Have you been out today?

[Dennis]

Just back from the last sail of the year.

Forecast was for sunny clear skies all day and a F4-6 westerly. So started the day with a double reefed mainsail and staysail.

Forecast was wrong, drizzled for about and hour and the wind was only about F2 for long periods.

Good sail though, 14 Nm covered, max 6.1 kts and an average of 3.5 kts.

Also met "Greybeard" in his Drascombe Dabber who was the only other boat on the water apart from three windsurfers.

I have removed the sails and plan to haul out tomorrow.

It has been a good year, put 444 Nm on the log, out of a total of 1668 Nm over five seasons. Still loving it.

[ianrmaciver]

Minnie is ashore in Cambridge now after a good and testing few days last week.
With a crew of three ,the objective was to sail from Suffolk Yacht Harbour in the Orwell to Wells-next-the-sea.
Day 1 We had a S F5/6 with F7 later. Right direction , wrong strength. We ventured out to Languard Point and decided to spend the night in Harwich. No charge from October to April. The F7 later turned out to be an F8.

Day 2 Back out to Languard forecast S. F5/6 falling later. Very choppy at the headland , and we set off with staysail only , making 4kts sog. against a 1.5kt tide. Things eased gradually during the day , and after using almost every sail combination we arrived in Lowestoft , Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club 8 hours later. Good point...the Dennis/Russell inspired lazy jacks worked faultlessly.

Day 3/4 Lowestoft to Wells...57miles. With a tricky entrance , recommended HW plus or minus 2hours , we did not want to miss the tide , so allowed 19 hours. Starting with light S winds we sailed goose winged with the genoa poled out. We rigged a "lash up" preventer using the kicking strap rig , anchored to the mast stay turnbuckle.....this worked remarkably well , although I was a bit concerned over the short lever arms , and consequential
high loads. Winds picked up during the night ending at F6 and backed SE , so we had the wind on our tail for the whole trip. The result was we arrived 5 hours early. We then checked how Minnie liked being hove to.....the answer
is quite well...and with a fully reefed main and staysail we jogged back and forth at about 1kt whilst the tide moved us along from Blakeney to Wells. We
crossed the bar 3 hours before HW and slowly motored in with the tide ,mooring on the pontoons by the HM office .

Good trip in testing conditions , and appetite whetted for more coastal cruising next year. After hauling out and towing home I noticed that the rudder has water sloshing around inside the casing , tomorrow I will be posting a plea for information on tackling this issue ,,, under "rudder problems"

Ian

[Dennis]

Launched Mary Ann for the 2014 season yesterday.

The weather was grim, 5C, misty and a perishing easterly blowing, at least I thought it can only get better than this.

It took 90 mins to rig the boat and raise the mast from scratch single handed.

Launch (again single handed) was accomplished without any drama.

Only mod this season is a new companionway garage, a "blind" version without the polycarbonate skylight. The original one leaked, and was redundant anyway, as it was covered with a solar panel.

Looking forward to some good weather and sailing.

[erbster]

Launched Aurora at Suffolk Yacht Harbour on the river Orwell today. A bit of fun and games in the crosswind, but my outboard skills were soon refreshed. Henry the Honda started second pull, which was a relief. First Mate and I tucked up aboard ready for some "Secret Water" sailing first thing tomorrow.

[Greybeard]

First sail in Falcon today We arrived at Kielder yesterday afternoon to find rain and a 27-30knt westerly. It had, I was told, been gusting to 38 during the day. The jetty I was going to tie up to overnight had waves breaking over it - and this is an inland lake! Suffice to say, Falcon sat on her trailer overnight.
Rigging out took a while longer than the Drascombe does, but I could do that with my eyes closed now.
Around 2 to 2 1/2 hours from scratch, which included deciding which bits to alter for the next time.
Today was grand weatherwise, though the wind was variable this afternoon. Anywhere from a nice 8knts to 0.
Needless to say, I'm not in the slightest bit disappointed in my choice of boat ---- and the stupid grin should fade by around 11pm
Hopefully I'll be meeting up with Dennis tomorrow for some more sea-miles to be clocked up.

Steve

[Dennis]

Hopefully I'll be meeting up with Dennis tomorrow for some more sea-miles to be clocked up.

Steve

Hello Steve

I look forward to it. I'll bring the sunshine and gentle breeze with me.

[erbster]

Left Suffolk Yacht Harbour with First Mate (elder daughter) and sailed around Horsey Island to anchor overnight in a "hole" in the creek. Returned to Levington this afternoon. Wind varied from F0 to F4, bright sun. Priceless.

[Dennis]

Just back from the second of two days sailing on Kielder Water.

Sailed in company with Steve (Greybeard) Shone who was having his first trip out with "Falcon".

Great fun was had by all. No doubt Steve will be along soon to tell his side of the story.

[David Peck]

Secret Water

Left Suffolk Yacht Harbour with First Mate (elder daughter) and sailed around Horsey Island to anchor overnight in a "hole" in the creek. Returned to Levington this afternoon. Wind varied from F0 to F4, bright sun. Priceless.

Charles, did you actually do a complete circumnavigation of Horsey Island?

David Peck
CC94 Whistling Rufus

[Greybeard]

Just back from the second of two days sailing on Kielder Water.

Sailed in company with Steve (Greybeard) Shone who was having his first trip out with "Falcon".

Great fun was had by all. No doubt Steve will be along soon to tell his side of the story.

Not 'arf! My first days out with Falcon reassured me, and Mrs GB, that we had indeed made the right choice of boat - but you all knew that anyway.
Having experienced a variety of wind conditions (meteorologically speaking) over the three days I now have a pretty good feel for what she'll do - and she coped admirably with some serious pushing when I should really have had a reef or two in It really isn't ladylike for a cruising yacht to expose her undersides to that extent, but at least it did give the port side rubbing strake a thorough wash
Thanks go to Dennis for his helpful advice and pointers. I know he took a stack of pictures over the two days and once they arrive I'll post a couple.
The last day was magnificently rounded off by the sight of an osprey taking a sizeable trout and circling over the boat for quite a while with his prize before soaring away.

Once again, my thanks to Dennis for his splendid company and a first class couple of days.

Steve