Really, really, the last sail of the season..

...well...  on AmiLy anyway..

....in the midst of what seems like named and unnamed storms ("Amy" has been and gone, but most of them have been yellow weather warnings so unnamed) the Jolly Boys had spotted a keyhole window of opportunity..  one single day in a sea of hideousness...  so we grabbed it with open arms - but regrettably, only two of us made this one as one of the team was on holiday, and one was otherwise unavoidably detained..

So it was that just Rodders and I cast off from Whale Island at about half ten, on what seemed like an unfeasibly large and empty AmiLy, about an hour or so after HT. If the forecast was to be believed we'd have a day of sunshine and F3 southerly's, and bugger me if it didn't go and deliver that (again!). That's the second time the forecast has been right which must be something of a record..

With as much water as we had we exited the harbour accompanied by paddle ship Waverley - we took the inner swashway, she didn't.. 😏

...coffee and pain au raisins in the surprisingly warm sun while we considered our options for a day sail, but with the wind occasionally light, and very southerly, we soon ruled out Hamble/Itchen (we'd have a long beat to get out of the rivers for the return trip), Beaulieu (nowhere really we wanted to go and eat at), and Newtown Creek (no food on board), and so it was that (again.. 😏) we wended our merry way to Cowes.. we're not pushing the boundaries but we really do like the Lifeboat for food, and East Cowes Marina is 'nice people' (hope it remains that way now that Boatfolk have been bought out by Premier) and easy boat parking as well ..

.."easy boat parking"..

Cracking sail over, just enough wind to pull us along nicely aided by the west going travelator tide. We hugged the north shore to allow full effect of those southerly's blowing over the island.. and we were also treated to a flight of four Spitfires overhead, coming into Daedalus for an airshow - what a sound and sight...  four Merlin's! 😀

Another excellent lunch, a snooze, and it was time to head for home - the east going tide was kicking off at about 15:30, and with dead low water at 16:00 in Portsmouth a departure then would coincide with about a couple of hours of water at the home end, which is just about the minimum/required depth...

The sun shone all the way until right at the end when ominous haze began to develop over the Isle of Wight, and it got cold..  amazing sky though..

...and then just as we were coming into Pompey, we had another fly past - but not Spitfires this time, it was an honest to goodness Catalina - never ever seen one before, what a treat - was too busy to get my own shot so this is courtesy of the named photographer who had taken the shot at the airshow..

Picture courtesy John Pace

Fantastic day out, but that really is it for AmiLy - we took the main and stack pack off on the pontoon, and she comes out of the water next weekend..  what an amazing season it's been, and what a brilliant sail to end on..

Log:

Distance: 21.93* (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  F3 going F4; SSE going SWxS
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 8.2 / 2.7

* bit more than that to be fair, as the GPS was playing up at the start of the track and didn't start recording until we were off Browndown

Spicy tack-o's

So close to not going as it was tipping down at the time to leave the house but I was keen to get out in what are now turning to autumnal days - and with the lift out only weeks away..

Huge tide today of 5mtrs at 13:30 and my goodness it showed..  it was also (despite my heartfelt wishes) a dead southerly so I was already set on the trip just being a 'sail back and forth' kind of a day - and with a F4 gusting showing on the forecast I chose to leave the reefs in the main from the last sail - good job as it turned out..

Either way - showers out of the way I was on the boat at about 12'ish..  engine warmed, sails made ready and I cast off to head for the ditch..  it was a bit "spicy" wind-wise in the mooring pool, so I chose to head down the ditch on just motor, eventually putting the main up off the entrance to Northney marina.. 

Motor sailed to Sweare Deep before rolling out about 2/3's of the genoa and switching the engine off for the first of what turned out to be 28 tacks...  yeah, I gave up on the idea of just sailing back and forth and went for Marker - which was dead upwind, and with a 3 knot tide against... as I went round the NE corner of Hayling, we started getting gusts and in the end the whole trip turned out to be F4 gust F5

I've said it before but tacking against a 3 knot adverse tide can be either humiliating, or hilarious, depending on your mood, but check these...   with wind sometimes veering 4 or 5 degrees, and the tide, on at least two occasions, probably more I ended back where I'd started! 😂

No tide lasts for ever though, and an hour or so later and it was slacking and as you can see in the track the angles started getting better..  roared past Marker, tacked and bore away for home for a lovely goose wing run home..

Fantastic sail despite my initial forebodings, and just goes to show that sometimes you just have to say "f*ck it", and go.. 😏

Log:

Distance: 8.56 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 gusting F5 ; S going SxE
Sail Plan: Reefed main / reefed genoa (75% and 66%)
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.4 / 2.6

Tall Ships kind of a day..

The end of the season is fast approaching and the Jolly Boys are extremely aware that we're about to enter the six month fast, the desert of no sailing, light, or sunshine - so an opportunity with a not quite quorum was grabbed (Dave was otherwise occupied at Duxford) as it could quite possibly be the last sail of the year on AmiLy (bar the delivery for lift out which Rodders already has booked at the end of the month). 

No news yet on Sparrow's lift, though I have already received two duties for the lift out week in the first week of October so I know it's not far away

Anyway - we've had weeks of wind in the aftermath of Hurricane Erin - she is now well gone but the "aftershocks" seem to have lasted for weeks...  it's been day after day of F5's and 6's, including a memorable day last week of F8's gusting 9, so the opportunity for a day out on the water was grabbed with all hands - and it turned out to be a keyhole as the wind was back the next day...

Anyway - convened at Rods gaff at 9, and we were on the boat with sails ready, engine warming, and mooring lines singled up by quarter past 10 - HT was approximately 10:45 so we were looking to take advantage of the west going tide..

Initial concerns focussed round the lack of wind - it was forecast F3 but there was precious little about as we motor sailed past SHABAB OMAN II, moored alongside in the dockyard  the first of two tall ships to be seen that day..

...all the signs were that there wasn't much wind about as we passed through the harbour entrance...

...when bugger me if not half an hour later it filled in. 

NW'ly as promised, and we then had a most excellent beat all the way to Cowes - how nice for it to be (not quite) on the nose as it normally is - and a healthy F3 gusting occasional F4 saw us turning in a solid stream of 5's SOG before we dropped the main off Cowes at 1'ish for lunch at the Lifeboat (it couldn't not be really, given this was likely to be the last time we got there until next year)

Quite possibly the finest burger in Christendom - the "Greek One" at the Lifeboat in Cowes..  11/10...

A quick nap after lunch, and we were back on the water at about half three, heading home in time for the change of tide - the main was raised just after we passed this beauty (built in 1869) - our second tall ship of the day..

TS Belem - not my photo unfortunately

..and we were then on our way - the wind had switched while we were eating and for the trip home it was a (slightly stronger) SW'ly that saw us turning in tidal assisted 6's SOG almost all the way home, and that was after we rolled the genoa away as being no more than an irritation behind the main....

Back on the pontoon at about half 6*, we had to agree that it was one of the best sails we've had this year - almost wall to wall sunshine and a decent breeze all day..  fantastic..

*slight delay as we were waiting for this understated number to depart, but they took so long that "bugger it" quoth we, and snuck in while they were sorting out.. 😏

Virgin Cruises "Scarlet Lady" - which allowed Rod the final snigger "it's not every day you see a scarlet ladies arse"... 😁

.."a scarlet ladies arse"..

Going to SO miss these Solent trips over the next few months.. 😕

References: 

• SHABAB OMAN II - Sail Training International
• BELEM - Sail Training International

Log:

Distance: 28.26 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F3 AM going F4 PM ; WNW AM going SW PM
Sail Plan: Full main / full & no genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 6.8 / 2.9