Sniffing the Solent

Quick and dirty, but oh so satisfying...   and the sailing wasn't too shabby either..   😁

Early'ish tide, but the weather was extraordinarily good, and we had another interesting wind direction forecast..  prevailing round here is supposed to be SW'ly (straight off the Atlantic) but it's been an "interesting" year so far as the prevailing winds have been all but 'prevailing'..  so it was today with a Westerly for a change..

We're heading into Springs, so a large'ish HT at 10:30 would allow for some sailing until well after lunchtime without having to abandon my Sunday lie in too early..

Arrived at the boat 9'ish, and had dropped the mooring by 09:30, for an absolutely idyllic run down the ditch under genoa only, NW'ly very quickly went Westerly, so turned and hoisted the main just shy of Sweare Deep, before bearing off for a close reach to the bottom of the harbour..  the wind continued to vary very slightly north and south of West, allowing a very quick passage to HISC, which I passed, and then set course for West Winner (the partner to Eastoke)..

As the wind gusts increased I took her off auto pilot to hand steer as she was luffing heavily, so I decided to gybe at West Winner and head for home..

Nice reach/close haul to the top of the harbour in the sun with increasing wind, riding the lifts to get past Marker on one tack, before dropping sails at Swear Deep and motoring back to the mooring.. 3 hours of utter delight...

Log:

Distance: 9.85 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): W; both ends of a F4
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.3 / 3.1