jellyellie
Well-Known Member
Had an interesting sail back from Cowes to Gosport this morning.
Last night, today's forecast was predicting F4-5 occ. 6. I checked again this morning before we set out and it had gone down to a F4-5 without the 6 - perfect! Exactly what Milestone likes to stonk along in.
Poked our nose out into a steady F6, gusting 7 so we hoisted the main with one reef, and put 2/3rds of the genoa out. We waved hello to Galadriel just outside of Cowes. Winds rose to a steady F7 gusting 8 by the time we were off Stoke's Bay, making a very interesting remainder of the journey. An absolutely cracking sail, that's for sure.
We keep our dinghy on davits, but unfortunately the dinghy is slightly too long for our boat and the waves took a liking to it, so we made the decision to furl Miss Jenny and motorsail back, allowing us a slightly more upright position to save our davits the stress.
That was the most wind we've had whilst sailing Milestone yet (except the days after home-cooked curries the previous evenings, of which there are many), and it was absolutely brilliant (minus the davit incident). She handled it incredibly well, not heeling too much despite a fair amount of sail. Here's a picture of sexy sailor James at the helm before I stuck my oilies on and let him dry off and put his on too - his jacket's supposed to be blue! (And look at my beautifully polished cockpit! Reflections in the gelcoat!):
Back alongside in Gosport, I was hosing her decks down when I noticed something a bit unusual... the wooden bowsprit had moved itself to a different horizontal angle from what it was when we'd set out! The F7-8 pressure on the forestay had obviously unearthed an underlying problem... that's our task for the winter sorted out then! Nice to know this now, rather than on a longer voyage.
I also checked the forecast as soon as we'd tied up. It was saying we should have had a F3-4, but still blowing an absolute hooley! And now, of course, it's totally calm...
Oh, and how could I forget: the bloomin' forepeak hatch dripped on Biggles, our infamous boat bear.
Anybody else 'caught out'? Not that we saw many boats out there! Mostly we saw people coming out of Portsmuff, making it halfway down the inner swashway (nutters, F7 lee shore) then turning round and going back into the harbour. We kept a watchful eye on one boat who looked periously close to the sea wall, but the binoculars showed he was further away than it initially looked. I hope others would do the same for us... it's nice to know there are other sailors watching out for you.
Last night, today's forecast was predicting F4-5 occ. 6. I checked again this morning before we set out and it had gone down to a F4-5 without the 6 - perfect! Exactly what Milestone likes to stonk along in.
Poked our nose out into a steady F6, gusting 7 so we hoisted the main with one reef, and put 2/3rds of the genoa out. We waved hello to Galadriel just outside of Cowes. Winds rose to a steady F7 gusting 8 by the time we were off Stoke's Bay, making a very interesting remainder of the journey. An absolutely cracking sail, that's for sure.
We keep our dinghy on davits, but unfortunately the dinghy is slightly too long for our boat and the waves took a liking to it, so we made the decision to furl Miss Jenny and motorsail back, allowing us a slightly more upright position to save our davits the stress.
That was the most wind we've had whilst sailing Milestone yet (except the days after home-cooked curries the previous evenings, of which there are many), and it was absolutely brilliant (minus the davit incident). She handled it incredibly well, not heeling too much despite a fair amount of sail. Here's a picture of sexy sailor James at the helm before I stuck my oilies on and let him dry off and put his on too - his jacket's supposed to be blue! (And look at my beautifully polished cockpit! Reflections in the gelcoat!):
Back alongside in Gosport, I was hosing her decks down when I noticed something a bit unusual... the wooden bowsprit had moved itself to a different horizontal angle from what it was when we'd set out! The F7-8 pressure on the forestay had obviously unearthed an underlying problem... that's our task for the winter sorted out then! Nice to know this now, rather than on a longer voyage.
I also checked the forecast as soon as we'd tied up. It was saying we should have had a F3-4, but still blowing an absolute hooley! And now, of course, it's totally calm...
Oh, and how could I forget: the bloomin' forepeak hatch dripped on Biggles, our infamous boat bear.
Anybody else 'caught out'? Not that we saw many boats out there! Mostly we saw people coming out of Portsmuff, making it halfway down the inner swashway (nutters, F7 lee shore) then turning round and going back into the harbour. We kept a watchful eye on one boat who looked periously close to the sea wall, but the binoculars showed he was further away than it initially looked. I hope others would do the same for us... it's nice to know there are other sailors watching out for you.
