Maggie May

It was one of those trivial but odd co incidents, while cycling around Chichester harbour we'd spotted an unusual gaff yawl. On the way home we stopped off at the marina cafe and saw an add for a second hand anchor and rang the seller. between his holiday and other things it was a few of weeks before I went over to the marina to pick up the anchor, and what should be on the next pontoon but that same yawl.

Seen in close up her name is Maggie May, so a bit of google research reveals she's owned by Yachting World's retired editor Andrew Bray. Designed by Steve Dalzell and built by Farrow and Chambers. She is a 26 foot centreboard gaff yawl, with wooden hull and spars and very nice she is too, with a slight American classic look to her.

I guess if I read the yachting magazines I would have known about her, but I gave them up years ago, features like "the top ten boat hooks on test" have a limited appeal for me.

After the Rain

Seems like it's been raining for weeks now, so no surprise that Saturday was a wash out, except that just around lunch time there was a brief lull.

The sky was moody with prospect of more rain coming through with fast moving low clouds. Down on the hard in Emsworth some of the dinghies were doing their best to stay afloat.

The thing about boats is they are very good at keeping water out or in, looks like there might be more time spend bailing than fishing the next time the owner comes down for this one.

 For about half an hour everything was still, the water showing hardly a ripple, the boats lay serene on their moorings, of at least the ones with covers or self draining cockpits.

About 20 minutes later it was raining cats and dogs, we beat a hasty retreat to the Greenhouse Cafe which is well worth a visit, the lunch special was bubble & squeak, topped with ham, eggs and hollandaise sauce. To be recommended.

Needles Eye Cafe

On recommendation of fellow blogger Port'Na'Storm we dropped into the Needles Eye Cafe on a wet and windy day during half term. We hadn't been before and are always on the lookout for new breakfast locations.

As advertised the view is spectacular straight out to the needles on the western tip of the Isle of Wight. On the mainland the winds which later that weekend were gusting over 90knots, were piling up some surf on the shingle beaches.

Even in the cold and rain the cafe was busy, the food was good and therein lies the problem, on a nice day in the summer I expect it's going to be mobbed, the victim of it's own success, but for a nice winter's day or early morning it's definitely on our breakfast list.

Time and tide

Bit of a high tide recently with the combination of springs, a couple of weeks of gales from the south  and low pressure. Down on the scrubbing piles there might be a bit of a wait.

On the quay in Lymington a few folks were risking wet feet, in the event the water only just came over the top of the quay at the very end, the flood protection gates at the end of the slipway were closed but a nice big  puddle had formed on the land ward side.

Bugs

Just outside the Diving Museum in Stokes Bay a collection of VW's had assembled for a Sunday gathering.

There was a complete mix of around  40 or 50 Volkswagen cars and vans including the black, minimalist  hot rod above.

This cow patch Combi van was cute, the horn played a loud "moooo" much to the delight of a certain small child.

My favourite was the beach buggy, every now and then I threaten to buy one as part of my ongoing middle age crisis, but I always manage to resist, there being far too few sand dunes and sunny days in the UK, nice though.

Diving Museum at Gosport

We went over to Stokes Bay for a walk and lunch and discovered the Diving Museum which is located in the adjacent Number 2 Battery, a Victorian coastal defence gun battery that looks south over the Solent and the Isle of Wight.

Outside there's a collection of diving equipment including decompression chambers from the nearby naval establishments. This suit is remarkable it was German, captured at the end of WW2 and brought back to Gosport for use by the then relatively young branch of the navy.

Inside the exhibitions are split into commercial diving, sports diving and research, with a special section to commemorate Busta Crabb the decorated British Royal Navy frogman and MI6 diver who vanished, mysteriously during a reconnaissance mission around a Soviet cruiser berthed at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1956.

All the staff are volunteers who have long careers as navy or commercial divers are very knowledgeable and friendly.  There's lots to do for children in addition to hunting the 10 miniature divers hidden among the displays, there's a chance to have your photo taken as William Walker, a deep-sea diver, who worked under water every day for six years placing bags of concrete in the flooded foundations of Winchester cathedral to prevent it's collapse.

Or even try out first hand what  the old hard hat diving would have been like, fortunately it is only a fibre glass replica but heavy enough.

The Diving Museum is run by the volunteers from the Historical Diving Society, and is really well worth a visit.

Low water Lymington

The tide had well and truly gone out at Lymington salt water baths the other day, closed and drained at the end of the season.

During the summer there was an active canoeing school using the pool for training, but I guess the staffing costs of keeping it open for the winter out weight the revenue brought in from such activities.

One price of good news is the little cafe which normally closes for the winter is going to remain open, not only that, they's improved their menu with breakfasts, bacon rolls etc.  Perched right on the river path it's a great place to stop for a snack and watch the boats in the river, the seating area has been protected against the prevailing westerly with the installation of glass (probably polycarbonate) screens so it should be quite a comfortable spot.