Algerine Class Memorial

 The memorial to the sailors and ships of the Algerine class minesweepers which entered service from 1942 and continued until 1961 is situated in old Portsmouth on Governors Green, adjacent to the path running from the Royal Garrison Church to Kings Bastion.

Algerine Class - "LET THERE BE A WAY THROUGH THE WATER"

Length:- 225ft (oa) 212ft 6in (pp) 

Beam:- 35ft 6in at extreme 

Draught:- 10ft Displacement

1122 tons Displacement Endurance:- 6000 miles at 12 knots Speed:- 16.5 knots (2400 i.h.p.) 

Complement:- 8/10 Officers 110/115 Ratings

After the storm

 There was plenty of damage locally following the stormy weekend, just one of many trees that came down almost blocking the path I use every day, this was one a mighty oak, probably 200 years old or so. Not a great picture but you can it ripped up the foot path.

 

Down on the foreshore you might have trouble keeping this marker post to port, difficult to tell if it was pulled out of the soft Hamble mud by the wind or if the base had been eaten away by the gribble, either way navigation just got a little more tricky.

 The local Sea Scouts dinghy park was particularly exposed and ended up in a complete tangle.

 An emergency working party was called for Sunday morning which was well attended and especially helpful, one of the members brought a breakdown truck with a small crane.

Untangling everything was like one of those games where you pull out the straws while trying not to have all the others fall down. It took a couple of hours to get everything back on land and on their trailers.

This was especially tricky, the Hobie was impaled on the Laser, shredding the trampoline and the front cross member was totaled, but worse still the Hobie fore stay has literally sawed right across the Laser, you can see where it exits the deck on the starboard side.

Close up of the damage from underneath - cheap Laser anyone needs some TLC...

 

Storming weekend

I went for my daily lunchtime walk as storm Eunice shook the trees and caused high water to surge even higher than usual, by some estimates as much as 0.8m above the predicted HW of 4.4m.

Things were as predicted down at Crableck, what was the old car park had been commandeered by the local duck population as the waves coming across the river, broke and lapped over the path.

Going down river the path past Bunny meadow was covered and pretty much impassable.

In fact from the shore it wasn't clear that there was a path at all.

Friend and roving Solent reporter Malcolm told me of boats ashore blown off their winter props over at Hythe, no doubt there will be more instances of damage around the Solent, which was reported to have seen winds hit 90mph at the Needles.

Seagull Saturday

 It was definitely a cold one.

Roamer

Winter is a great time to take a stroll through the local boat yards for a look at some of the interesting boats while they are ashore.

Shame about the barriers, but it was the best profile picture I could get.

I'm not especially a fan of canoe stern, there's a theory that they are good in following seas and will break an overtaking wave. They look nice enough but so does a shapely transom.

Relatively shallow draft so great for some of the channels and anchorages around Chichester harbour.

 

Lite Bites?

 If you're passing through Emsworth Yacht Harbour and feeling peckish, you might like to drop into Fisherman's Cove for a quick bite.

Probably need big chips to go with that one.

Hengisbury and Chichester Harbour

My friend Malcolm sent me some pictures of Hengisbury head on the seaward side of Christchurch Harbour which reminded me it's over 6 years since we last visited the area.

Malcolm had made the trip over to check out the entrance and visitor moorings and facilities, which as I recall were quite limited.

 

Winter is a good time to visit, breach huts are locked up for the winter and the place if free from the summer crowds.

 

The harbour is quite shallow and much of it dries or has minimum depth at LW and visiting with a boat allow draft and which can safely take the ground is probably a good idea. In fact probably the best craft to explore the harbour is a kayak.
 

Itchen

 Turning right near the top of Southampton Water before the docks leads up past the Itchen bridge which is still very industrial, somewhat run down but no less interesting for that.

Interesting name for a working barge, maybe there's a Baghdad I also?

On the Woolston shoreline Griffon Hoverwork has has been winning orders as far afield as Japan and their 12000TD craft operates service more locally between Southsea and Ryde.

There are more than a few interesting vessels either on moorings or alongside. You get the feeling that these are perhaps the last resting place of sailing dreams. The purchase cost of an old 70 or 80 foot yacht can be trivial compared  to the upkeep and mooring.

That said there are probably a few gems waiting for an owner with sufficient money and desire to get them sailing again.

Can't decide if this is a classic "barn find" in waiting, certainly looks like a hansom sloop but maybe it's much easier to buy and sail a modern yacht than keep up something like this.

 No post about the Itchen would be complete without the most famous of local boats the Itchen Ferry.