail up to Maughold Head, just to make sure we
catch the split in the tide, and just after 9am both boats alter course direct
for Whitehaven.
Steven then goes below and cooks up a couple of bacon butties which go down a treat,
when these are finished Steven takes the helm, and the wind picks up to 20 knots,
which turns our comfortable sail into a beat, unfortunately the seas also start to
pick up and we have a nasty quarterly swell hitting us and it’s time to reef the Genoa,
we put a couple of rolls in and the boat settles down nicely. I soon start to feel a
bit queasy and eventually end up feeding the fish with bacon butties.
At about 11 a.m. the wind still from the E. Picks up again to over 25 knots, so we put
another couple of rolls in the Genoa and I take over the helm, which helps stop my
seasickness, we also get our first sight of Whitehaven about 15M off.
We have a steady sail averaging 6 knots and can just see Doublet in the distance as
we approach Whitehaven. We pass two yachts leaving Whitehaven on a course for the Island,
the first boats we have seen all of the trip.
30 mins from port and the wind rises to almost 30 knots across the decks so the genny
is reefed even further and we have a roller coaster ride into the outer harbour arriving
at 1.30 p.m. drop the sails and enter the sea lock. Doublet arrived about 90 mins before us
and is berthed at the opposite side of the marina.
We tied up and jumped ashore for some much needed fish and chips, back for a couple of
hours sleep and then out to sample the delights of the town.
The return trip was a boring motor sail, as there was no wind at all when we left Whitehaven
at 10.30 a.m. on the Monday. When the wind did fill in, it was bang on the nose, as is usual
on the return from Whitehaven. We did hit a fog bank 10M off Douglas and spotted a Dolphins fin,
but that was the extent of the excitement on the return and we arrived back in Douglas just
after 1730.
All in all we had a cracking weekend and it was just a pity more boats and folk couldn’t
make the trip.

Chris Hall
(Maverrick)