Cruising the Solent: ‘This was my first time in Buckler’s Hard – and it certainly won’t be the last’

Yorkshireman Ian Furby enjoys a magical week-long cruise around the Solent, including its most eccentric annual event

Fellow boaters, my name is Ian Furby and I’ve shared a couple of experiences in MBY recently. If you’ve not read them, we live in “The North”, in the beautiful former fishing village of Runswick Bay, 7nm north of Whitby in God’s own county of Yorkshire.

We beach launch from Runswick and so are a little restricted to the size of boat we can comfortably handle; our current craft is a Nordkapp Enduro 605 with a Mercury 150 Pro Xs slung on the back. I am particularly bad at naming boats, so she’s called Six 0 Five and no it wasn’t because I’m a tight Yorkshireman and didn’t have to write her name on the boat.

It’s often said that it’s “grim up north” – well it ain’t, but our season is somewhat shorter than in other areas of the UK’s amazing coastline. Sometimes we only get eight weeks in each season. That said, we had an amazing August, with flat conditions most days and several sightings of minke whales and bottle nosed dolphins. Some lucky individuals even spotted a couple of humpbacks and a basking shark in the area.

I’m at a fortunate stage of my life when I’ve a little more time and freedom to go boating so when I acquired Six 0 Five I also invested in a quality road trailer, a stainless steel Vanclaes. The plan was to extend our boating season by towing her to where the sea state allows us to start a little earlier and finish a little later.

Recommended videos for you

Having kicked off our season early in May this year by dragging Six 0 Five the 300-odd miles to Oban, enjoying four amazing days round the Western Isles, I thought I’d finish it by going t’other way and dragging her ‘down south’.

The Southampton Boat Show has become a bit of an annual pilgrimage; we usually go for a couple of days to chew the cud and kick a few fenders, perhaps have a beer or two. It’s normally a lads’ trip but this year I thought I’d make it a boaty trip and invite my bestie, first mate and wife, Sheddy.

After doing a bit of research, I got a berth booked at Town Quay Marina, which has a slip and somewhere to leave your car and trailer. And it’s next to the show. Perfect.

The plan was for a five-day trip setting off Monday morning, returning on the Friday, having a couple of days at the show, and boating in between.

Cruising the Solent: Beautiful Beaulieu

The Monday came and fortunately we were blessed with some amazing weather; a high pressure system had settled over the UK with the mercury set in the mid-20s and blue bird days. The only fly in the ointment was a stiff northeasterly breeze.

The road trip went well, and five or so hours after leaving Yorkshire we were on the slip making ready to launch. The Marina Office had warned me that you can’t launch at low water, so we’d timed our arrival for mid tide. The launch went well and by mid-afternoon we were heading out on Southampton Water bound for Buckler’s Hard in the Beaulieu River.

After the relative emptiness of Yorkshire waters, the vast array of waterborne traffic in this part of the world never fails to amaze me; in a small boat like ours the meaty wakes of the ferries, cruise liners and commercial vessels demand serious respect.

Anyway, it was a beautiful afternoon, the wind wasn’t causing much of an issue and before long we were entering the mouth of the Beaulieu, dropping down to 6 knots for the long cruise upstream. We hailed Buckler’s Hard Yacht Harbour on the VHF, who kindly let us tie up for a couple of hours at no charge.

Now, this was my first time in Buckler’s Hard, and it won’t be the last; sat in the beer garden in the heart of the New Forest, in full view of a magnificent oak tree with the river sparkling away behind it while enjoying a selection of fine nibbles and a pint, it was my idea of heaven.

Before long, it was time to leave. Retracing our track, we were soon tied up in Town Quay in time to collect our luggage from the car and head for the hotel. We were booked to eat at Kutis Indian restaurant that evening, the place just puts a smile on my face; sat on the pier, it’s like a mini-Taj Mahal but covered in tacky, brightly coloured neon lights. The food’s good too and after a long day in the car and boat, it really hit the mark.

Article continues below…

Cruising Brittany: We cruised to seven ports in seven days

Fowey: The cruising destination that never disappoints

Taking to the stage

A day at the show and a big one for me. One of my previous adventures was circumnavigating the UK in my previous boat, an 18ft Nordkapp, in just 11 days. Editor Hugo ran the story as a series in MBY a couple of years ago and suggested to the show’s organisers that I might do a presentation. I’m not a natural speaker but I like a challenge. I can’t vouch for how it went but no one threw any eggs or heckled me so I’ll take that!

The rest of the day was spent pawing boats and gin and tonics, interspersed with Sheddy constantly telling me, “We don’t need another boat,” so she’s not allowed to come again!

On the plus side, Sheddy had booked dinner at Porters Wine & Charcuterie, which turned out to be another top choice. Perhaps I’ll forgive her after all.

Lunch at the hut

Today had always been a bit of a punt as our ultimate aim was a late, long lunch at The Hut on the Isle of Wight. News of its fame as the ultimate Solent boating restaurant had even reached Oop North so I was keen to see if it lived up to its stellar reputation.

Its popularity means you can’t just rock up and expect to get a table so I’d booked it a month before and still only managed to get the last available table from 3pm to 7pm. However, the northeasterly was a worry as I thought we could be pretty exposed mid-Solent.

The plan was to fire over to Cowes for a potter and a coffee then head west to the Needles, going round the back to Freshwater Bay for a swim, which I hoped would be in the lee, before making our way back to The Hut.

The passage down Southampton Water was fine but mid Solent things did get very lumpy. We made it to Cowes and tied up on the short stay pontoons on Fountain Pier just behind where the Red Funnel ferry tips in.

Thinking it was going to be a fight to get to the restaurant, we sacked off the planned trip to the Needles and went for a leisurely wander round the busy cobbled streets instead. It’s a lovely little town with an incredibly laid back vibe and after a very enjoyable amble we ended up at The Mermaid Garden on the waterfront, where we passed a pleasant hour soaking up the sun, before making our way back to the boat.

Conscious of the potential sea state slowing our progress, we left in good time. However, this time the wind and tide were with us so we hugged the island, steaming west on surprisingly flat water at 30 knots and less than 4,000rpm. In no time at all, the Hut was on our port side.

Finding that we were well over an hour early, we switched back to our original plan and headed to the Needles. We’ve both seen them before but never together, so we pottered around this iconic landmark and took the obligatory photo with the lighthouse behind us before heading round to Freshwater Bay.

Now in my head, I thought it would be flat round the back. It wasn’t. It was massive – a turn round and retreat before you turn this puppy over kind of big. Not being a complete idiot, I did exactly that.

Back in the lee, we got well inshore and ambled up the coast to kill time before dropping in to Alum Bay. What a fantastic place – the first beach I’ve seen with a ski chair lift behind it – and the colours of the sand in the cliff are truly stunning too.

Heading on and a little further up the coast, we caught sight of a wreck on the shore. Moving in for a closer look it soon became obvious that someone had had a very bad day. “You can’t park that here, mate,” sprung to mind. We later learnt it had been there for some time, the skipper allegedly ‘mooring’ her there after leaving The Hut. Note to self, go easy on the wine list!

We still arrived at The Hut early, anchoring off and being collected by the restaurant’s tender as instructed. We sat in the bar and had a pleasant drink while our table was made ready.

We couldn’t have picked a better day: fantastic food, amazing weather and fabulous views. If you’ve never been then go, but book well in advance.

Our slot ended all too soon. Reluctantly, we made our way back to Southampton with the sun setting behind us. Back at Town Quay, we just sat on the boat, kicked back to the sound of tapping halyards and took in the last of the sunset in the unbelievably balmy evening heat. There may have been a bottle of wine in the fridge too.

Hamble happy hour

Another show day and an exciting one. We had a couple of mates coming down on a mission to buy a boat. I always find it exciting buying boats, whether it’s for me or a mate.

Having spent a lot of time pawing over the new Sting 580 with Henry Turner of Wills Marine, Kingsbridge, who also happened to sell me my Nordkapp, we went off to look at alternatives. We did our best to find a better boat at a better price but a couple of hours later we were back with Henry shaking hands on a deal for the Sting 580. Well, that was easy.

Feeling more than a little pleased with ourselves, we took ourselves off to The Shipyard stage/bar area, for a celebratory drink but as the afternoon wore on, I started to get twitchy. We had a boat in the water five minutes away and it would be a shame not to take her out.

As the northeasterlies had lifted to 25 gusting 35, I figured we’d hug Southampton Water’s northern shore and head up the Hamble River, to The Bugle pub. What a wonderful olde worlde place this is with its open fires, uneven wooden floors and ancient beams. It’s probably been the same for hundreds of years and it was easy to imagine swashbuckling mariners of old frequenting the place.

After a couple of very enjoyable beers and with dusk setting in, it was time to head back. We don’t do a lot of night steaming at home but when we do there’s not much to see. Here, in a busy commercial seaway, the vast array of navigation lights and buoyage markers twinkling away in different colours proved almost hypnotic but we made it back safely, in time for another visit to Kutis.

Bramble Bank cricket

The initial plan, weather permitting, was to go boating first thing in the morning, then recover the boat around lunchtime once there was enough water on the slip. However, Sheddy and I had already sacked off this idea midweek, hoping for a lie in before recovering the boat and heading home.

But we learned something else at the show the previous day. Apparently, there’s a very English and very eccentric cricket match that takes place every year on Brambles Bank, the infamous shipping hazard in the middle of the Solent that emerges for a couple of hours at dead low spring tide.

The match is played between The Island Sailing Club and The Royal Southampton Yacht Club and not only was it happening today, at 6am, but it also happened to be the 40th anniversary of the match.

This was a once in a lifetime experience that couldn’t be missed so at 0530, we slipped lines in the dark and made for a mark on my plotter in the middle of the Solent. We honestly didn’t know if we’d got the right pace and it wasn’t until we were a few hundred yards off that we began to see boats and nav lights gathered in the gloom.

Everyone was beached, nose in and anchored on the southern bank of Brambles. We touched the bank bang on 0600 as a very pleasant volunteer took and set our anchor. Low water wasn’t for another 40 mins, so all was safe. I simply couldn’t believe how many boats and people had gathered for the event; some revellers we spoke to hadn’t even been to bed yet. There were two RLNI boat crews on hand and a group handing out shots of rum as the game commenced.

I’m still not actually sure it all wasn’t a dream, such bonkers fun, and I’ve no idea who won but an hour or so later, the game finished, the tide started to reclaim the bank and we hurried back aboard and headed to Cowes for a marvellous full English at Comi Coffee, next to the Red Funnel terminal.

By 0900 we were back at Town Quay for a couple of hours’ kip in the hotel while we waited for enough water to recover Six 0 Five. Boat duly recovered, we were heading north by 1300, regretting the fact that it was Friday afternoon with 7.5 hours of traffic dodging after a busy week of boating. Looking back though, it had been a magical few days, full of fun adventures, fine food, old friends and new experiences.

Yorkshire may be God’s own county but the Solent lives up to its reputation as the boating capital of the country.

---

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

---