Trailer Sailing Hamble or nearby

[Matt]

I've only ever launched single handed, including up to a 29' twin engine jobbie at Northney (v. steep). Sometimes it's a bit of a pain, but IMVHO, being organised and efficient about it mitigates most of that.

(Removing trailer board before you get to the top of the slipway - all that kind of jazz)

[Wightdiver]

Originally Posted by Zelda

Thanks for all the replies in this thread. Some may be interested in the outcome...

Moving to Hamble Point at the weekend. Good price and good facilities though still a bit nervous about that slipway.

Trailer has not been used on the road for four years and though it all seems sound I am more comfortable transferring the boat via water and separately driving the empty trailer round. This means we will probably be recovering the boat for the first time at Hamble Point at HW on Sunday.

Any tips for first time users of the Hamble Point slipway? Have had no problems at all launching/recovering at Eastlands, but that has a nice pontoon alongside the slipway which allows you to walk the boat on and off the trailer without getting your feet wet. No currents at the slipway ether. Clearly Hamble Point will be a different experience.....

Regards,

Rob

Hi Zelda, I too am at Eastlands so will be very interested to hear how you get on? Please give us an update once you have launched a few times under differing conditions.

Andy

[FoxZulu]

We've been launching/recovering at Hamble Point for over 3 years now and have only had an issue recovering a couple of times due to wind and/or current. The simple fix for that though is to put the boat on the pontoon and go and have a beer at the Ketch Rigger in the marina then come back once things have settled down a bit. Worst case scenario I guess would be to put it on a visitors berth overnight and go back next day, which as I see you're local, as are we, would be no big deal.

HPM is certainly a great place to keep a boat as you're straight out into Southampton Water and the staff there are always helpful and friendly. Hopefully see you there sometime.

[Matt]

Or you could do it the US way and just plane the boat onto the trailer.

Actually only been to Hamble Point once, and that was when I was assisting recovering a catamaran that had capsized off calshot. See Seaside Rescue link elsewhere here.
The marina all felt very crammed in - but as you note, it was on a full ebb tide at the time!

Was trying to get them back to the itchen where I had a crew of friendly people & crane arranged - however, with the boat upturned I was having to pull ridiculously hard to make progress. With hindsight I should have attempted to turn the boat the right way up, but I was nervous about losing the air bubble in the bow and sinking it in the middle of the shipping lane!

Anyway, tow rope started parting (3/4" rope - an upturned 36' catamaran is one hell of a bucket) so I handed the tow off to the hamble lifeboat. Who then took it in to the hamble and managed to drop the tow and get the capsized boat (strong ebb tide) stuck under the moored boats in the marina. I had chosen itchen to derisk the recovery, acknowledging it would have taken me another 4 or so hours to get him there.

I know we're not meant to be critical of the rescue services, but the coxswain on the hamble lifeboat that day was terrible. He repeatedly rammed my tow line, hard enough that I thought he was trying to break it on purpose. His coming alongside me was more akin to a collision than coming alongside. And then he dropped the towline in the marina! My boat handling is materially better than his. Fortunately the critical team that recovered the injured crew were all excellent.

[Zelda]

Just to close this with thanks to those who offered advice.

Drove the trailer over to Hamble Point yesterday and took the boat over by water this morning. Recovered single handed at high water with no drama, at all despite the wind being pretty strong.

The slipway is nice and steep as a couple of you mentioned, so no rope or tow bar extension was needed. The slope is pretty constant throughout the tidal range, however I did see someone struggle when recovering at low water yesterday due to lack of traction in the mud at the bottom of the slipway. This in a 4x4 too. I think if I were recovering at low water I would use the tow bar extension to keep the car wheel out of the mud, particularly since I'm not using a 4x4.

Regards,

Rob

[lakelandterrier]

I wouldn't want to launch or recover at low tide from most slips ....just needs a bit of planning and a set of tide tables