Wed 6th June

Very blustery weather put me off an all day out - forecast settled, but their 2 to 3 semed a bit meaningless - as it was gusting to about 20 kts !

Went out on the midday HW for a few hours. NE brisk wind was causing a 90 deg sizeable swell accross the entrance approach - and the bay was full of whitecaps and a fierce chop.

Ok, technically one could describe the sea state as 3 - up to 0.9m with some white horses - somehow force 3 did not seem a very good description.

Tried her with just the genoa - as I was feeling a bit lazy and didn't want the hassle of getting the main down again in all that chop - went quite well - but seemed awkward to tack - had a job to get her to go about a couple of times.

Long enough to blow the cobwebs off - and give me a bit more experience. Managed to rip off my external vhf speaker when the lazy sheet caught it - with the sprayhood down it was asking for it really - only cheap plastic from Maplins, so no great loss.

On the mooring first time

At last I manage to bring her in to the mooring a little gracefully - helped a bit by the E wind though.

I'm afraid I need to see some fairly calm conditions to warrant me going out for ten hours on my own, just at the moment - no doubt I will gain in confidence once I have a few more all day trips under my belt.