⛵ Sailing Yacht Decision and Crew

Simpson Lawrence vertical windlass, purchased s/h from a POG club member, thought it’s time I got it fitted, give my ageing muscles a break from pulling it up from the sea bed, it’s been in the locker for two months, finally got it installed today Operation video   Installation Video

Sailing back into Portsmouth, 2 weeks out, a significant series of events that will now change the future of our sailing activities, Chris has decided that after 25 years plus it’s time to call it a day for anymore long sailing trips, crazy very tiring middle of the night starts to get tidal flows and fair winds has become a real challenge, one of-the main factors is the UK weather due to changes in the jet stream flow heights which have brought significantly stronger and more frequent winds, the cruising in these adverse conditions affects both of us and can be a real spoiler, so for the future we will limit our cruising grounds to the Solent only. We have had a great run of many exciting trips with nothing to prove, we have experienced all there is in sailing ⛵️

  I have caught these on a bread flake pinched onto a hook, nothing else, no float or weights, just cast onto the waters surface, sport only though I’m afraid, they don’t make very good eating!

Another early start picking the best day weather wise to get us back into the Solent, we aimed to get all the way back to our base at POG in Portsmouth harbour, it’s been a long day and it became clear we were going to loose the tide to get back, so we diverted and went into the Marina at Cowes motoring all the way up to Newport, we will stay overnight and another early start to sail to POG in the morning   

Relaxing before moving on  

Strong winds overnight plus a visit from an unfriendly seal, as we were getting into bed there was a commotion at the back of the boat, lots of splashing sea and the dinghy was lifting out of the water, I went to investigate and a large seal was busy beating up the dinghy, quite a funny site although they are known for their strong teeth and jaw, worried he was going to bite it burst the tubes, checked it over this morning and all is fine, although we have spotted him/her fishing, so hoping it’s not attacked again🤞