Woke up to a rainy, windy morning so as we headed down the Medina we put one reef in the mainsail to find that one of the reefing lines was not led through the jammer correctly, so it was good that we had the opportunity to check this out. Once out of Cowes it was …
We were up early and caught the ebb out of the harbour and motored and sailed a bit all the way to the Folly on the Medina. No problems and as it was a Monday it was very quiet with plenty of space to moor on the dead pontoon opposite the pub. We blew up …
Had a day chilling out, just reading books and watching the world go by. Some racing in the harbour that came quite close to us but otherwise we weren’t disturbed.
We waited for the tide to rise and as soon as we were more or less certain we could leave safely, we motored out of the harbour. In fact there was plenty of water and as a little breeze came in we tried sailing towards Chichester Harbour but the wind soon disappeared and we motored …
We had already decided to take the bus into Ryde for some shopping and a mooch around. There was no wind out in the eastern Solent so we weren’t missing any sailing!! After coffee and a snack to fortify ourselves we wandered around, explored the secondhand book shops and bought a few provisions. Back on …
After leaving Newtown Creek we motored slowly with the tide towards Bembridge. We didn’t want to arrive too early as there would not be enough water to clear the bar at the entrance. Off Cowes we were surprised by 5 blasts from a ship’s horn followed by 5 guns being fired from the Yacht Squadron. …
After a peaceful night, we walked into town and did some shopping and dropped by the chandlers, Force4, to buy a 2022 Reeds Almanac a few other odds and ends and ask when our liferaft would be re-delivered after servicing. It seems we will have to wait another week or so. Anne, with her bad …
After taking the old batteries to the ”tip”, Anne drove back to Marchwood where Richard had Harvard all ready to sail. The start of our shakedown cruise. There was no wind, but we hoisted the mainsail anyway just to check all the reefing lines were led correctly and then motored down Southampton Water and caught …
Our old batteries had died a death after 8 years plus of abuse which is not bad for sealed lead acid batteries on a sailing boat so Richard spent the day fitting new AGM batteries. Of course they are not the same size as the old batteries so some adjustment of the battery fixing arrangements …
As there was not much wind and it was blowing in the right direction we quickly bent on the sails and continued loading and putting away. Unfortunately it started drizzling with rain and as Anne was stepping down on to the pontoon she slipped and twisted her knee. Richard, as part of the maintenance committee, …
