I'm hoping to get the mast down on Sunday weather permitting (we have a warm dry spell this weekend but it's a little blowier than I might like so time will tell) but with a few days still left in the holiday bank, and a decent forecast, I took the afternoon off for one of those crafty afternoon sails that so often have delivered the goods - my thinking was that if it was rubbish I could always start taking the rig apart ready for Sunday...
As it turned out a biggish tide, sun, and a steady force four resulted in some reefs in the main for the first time in a while, and then a cracking sail down to HISC, and I even poked my nose into the Solent before turning for home.. always a pleasure when you can get on a single tack to take you to the bottom of the harbour - I had an hour/45 minutes where the wind was slightly more west than it was the rest of the afternoon which definitely helped...
Big tides though ==>
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| ..look at that rooster tail.... and this was almost HT... |
...and even so, with tides against and a mucky bottom, still tracking up wind at 3 knots... go on girl... 
...and so it was found ourselves passing HISC and thinking "we might be able to make the nav marks in the Solent", and we almost did, if it wasn't for the fact that it would be dark in a few hours I'd have gone for it as it was I had an absolutely beautiful view of the IoW in the haze and sunshine, but then tacked and turned at Eastoke for the elevator ride back into the harbour on the last of the tide.. 6.5+ SOG..
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| HISC... where bad boys are sent for wanting to ... hssssss... race... |
Back on the mooring I stripped the boom sail kicker and detached the topping lift - that's now in the garage for the winter... on Sunday just the boom crutch and A frame to rig, and take the genoa off...
Log:
Distance: 10.13 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind: F4 gusting F5; either side of SWxW
Sail Plan: Reefed main/genoa.
Speed: 5.7/3.1
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