Prinstead and Thorney...

yee gods it's been a windy summer....  

...first time out since the run to Portsmouth Harbour over two weeks ago! Wind, rain, more wind, been hideous...   to be honest the wind wasn't exactly light today but I was getting fidgety so went anyway...

This beautiful thing went screaming past as I was doodling down the harbour...

 

..I was in two minds whether to go right up to the moment I put the reefs in, but in the end thought "sod it, I can always come back..." ...  anyway, I was very glad I did as I had one of those classic sails that only seem to happen when you're least expecting it!.. 

Easthead.. the buoy says it is... ..and look at those waves - not a place to muck about...

 

So - winds southerly - left the mooring just under two hours before high tide, so a whole 5 hours to play with, where to go?

With that wind direction the obvious choices are east as the run up to Bosham would be exactly that so decision made...

Two and a bit reefs in the main, two rolls in the jib, as I assumed I could let them out of it was a bit too much - turned out to be exactly right.

Lovely beat down the harbour, just a couple of tacks with long, long beats. I cut the corner over Pilsey Sands as I had enough water not to worry, and for the first time poked my nose into the creek behind East Head - I would have spent longer but they were dinghy racing and there isn't a lot of room...

Next stop, Pilsey Island and the entrance to the Prinstead Channel...  I'd guessed the wind was about a 5 (good guess, in fact spot on) so decided not to head for Bosham as the beat back would have taken ages. What I managed to do though was get right to the top of the Prinstead Channel - not something I've ever managed to do on a single tide before - new mooring is definitely making for longer cruises...

Little'uns home economics output this week (they call it Food Tech these days) - lemon drizzle cake - with a cup of filter coffee - slurrrrp...

 

Superb beat back down the channel to get out - almost put the engine on at one point but persevered... look at those tacks - 90' tack to tack like a metronome...  luverly...

Lovely soldiers reach back up the harbour and I managed to sail almost back to the mooring - engine went on in the little channel just after Northney...

So - scores on the doors:

Distance: 16.82 miles (cumulative total in the 2012 mileage tab at the top of the page)
Wind: Force 5 full stop - low end at times, gusting top end. Southerly according to Cambermet, but I reckon there was a little west in it at times..
Sail Plan: Two and a bit reefs in the main, two rolls in the jib..
Speed: GPS says max speed was  5 knots which given the comparative lack of motoring today would have been under sail, probably either on the way back up the harbour, or up the Prinstead Channel. Average speed of 3.3 knots (not bad...  that's my passage planning assumed speed for Pap)....