Back on board

It seems a long time since I was last on Jelly Bean. Apart from a brief afternoon sail with the father in law in the middle of Aug it has been 6 weeks! Holidays, cars and family commitments have all taken their toll on my sailing schedule.

Time to get back to it... but in a gentle way. Today was perfect sailing weather. A bit of sun, calm water and a fairly steady F3. I had no agenda but I knew I didn't want to leave the habour so decided to beat up towards Poole town. The tide was rushing out so progress was slow, I lost count of how many tacks I had to do to get to the top of Brownsea. I had company though, this Gaffer and a rather nice Anderson 22 were also beating up the harbour.

I hadn't been to Shipstall point before and people keep telling me it's a nice spot so I rummaged around for a map and set my course for the Wych channel. Even though I had plenty of water I decided to stick to the channel and actually plan a route. Probably a good habit to get into. I was soon at Shipstall point with a handful of other boats, I dropped the anchor and got the kettle on.

I had also decided that today I would learn some new knots. I usually just make them up and hope they hold. I can currently tie a 'bowline' a 'clove hitch' a 'reef knot' a ' riggers knot' and a 'figure of eight knot'. Today I was going to learn how to tie a Sheet bend and a rolling hitch.

The sheet bend (double sheet bend), above, is unbelievably easy and I can't believe I've never learnt it before. I think it will get used a lot! The rolling hitch, below, is a great knot as it will grip the white line if you try to pull it to the right but it will also slide left along to white line making it useful for slackening a jambed winch (I'm sure I'll think of some other uses).

Shipstall Point was every bit as nice as had been promised. The Western edges of the harbour are a real treasure with lots of channels and hidden away anchorages.

After a very chilled couple of hours and a quick walk around Arne I pulled up the hook and made my way back to the mooring.
It's great to get back into it, can't wait for the next time.