By Adam Guest

I bought Kayesse in April this year from a broker in Weymouth. I have always wanted one having seen them sailing in solent for most of my life, and was really pleased to get which appeared to have a good racing pedigree, (apparently she won the GK Nationals many moons ago) and a full set of racing sails. Although she was listed with a full set of instruments, GPS and VHF none of them worked so after agreeing a knock down price I made up my mind to invest a few quid to get her fighting fit.

The Delivery Trip:

Over Easter my girlfriend at the time (Su) and I took some time off work to sail Kayesse back to a temporary mooring in Chichester. The first trip to Poole was fantastic and I knew I had made the right choice when we had 6-7 knot sail with the #2 and full main. The tide at Poole entrance caused us some problems and we only just got into the new harbour at Poole Quay on the fumes we had left in the petrol tank. This would set a theme for Kayesse in that I always seem to be trying get more petrol each place I go for one reason or another!

The next sail to Lymington was a bit frustrating due to lack of wind although Su seemed to find it the perfect time to read and soak up the sun. Thankfully the wind picked up enough for me to sail past the needles and in to the marina where we met up with some friends who had sailed from the Hamble on a Sigma 33.

Hangover in tact we sailed the next day to Portsmouth, which ended up being more of a motor sail. Once again I arrived in Portsmouth on fumes and vowed to buy twice as many jerry cans than I did in Poole.

The final trip to the mooring in Chichester was more of the same with little or no wind but this time enough fuel to cross the Atlantic!

The Channel Islands

Having moved Kayesse to her permanent mooring in the Hamble and spent more than a few quid on a new set of instruments, VHF and GPS, it was time to try her out in more testing conditions. With a total crew of 4 and having had a big night in the King & Queen we set off early on Saturday morning hoping to catch the tide out and past the needles to the land of webbed feet and Pub lock ins - also known as Alderney. The wind was from the South West and between 10-12 knots, which meant we made fairly good progress across the shipping lanes and with the tide sweeping us East we headed towards Cherbourg. Just before midnight, as a rather anxious Skipper had predicted, the tide changed the wind picked up and we where swept away at 8 –9 knots towards Alderney. Not long after the GPS and instruments packed up and a broken fuse holder was found to balme! A few wrongly sighted lighthouses later we made a night approach to the harbour and picked up the nearest mooring we could to our friends who had arrived only 2 hours before on a Sigma 33.

20 hours.. Not bad!

Alderney to Jersey

After a glorious Sunday pub session, and a game of football on the beach with some friends who live on Alderney we set off for Jersey on the Monday morning. The land of golden women and beaches. The forecast was 5-6 from the South East. The Swinge made interesting sailing but once clear of the rocks we set off like a rocket surfing down waves and surviving gusts of up to 27 knots. The wind was just about suitable to try my first hoist of the Spinnaker and once we saw the Sigma put hers up we knew we had to.

Putting my least inexperinced man on the helm. I set everything on deck and started to shout instructions such as “ pull the uphaul, no not that one the white one, no not that one the other white, yes that's it, NOOO not too much!” We popped the spinnaker and promptly broached with all the crew looking at me as if to say is this meant to happen! Waist deep in water on the lee rail trying to get back to the cockpit to sort the jib, spinnaker halyard, spinnaker sheets, guys and rudder, I decided that it was all too much to have to give step by step instructions and try and not kill us all. We dropped the spinnaker sheeted in the Jib and decided that sandwiches and beer would be better than 8 knots and a spinnaker run! Judging by the state of the Spinnaker pole bracket at the mast it was probably the right decision!

We managed to get to Jersey in five hours and lucked out by getting straight into the inner harbour. Fantastic.

Jersey to Yarmouth

After four days of glorious sunshine, trips to the beach and the odd night out. Ahem…..We set sail on Friday morning for Yarmouth. With 47 litres of fuel on board and very little wind forecast we motored at 3.5 knots all the way to the Alderney race which turned on us just as we saw our “Friends” on the Sigma get through. Unable to make any ground and displaying a very negative VMG we decided to head for the other side of the island. No luck there either! Just about able to hold ground we settled down to a lunch time beer, some lunch and numerous games of Top Trumps, until the tide turned, the wind picked up and we had a much more peaceful spinnaker run through the Swinge watching the sun set as we said good bye to Alderney. The time it took us to get to Jersey was the time we had to wait just off Alderney! We still had to cross the Channel and so far we had been going 12 hours!

One of the crew decided to fish as we had only 3 knots of boat speed and had dropped the spinnaker as the sun went down. He caught 8 in about 10 minutes, got bored threw them back and went to bed! Fortunately the wind stuck around for most of the night and we got across the shipping lanes with little or no hassle. Except that is for the instruments and GPS packing up again! Beginning to feel like I was in the Bermuda Triangle I ran the engine down to the last 5 litres of fuel to recharge the batteries and even managed a few hours sleep.

At dawn we put the spinnaker back up and sat there helpless as the cheerful radio 1 DJ announced it was going to be a scorcher with no wind. We could see the Needles we could smell the pub lunch in Yarmouth, we had no wind, 5 litres of fuel and not much else. Yet again Top Trumps saved the day and some wind came early in the morning, enough to get us within 15 miles of the Needles. The tide was due to change against us at midday and the wind showed no sign of returning so we used what fuel was left in the tank and measured how far we got. - 4 miles!!!

Maybe we could make it on the remaining 5 litres. We used the last jerry can and motored towards the Needles. Once through, the tide began to turn and we found ourselves in familiar territory of low VMG and low fuel. The wind came back, the Spinnaker came up (works well with no pole or guys by the way!) and we clawed our way up to Yarmouth on the inside channel where only locals and dinghy's dare to tread. As the wind veered we had a great sail into the moorings of the outer harbour enjoying the look of surprise from the other yachts as we sailed through, fenders out, lines ready, close enough into the inner harbour to drop sails and use what fuel we had left to take what must have been one of the last spaces in the marina. We made it! 34 hours later… ½ litre of fuel, 1 bottle water and four pot noodles to spare!!

Yarmouth to Hamble

After a fantastic night out in Yarmouth that saw us all fast asleep by midnight we left for the final leg home and for once had the wind and tide helping us. A nice easy reach and gentle breeze we enjoyed the last part of a great week before thoughts of work started to loom.

Next year I reckon Devon is on the cards….

History

As far as I know she has had three previous owners the second one as far as I know raced her heavily and well. The last seemed to have lost interest only a few years after buying her. The name is a mystery and a bottle of Carva will be awarded to anyone who comes up with a plausible reason. All I can find on the web is a Cameroon prince who went to study in Russia, got beaten up and made the headlines. Kayesse being his middle name!

Future Plans

Having just had a load of work done both inside and out and still waiting on a new hatch, loo and cleat, I will probably keep her in the water this winter as the hamble is reasonably well protected. I still want to replace the cushions and headlining which is intent on falling down no matter what I use to try and hold it up. But these will have to wait until the old credit card bill goes down.