Weymouth Cruise.
The Castle Cove ferry came out to pick me up and the BBQ was on. Castle Cove SC is a lovely club with great facilities. £8 for a mooring, ferry out & back and a BBQ.. That's a good deal. On top of that it's got great views... Fantastic. We finished up at about 10:30 and was back on the boat and in bed by 11. The plan for Sunday was to leave by 7am as we needed to be round St Aldhelm by 12 noon. As JB is quite slow and I don't like using the motor I prepared to be up and gone by 5am to give myself a fighting chance.
The alarm went off at 0430 so up I got put the kettle on and went outside for a stretch . As you can see, it was a beautiful morning but there was not one ripple on the water. The Forecast was for F3 & F4 with a possibility of F6. I had a cuppa and some beans for breakfast, put the sails up and was free of the mooring by 0545. There was enough breeze to fill the sails and with the tide I was drifting along at 1.5 - 2knots. Not a lot but with stronger wind forecast it would do.
Around 0730 JinTan and Lapwing motored out of the harbour. I decided to stick with them so on went the motor and thats how it stayed for the next 3 hours. This picture looks so relaxing but you can't hear or smell the engine! We were actually doing 5.5 to 6knots at this point. Steve on Lapwing hung a fishing line over the transom but I didn't fancy his chances of catching anything at that speed.... well nothing you want to come face to face with anyway!
We got the St Aldelm by about 1030 and continued to motor round, I stopped the engine a couple of times just to see if there was any winds.
Finally it started to fill in. Only a little at first but by the time I got to peveril point it was a consistant F3. The sailing was lively from here on and I was back through the harbour entrance within the hour. An enjoyable weekend but I'd rather not make so much use of the motor.
On Saturday I joined the East Dorset SC cruise to Castle Cove SC in Portland Harbour. The High tide was 0950 so that's when we planned to leave, It's not often that I leave that late in the morning.
There was about half a dozen boats going.. Jelly Bean was definitely the smallest. As we left the harbour the wind was not great but F3 and F4 was forecast so we'd soon get going. Out by old Harry the wind picked up as promised and we were off. It was a little lumpy but quite quick.. 6 or 7 knots all the way. One of the boats dropped out here as a crew member didn't like the conditions.
There was about half a dozen boats going.. Jelly Bean was definitely the smallest. As we left the harbour the wind was not great but F3 and F4 was forecast so we'd soon get going. Out by old Harry the wind picked up as promised and we were off. It was a little lumpy but quite quick.. 6 or 7 knots all the way. One of the boats dropped out here as a crew member didn't like the conditions.
The fleet was quite split up already and it was hard to tell who was who. We were taking the outer route to avoid the Overfalls, as I approached the Lulworth outer range the wind died. I spent 1/2 an hour trying to catch any whisper but then decided it was time to put the kettle on.
As soon as I put the kettle on this fella turned up on the horizon... Bugger, I haven't got enough tea bags!
Eventually I had to start the engine, otherwise I'd never get there. I'd motored for 10 mins at a time, stop and look for 
the wind. I used the spinniker pole to pole out the jib, this gave me about 2.5Knots in places. As I got nearer to Portland the wind filled in again and the last hour was much better, getting 4 or 5knots. Once through the gate I was expecting it to be much calmer in the harbour but the wind picked up more and the water became much choppier. Picking up a mooring in this was quite interesting with full sail up and plenty of moored boats around!
the wind. I used the spinniker pole to pole out the jib, this gave me about 2.5Knots in places. As I got nearer to Portland the wind filled in again and the last hour was much better, getting 4 or 5knots. Once through the gate I was expecting it to be much calmer in the harbour but the wind picked up more and the water became much choppier. Picking up a mooring in this was quite interesting with full sail up and plenty of moored boats around!
The Castle Cove ferry came out to pick me up and the BBQ was on. Castle Cove SC is a lovely club with great facilities. £8 for a mooring, ferry out & back and a BBQ.. That's a good deal. On top of that it's got great views... Fantastic. We finished up at about 10:30 and was back on the boat and in bed by 11. The plan for Sunday was to leave by 7am as we needed to be round St Aldhelm by 12 noon. As JB is quite slow and I don't like using the motor I prepared to be up and gone by 5am to give myself a fighting chance.
The alarm went off at 0430 so up I got put the kettle on and went outside for a stretch . As you can see, it was a beautiful morning but there was not one ripple on the water. The Forecast was for F3 & F4 with a possibility of F6. I had a cuppa and some beans for breakfast, put the sails up and was free of the mooring by 0545. There was enough breeze to fill the sails and with the tide I was drifting along at 1.5 - 2knots. Not a lot but with stronger wind forecast it would do.Once outside the harbour the breeze dropped of again and the sea began to resemble a mirror.
Around 0730 JinTan and Lapwing motored out of the harbour. I decided to stick with them so on went the motor and thats how it stayed for the next 3 hours. This picture looks so relaxing but you can't hear or smell the engine! We were actually doing 5.5 to 6knots at this point. Steve on Lapwing hung a fishing line over the transom but I didn't fancy his chances of catching anything at that speed.... well nothing you want to come face to face with anyway!We got the St Aldelm by about 1030 and continued to motor round, I stopped the engine a couple of times just to see if there was any winds.
Finally it started to fill in. Only a little at first but by the time I got to peveril point it was a consistant F3. The sailing was lively from here on and I was back through the harbour entrance within the hour. An enjoyable weekend but I'd rather not make so much use of the motor. 
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