Tag Archives: cowes

Day Three in the sunny Solent

Another beautiful day started very early in Lymington. Paul up at 6.30 to get the porridge on!

Underway at about 8.30 so we could get all the way over to Chichester Harbour – there in time for lunch on the go!
All the boys having a go at steering (helming being the correct nautical term) tacking and pulling the sails in and out (the non nautical term!).

The weather is making things very comfortable but we really need more wind to appreciate how the boat should sail efficiently without any power.

I am glad to report that my balance system is coping well and I don’t mind walking about on the moving boat as long as there is something to hold onto. Sleeping has been variable depending on the marina and whether big boats and ferries are going in and out all night long!

We’ve just had fish and chips in Cowes again and now we are off for a little night sail when it is dark enough and will be sleeping in Hamble tonight.

I think we deserve a little lie-in tomorrow as it’s been a very full day.

10 hours on the water

A long day today and it isn’t over. We were up in Lymington at 6.30 so that we had time to make it all the way over to Chichester and back to Cowes. So 9.5 hours and about 56nm altogether.

Tonight we’re going to sail over to Hamble after the sun sets so everyone gets to experience sailing at night – not necessary for comp crew but another example of how we’ve done more than the course requires.

Wish us luck!

Monday night in Cowes

Today the wind was very poor so we took the opportunity to practice some basic manoeuvres in calm conditions. Pick up buoy, reversing on to a pontoon like they do in the med, and mooring up and slipping off a training pontoon in the Medina. We were able to practice this several times.

We currently moored up at East Cowes Marina. Facilities very good and tomorrow we expect to sail up the Beaulieu River and then across to Yarmouth.

Here’s a link to our current location