Watch out for sunbathers..

Camera on the phone is rubbish and mine didn't come out, so I "borrowed" this from the Conservancy page...  😉

Another one of those glorious days in the harbour that have been a little infrequent of late due to a succession of weather fronts coming through that have delivered day after day of atomic winds, with rain on occasion, and I "don't do that" on my little boat.. 😀

Anyway with a HT at 14:29 and a Neap'ish 4.32m tide, I figured if I could get on the boat by 11:00, I should be OK to get away shortly after... was on the boat at quarter past and the depth was showing 0 mtr's (which with keel offset I've set, means there was about 10 cm's under the keels) but within 15 minutes I had half a metre, so dropped the mooring and headed for the ditch..

Interesting wind direction, almost, but almost, dead west (it was actually just south of it, but it veered 5 or 10' all of the trip between more southerly and more westerly) so turned into wind just after Northney to put the sails up (I would have dine it by the bridge but for the aforesaid lack of water) and then bore away on a very broad reach for the main harbour.

Wonder of wonders, the direction was so good I went hurtling past Marker (with a quick check of the seal colony sunbathing on the mud at the side of the channel) on a single tack and at that point I really did think the Solent was an option, well Eastoke anyway, but a fluctuating wind, and a lot of water flowing made progress down harbour slower than it might have been and after passing Fishery I knew that was it, as I'd need to be back on the mooring by 15:00 latest to meet some family commitments..

Saw a 5.4 on the speed (tide assist 'natch 😏) as I turned but then had a quick very broad reach/run back to the top of the harbour before bearing up for Northney on to a beat...  dropped the sails just about where I raised them and was back on the mooring by half 2. 

Fantastic day out..

Log:

Distance: 9.28 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): Both ends of a F3 / WSW (but veering W and S of this)
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots):  5.3 / 2.8