Sailing around The Sound

General weather - Southerly 3-4, 1-2m swell in exposed areas. Good visibility.

Total time afloat - 03:41 hrs

Total distance taken from GPS tracker - 20.5km

Today was another test day to see if I could launch and recover without assistance, as well as test out other things on the boat.

Launching -

I used the defender to launch at the east slipway at MBC. This is the shallowest of the slipways but I had taken so long to actually get ready the tide had gone out too far for me to attempt the west slipway.

After getting the trailer in the water, launching was relatively easy, although I did get a little water in the wellies as I jumped aboard. I had to put the boat on the pontoon so that I could recover the landy and trailer from the slipway. This didn't go quite as planned as I still have to get used to driving the boat with the small outboard. Oh well that's what fenders are for I guess.

Getting ready -

At the moment I still like to raise the sails and get ready for actually sailing on a swinging mooring where there is less chance of doing damage to me or anything else.

I tried to lower the centreboard, but it seemed to be stuck. After trying to waggle the recovery rope and consulting with Mr Lerigo, I had to take the cover off and try to figure out what was wrong. It turned out to be a problem with the pulley system, in that the rope had jumped off a wheel. A little fiddling and it was sorted. May have to look at replacing the rope if it happens too often. The screws holding down the cover don't seem to be very well secured.

As the wind was a little higher than previous sails, I decided to test out the reefing system. I needed to put some small ropes in the sail but it worked as expected.

At 1230hrs I finally set off for a tour of The Sound and environs.

My first plan was to go to Picklecombe, Bovisand, Jennycliff and back home. As it happened I ended up in Cawsand bay.

While being rocked about by a good sized swell I let out the anchor, after first making sure the lines were all attached to something.

Wasn't too bad sitting at anchor even in the swell. I think it was made better by making sure the line was attached to the D ring at the bow rather than on top of the deck.

The sail back was uneventful.

Recovery -

Recovery was wetter than the launch. A lot wetter.

The tide was now rising and there was a stiff breeze across the slipway. Neither of these conditions made for a dry recovery. After getting the landrover and trailer in position I drove the boat round using the outboard.

I tried to put the boat straight onto the trailer but of course it was having none of it. I eventually had to stand on the trailer to try and pull the hull unto the correct alignment. Unfortunately the side wind was making this unrealistic and I had to get into the water way above the top of my wellies and indeed my underwear.

I managed it okay but will definitely be using my dry trousers from now on.

All in all though a good days sailing and I expect to go further once I have more and more sorted out.