Have you been out today?

[Dennis]

[font="Arial Black"]5/9/12[/font]

Brilliant morning, lake like glass, not a cloud in sky.

Pork sausages and fried egg for breakfast in cockpit. great!

Super sail back down lake, broad reach/running at mainly 5 kts in F2-3 westerly.

Seven reaches north and south across the lake (each 1 Nm) just for the hell of it.

Excellent day.

Distance covered: 12 Nm.
Max speed: 5.9 kts
Average speed: 3.3 kts

[Dennis]

Another good day in the Republic of Northumberland.

Warm, around 21C.
Wind initially F1 SE. then F0, then F2 W, then F0, then F2 increasing to F4 S. then F5 W the day finished with F3 SW.

Started with full mainsail + staysail + yankee. Finished with one reef in mainsail + staysail only, with lots of variations in between.

Sailing on KW is never boring!

16.7 Nm covered with a max of 6.3 kts

[Dennis]

An exhilarating sail today.

Wind generally F5 westerly with sustained gusts of F7. Unfortunately the gusts were usually accompanied by wind shifts of up to 40 degrees!

Beat for 6 Nm into wind using staysail + single reefed mainsail.

A cracking 4Nm run using double reefed mainsail + staysail, surfing at 6.9 Kts (according to GPS) with 6 kts being sustained for long periods.

Two 1 Nm beam reaches (still double reefed mainsail + staysail) at generally 5kts.

Total distance 13.25 Nm.

Doing my best to make the most of it, before the end of the season.

PS. apologies for the typo in the title (it should be Kielder Water. (dont seem to be able to edit the title )

[erbster]

Record launch time at Northney (family teamwork improving!) and spent Saturday at the Boat Show. Sunday, we followed the tide down to Hayling Island Sailing Club on a Westerly breeze- Main, Staysail and Yankee. Wind picked up adn we ran towards Itchenor and then up to Bosham for lunch on main and staysail. After A little explore beyond Itchenor almost to Birdham, playing dodge the moorings, we turned and beat back with the tide. Wind had picked up considerably, so we beat on single reefed main and staysail and then reached back to Northney on reefed main and staysail and later full main and yankee. Always seems to be low tide when I recover the boat!

[Dennis]

Just back from another day on the boat.

Only 5C when I boarded at 10.45, the mist having only just lifted.

A gentle easterly F1-2 blowing. (The coldest direction).

Slipped mooring at approx 11.05 and motored into main lake.

Used yankee + staysail and one reef in mainsail.
Ran the whole length of the lake (using tiller pilot) and rounded the buoy at Bakethin at 12.35. Brewed up and had lunch on way, one of the benefits of having a tiller pilot.

A good beat back down the lake plus a couple of reaches across the widest point.

Back on mooring at 15.50.

16.1 Nm travelled, Ave speed 3.5 kts.

Every outing now is possibly the last one of the season, boat has to be out of the water by the end of October. Two week holiday in Spain before then, so not much time left.

[x-man12345]

Had a lovely sail today. Last one for a while as we are back to work next week.
Sailed over to Rosemullion and had our late lunch anchored of Flat rocks (Meudon Beach).
Saw another Cape Cutter as we were passing the Docks. White hull, we think it had 41 on her sails. We were the blue CC19 with the fenders down (whoops).
5 - 5.5 knots across the bay, one reef, stay sail and Yankee.
Full main on the way back.
Great afternoon out.

[erbster]

A very exciting weekend for our family on Aurora. Departed Northney on Saturday and had a lovely reach on main and staysail in NW F3 over to the Isle of Wight. Beached the boat near Bembridge and the children did some beach combing in the sun. After an hour or so, the tide lifted us off and we motored into Bembridge.

After a pub meal and a comfortable night aboard, we left Bembridge on Sunday as soon as there was enough water. Wind v light but strengthened steadily to SW5/6 as forecast. Started on main and yankee, shortened to main and staysail, then main only (easier gybing- one to helm and the other to control the mainsheet) and finally reefed main. Long run with just two gybes into Chichester with some exhilarating surfing down the waves.

Total distance 32nm. Avg speed 4kt, max speed 7kt(!).

Fabulous weekend. How many more can we squeeze in?

[Chris Wicks]

I like to hear about some of the day sails and longer passages that have been made. Here in Greece I moved Kaliope from the Aegean mooring at Platanias (South Pelion) to another mooring in the Pagastic Gulf in Milina (South Pelion) in mid September. This is a 23nm passage around the foot of the Pelion Peninsular staying just off shore from headland to headland. I was joined by a couple for friends including Tim a retired P&O Captain. Always good for some stories. As we headed into the gulf the wind suddenly increased to F6/7. As it was directly on the nose we motor sailed for the next hour and a half with 2 reefs in the main and staysail. If you had thown buckets of sea water over yourself non stop for all that time you would get the idea. There were 1 meter + waves and a steep short chop. It was exhilarating. Really we should have borne away a bit and just sailed but as it was a long passage we kept Kaliope motor sailing as close to the wind as we could fill the sails.

Now after several great but pretty windless sails in the gulf we have laid Kaliope up for the winter. It is the earliest ever, but we have quite a lot to do. From 18th October we will be at Chichester (near Bosham) for 3 weeks but without a boat. If anyone is near by and fancies meeting up for a pint do call. 0797 4246262

Happy end of sailing to you all

Chris

[Ru88ell]

Yes, I'm out again! I'm spending a week recuperating from my angioplasty, so having an easy week on the East Coast. I launched on the Orwell around lunchtime today. A little more wind would have been useful, but I'm currently anchored in the Walton Backwaters. What a fabulous spot. Check the blog for some pics.

[Ru88ell]

Sailed from the Walton backwaters to Brightlingsea. Most of the day was superbly sunny, but there was an hour in dense fog, with me doing the fog horn noises! More on the blog - with pictures.