Bank holiday in the UK today - or rather in England today, as I don't believe our Scottish brethren benefit from this one...
It was also (according to the forecasts) going to be the best of the three days of the weekend, and having spent most of the weekend up today running errands for the aged parent, and aged parents in law, I was looking forward to some sailing...
Funny old day - forecast said to expect a force 3 declining, what we actually got was way more than that. Having learned from last weekend I out a single reef in (plus a turn more than last weekend) and this was fine - in fact the helm was very light most of the time - maybe I should have left the reef out...?
On the way out I met another one of the harbour Fantasies - Maricel this time - quick chat and a picture opportunity and I headed off down the harbour.. bit more northerly in the wind (it was quite cool, if not cold)
Also saw this guy - tiny little racing machine - thought my boat was small, I dwarf this one...
For the trip back we had some fun and fast tacking - what is it about boats that you only have to be in the same square foot of water to immediately start racing...
..and after a very enjoyable tacking race with an elderly gent sailing a traditional gaff rigged clinker dinghy, I put the engine on and returned to the mooring slightly early for a late lunch...
Distance: 9.12 miles (cumulative total in the tab at the top of the page)
Wind: WNW to NW - Force 3, gusting 4...
Speed: Max speed was 4.8 knots which would have been under engine as despite some gusts I didn't see any speeds over about 4 knots, average speed was 2.4 knots.
It was also (according to the forecasts) going to be the best of the three days of the weekend, and having spent most of the weekend up today running errands for the aged parent, and aged parents in law, I was looking forward to some sailing...
Funny old day - forecast said to expect a force 3 declining, what we actually got was way more than that. Having learned from last weekend I out a single reef in (plus a turn more than last weekend) and this was fine - in fact the helm was very light most of the time - maybe I should have left the reef out...?
On the way out I met another one of the harbour Fantasies - Maricel this time - quick chat and a picture opportunity and I headed off down the harbour.. bit more northerly in the wind (it was quite cool, if not cold)
Also saw this guy - tiny little racing machine - thought my boat was small, I dwarf this one...
For the trip back we had some fun and fast tacking - what is it about boats that you only have to be in the same square foot of water to immediately start racing...
Distance: 9.12 miles (cumulative total in the tab at the top of the page)
Wind: WNW to NW - Force 3, gusting 4...
Speed: Max speed was 4.8 knots which would have been under engine as despite some gusts I didn't see any speeds over about 4 knots, average speed was 2.4 knots.
Looks like a swift 18 - nice little boats
ReplyDeletehttp://1001boats.blogspot.com/2011/02/swift-18.html
Reckon she is - well spotted... only a foot smaller than mine but she looked tiny.. having said that there were three people in the cockpit!
ReplyDeleteWhat a pleasant afternoon. I have the 12th to the 19th off so will hopefully be pottering your way that week. If I make as far as Emsworth I'll tap you up for a pint :-)
ReplyDeleteExcellent - do that, Phil... :o)
ReplyDeleteI can sort you out with a mud mooring as well if you need a stop over... tides are roughly mid-day to early afternoon that week (http://www.tides4fishing.com/uk/england/northney) also the marina is handy if you're flush.
I'm at the boatshow on the 18th but I can take a day off mid week if we want to get some sailing in!
I looked at several swift 18's, nice boats but the lifting keel mech was 48 turns of a winch handle.. so i went for a Leisure 17, there is a swift 18 neared very close to me, and oddly looks smaller than mine as we motor past.
ReplyDeleteOut of interest Steve - what GPS are you using to plot your courses onto google maps?
Graham
Hi Graham - same GPS you use - GPS72... :o)
ReplyDeleteHere's how I do it... use your GPS on as normal while afloat and when you get home connect it to the PC. There is an option to load the track direct from your GPS into GoogleEarth... alternatively I like using EasyGPS (free s/w) - load it in that and then save the file in GPX format.
Depending on what connections you've got in your PC, if you're like me you'll need a data cable for the GPS72 (on mine this has the round data plug for the GPS, and at the other end an RS232 type) I don't have an RS232 socket on the PC so I spent an extra couple of squid on an RS232 to USB cable.
Sounds way more complex than it is... leave a comment here if you're mind blown and I'll put up a full post...
Thanks Steve! - nope sadly, have to admit it all makes sense to me being an I.T geek!.
ReplyDeleteI've ordered a USB cable from Ebay, hopefully that will work without having to mess with the rs232 or hunt out an old laptop!
Would be good to see your boat sometime, It was one of the models i'd narrowed my search down too,
you seem to have extra length but less beam and very similar ballast, i wonder how similar they feel on the water, am really impressed with mine - but scared myself last week going out of Chichester on an ebb tide against an on shore wind.. had 5 mins of waves over the roof!
Graham, excellent - yes - I saw those USB data cables when I had a look the other night on eBay - when I was sourcing mine those weren't available hence the heath robinson approach, but hey - it works... the fun part was loading the drivers for the data cable - you still have that to look forward to! :o))
ReplyDeleteThe Fantasie are nice boats but a touch sensitive to any breeze... on the owners website we've got an old review from PBO "FOR- Attractive, well made, three berth twin keeler with practical outboard well, skeg mounted rudder and good directional stability. AGAINST - Sails at high angle of heel. Lack of stowage below. After deck reduces cockpit space." Can't argue with any of that... :o))