Busy, busy, busy

Well another weekend arrives and I'm out once more, this looks to be an exceptional year, although I'm still providing my skipper with a few issues to keep him on his toes.

The sun was out and the winds fairly light but there was a vast number of yachts out in the Solent, I had watched a few arrive in the Medina river the previous evening. My skipper arrived at my pontoon, with two people and then two more and two more, I had heard that skip had spotted a sea horse whilst getting the dinghy ready for launch !  Some people clearly hadn't been on board before, as a safety briefing was given and how to put on life jackets and use my heads etc. With sun screen rubbed in hats dished out, skip eased me off the pontoon and we headed out.  The Solent had about three different yacht races going on and the colourful sight of all the kites was a warning that it was going to be busy out there.  Skip, with a colleague, manually hoisted the main, whilst another tailored the winch.  Then when almost fully raised used the repaired electric winch to complete the lift.

With the wind light and going lighter, plus the approach of yet another car transporter, I was kept over close to Norris point and close to Osborne Bay. Eventually with the tide making up for most of my speed and the fact that we had a late start, the engine went on and I was pointed in to the Bay for a lunchtime stop.  It must have been my Skippers birthday as a cake came out for him.  With everyone suitably fed, plates washed and stowed, I was led across the main channel to the other side near the Bramble Bank.  The theory behind this I believe, was that Thor, the G2 Gennaker, came out and soon I powered up and was passing others that struggled to make progress.  However as I approached Cowes the wind shifted slightly and I was heading more northerly, so the decision to return to the pontoon was made.  Now the fairway is a busy place at the best of times, but there's still the idiots who come in on their mains and then have to drop them within restricted water, getting in the way of others, no wonder I hear the ferries blasting away five quick blasts almost every weekend since I've returned to my berth.

Skipper ran the crew back to the shore and returned to sort out my halyards, sheets, stow the main, gas off and the usual list of jobs once we've been out.

Although the weather was good, it was a shame that there wasn't more consistent wind to enable me to stretch my legs and show the whole crew what I'm capable of, or better still get the code 0 out.

My wind generator hasn't returned yet, since the manufacturers told my skipper to return it together with the controller as allegedly it had burnt out. So not sure what's happening with that as now my only source of charging up the batteries is by running my engine or if I'm taken to a marina, am sure it'll be sorted soon.