#ThreeTenners IOW visit

I have just hosted a weeks visit from my two brothers - Rob and Mike. So the Three Tenner's were reunited for a few days - and to coincide with my birthday. It has been a long time coming because of covid restrictions.

What did we get up to apart from beer drinking ?

Well I have written a number of Three Tenner blogs before. They have all been based around some sort of outdoor activity.

This time we had a plan to do 3 main things over the week. They were cycling, fishing and sailing.

The first - cycling. Over the years I have completed the IOW Randonee many times - either on the official Randonee day or following the signposted route under our own steam at other times. My brothers have never had the chance to do it - and fancied it. So this is what we did on my birthday - we cycled the 100k - the 60 + hilly miles. Mike and I did the John o' Groats to Lands End over 3 weeks last September but I don't think Mike had been on a bike much since. Rob hasn't done much either but he did come over with his super light hi tec racing bike. Anyway we did it - not bad for 3 bruvs with a total age of 193! We had a good run - some drizzle but we got around in 8 hours or so and had a laugh doing it. I am always proud to show off the Island and the randonee route is perfect for that. Talk about perfect - as we approached Ryde it was obvious we had earned a beer in the full knowledge it is was a flat ride back to Seaview thereafter. The sun came out. We headed for the Solent Inn. We had a perfect seats in the beer garden - the bar maid was a laugh - the other customers were intrigued it seemed - particularly by brother Rob's lycra get up. His short shorts looked tight lol! The piece de resistance was the beer. 3 pints of the most perfect real ale - from a new barrel of Timothy Taylor. They went down well! When we got home the twins were there and we had a massive Indian takeaway. Not a bad day at all!

On the fishing - well there was a big build up to this! Two things ! First - no this was not a competition - lol. Second - we each wanted to win ha! My fishing boat is called Iggle Piggle. She is a 16 ft open fishing boat - with three bench seats and an outboard - an Orkney Longliner. I keep her on a mooring off Seaview from end of May until late September. I fish in the eastern Solent - and don't go very far. I only catch fish to eat and put everything else back.

We had two sessions - an afternoon following my bruvs arrival on the Tuesday - and all day on Thursday.

Now I am definitely not claiming to be an expert fisherman - far from it but over the years I have come to these conclusions about fishing. The main ones is there is over hype about fishing tackle and particularly end tackle. My brothers turned up with an assortment of rigs - paternosters - various combinations of hooks, beads, swivels, sliders and weights. Which to use? My approach when bottom fishing is always the same - a weight - a bead - a swivel - a hook length - a hook to reflect the size of fish expecting to catch. Everything else in my view leads to complications and bother especially as complicated rigs usually means more weed problems. The key I think is always the freshest best bait possible. I dug lugworm for us on Tuesday morning and to be safe I ordered some live ragworm. Thereafter it is to get your hook in the water - tight lines and concentrate on your rod tip! I think back to my dear late dad. He didn't get as much opportunity to fish as he would have liked - but he loved reading about it and bought all sorts of tackle, specialists rods and reels in anticipation. But when he went fishing he was always faced with the same dilemma - how to set up - what system to use? If he didn't start catching - he must be using the wrong system - so hook out of the water - change the system etc etc. My view with bottom sea fishing is if the fish are there - my lovely fresh bait will attract them. If they are not there - then no end of systems will make much difference - ha!

One thing that did surprise me - we were heading back to the mooring on Tuesday and Rob put on a flashy Bass lure. We were keen to get in so I was giving the engine a bit of throttle. I was sure we were going too fast to catch and apologised to Rob. Low and behold - Rob lands a nice Bass. A lesson learned about trolling speed as we were going in the direction of the tide rather than across it.

Thursday was a fun fishing day too although the weather was not quite so nice. Mike hadn't caught and we of course we hadn't mentioned it! And then a hit and a nice bass. Mike as usual is understated - but a big smile! It was a laugh the three of us in a small boat for the day. Casting - tangles - crossed lines - banter - accusations of poaching - excitement - not to mention peeing in a bucket. We caught a few. Photos below!

One other issue. On the way back on Thursday I had an engine breakdown. It came as a suprise as the engine had been running like a dream. Several attempts to restart were not successful but rowing to mooring was thankfully possible. Mike - the young gun did the lions share. Rob and Mike are both mechanically minded and they went through normal causes - spark, fuel etc. Eventually it turned out to be plug failure under compression. It was a great relief that it was something relatively simple and harmless. Have you seen the price of outboard engines?

That leaves the sailing. I have mentioned before I have a Seal 22 called Gold Crest which I keep on a pontoon in Ryde Harbour. Ryde Harbour dries out and access in and out is therefore determined by tide times. Tides were not ideal on this day but we were set for a day's sailing with a good breeze which is exactly what happened. It was good to be out with my brothers especially as our late dad had a hand in building Gold Crest all those years ago. We went up to Cowes - criss crossed the Solent and eventually ran down to close to Chichester entrance. I cooked bacon sarnies and we had plenty to eat. Rob had a go at handline fishing but alas a bit to early for mackerel. We had plenty of time to chat and dream and talked a lot about boats of course. Mike is seriously thinking about getting a much more substantial boat to sail around the UK in. I am trying to convince Rob he should buy a narrowboat for the UK canal network! Both would be great for the Three Tenners!

Coming back in was slow progress - we were down tide and beating. The wind had picked up and cloud had built. Not great planning! However we get off Ryde sands - and the advantage of little Gold Crest comes to the fore. Wind up the lifting keel all the way and she only draws 2 feet. Raise the lifting rudder plate and we go in while other boats have to wait.

We get home by 8.15 pm. Quick showers and back for a covid Saturday night in the pub with burgers.

My bruvs went back on Sunday morning. A priceless few days. Brilliant to do. All three of us knew it was special. All 3 of us are optimists but realise we cannot take anything for granted. Simple pleasures are usually best. Cheers bruvs. To the next time xxx

Some snaps from the mob phone :