A message from Craig saying that he and his partner were free for a sail on Sunday meant that I was driving down to the boat on a sunny March morning with plans for a run round Plymouth Sound to blow the cobwebs away and give all of us a sail.
Arriving at the boat, after the usual stop at the CO-OP for items for lunch, I did the daily checks on the engine, prepped the boat for sea and put the kettle on. Craig and Stephanie came over from their boat carrying steaming mugs of tea; we were not going thirsty on this blast in the sound.
Engine running we cast off and slowly motored out of the marina, raised the main and unfurled the genoa and we were off towards Cawsands Bay. The wind was a bit fickle but on the whole a good F4 with a flat sea.
A cracking sail and just enjoyed being on the water after a couple of hours we headed back to the berth. One entering the marina just after one of the lowest tides of the year 0.40m at 1405 UTC we gently kissed the bottom the end of D pontoon! Note for the future on very low spring tides wait an hour and we should be OK.
The joy that is "getting the boat alongside without damaging the gelcoat" is getting just a tad easier just needs a bit lot more practice. Once alongside we had a late lunch of a hearty soup and talked about plans for the summer.
Crew: Sandy Garrity, Craig and Steph Salter
Trip Stats: Distance: 6 nm, Avg speed: 3.20 knots, Max speed: 6.00 knots, Under way: 2 h 00 m.
Weather Inshore Waters Forecast to 12 miles offshore for the period 0000 UTC Sunday 24 March to 0000 UTC Monday 25 March 2019
Sea area: Lyme Regis to Lands End including the Isles of Scilly Wind: Easterly or northeasterly backing northwesterly later, 4 or 5, occasionally 6 in far west. Sea State: Moderate in far west, otherwise smooth or slight. Weather: Occasional drizzle at first. Visibility: Good, occasionally poor at first.