With all non-sailing activity coming to an abrupt stop last weekend due to family commitments, I decided to take the morning off on Friday and catch the early morning tide...
It wasn't what I wanted to do, ideally I wanted to take an entire day and take the opportunity to do a double tide, but the weather round here just lately has definitely taken a turn for the worse... Thursday would have been the optimal day but it turned out windy, grey and raining..
As it turned out Friday was just windy and grey..
...from the recent posts you'd think it was always sunny round here - the above is the conclusive proof it isn't..
So a fairly straight forward four hours, the wind had a touch more west in it than it usually has hence the lack of tacks in the track below to HISC (Hayling Island sailing Club) - from memory I only did one...
Once I got to HISC I picked up the last in their long row of mooring buoys for breakfast. Two Tesco's finest Pork and Leek (cooked in Papillon's new frying pan!) later, and with the thought of a mug of tea to wash it down while I decided where next to go, the bloke whose mooring I was on then returned! Bugger...
After offering apologies and explaining why I was there, I swiftly dropped the mooring and carried on, a little earlier than I'd planned. The chap wasn't annoyed though - I suspect it has happened before, those moorings are very handy!
The wind by now was strengthening; we'd started off with a force 3, but I knew the wind was due to get stronger, so I'd put a fairly chunky reef in the main (two sail sliders worth). By the time I dropped the mooring at HISC it was up to a top end four, and gusting...
With the wind direction as it was - a run down to Chichester (east) would have been great but it would have taken me for ever to get back (a beat all the way back, and in a narrow channel) so with my remaining tide I decided to lay some ghosts to rest and go and visit the site of my dis-masting earlier this summer, the Eaststoke buoy...
Happily I wasn't alone as there was another solo-sailer in a small boat out - he was very, very, good though, so I took my tips from him; tacking to stay close into the shore and out of the worst of the swell which was a feature in the main channel (wind against tide is never good in the mouth to Chichester Harbour - see here ). The entrance to the harbour is comparatively shallow, but the tide was going out, and the wind was blowing in the opposite direction - not a good recipe - it was decidedly choppy!
So - with honour restored, I turned and headed back north - once again a lovely run up harbour, with a quick dash at the end to get on the mooring before the water disappeared (neaps at the moment so not much of it). With a quick tidy up, and wash down of the decks, I was at work by 1... nice way to spend a morning!
Track as follows:
Distance: 10.62 miles (cumulative score just over there to the left)
Wind: Force 4 gusting force 5.
It wasn't what I wanted to do, ideally I wanted to take an entire day and take the opportunity to do a double tide, but the weather round here just lately has definitely taken a turn for the worse... Thursday would have been the optimal day but it turned out windy, grey and raining..
As it turned out Friday was just windy and grey..
...from the recent posts you'd think it was always sunny round here - the above is the conclusive proof it isn't..So a fairly straight forward four hours, the wind had a touch more west in it than it usually has hence the lack of tacks in the track below to HISC (Hayling Island sailing Club) - from memory I only did one...
Once I got to HISC I picked up the last in their long row of mooring buoys for breakfast. Two Tesco's finest Pork and Leek (cooked in Papillon's new frying pan!) later, and with the thought of a mug of tea to wash it down while I decided where next to go, the bloke whose mooring I was on then returned! Bugger...
After offering apologies and explaining why I was there, I swiftly dropped the mooring and carried on, a little earlier than I'd planned. The chap wasn't annoyed though - I suspect it has happened before, those moorings are very handy!
The wind by now was strengthening; we'd started off with a force 3, but I knew the wind was due to get stronger, so I'd put a fairly chunky reef in the main (two sail sliders worth). By the time I dropped the mooring at HISC it was up to a top end four, and gusting...
With the wind direction as it was - a run down to Chichester (east) would have been great but it would have taken me for ever to get back (a beat all the way back, and in a narrow channel) so with my remaining tide I decided to lay some ghosts to rest and go and visit the site of my dis-masting earlier this summer, the Eaststoke buoy...
Happily I wasn't alone as there was another solo-sailer in a small boat out - he was very, very, good though, so I took my tips from him; tacking to stay close into the shore and out of the worst of the swell which was a feature in the main channel (wind against tide is never good in the mouth to Chichester Harbour - see here ). The entrance to the harbour is comparatively shallow, but the tide was going out, and the wind was blowing in the opposite direction - not a good recipe - it was decidedly choppy!
So - with honour restored, I turned and headed back north - once again a lovely run up harbour, with a quick dash at the end to get on the mooring before the water disappeared (neaps at the moment so not much of it). With a quick tidy up, and wash down of the decks, I was at work by 1... nice way to spend a morning!
Track as follows:
Distance: 10.62 miles (cumulative score just over there to the left)
Wind: Force 4 gusting force 5.
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