Neap tides this weekend, just 3.5m of tide, and they were early as well, 09:45, but the needs must so I got down to the boat at about 8'ish (I'd planned earlier but a lay in finished off that idea!) and headed down the channel for a few hours mucking about...
With only a few hours either side of HT to play with, the south westerly wasn't the best option for either direction, but as the sun had come out I decided to go for a "drift" down to Emsworth.. I have a particular fondness for this trip as it invariably requires some technical tacking to get back to the top of the Emsworth channel..
I love the challenge of finding the gaps between the moored boats to allow the use of the full width of the channel whilst also taking account of the tide... this trip was no different... decent breeze, slackening tide, Sparrow was going well, plenty of boats to look at (there are some crackers)... tacking angles were good, some improvements would make the transitions better - the new genoa sheets are matt finish, normal finish would allow them to run faster; Arun have fitted their tradition leach line fitting on the genoa which (in the same way as the last sail!) sometimes catches on the baby stays stopping the sail from shifting across.. bloody irritating, think I'll remove the fitting on this sail as well....
Sparrow was going so well in fact that with just an hour still to go I went on and tacked up to Marker to the south... superb... turned and ran for home and only put the engine on when I got to Northney....
What a cracking morning... came home a with a smile as wide as a bus...
Log:
Distance: 8.1 miles (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: Force 3 gusting low end force 4; SSW going round WWS.
Sail Plan: Full main and a few rolls out of the genoa to help with fast(er) tacking - engine to manoeuvre...
Speed: GPS track says the max speed was 4.9 knots (which would have been under motor) - average speed 2.9 knots...
With only a few hours either side of HT to play with, the south westerly wasn't the best option for either direction, but as the sun had come out I decided to go for a "drift" down to Emsworth.. I have a particular fondness for this trip as it invariably requires some technical tacking to get back to the top of the Emsworth channel..
I love the challenge of finding the gaps between the moored boats to allow the use of the full width of the channel whilst also taking account of the tide... this trip was no different... decent breeze, slackening tide, Sparrow was going well, plenty of boats to look at (there are some crackers)... tacking angles were good, some improvements would make the transitions better - the new genoa sheets are matt finish, normal finish would allow them to run faster; Arun have fitted their tradition leach line fitting on the genoa which (in the same way as the last sail!) sometimes catches on the baby stays stopping the sail from shifting across.. bloody irritating, think I'll remove the fitting on this sail as well....
Sparrow was going so well in fact that with just an hour still to go I went on and tacked up to Marker to the south... superb... turned and ran for home and only put the engine on when I got to Northney....
What a cracking morning... came home a with a smile as wide as a bus...
Log:
Distance: 8.1 miles (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: Force 3 gusting low end force 4; SSW going round WWS.
Sail Plan: Full main and a few rolls out of the genoa to help with fast(er) tacking - engine to manoeuvre...
Speed: GPS track says the max speed was 4.9 knots (which would have been under motor) - average speed 2.9 knots...
I wondered if that was you we saw at Marker - I was in the sculling boat. An early start is always a bit painful but on this occasion it meant we got the best of the day - by the time we got back to Langstone it was clouding over and became very dreary. Spent the rest of the day sitting on the sofa reading the paper.
ReplyDeleteChris - think I saw you - smaller boat with two rowers and a cox? You're right... started to rain just after I got ashore - good timing on both our parts, I'd say...
DeleteGood to see some sailing videos. I hope the heat waves in the UK and Europe don't mean too many windless days - nothing like a hard thrash to windward in a decent wind to help me keep life in perspective (don't ask me how that works, it just B.... does).
ReplyDeleteCheers Alden... she is still afloat by the way in case you're wondering why no updates in the log recently.. holidays abroad have impinged on sailing time - hope to get out later this week....
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