Sunday 5th October 2025
0000
hrs
Lat: 50° 45.66'
N
Long: 001° 17.64'
W
Sheppards Yard, Cowes
0500
hrs
Following a second night of disturbed sleep due to creaking warps. The alarm had been set early as several boats wanted to do a 'pursuit' in the west Solent. Much to my surprise the crew were up without a complaint and the boat was made ready for sea in the dark.
0530
hrs
Slipped the mooring lines, the second boat of the fleet out of the marina.
0700 hrs
The unofficial start time for the unofficial pursuit. Chilly and windy, but a cracking sunrise in the eastern Solent.
I have zero interest in racing pursuits and really could not work out what was going on, but concentrated on getting the crew to tack when needed and nodded at the appropriate time when those who were getting excited needed some agreement.
An interesting discussion with the skipper developed on deck during a leg about my lack of excitement, Andy is a rather keen racer. It went along the lines of, 'There is a buoy, oh another buoy, now we are back at the buoy we started at and now we are passing Cowes again. We could have been at Poole by now had we been on passage'. We understood each other's position and it is all part of sailing. I shall and will always remain a passage maker.
0930
hrs
The pursuit having petered out, we headed back up Southampton Water while dropping sails and back to the berth at Ocean Village.
1200
hrs
Lat: 50° 53.71'
N
Long: 001° 23.43'
W
Ocean Village, Southampton
Once alongside it was time for a second breakfast, packing and voyage wrap up. Following lunch the crew departed and new sea staff arrived. An afternoon doing boat and kit checks.
1930
hrs
Time to head off to the laundrette to wash some kit and head to the shower to get washed myself. After struggling with the washing machine I finally got it working and much to my surprise now have a tee shirt in delicate pink after being washed with my red socks!
Time for a quick pint with all the sea staff before heading back to Prolific.
All times are UT
Prolific Log
| Distance NM |
Underway | Avg SOG knots |
Max SOG knots |
Night Hours |
|
| Day: | 30.20 | 5h 40m | 5.20 | 9.00 | 0h 00m |
| Trip: | 89.90 | 18h 35m | 4.83 | 11.00 | 0h 00m |
| Year: | 477.85 | 106h 33m | 4.48 | 12.00 | 00h 00m |
Crew: Andy (Skipper), Andrew, Tom, Josh, Lucy Mitchell, Iori, Sandy and the group from Bruern Abbey School.
Sunrise: 0559 hrs Meridian Passage: 1149 hrs Sunset: 1757 hrs
The Shipping Forecast
The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at 00:15 (UTC+1) on Sun 5 Oct 2025 for the period 01:00 (UTC+1) on Sun 5 Oct 2025 to 01:00 (UTC+1) on Mon 6 Oct 2025.
There are gale warnings in:
Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, Humber, Thames, Dover, Wight, Lundy, Irish Sea, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle, Faeroes and Southeast Iceland.
The general synopsis at 1800:
Low north of Fair Isle 955 expected Kattegat 990 by 1800 Sunday. High west of FitzRoy 1031 expected FitzRoy 1028 by same time.
Sea Areas:
Dover, Wight
Forecast:
Northwest 6 to gale 8, decreasing 4 to 6. Moderate, occasionally rough at first. Showers. Good.
© Met Office Synoptic Chart 06/10/2025
Updated: 19/12/2025
