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| ..."equinoctial"... |
...this had all the hallmarks of being a classic season up until about 6 weeks ago, and then all of a sudden it just went to rat-sh*t weather'wise.. it was almost like someone flicked a switch, and from sunny and breezy, it went to grey and windy, with rain... I'm kind of used to a hiatus about this time of the season - when I look at my old logs I've usually had a two or three week break by the time the Southampton Boat Show comes round - usually because of tides/holidays, but this time it was five weeks, and reasons were tides/weather/health (I had man-flu one weekend
)So it is that I find myself two weeks away from the mast drop weekend with not enough miles for my liking in the log, where up to the end of August it was looking to be a bumper year... OK so it's not just about the miles, or a tick on a list, but lack of miles also means lack of boat time and that's far more important.... with what looked like a weather window on Thursday afternoon a decision was made to take the opportunity.. glad I did in the end!
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| East Head... errrr... a-head |
Neap tide, 18:15 HT, but I figured I should be able to get away 3 hours before - as it turned out, because it was neaps she was already afloat when I got down at 1400, and I eventually dropped the mooring and was away by 1430 - gob smacking... almost four fours before HT!
Wind built and generally settled down to a south westerly - no more than two other boats in the harbour - had a cracking tack to Marker (did it in one!) and then laid a course for the bottom of the harbour - nothing particular in plan other than a niggly idea I'd head out of the harbour for one of the two nav marks in the Solent...
Good seal spotting day for sure - low'ish tide meant lots of sightings....
In the end the wind ooched round a bit making a trip out of the harbour more of a slog than I was willing to commit to (it would have been on the nose basically so short tacking or put the engine on) and in the end I settled for bearing away for East Head, a cruise along the beach, and then turning for home - besides I was getting cold..
Lovely sail - good to blow the cob webs out...
Log:
Distance: 10.47 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind: Top end F3 gusting F4 but dropping; SW going SSW
Sail Plan: Full main and most of the genoa
Speed: 5.1 max / 3.1 average
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