Weather: hot and sunny, not much wind in the Itchen

Surprisingly we are off. After a busy winter where Sally didn’t get much of a look in we have spent the last 10 days polishing top sides, daubing antifoul, regreasing seacocks and doing rudimentary engine things. Its time to leave home and go sailing or we will miss the season. The last two days have been spent manically gatherings boat things from around the house while Pete has been building me a poop deck so that I can see over the top of the new spray hood. Last season I was perched on two yoga blocks which was ok when dry and sailing on flat seas but when wet and heeled in a blow they added a whole new precariousness to sailing.

James drove us and a car load of stuff to the boatyard and by 3pm we has stowed enough to loose lines and set off for Cowes, our first stop. We knew the tide would turn foul at 6pm and the weather had no horrors forecast but that’s about all the passage planning we had done. The engine coughed intermittently, signalling a need for new fuel filters, the wind was a lovely 15 knots but we were still in the Itchen and past experience told us it would be stronger in Southampton Water and stronger still in the Solent. We had not yet rigged our reefing lines so motored all the way while compiling a list of everything we had forgotten to pack. Me: Brompton shopping bag. Pete: his wet weather gear ..oh and his thermals. We really are not ready for this trip.

We shared our passage with two cruise liners leaving Southampton and as we rounded the Bramble Bank trying to keep out of their way while not going too far out of ours we must have been cutting it too close. Today’s photo is of the Harbour Master’s launch with blue flashing lights bearing down on us.

Tomorrow we will be better sailors, lots of room for improvement there then.

Arriving at the Folly we were spotted by our friend Roger on another boat and it was great to catch up with him and sit outside the folly in the evening sunshine.