Marine Mobile

The nearly new FT817, the Walkabout Antenna and the Palm Radio Paddle give me the opportunity to combine two of my hobbies: Sailing and Radio.

Last weekend I made an interesting trip from Southsea Marina to Cherbourg and on to Alderney, the most northerly of the Channel Islands. I was sailing on my friend Neil's Westerly Discus CC, "Beatrice Rose", seen here riding on a mooring in Braye Harbour, Alderney in the fog on Sunday morning...


We made the crossing to Cherbourg via Bembridge Ledge, E of the Isle of Wight. Here's the East Cardinal mark which protects shipping from the Ledge (with the chalk cliffs behind Princessa Shoals beyond)...


... and here's the entrance to Cherbourg Marina...

We stayed over a night in Cherbourg - just time for a nice meal at L'Antidot and a trip to Carrefour to get victuals for the boat and presents for the XYLs. Then on to Alderney, some 25 miles W, seen here as we approach from the NE...


We spent two nights riding a mooring just below the Admiralty Breakwater in Braye Harbour (see the picture at the top of this post, taken from the water taxi).

During this break from sailing I operated m0xpd/mm for the first time...

I discovered that there's a LOT of qrm in the vicinity of boats. After turning off Beatrice Rose's fridge, this was reduced to a manageable level and I was quickly able to work fellow FISTS member Fred, m0icw, Piet, pa3aff, Roy, 2e1raf/qrp and Fred, dj5di...


There are many joyful sights to see whilst sailing - skies, seas and pretty ladies. Here are two particularly pretty ones who spent the night with us - a Schooner (left) and a Brigantine, both seen riding at anchor...

We saw the schooner under sail - she appeared to have a gaff-rigged sail on her foremast and a Bermudan on her main (although it may have been a gaff main with a tops'l). I would love to have seen her flying jibs and stays'l.

A horribly early start from Alderney saw us back at the entrance to Langstone Harbour in the early evening - from where we could see the Portsmouth skyline to the West, with the conspicuous Spinnaker Tower...

All in all, a great (191 Nm) trip (thanks Neil) and great fun operating /mm - I'll certainly be doing more of that.

...-.- de m0xpd