Opportunity is a Winner

An opportunistic sail grabbed from the end of a mahoosive heatwave..  but I'm jumping ahead of myself..

First off a bit more make do and mend with two coats of paint applied to the tops of all three of the locker lids - fore, companion way hatch and rear.. I'd hoped for the opportunity of a sail but there was no wind so the paint brush was applied instead.. oh.. and coffees drunk, and the chair and sun shade deployed.. oh, and the fishing rod came out.. all bases covered!

Vote of approval for the 2in1 by the way..  coffee's always a hassle on a small boat as the coffee in tins hardens within weeks the moment you open them, and the only milk option is UHT..  this stuff comes in sachets... both powdered in one..  and it tastes OK..

..but painting having been done, we then went into the aforesaid massive heatwave..  Britain's been seeing 30'C plus on a regular basis over the last week, but with the forecasts saying the weather was about to break, and with the tide times swiftly going east as the week progresses, a window of opportunity presented itself..

HT at 17:24, I managed to get on the boat by just after 14:00 - interesting to see I wasn't the only one with the same idea, as two or three tenders were on their way to various boats on the pool. Quick strip down of various covers while the engine was on warming up and I dropped the mooring just shy of  25 past..  a full three hours before HT so something of a record..

Forecasts were for a F4 all afternoon, and it looked like they were overestimating, but as it turned out they were spot on as the wind continued to build as I came out of the shelter of the bund and ditch, and passing Northney..

Yet again it was a 'funny' direction - west of the purportedly 'prevalent SW' - anyway - head to wind off Northney, main up, bore away and rolled out 90% of the foresail (thinking I'd be tacking a lot).

The a broad reach to Sweare, bore up - tightened everything in and down... and apart from a couple of small tacks to get a little west'ing made it to Mid Winner on almost a single tack..  amazing...  yet again I was expecting it to go around at any time as I approached Marker but this time we did it in just two tacks (rather than the usual 30)

Mid Winner

Fancied a beer, so gybed and headed for home on the last hour of flow.. 5.5's as we flew home...  couple that with the best mooring buoy pickup we've had this year and it was a brilliant, and totally unexpected, day on the water.. 

Log:

Distance: 9.02 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)

Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 going F3; WSW going SW
Sail Plan: Full main/90% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.0 / 3.0