Clipper Race

...my bro in law works for the Clipper Race organisation, and I've got tickets for one of the official spectator boats at the race start on the 1st September on the Thames! Whooo yes.....

This is them yesterday departing their home port of Portsmouth..  lovely picture....!

Both ends of the harbour on a tide..

I've had boats for about 6 years now, but yesterday was the first time my sister had ever set foot on one of them, never mind actually going sailing... either way the stars and planets conjoined yesterday to make such an event happen and and a damn fine afternoon it was!

 
Winds were largely the same as my trip out on Friday but this time, as we were two up  I went for full sail plan and while it was a bit of a handful in some of the gusts, between them it provided some superb fast sailing, in sunny beautiful conditions...

A run down the channel, main up at Northney, engine off and stayed off until we turned for home at the end of the afternoon.. the run down to HISC was very fast - despite adverse tide we saw 5.2's and 5.3's, and when we turned to head up harbour at NW Pilsey, with the tail end of the favourable tide we saw 6.2's and  6.3's.

We had enough time so we then had a reach up to Emsworth, and one of those excellent tacking sessions back to the Beacon - wind direction being what it was we occasionally got a good lift which eased the passage considerably... there was a lot of traffic up there...!

Superb day, finished off with a curry and a beer - doesn't get any better.... 

Log:

Distance: 10.02 miles (cumulative total in the 2013 mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: Force 4 gusting 5.. W to WSW
Sail Plan: Full jib and main - engine for manoeuvring..
Speed: GPS track says max speed was 5.9 knots (that was definitely under sail but I saw bursts of 6+ knots at times) - average speed: 3.5 knots

Bar Beacon and back...

After almost two weeks away from the boat I was gagging for some sailing...  I'd been to EuroDisney for 3 days and was also looking for a detox from all the burgers and frites....

Got to the boat (after going ar*e over tit on the slipway for the third time this year) to find a little more wind than I was expecting, so decided to put some reefs (3) in the main before I left (which was a good thing), and pausing only to slap the engine on the back of the boat, sponge out the bilges from the rain we'd had on Monday, and hoist the PBO burgee I was off... jib only..  down the  channel towards Northney I was getting 2.5 knots against tide...  it was windy...

Slowed and headed into wind just off  the entrance to marina and proceeded to make a right cock of getting the main up as I wasn't head enough into wind to allow the main a clean run up the mast and the roach was catching in the stays ..  struggled away getting it up (I need a  tiller pilot!) and  noticed a starboard channel marker off the port side, thought nothing of it until the unmistakable sticky slow down of a grounding brought all progress to a halt..  yup - on the putty (which was a bad thing)....  sails down - engine on in reverse - sat on the back of the boat, jiggled, and 5 minutes later I was off - what an idiot.......  😏

Jib out again and this time I got some clear water before putting the main up properly - wind direction was superb (dead west almost all afternoon), I'd had a run down the channel, but then I had a reach all the way down the harbour in the company of one of the other club cruisers (who'd also been having main problems he told me!)...  superb sailing with solid 4 to 5 knots SOG  (not bad against 1 to 1.5 knots of adverse tide) all the way to the harbour entrance where I decided to head on and see if we could make the West Pole...

Pratting about getting a main up when solo, and no tiller pilot, and force 4 gusting 5 equals the above....

Alas, there was not quite enough time (if I hadn't faffed around at the beginning I could have done it)  the other club cruiser had already turned for home, so I joined him and had another one of those brilliant drag races up the harbour... saw 5.2  and 5.3 knots a couple of times, and again that's SOG (so against tide)..

Brilliant days sailing - 3 and a half hours of pure detox - but the day was not yet over...

• shackle holding the main sheet unscrewed itself (bad) as I got to the mooring (good) and dropped into the cockpit (also good) - tightened that and also decided to check all the others...
• swivel bolt holding the tiller to the post came unscrewed (bad) and nut dropped into the cockpit (good) so also took the opportunity to tighten all those!
• I dropped the keys over the side when locking up but managed to grab them as they went past (thank goodness for cork balls),
• threw the Crocs into the tender for going ashore and one of them bounced out of the boat  (cue chase across harbour in tender to catch it)...    

...a good day of mostly ups and some downs... 😏

Log:

Distance: 12.51 miles (cumulative total in the 2013 mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: Force 4 gusting 5.. W
Sail Plan: Full jib and 3 reefs in the main - engine for manoeuvring and getting off mud..
Speed: GPS track says max speed was 4.3 knots (that was definitely under sail but I saw bursts of 5+ knots at times) - average speed: 3.1 knots