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 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