The season so far.............

[Sgeir]

Looking though the log the other day. Since going back in the water towards the end of March, we've done over 300 miles, which is not too bad, even although the passages have been a bit on the short side so far this year.

But have the winds been a bit freakier this year - we've either had F3 or less, or else it's been at the top end of a five plus? In fact on the majority of sailing days, we have been in F6 for much of the time. Plus, until last weekend, the daytime temperatures have been very low - single figures on some days. Not good.

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Plus we seem to be having more E NE SE winds which is where the colder weather is originating.
Which of the prophets was it who said " The day will come when the only difference between winter and summer will be the leaves on the trees"
Seems like he wasent too far out.
Thats me done over 300 miles too since start of apr, which is nearly what I done all in last season.
We did over 200 mile on our west coast trip plus what I done before and since then.
Guess it will soon be time to change my engine oil again even though it was renewed in apr.
Where are you at now Donald?
C_W

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

We too have done about 300nm.... its seems to be a popular mileage.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[andymcp]

Just prompted me to check as well. Over 500 on the log so far this season, most of it to places new to us. Similar experiences on wind - F5/6 and thereabouts when the wind was blowing, F3 and less when it wasn't. In fact only 3 trips this season when we didn't have reefs in at all. Spinnaker only been out twice (consecutive days when the winds were very light) and all repairs so far have been for damage due to high winds. One sudden gybe put a tear in the sprayhood and pulled the ropes out the mainsheet track. Genoa sheet caught in the spinnaker pole track in a F7 and pulled the lower fittings out. Waves round the Mull broke the fastenings on the starboard dodger and tore the panels.

Unusually compared to last season, most trips have been going places, rather than daysails (small kids meant daysails were our staple diet last year). Probably accounts for the high mileage.

A few firsts on the board so far:

First night sail.
First spinnaker trip.
First time over 12 knots (apart from one-off on ICAP Leopard but that doesn't count!)
First race.
First drama (complete steering failure).

Shame we missed last weekend though - looked like the best weekend of the season by far!

 

[kingfisher]

I hate you all soo much!!!! Since I'm stuck here in Astana, my season doesn't start untill early July. It will be 2 months of non-stop sailing though.

So please refrain from posting any more sunny pictures. Have a heart.

 

[MoodySabre]

Same sort of mileage here plus another 190 in someone else's boat - all mostly in glorious sunshine /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[andymcp]

Sunny pictures? None of them round here.........

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Sgeir]

Very similar. Now that I'm home again, I've just checked the log in detail, and it's probably worse than I'd thought. Of nineteen days sailing and one of festering during a storm, we have experienced consistent wind speeds of
<ul type="square"> F2 - 1 day
F3 - 2 days
F4 - 2 days
F5 - 2 days
F6 - 12 days
F7 - 0 days
F8 - 1 day [/list]
These were sustained wind speeds, not gusts. We've also had squally spells of up to 43 kts for several minutes at a time.

And apart from the odd day or two, it's been so cold - 7° when I came into Edinburgh this morning. And it's June.

Having said all that, the sailing has actually been tremendous with the strong winds, but we broke a stanchion base with a genoa sheet in a very wild squall, the furler just about disintegrated on two occasions, and, most improbably, almost every nut and bolt on the toilet assembly worked themselves loose with all the banging around.

And just in case anyone's interested, the CQR has held perfectly on every occasion. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif