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

Seals!

Fantastic morning out with the family this week with Chichester Harbour water Tours [clicky] on one of their seal watching trips..

I've seen the seals many times on my various ambles round the harbour, but this is without a doubt the closest I've been to them..

..but not too close - most impressed with the instructions from the boat skipper on the day to 'keep it quiet', 'don't move too fast', but most of all to 'enjoy the views of these Grey (they have the longer noses) and Harbour seals'..

..most impressive herd (??).. colony..  I counted 36+ minimum, all sizes, and some still out swimming..

..they pull themselves out on to the sandbanks along the edge of Thorney on low tides - apparently to digest the 7-15 kilos of fish a day they eat - they hunt on the high tides..

Very much recommended..  and fascinating to go further into Oar Rythe than I've been before - skipper reckoned he had a metre or two under the keel at dead low water...

Log:

Distance: 10.9 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  n/a
Sail Plan: n/a
Speed (Max/average in knots): 8 / 6.5

Marker to Emsworth..

Another 'hard work' one...

13:37 HT and wall to wall sunshine so despite the fact it was a Sunday (mistake #1) I decided to go for a sail..  forecast was for both ends of a F4 and as it turned out that was upper half of a 4 to top 4, so some reefs were the first order of the day when I got on board. Having made a dogs dinner of that (she was lying to tide rather than wind so it was awkward indeed) I dropped the mooring and made off down the ditch..

Forecast was also for a SE'ly (mistake #2) and coupled with a big tide (4.7 mtrs) it was always going to be hard work...

Needs must though so engine refuelled, we cast off for an adventure - I ended up motor sailing all the way to Marker - with the wind and tide dead on the nose most of the way - when just before Marker I hit a solid wall of Opi's coming up harbour on a dead run - very exciting playing dodge the Opi for a while

Optimists...!  'fasands of them...! (said in your best Colour Sergeant Bourne/Nigel Green voice)

Once past Marker though, I could see that the bottom of the harbour was wall to wall dinghy's and a long motor sail away - so "sod it" quoth I, turned, gybed, and for a change headed off up the Emsworth Channel to Emsworth...

Fairly rare sight at the top of the harbour - wing foiler..

Lots and lots of boats about, moving and on moorings, and with a couple of boats up my chuff waiting to go through (probably to the marina) I exercised a little due caution, turned, tacked and headed back for home..

It was good to be out on the water, but I crave something with a little less 'south' in the next wind, please... 😁

Notes:

• 3.5 litres fuel added

Log:

Distance: 7.94 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  Mid to top F4 ; SSE
Sail Plan: Reefed main and 75% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots):  4.6 / 2.8

Laying in Lymington...

The Jolly Boys have been on their first overnighter this season...  and very definitely the best sail we've had this season..

Destination was Lymington which is the far end of the Solent from us, though having said that it's still only 25 miles'ish pontoon to pontoon..  in order to do trips like this, and Rod's (Captain my captain) passage plan reckoned on 6 hours, we really do need to do an overnight.

The team convened at Rod's gaff at 07:30 as the plan was to be on the boat and motoring by half 8 in order to take advantage of that near mythically good Solent travelator (tide) which was west bound from about then and good for 5 or more hours of extra oomph..

As it turns out my plot says we left at exactly that time - amazing.. 😏

Forecast was for F3 gusting 5 (really!)  and NE'ly, and all of us had looked at that, remembered all the previous crappy forecasts, made a mental note of "oh, yeah", but bugger me if it didn't deliver it exactly as described!

Hooning...  Pompey in the distance..

What a sail...  four and a half hours to Lymington blew the passage plan out of the water - we shot past Gilkicker within an hour, and were off Southampton only a short while after - we were absolutely flying! Wind wide on the beam (so the genoa was getting good exposure) and a couple of knots or more of tide with us, and we were regularly seeing 7.5 plus SOG

Just after lunch saw us tied up in Lymington Yacht Haven - booked purely because in the personal opinion of the Jolly Boys they are the nicest showers in perhaps the entire Solent - if not the world.. 😁

(On one of our previous trips, by the way, we had been stormbound in Lymington for a couple of days, and as it howled with rain, and blew like fury, most of us ended up having a half dozen or so showers over the two days just because they were so nice and we were bored.. 😂)

Dinner that evening was Indian and tasty, and trust me, we slept well..

Over breakfast the next morning we discussed the plans for the return trip...  forecast was for F3 gusting 5 again, but if we were to believe it, this time SW'ly..  if that came off it would mean we'd had a decent breeze on the quarter in both directions so despite the fact it had been right the day before, there was still a healthy amount of scepticism - the forecasts showed the wind going round 180' from NE within an hour.. 

There's some serious sausage action going on in that picture...

...and bugger me if it didn't!

In order to make the travellator though we'd have to wait, and it really is a hard hard slog going that far in the Solent with an adverse tide...

We eventually left at about half 2 in the afternoon, and even that was a little early as the tide wasn't due to turn until half 3'ish, but the berth in the Marina was needed, and we'd already moved once, so it was time to go...

First hour was indeed hard work, the wind was doing it's thing but the direction was a little more west than we would have liked, so the genoa was making hard work of it behind the main - a pole would have helped..

Tide turned just as we were coming up to Gurnard, and then we began to fly with a steady succession of 7+'s as we rocketed past Cowes..  we were on home waters now - the Spinnaker Tower clear to see

...the first of two...

More champagne sailing as the sun shone, the sea glinted, and we dodged the liners coming out of Southampton water. We rolled the genoa away and went with just the full main..

Took us an hour longer than the day before but we were still on the home pontoon by half 7'ish to end two days of the best sailing we've had in an age!

Now..  can we get another in before the end of the season???🤔

Log:

Blue out, yellow back, and either side of the Bramble Bank.. 😁

Distance: 47.04 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)

Wind (Speed; Direction): Almost perfect 😏 

• Day:1 F3 gusting F5 / NE'ly
• Day 2: F3 occasional gust of F4/F5 / WSW

Sail Plan: Full main and full genoa (on the way back, just main most of the time)
Speed (Max/average in knots):  7.7 / 4.2 (averaged over both days - actuals above..)

Hello old friend..

..been close, but it's the first time actually going round it this year.. but I jump ahead of myself..

Second trip on the boat in as many days - what's the world coming to..  either way the tides are beginning to get later now (13:58HT) but no smaller (a 4.73 Mtr tide!)

Winds forecast was F2's or 3's, with the wind was due to go SE'ly'ish, so I think it fair to say that the biggest pull for me was to get out on to the water where it was considerably cooler than ashore where we were having one of the hottest days of the year..

On the boat by just under 3.5 hours before HT, and got everything ready to go - engine warmed - we dropped the mooring just shy of 11:00.

Wind direction was poor, and I eventually pulled the main up just past Northney at around the same time I caught this little fellow - juvenile/adolescent bass

Wind was indeed on the light side and I was seeing 2 or 3 knots of adverse tide so the decision was taken to motor sail to the bottom of the harbour - the genoa wasn't working so I rolled that back again after a short experiment...

...and that was largely it for the whole of the trip down the harbour until I ducked away from a HUGE dinghy fleet at about Verner to cross the Pilsey Sands towards East Head..  where I then met another huge fleet...  I hadn't realised that its Fed Cup week in the harbour - they'll be racing every day in their hundreds...

..until I finally made the Itchenor channel and turned the engine off for a quick sail towards Camber and Bosham and then turning back to round Snowhill ("old friend") and a glorious goose wing run back up the harbour on the tail ends of the incoming tide...

...dinghy central... 

..brilliant day out, but at the same time hard work with all that engine duty.. 

Log:

Distance: 11.04 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F2 gusting F3 ; SSE
Sail Plan: Full main and 95% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.8 / 2.8

Slosh..

First sail in over three weeks! The summer went south for a few weeks, doing what it did last summer, with a solid succession of grey and windy days not conducive to sailing in (for me) anyway - we even had our first named storm (Floris) which, even though the main effects were further north, had enough sting in the tail to provide some windy conditions down here in the south..

So it was that with a Saturday clear of other interruptions, a decent tide time, a decent forecast, and the promise of a bit of warm weather I grabbed the chance...

HT was 12:47 and a massive 4.43 Spring tide, and I was on the boat by half 9, covers off, engine warmed, and dropped the mooring a full 3 hours before HT, but not before I'd also given her another quick scrub along the waterline where the weed had already started to regrow following an intermediate barnacle and weed clean just a few weeks ago...  all the indications are that this is going to be a high growth summer both for marine and vegetable life..  crappy anitfoul does nothing...

Pulled the main up in the pool, and then bore away on a nice solid westerly breeze down the dtich before deploying the rod for the first time..

Fingers crossed..

Never caught a thing except weed all day.. 😏

Mahoosive spring tide and a lot of water was sloshing about, but the westerly helped us along. and even with a couple of knots of adverse tide we were turning in 2's and 2.5's SOG - single tack to the bottom of the harbour was another bonus

Passed the seal colony..

..no they aren't logs.. them's seals...

...and headed towards the blue sky...

I was very hopeful we might even get or nose out into the Solent but with a wind of this direction and a tide this strong, by the time I got to HISC the breakwater was sheltering us from breeze, and speed dropped to less than half a knot SOG, so I baled out just shy of West Winner and rode the tide home seeing 5.8's and 5.7's over the ground..

Fantastic day out - now need to find another trip before this tide disappears!

Log:

Distance: 9.59 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): Both ends of a F4; W x S
Sail Plan: Full main and 50% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.4 / 2.6

Planes, trains and automobiles..

Well maybe not planes, but there was a Fastcat... 😏

Rodders, the erstwhile captain of the Jolly Boys, was booked to go on his holidays with his good lady wife to the isle of Wight for three nights on AmiLy, and being the kind caring and considerate crew we are, Smithy and I volunteered our services for the docking at each end - he didn't need it, but it was one less faff to worry about, so our offer was taken up. Then at some point in the interim, the skipper also came up with the idea of our taking our wives along as well, "as they never, ever, come sailing with us so they might fancy it"..  and call me gob smacked, but both of them leapt at the chance..

So it was that at 08:00 Rods trusty Land Rover arrived outside my place to pick up me and Smithy (who had already arrived) and our better halves, and take us to Whale Island for the start of the adventure. First time I've travelled in the boot of a car since my youth, and I can tell you I now know why...

HT was 14:19 and a pretty healthy 4.61m (Springs) so we were expecting a lot of water to be flowing which surprisingly wasn't as we exited the harbour four hours before high, very strange.. but with the lack of water, we took the outer Swashway, and in a fitful norther westerly breeze of roughly F3 had a lovely sail to Cowes under full main and genoa

"Follow that bugger.."

...before a leisurely motor up the Medina to show the ladies where we usually hang out, pointing out the Folly and the Lifeboat (which was the venue for todays lunch)..

East Cowes

Rod's three days were going to be in west Cowes at Shepherd's Marina so we called them up and, unlike Thursday, they told us we could moor up anywhere we wanted as they had plenty of space - yes the Fastnet boats* had all departed the day after our previous trip..  he got a lovely spot just inside the entrance but on one of the outer pontoons - so easy to get out, but sheltered from the wash from the river. We also ended up, by the by, moored behind one of the Fastnet race boats which was back far earlier than they wanted as a result of a forestay failure just off Hurst Castle..  rigger was up the mast as we arrived.. such a shame, but they said they'd be back..

Admin completed, a walk down to the Ferry saw us in East Cowes, and a walk to the Lifeboat for lunch, before we then got the bus to Ryde, and the Fastcat back to Portsmouth, and a train home..  so all in all boot, boat, ferry, bus, ferry, train... 😁

Lunch spot..

Cracking day..

* Post edit: Black Jack, who we saw leaving the harbour to practice last Thursday took line honours in the monohulls in the Fastnet race, completing in just over 2 days and 12 hours - the first multihull did it in 1 day 17 hours!

Log:

Blue = boat, yellow = bus, red = Fastcat.. 😁

Distance: 15.42 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)

Wind (Speed; Direction):  F2 gusting F3; NW
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 7.0 / 3.5

What folly.. err.. Folly..

Been a while since the Jolly Boys took to the seas one way or another, so an opportunity for the full complement to go sailing on AmiLy was grabbed with open arms..  and what a day it turned out to be..

HT Portsmouth 11:58 which meant we had fair tides all morning for a trip westwards (and where else were we going to go? 😏), forecast northerly winds starting light going stronger and then going light again, which potentially gave us a beam reach both ways, so it's fair to say expectations were high - but we've been there before, and usually been disappointed..

Either way - the team convened at Rod's place at 0900, casting looks to the sky (bit grey and gloomy) and tree tops (which showed little movement) but we had biscuits to eat and tea to drink, so bugger it..

On the boat by 0930'ish - warps singled up, covers off, engine warmed and we cast off at 10 - destination Cowes and anywhere that had space for us, as we're heading towards Cowes Week, but more specifically for the first time since 2003 the Admirals Cup is back, culminating this coming weekend with the Fastnet Race, so not only were there some glorious boats about, but there were also a very large number of them!

First boats spotted as we came out of the harbour - couldn't miss this one - the mast towered over everything else in Haslar marina - Thomas Coville's 'Sodebo' Ultim 3 trimaran - a Jules Verne round the world challenger, and here for his 3rd attempt at the Fastnet

Then the tour de force (for me) came past - this is Black Jack - one of two yachts that the pundits are putting their money on to win line honours for the mono hulls..

..and this one I'd already heard of - this is "Pyewacket" (which funnily enough was "Black Jack" in a previous incarnation) - she's owned by a grand nephew of Walt Disney (honestly) and started her life back in 2011 as the Volvo Ocean Race boat "Telefonica"..

Simply stunning - 'Black Jack' in particular disappeared off to the horizon at a rate of knots making us look like we were going backwards..

Anyway, sails all up on the trusty AmiLy, engine on tick over, a northerly breeze is always fickle when your on the north side of the Solent up against the shore, but as we came out into the central Solent , the engine went off and we had a very nice sail practically all the way to Cowes - tidal assistance is always a boon ..

Early signs were that Cowes was rammed - East Cowes Marina was full when we called even for a short stay lunchtime stopover - there were Rolex Fastnet race flags on every other boat as we went up the Medina, so a decision was taken to make for the Folly Inn - somewhere we haven't been in a couple of years. There was space on the moorings, but 26 quid for a lunch stop is rich indeed - and is mostly due to four of us needing the ferry across to the pub where the food was definitely a step up on last time, but the beer choice even poorer..  6/10

Tide was due to turn eastwards at about 15:30 / 1600'ish, and as dead low water was 17:15 in Portsmouth and we'd need at least a couple of hours to get enough water to get back on to the pontoon at home, we finally dropped the warps and headed for the Solent at about half 3..

Still a bit grey, and the wind was clearly kicking up, so we put in a couple of reefs, before deciding that they weren't actually needed, and taking them out. Solid 5.5's and 6's SOG all the way home - a cracking sail where the wind got stronger the nearer we got home, and it kept heading us, a typical offshore breeze.. we were seeing 30 knots on occasion, but I would say most of the time it was top 4 or 5 gusting a force stronger..

As suspected it was a quick passage, and not enough water on the inner pontoons so pulled in on one of the outers for a cup of tea and another biscuit before gingerly feeling our way in half an hour later - top result and one of the best sails this year, only improved by finding a top notch quality fender on the shoreline (finders keepers) as we were making our way back to the car at 8..  result!! 😁

Thinking ahead now - first overnight already booked for Lymington in August.. 👍

Log:

Distance: 28.51 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F3 ending F6; NxE going NNE
Sail Plan: Full and reefed main / full and reefed genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 7.1 / 4.1

Sublime to the ridiculous..

...but ain't that sailing?! 😏  Second time out in three days and the weather and wind looked like almost a carbon copy of Fridays awesome jaunt. Suffice to say expectations were high... idiot boy..

HT 14:27 and a bigger tide as they continue to get Spring'ish - an extra quarter of a metre of water sloshing around than had been the case on Friday. The wind was also clearly stronger, but I decided to go with the forecast and leave the reefs out. Either way on the boat by 11, fresh fuel added to the tank, covers off engine warmed up and we dropped the mooring just after half past.

Mainsail up in the pool by the bridge, and then bore away for the ditch and Northney/Sweare Deep, motor sailing as per Friday - much much windier though, and while I was motoring head to wind I took the opportunity to put some reefs in on the main.

Motor sailed through a lot of weekend traffic to Marker and then engine off and started tacking - but it just wasn't happening - tide was so strong it was pushing me back half of every metre made, and the wind direction was going more southerly/adverse with every minute. Ten tacks and 200 or 300 yards later I gave up, bore off and lit the afterburners for some fun back and forth in Sweare Deep before heading back to the moorings..

From the sublime to the ridiculous indeed, and a valuable lesson not to assume anything when you go sailing!

Notes:

• 3 litres fresh fuel added

Log:

Distance: 9.26 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): SSE going S; F3 going F4
Sail Plan: Full and reefed main/90% and 75% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.8 / 2.7

Go East young man..

The heatwave in the UK continues - low to mid 30's - and 'any fule no' the best place to be in temperatures like that are on a boat in a sea breeze...

Problem is of course that temperatures like that tend to be accompanied by a massive high which means low/fluky winds and so it was that yesterday (the day I went) was the first day that week where there'd be a forecast of a reasonable breeze, even if it was from a most bizarre direction..

Anyway - 13:06HT and a 4.2mtr tide (Spring'ish) and I was on the boat by 10, got ready while I waited for the water to fill in a bit (only 0.1mtrs on the depth instruments), warmed up the engine, and was off just before half past..

Raised the main in the the pool by the bridge, as where I was moored it was blowing a SW'ly which was a little strange given the forecast, motor sailed down the ditch, and then carried on as the wind moved round on to the nose as I turned for Sweare Deep..  rolled out some genoa but soon rolled it back as it was doing nothing.

Turned for Marker and at last there was some usable wind, so the genoa came out again, and I motor sailed for Marker as the wind was very slightly east of south which meant for some fairly nice long tacks that were only really doable with the motor assist and the apparent wind it created..

East Head ahead - short cut across the sands - never less than half a metre under the keel.. but it was a rising tide.. 😏

Steamed past Marker and as the harbour opens up there, and the racket was getting tiresome, turned the engine off and started tacking against a still fairly fierce incoming tide..

Guess where I switched the engine off and stopped motor sailing.. 😁

My plan was to cross the sands but the first two attempts I abandoned - water was a bit thin - third one was a charm though and crossed the sands aiming at East Head and my old mate 'Snowhill'. Half a metre under the keel all the way - just the occasional jump as we crossed an underwater lake or ditch, but the tide pushing us slightly to the east even over the sands..

Exited into the Itchenor Channel just west of the end of Thorney Island so as to miss the bank that runs west from the end of the island and shot across to the other side of the channel (it was damn busy..) easing sheets as I went and riding the incoming tide before turning out a new one for me - don't even have it in the GPS...  meet the splendidly named Rookwood ==>

Looking north - entrance to the Thorney Channel opposite

...before turning just after, hardening up, and then a single long tack back towards the sailing club on Hayling, cutting the corner of the Sands to head north, letting all the sheets out and goose winged all the way to the top of the harbour..  

The fishing rod was out (I caught nothing but weed all day, though I did almost catch a Hawk 20 that tacked close round my stern, line snapped unfortunately so it got away.. 😁)

Joy of a Friday when every other bugger is at work 😏

Gybed at Sweare Deep, rolled in the Genoa, fitted a new hook and lure to the rod, and then eventually dropped the main just before the ditch before motoring back to the mooring.

Fantastic days sailing - best this year so far I reckon..

Notes:

• fuel top up required
• tiller bolts loose and now tightened

Log:

Distance: 13.49 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): Both ends of a F3; SxE going SSW
Sail Plan: Full main and Genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.8 / 2.8