Kissing the putty..

Just a quicky - I had a feeling it would be, before I even left, but with the lift out fast approaching (week next Wednesday) and the need to get the mast down (probably next Tuesday), and a long winter of no sailing and dark days approaching it had to be done..

HT 13:59 and another massive Spring at 4.7m, but the forecast was telling me it was going to be a NE'ly which would be good, but unfortunately a F4 gusting F5..  yeah, more wind...😏

...and so it was - the forecast was spot on - and it was a northerly, and I've said it before, they can be a bit fractious, and so was this one...

Chose to go with just the genoa once I got to Sweare Deep, and then do a run down to Marker before I assessed what to do (go further or turn for home) - it worked, but I had to roll some back in as conditions were indeed fractious...  wind over (considerable) tide was creating a little swell'y roll. and I eventually bailed out about a 100 yards short of Marker - I wasn't enjoying it, it was cold, and it was grey - time for a beer..

Gybed and headed back - wanted to see if she'd go under just genoa, and because of the tide we were seeing 4's SOG!

One beat though and it was time to tack, and she (or rather I) missed stays.. gah...! Too far over, too thin in the water department, and the depth hit minus zero (an ever so helpful "out" message 😁) and the engine went on pronto, the sheets let fly and we reversed out successfully..  phew..

...and that was it - slow'ish motor back to the mooring, and home for aforesaid beer... now  can I get one last sail in????

Log:

Distance: 4.85 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 gusting F5 ; NE
Sail Plan: Full/reefed Genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.7 / 2.6

Really, really, the last sail of the season..

...well...  on AmiLy anyway..

....in the midst of what seems like named and unnamed storms ("Amy" has been and gone, but most of them have been yellow weather warnings so unnamed) the Jolly Boys had spotted a keyhole window of opportunity..  one single day in a sea of hideousness...  so we grabbed it with open arms - but regrettably, only two of us made this one as one of the team was on holiday, and one was otherwise unavoidably detained..

So it was that just Rodders and I cast off from Whale Island at about half ten, on what seemed like an unfeasibly large and empty AmiLy, about an hour or so after HT. If the forecast was to be believed we'd have a day of sunshine and F3 southerly's, and bugger me if it didn't go and deliver that (again!). That's the second time the forecast has been right which must be something of a record..

With as much water as we had we exited the harbour accompanied by paddle ship Waverley - we took the inner swashway, she didn't.. 😏

...coffee and pain au raisins in the surprisingly warm sun while we considered our options for a day sail, but with the wind occasionally light, and very southerly, we soon ruled out Hamble/Itchen (we'd have a long beat to get out of the rivers for the return trip), Beaulieu (nowhere really we wanted to go and eat at), and Newtown Creek (no food on board), and so it was that (again.. 😏) we wended our merry way to Cowes.. we're not pushing the boundaries but we really do like the Lifeboat for food, and East Cowes Marina is 'nice people' (hope it remains that way now that Boatfolk have been bought out by Premier) and easy boat parking as well ..

.."easy boat parking"..

Cracking sail over, just enough wind to pull us along nicely aided by the west going travelator tide. We hugged the north shore to allow full effect of those southerly's blowing over the island.. and we were also treated to a flight of four Spitfires overhead, coming into Daedalus for an airshow - what a sound and sight...  four Merlin's! 😀

Another excellent lunch, a snooze, and it was time to head for home - the east going tide was kicking off at about 15:30, and with dead low water at 16:00 in Portsmouth a departure then would coincide with about a couple of hours of water at the home end, which is just about the minimum/required depth...

The sun shone all the way until right at the end when ominous haze began to develop over the Isle of Wight, and it got cold..  amazing sky though..

...and then just as we were coming into Pompey, we had another fly past - but not Spitfires this time, it was an honest to goodness Catalina - never ever seen one before, what a treat - was too busy to get my own shot so this is courtesy of the named photographer who had taken the shot at the airshow..

Picture courtesy John Pace

Fantastic day out, but that really is it for AmiLy - we took the main and stack pack off on the pontoon, and she comes out of the water next weekend..  what an amazing season it's been, and what a brilliant sail to end on..

Log:

Distance: 21.93* (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  F3 going F4; SSE going SWxS
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 8.2 / 2.7

* bit more than that to be fair, as the GPS was playing up at the start of the track and didn't start recording until we were off Browndown

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