Sep. 20, 2005 - Becalmed (Janes Side of the Story)

With Beroe back in Poole I just couldn't wait to put things in all the little cupboards. This strange but compulsive 'wendy house' behaviour must have been a result of all those months owning Jasmine where I had nowhere to put cups and coffee and tea-towels and things as Trev had removed absoltely everything to carry out work. I also rushed out to buy 'Classic Boat' as advised by the previous owners, as Beroe was featured in a dedicated article.

The next thing was to arrange being taken out for the day on my new boat. I wished I knew more, a complete and utter novice, I'd only recently mastered referring to 'heads' instead of toilets and 'galleys' instead of kitchens. I bought a book that sounded just right for me, 'Sailing for Dummies.' I didn't have to read much before it all seemed confusing. Why do words like 'luff' apply to so many different things? I didn't have to wait long before Brian and Trev arranged my first day out. It was a gorgeous morning, we left early, courtesy of our friend 'Andy the Wormer' who gave us a tow. Beroe has no engine, a minor consideration when I bought her...her previous owners had sailed her across the Atlantic with no engine and anyway, I knew that Trev is good at sorting these things if ever we needed one....

Once out of Poole harbour, I was given the job of holding the tiller while Brian and Trev sorted out all the sails. They fiddled around with and argued about the jackyard topsail for ages before they got it right......then... the wind died. Brian told me that this was called being 'becalmed'. No matter, I thought, it was lovely bobbing around. Except that we were drifting towards some rocks....tide really wasn't helping. Trev used an oar to try to turn her. No good. Luckily after a while a cloud came over giving just enought wind to get her moved...then it passed and we started travelling backwards again. Perhaps I should make some lunch? So I went down below but...oh dear...didn't feel quite right, despite the wrist bands and Stugeron....I just managed to throw a few packets of food up to them, not quite the lovely meal I'd planned. To cut a long story short we spent 4 HOURS BECALMED going backwards and forwards and worse, we travelled further backward than forwards. Trev started saying unrepeatable words about me falling in love with a yacht with no engine. I felt seasick the whole time and was thinking I must be mad having a boat at all!

Eventually. the wind picked up and once again we were off. I felt fine once sailing and really enjoyed the rest of the day. Andy met us as arranged and towed us back in. It was a great day but we'd be totally reliant on others being kind enough to give us a tow when we went out. Okay, I knew that when I bought her but what with being becalmed, completely helpless....going backwards and forward for hours...

That night I made a decision. Trev must put an engine in Beroe!