...out of the water...

In case you were wondering where I was, I can confirm that I've not passed from this mortal coil, but the family and I have only just got back from Scotland - apologies for the lack of posts in the interim but as you can imagine, the days were full, and (seemed to) mostly consist of eating and drinking,...

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So where did that week go!!

Difficult to believe that yet another week has gone by, but so it has, in fact, do you know it's Christmas in nine weeks time this Friday??! Apologies for the lack of posts - part of the problem is that this is my first blog from a new PC. I've been meaning to upgrade for ages, but with life as...

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Solent sniffing & Nab intro...

The sailing season may well be coming to a close, but the summer down here in the south of England is gripping on by the skin of its teeth, and so yesterday found me out on the boat for an afternoons sailing, in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, despite it being the second week of October. Winds...

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Lost kedge...

I took last Friday off to get some more sailing in, despite it being an inset day at school I couldn't tempt either of the sprogs on to the boat so headed off into the harbour on my own (which I really don't mind - in fact I quite like it in a selfish way!). It was a very very quiet afternoon though,...

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Winds variable...

In my efforts to get in as much sailing as possible before the end of the sailing year, I headed out solo last Saturday for a pleasant afternoons sailing...(it would seem that a new 'Jonas Brothers' [click here] DVD purchased just that morning - with four free pairs of 3D glasses apparently - seemed...

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Southampton boatshow nears...

The weekend after next is the Southampton International Boatshow - looking forward to seeing if there are any bargains, but little'un and I definitely want one of these: ..or perhaps one of these for when SWMBO is onboard..     With the season's close almost upon us (where did it go!!)...

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Always, always beating!..

On the sailing front another beautiful day yesterday afternoon with a solo trip into the harbour, in the face of a wind that wherever I sailed seemed to be right on the nose! Winds were fairly light however, the sun was warm, the sandwich was good (egg and sausage!), there were some pleasant tunes...

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We really did want to go to sea...

Yee goods where has the time gone - many, many, apologies for the lack of posts recently, I can only put it down to sheer weight of work, visits by family, and other time wasting activities..! ... the UK has had some of the most rubbish weather known to man over the last few months, when it hasn't...

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Windy trip into Emsworth..

Another sailing snippet - the girls and I went out for a very exciting sail on Sunday - a beautiful day but pretty windy so it marked a nautical first for me in as much as it was the first time I had reefed the main, and that it was also largely successful! According to my local weather station [click...

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New jib trial..

Lovely trip out on the boat last night, and a chance to finally try out the new jib... just a short trip as I had to go after work, but oh my, what an evening... it's been scorching hot this week in the UK (unusual to say the least) but an hour or two on the water was enough to restore the equilibrium...

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New jib...

...no sailing this weekend.... no wind and no time... but the new jib has been deployed and I'm really looking forward to trying it for the first time! ...and that really is enough for now...

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Fathers day sail....

Been a while, so what about the sailing trips? 14th June: Last weekend involved a quick sail in winds far stronger than we should really have been out in, but everything had gone OK until the wind picked up just as we were turning for home. In the strong winds I had turned into the wind to put some...

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Mackeral spoon...

Took the day off work last Friday (the weather forecast for the weekend was not good) and went sailing for the day - in the footsteps of Slocum and Chichester this was done single handed, and I had some of the windiest conditions to date to play in. Lovely days sailing, but bit cold and gray when compared to the last time... come on summer, make your mind up!! The recently bought mackerel spoon...

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Goose winged!

Apologies for the interruption to blog service folks - I promise you there's lots going on - it's just that there's not enough time to blog about them which in the grand scheme of things is probably the right way to go about life... do it and then blog!! So for your viewing pleasure the first of a few...

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Too windy!....

On the sailing front, just a small trip last weekend - the wind was up and in the interests of ensuring that at least some of the family still wished to come out next time I decided to curtail the adventure! Distance: 3 miles (23.5 miles year to date) Wind: Moderate (force 3 gusting...

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A couple of fantastic trips..

A couple of fantastic trips out recently.. ...I had the day off a week or so ago for my first solo trip - the fishing road was wielded in anger (caught nothing but I did get to reacquaint myself with rag worms - blechhh!). Most importantly a lot of confidence was built up; I can handle the boat on...

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.. oh dear...

... "oh dear"?? ...well on Friday I went down to check the boat was OK and found it was not on the mooring and had been moved to another one.. no idea why... quite worrying... ..the tides being what they were the first opportunity I had to get down and check the boat was Saturday morning so after...

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Launch day...

As promised, and requested (well one of you did!), just a few pictures of the boat post clean up and preparation... These were taken on launch day... ..which was just about perfect in terms of sun, but we could probably have done with a little more wind (ie. there wasn't any until we got to almost...

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It's a bit quiet round here...

Lest anyone think that I have shuffled off this mortal coil I am here to report that all is well, it's just too damn busy to be posting... What has taken all my time is the following: ...I've had sailing as a hobby since the days of short school trousers and caps (and that dates me) - I think my...

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