Good if somewhat Queasy Start

Good morning everyone,

Sorry not to have been in touch for a bit I was sick and not feeling up to it, it was a bit calmer this morning so I’ve been getting on with some jobs and now that I came to do this, the winds veering and picking up a bit.

Anyway, I left the dock a at 1000 on Sunday, passing a ketch which had just sunk on it’s berth, and picked up a buoy, on my third attempt. A photographer, a contact of Charlene’s took some photos and by 1120 when no one else had set off I slipped the buoy and headed towards the main channel, once there I put up the main with one reef and then some headsail and stopped the engine. Hannah appeared following me then Lazy Otter and AJ Wander lust. I headed towards the upwind end of the line (the start was between the W end of the breakwater and a red buoy), and crossed it at about 1200, the others were all some way behind, I’d put out full genoa and we beat to the Eddystone rock which we have to leave to starboard. I maintained then increased my lead, Lazy Otter overtook AJ Wanderlust at one point and Hannah disappeared off on starboard tack ahead but down wind of the others, I tacked 3 times and past the rock at about 1515 with no one else in sight, freed off, too much in fact and had to harden up again, the wind was SWly around 14 kts with a 3m sea. Visibility not great with some slight mist. I stayed on that tack all afternoon, eating a potato I’d cooked in the morning then bringing it back up about an hour later.

At Dusk AJ Wanderlust overtook me some miles to the North. Overnight the wind veered and I was slow to notice and harden up so ended up ducking inside the Scillies once clear of the traffic separation scheme.

Wet bouncy and sick overnight. Not a nice day. Guido, Ertan and I spoke at about 0900 and I gave Ertan some weather as he’s not getting it on the satelite. A gale warning came in for Fastnet. I ended up with 3 reefs in the main and the smaller staysail set. This was a mistake, I’d thought it was the larger one but wasn’t thinking clearly, as the wind was still picking up I left it but in the afternoon with the wind back to about 22 kts it was a bit small but I wasn’t feeling up to all the work of changing it. I brought it down at around sunset and went back to the genoa with 2 reefs in it. I managed a tin of soup for dinner and it stayed put, Hurrah! It’s quite wet down below, a lot of water comes down the hatch after a wave passes over the deck, also, disappointingly, some comes through the vents. This is odd, I’d blanked off the vent heads and put corks in the drains so there shouldn’t be much water getting into the vent box and the inlet to the cabin is quite well raised so I don’t understand how this is working, I wondered if I’d missed drain holes on the forward face but I hadn’t. Overnight it was quite bangy at times as we came off waves and a fishing boat passed quite close.

Cheers

Jock

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