Double reefs...

Hugely enjoyable sail today... especially after the problems on the previous two trips...

Got to the boat early (10:30 hight tide, so was there about a quarter to eight) to be greeted by gentle breezes and sunshine... all the forecasts indicated that it was going to be a lot more than that however, and by the time I'd got to the boat the sunshine remained but the gentle breezes had disappeared to be replaced by a pretty solid force 4 with some nasty gusts....

Utilising the new/replacement reefing handle I shoved in about seven or eight turns on the main (drops the head by about a yard and a half), put in a few rolls on the jib, and dropped my mooring for what was a most enjoyable few hours of sailing...

Very little motoring done - wind was west of north..

..which meant that I could sail off the mooring, and I even managed to do one long tack back up the channel to the bridge on the way back!

The following shows how windy it was - I was out from about 8:30 until about 11...
...standard force four gusting seven!

Long run down the harbour and my intention was to motor back as I'd been seriously overpowered at times, even on the run, down the harbour.. very exciting though and I decided to head for the Verner buoy, just north of HISC. Very few boats out...

Having got to Verner I tacked, rather than gybed, to beat back up the harbour and as I'd guessed it was very windy, but surprisingly manageable... I cranked in another couple of rolls on the jib, and the steering immediately improved. Lovely beat up the harbour - tide assisted - doing 3 to 3.5 knots... I toyed with the idea of carrying on right up to Emsworth (as you can see from the track) but in the end the number of boats, and the gusts, put me off and I headed back to the Northney channel - it was at this point - as I was bearing away - that I clocked 5 knots at least twice! No tide, double reefed sails, going like a train she was!

Back to the mooring - no mishaps - brilliant days sailing..

Distance: 8.16 miles (cumulative total over there to the left)

Wind: NW to NNW - Force 4 (gusting 7).. Maximum speed 4.6 knots (no motor so that was under sail!), average speed 3 (!) knots... fast sailing...