Another weekend in Studland Bay. I know we go here a lot, but it is great for the kids, and so convenient.

On the way down to the boat Ange told me she'd bought salad and new potatoes and a barbecue. I don't believe you can barbecue salad so I inferred from this that she was banking on us catching the rest of the meal. No pressure then.

Well on the way out of the harbour we put out the trolling line and soon had our first mackeral. We motor-sailed out slowly and headed towards Old Harry and caught a few more. Once we had 4 fish in the bucket we nosed in toward South Beach.

A big tide this weekend with low tide at 5pm on Saturday meant we could get in real close to South Beach with the keel up and take the ground. I decided to try drying out completely.

As the tide receded the wind went abeam and E Nino started to list to port a little. Having never dried out completely I was slightly nervous, although I think I hid it well. If nothing else but to satisfy my paranoia I got out the kedge anchor, laid it to starboard and attached the main halyard to it - that's the line you can see in the picture - and pulled it in tight. In the event it was unnecessary, the slight list was insignificant with no cause to worry.

Our friends Fitz, Emile and Bella had arranged to meet us on the beach for a barbecue. They arrived at low tide and so they were able to walk right up to the boat and step aboard!

While the boat was dry I cleaned the propeller and the speed sensor impeller. Oddly the new zinc anode I had attached to the prop shaft was missing. I find it hard to believe it had fallen off, and wonder if metal theives are now sporting aqualungs. The chandlery always advises not to fit these anodes until the morning of launch as they do go missing. But it was there when El Nino was craned into the water, so either two bolts have unfixed themselves, or something more untoward has taken place. Luckily there was already another, older, anode on the shaft and the cone anode was also still intact, with no sign of corrosion to the shaft itself.



Quite a novelty being able to beach the boat like this. Useful too, being able to check things like propeller and other usually submerged bits. But I don't think I'll make a habit of it - one side effect was that the boat became filthy as people couldn't wash their feet off before coming aboard. Think wet gloopy sand all over the place. Shudder.

After the tide had returned we decided to move the boat into deeper water for the night, and Ang wanted to anchor off Middle Beach where she was convinced the water was clearer. I wasn't convinced but it's usually best to agree. So before our guests departed they helped us move along to Middle Beach and anchor in sufficient water to see us afloat over night and at low water the following morning. I then rowed Fitz, Emile and Bella ashore.

The next morning Angela and Vassy swam ashore, while I rowed with the kids, and we had a welcome fry up breakfast at the cafe. The rest of the day was spent swimming and splashing around in the water.



On the way back to the harbour we caught five more mackeral (the last was caught as I was reeling in the line to put it away!).

It was nearly 7pm by the time we were back ashore, and after dinner in the pub, three exhausted kids slept on the way home in the car!

P.S. Forgot to report on the successful fixing of the large gas ring on the cooker. The ring has never stayed lit and suspecting a dodgy thermocouple I searched for a replacement for this aging Eno cooker. Found spares from a company in Southampton and it arrived last week. Took it to the boat last week but had problems removing the old thermocouple. Had to disconnect the burner and bring home to drill out the old thermocouple. The new one was actually slightly larger, so hole had to be drilled larger anyway. On reassembling back on board found that the new thermocouple stood too high and the nut prevented the burner top to sit properly. Quick fix was to remove top nut, tighten bottom night and push it down a bit. It works, and isn't going to drop out as there isn't room beneath, but isn't exactly tight. I don't think it's a problem but will think on a solution!