Sumara of Weymouth Blog

9th February Greenwich

Charlotte is now well ensconced in North Sweden with Svarte. When she asked Grit and I “How do you fancy a ski marathon?” of course we jumped at the opportunity. It was a few minutes later when I began to think, hang on I can’t do this cross country skiing malarky so maybe a marathon is a little bit ambitous. I mentioned it to my friend Hannah (who is off skiing in Canada all winter!) and she suggested we tried Roller Skiing in Hyde Park – www.rollerski.co.uk . So we did. I have actually been Cross Country skiing once before. That was with Charlotte while she was competing in the Swiss Engingen (that doesn’t look right) Marathon. I must admit I didn’t find it very easy and it was really really hard work.

I couldn’t remember any of the technique so I hoped the Roller Skiing lesson would refesh me. Grit hadn’t tried it at all so she was starting from fresh. More importantly I was hoping that after a two hour session there would be some pain somewhere and we could train to improve our fitness in that area. There are two types of Cross Country Skiing – Classic and Skating. Luckily the Swedish Marathon, that we had now been entered for, is all Classic. Classic is, apparently, quicker to learn the basics although it takes a lifetime to perfect. Skating technique is harder to learn the basics but takes less time to perfect. We arrived at the Rollerski.co.uk van in Hyde Park having pre-booked a Saturday morning session. They have a very organised van and instructors on hand. It was a little bit odd because we had three different teachers in one two hour session and I think, as beginners, it would have been best to stick with one instructor. Nevertheless, they went through everything, firstly without rollerskis then, tentively, with them. The Classic Rollerskis have ratchets in the wheels to simulate the sticky wax on the real skis. There is no real need to force the centre of the ski down to get grip but the instructors were very insistant that we transfered our weight from one leg to the other. After half an hour we were tetering about on the devices. I never felt very balanced and, with tarmac all around, a fall would hurt a bit. As it happened we did not fall at all.

After the session sadly there was no pain! So we were still unable to predict what was going to hurt first on the real thing. Our suspicions were our stomach muscles because of all the double poling. We booked another session with the same company but this time a full day at Eton Dorney. Eton Dorney is a rowing lake owned by Eton College and used for the Olympic Rowing. As the Thames has been in continuous flood for so long the lake is currently being used by all the local rowing clubs unable to use the river. The place was packed. We were trying to Rollerski while the coaches were cycling along with their loud hailers. There were some heated remarks! This time we had just one instructor called “oh Boff what a rubbish memory I have” and she was excellent. Full of enthusiasm and patience with some nice teaching techniques. I’m still rubbish but it was no fault of her! This time, although still no pain, it became clear that at lot of core muscles were being used as double poling seemed to be the way to get around at speed along the flat.

Our friend Siggi from Isafjordur in Iceland was visiting London so we met up for a drink at The Grapes overlooking the Thames. Siggi runs Borea Adventures, a company specialising in yachting and skiing holidays (combined too!), so I asked him what will hurt first in a marathon and he said “lower back” without a second thought.

Our plane leaves from London City Airport to Stockholm on Monday morning so I had my last British Military Fitness session this morning. It was good, no aches and pains and I felt quite perky. We have been running 11-13 miles each Sunday and will do one last long run tomorrow. Tomorrow we will meet up with Maxime from Russia – more of that later.

We are looking forward to seeing Charlotte and Svarte and even tentitivly looking forward to the Ski Marathon.

Liam and John all clean before the muddy race

The posh mansion we rented over Christmas. It even had a washing up machine!

The River Torridge was over its banks

23rd December 2012. For the Christmas period this year a group of 12 of us are staying in a mansion in Torquay. Selma managed to find the place and it is pretty swish with a billiard room, chandeliers and a sweeping staircase. To avoid the usual over indulgence is was decided that the Christmas break would be an active one with runs, walks and a “Military Fitness Style” session on Chrismas Day. We also booked ourselves into the Torrington Christmas Caper held on the Sunday before Christmas. I have been really looking forward to it because it has a reputation for being very hilly and very very muddy. Sadly I damaged my calf muscle doing a fast little run in Greenwich Park on the Friday morning and was worried about entering it. I decided to go ahead with loads of Ibroprufen gel and a compression bandage. I promised myself to run through discomfort but to stop at pain. There were 350 people at the start and it wasn’t raining, although it had rained heavily the day before. The River Torrige was in full flood.  There was a great local atmosphere with most people knowing each other and a lot of runners dressed as fairies. However even in fancy dress they did look like a serious bunch of runners with quite a few people wearing tee shirts from Ultra Races.  The start gun went at about 1111am and we seemed to run downhill for a long way. That obviously means having to run uphill a long way too. It is a bit disheartening running behind a fairy and not being able to overtake! It wasn’t long before the race began to live up to it’s reputation with fairies and Santa’s wading thigh deep through muddy flooded roads. I like these conditions and my left leg was holding up well so we continued and a moderate pace. The race is only 9.5 miles so the half way jelly babies and water came nice and early. My second jelly baby got splashed with mud but in it went in any case. The second half was more hilly and had a little sting in its tail. At a checkpoint about 8 miles in they directed us over a fence and down what I can only describe as a deep muddy gully with a mini torrent in the bottom.Then there was a pretty tough long climb over soft heavy ground. Bizzarely my bad leg was great but by now my good leg was playing up with exactly the same thing. I wasn’t sure if I could run through it but I reduced the pace a bit and carried on. It finally packed up as I crossed the finish line with John. Now I just hope it will recover quickly so I can enjoy the rest of the Christmas activities

I’m not sure what our time was because we forgot to look but around 1hr 35 minutes seems to be the nearest guess. Thanks to all the organisers and marshalls for making it such a fun race.

We ended up in the Black Horse Torrington for a well earned lunch. Little Anna (3 years) entertained the whole pub by confidently, calmly and clearly explaining that she wants a pink tortoise for Christmas. They wished her luck.

The actual result  was1hr 31min 26 seconds. There seemed to be 215 finishers so I doubt my 350 starter figure was correct.

The full results for the Torrington Christmas Caper are below:

http://files.pitchero.com/clubs/16415/TAACChristmasCaper2012RESULTS.pdf

Snaefel from Sumara leaving Reykjavik for the Westman Isles

Sadly I’m not spending Christmas in Iceland this year but quite a few of my friends are, so I asked Gudrun if she had any tips. Well Gudrun has come up Trumps with a huge list of sugestions and advice which I have attached below.
Thank you so much for this I’m sure everyone will have a really great time.

“First of all – do not assume “things” will be open from around midday on the 24th until midday 26th – less than 5 years ago there were no or very few restaurants and shops open and the public transport didnt run at all! this is changing, but I dont quite know to what extent, so worth a warning!

As I dont know your interests or timings im just going to brainstorm!!!!

you have probably found these already, but :

www.visitreykjavik.is
http://www.straeto.is/english – these are the busses – maps times etc.
www.reykjavik.is – this is the official reykjavik sight, with all services etc – but allso events (probably the same set as on visitreykjavik.com

My favourite spots in town are
Perlan – nice 180 degree view – self serv caffe where you can get ice-cream – restaurant in the glass “pearl” , which is said to be quite good, dont know about the cost www.perlan.is – then there is a wee “forest” around the building, with paths and short walk down to the sea.
Nauthólsvík – is by the sea beneath the Perlan – there is a this is Reykjavik´s beach and people do go swimming there all year round and there is a special christmas/New Year mega swimming event. there is also a small pool which has an aditional hot spring source . there is also a nice new caffe/restaurant nearby
Harpan – nessesery to view and visit – caffe which im told is fine, and a restaurant, which is grand both food and price!
Hallgrímskirkja – you can go up to the top of the tower – great view and a bit more of the Reykjavik rooftop view than the Perlan.
Grasagardurin, Laugardal ( plus the Zoo) http://www.reykjavik.is/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-4392 – its a bit of a botanic garden and next door is a Zoo (I think a small collection of Icelandic animals rather than a traditional Zoo!!!) but a nice area to walk around, Cafe Flora http://cafeflora.is/?page_id=17 )sorry cant find enlish but this is the location) is an excellent café and do great food and close to one of the large swimming pools and ice-skating ring . a bus ride from the centre.
The National Museum is quite new and nice, with a caffe – its very good on the early history, but:
Árbæjarsafn – the open air museum is better on how Icelanders used to live – got a couple of “mud”-houses and a -church where i got married once up on the time
If you like walking – one can walk from Árbæjarsafn down to Perlan without crossing a road (took me about 2 hours) and then on the coastal path, round the peninsular , past villas and a golf curse, Grótta light house, which you can walk upto on low tide and need to be careful not to get stranded, then along the north coast , all the way to the harbour – or of course you can get the bus to any of those places and do a smaller part of the path.
SwimingPools are I think all good and all heated with geothermal water – most of them are outside
Its lovely to walk around the lake in the centre – surrounded with old houses and some of the older “public art” – and one of the art Galleries
On the eve of the 23rd – Þolláksmessa – all the shops are open til midnight and Laugavegur – the old shopping street is closed to traffic and heaving with people, walking, singing, shopping, playing instruments, possibly giving away hot chocolate. there is usually “classical concert” on the balcony of “Sólon Íslandus” ( a caffé close to the town centre end of the street)

restaurants – caffes http://www.restaurants.is

Sægreifinn – www.saegreifinn.is by the harbour – definitely worth a visit! got a great story to it
http://www.forrettabarinn.is/ – these seam like icelandic sushi – small tasty tasters – easy going surrounding
www.vegamot.is has been suggested to me as a fun/good bistro
Cafe Paris in the centre is one of the older ones and is steady good
Grandakaffi – Grandavegi 10 on the harbour – this one is one of my old favourites – it has not changed since the 70´s 80´s – uesd to open at 5 in the morning and only fishermen and eccentrics go there, but it has a great view of the fishing boats and more active part of the harbour – do old fashioned cakes and “kleinur” – also open sandwiches
Mokka kaffi – http://www.mokka.is/Mokka.html is also one of the old favourites – tiny – usually full of old eccentrics form the art scene – the nations favourite for “hot chocolate and waffles with jam and cream”
Laundromat Cafe | Austurstræti 9, 101 Reykjavík – a bit trendy, arty – based on a Danish concept and has a laundrette and a children’s playground in the basement
Geysi- http://www.geysirbistrobar.is/ this is in one of the old houses in the old centre and I think very popular and reasonably prised – there are lots in thos old houses but I dont know them – some are quite expensive, but probably good – one is opposite where I am staying and I have only been in for a glas of wine called :
Fjalarkötturinn www.fjalakotturinn.is – nice bar area atmos
Fiskfélagið – www.fiskfelagid.is has been suggested to me, but I havent been – “the fishing association”
Þrír Frakkar – http://3frakkar.com – “three overcoats” – this is one of the steady good ones – set up by one of our Jamy Olivers and has been at the top for a long while, but i am told quite reasonably prised

food:
hangikjöt – smoked lamb – must
Icelandic lamb is usually very very nice
Kjötsúpa ö is the traditional lamb stew – not easy to come by in restaurants, but worth a try if you do
fish is usually good and cooked well, but probably just as expensive as meat
a lot of places do really good substantial soups – like seafood soups, with nice bread,
Sigin Skata – Skate – this refers to a dish which is nowadays pretty much only cooked on the 23rd of Dec and stinks like ammoniac – definitely acquired taste, but an absolut must yearly experience for a lot of Icelanders.
Shark – this is at the top of the things that might stretch your tolerance! – i would say worth a try!!!
Soured whale – less smelly and not a very strong taste – more of a texture
Dry fish – I like it just with a bit of butter – very dry and a bit blunt first, but gets tastier as you chew!
then there are Haggis and Black pudding type of things called Lifrapylsa and Blóðmör
Svið – Sheap heads – these are my favoured, but I have not been able to get any of my english friends to even try.

But seriously – Generally I think the food here is excellent quality, a cuisine that has been developed from lots of different cuisines – probably a bit of a “fusion” – there are Italian, Chines, Indian, Thai, Argentinian, etc. but you might not just stumble upon one – might need to ask.

Kolaportid – is a flee market in the centre, by the harbour – only open on weekends and i dont know how its open over the
Also by the harbour is a “hot-dog bar” called “Bæjarinns bestu” “the best in town” – pilgrimage !

the art Galleries are all good an worth a visit if you are interested.

For icelandic wool or knitting there are lots of shops for that, but Handprjónasambandið – Skólavörðustígur 19 is the one Icelanders use most – “the association of hand knitters” and is in a way the most old fashioned, but always has all the colours that are produced and I think the most compatible prise, and all knitted in Iceland, still have the sort of “home-made” stamp on them – some of the other shops are selling machine knitted stuff from eastern Europe and China!!!

there are some day tours from Reykjavík, but you as the daylight is a bit limited at this time of the year, one needs to make sure they fit within that time as driving in the dark is not of much interest at all.

the northern lights have been quite jolly here in the autumn, but I dont know what the expectations for the christmas periods are, there is a site that is a bit like weather report – but i cant find it just now.

Blue Lagoon is really rather special, quite expensive, but unique and would go well with a set of northern lights”

From Gudrun x

Laid up at Chichester 2012-2013

Sumara was lifted out at Chichester Marina on 23rd November. It was my intention to get her back to London and haul out at South Dock Marina but sadly they said it was full. Strangely when I cycle past there seems to be loads of space.
My mast was accidently taken out a week too early to my surprise. I always like to be around during any lifting operation but it seemed to have taken place without mishap. The boat lift was smooth and professional and Sumara was lowered gently into a really solid cradle. The staff sometimes lift 16 boats a day which seems incredible. I was surprised to see the amount of masts left standing. That doesn’t happened in Scotland! I have to varnish my mast each year but I really believe all masts should come down each year. I remove all the rigging and inspect it from end to end. All the split pins are replaced with new ones and all the running rigging is washed. The mast is then placed on my own trestles and coved in a heavy canvas cover. You can see it just behind the boat. In effect no wear and tear takes place for four months of the year and everything is checked. That’s got to be a good thing.
The engine oil has been changed and I have run antifreeze through the block in a closed loop. I have forgotten to top up the diesel tank but I will when I go down next week. The engine block has got rather rusty mainly due to a constantly leaking water pump. It is a Johnson pump and the engineers tried out four new pumps and eventually gave up. It cools the engine fine but drips constantly. If anyone knows how to solve this I would be very grateful to hear. In the meantime I will give the engine a good going over with a wire brush and some rust proof paint. I’ve looked at POR15 but it looks over the top. I may try Brantho-Korrux “3 in 1″ and see how I get on.
The inside of the boat has been cleaned with a mixture of processes starting with fresh water, then Dettox and finally Ambercleanse Foam Cleaner. I like to have a large roll of Blue Roll to hand. The bilge is completely dry now but may get grubby after the engine clean and repaint. The aft bilges will be repainted in the spring. The whole boat is covered with a heavy cotton canvas cover. It amazes me how people buy rubbish sweaty plastic dross from BandQ and tie it over their pride and joy. In the first breeze the eyelets pull out and they flap like mad. My cover does need renewing now but it is 15 years old and has saved the boat so much wear and tear that it has been a very good investment. I use an aluminium scaffolding ridge pole as the weight of heavy snow is too much for timber sandwhich battens. Key Clamps and plastic end stops make up the support posts. It is a very tough frame and capable if withstanding storm force winds.
I will off load my wonderful Aqua 70 chain chain onto a pallet. It looks as good as new with no rust signs.
I have special winter wash board with extra ventilation holes. It means I can varnish the other ones at home and the boat is well aired. I will put a small tube heater with a thermostat on board just to keep the worst of the cold away.
Snug as a bug.

One of the Solent’s Forts

Jet Skis frolicking while the “Strong Wind Warnings” were being issued. Hardly a puff of wind.

The Lovely Brimble off Osbourne Bay

Brawns Restuarant in Cowes with Selma and Grit

The Hovercraft off Ryde

Log ? 6th-7th October 2012
The journey to Cowes from London is rather spoiled by the poor link between the train and the ferry. I get the impression that Southampton would rather you stayed in town instead of spending your money on the Isle of Wight. In theory there is a free bus link between the train and the boat but there is no timetable to be found anywhere and even the bus drivers can’t say if the service is still running. The local taxis milk it for all its worth. It is all a bit of a shame because it adds just that extra hassle which makes leaving the Good Ship at Cowes too much like hard work. Still the boat ride is always fun. The slow boat leaves you in East Cowes, handy for East Cowes Marina, but as it takes about an hour it is only worth it during the daylight when you can enjoy the views. The high speed ferry ends up in West Cowes but costs more, actually it is really expensive. As usual there are a highly complex series of secretive deals to be had. None of which you will find if you use the automatic ticket machines. So to sum up, I left work at 1815LT and got to the rather clinical “Lifeboat” pub by the marina at 1045LT. That is an average speed of 14 miles an hour, about cycling pace.

We had a busy schedule for Saturday. I said I would look over a 38ft Swan with a friend of mine in the morning so the Water Taxi came to pick me up at 10am. A fine Swan she was too with lots of loving care put into her. The only negative bit was the mast step which is so often the case on lots of yachts. I suppose water will inevitably gets down the mast and with a keel stepped mast it is in a rather enclosed area ripe for a bit of corrosion. All repairable I am sure. Otherwise lots of new gizmos and lovely new teak deck and a new engine. My friend is now thinking about buying it!
After seeing the yacht, Grit and I went for a run from Cowes to Newport and back along the cycle path. It is a nice shady run but a bit flat for my liking. The best bit is towards the end when you can divert along a nice dirty trial by the River Medina. Our speed was pretty apalling at 9.33 minutes per mile over 7.57 miles. That would be a very slow half marathon.
We just finished the run in time to spot Brimble on the AIS entering Cowes so we waited to greet them before going for a shower. The East Cowes Marina was packed with Challenger Boats so Brimble had to snuggle in behind them. There is a bit of tide that runs through the marina and one poor yacht really fouled up trying to get into a near impossible guest berth. I felt a bit sorry for them.
Once we were showered, Selma and John and Grit and I headed to the bright lights of Cowes City Centre. As we are doing the Henley Half Marathon next week, in theory we shouldn’t be tanking back the beers but somehow we got a bit carried away and had a fairly boozy night. We had a great tapas/pizza meal in Brawns. Grit and I ate there the week before and would recommend it. John told us of the MayDay they had heard that afternoon. It was text book perfect, very calm with all the details, there was a man overboard in Osbourne Bay. The coastguard couldn’t make contact with them and asked other boats to see if they could help. After a fair while of MayDay Silence etc a yacht called in to say they had seen a training yacht in Osbourne Bay practising Man Overboard! Oh Dear, he must have pushed in the transmit button! All a bit embarrasing.
In the morning Brimble and Sumara left together at 0800LT to catch the east going tide. The sun was out but there wasn’t much wind. However there was enough to move and we weren’t in a hurry. Brimble peeled off North to the Hamble after an hour and we carried on, having to use the motor from time to time. As we ghosted along we listened to the usual strong wind warnings coming from the Met Office. It was like a lovely summer day as we neared Chichester Beacon and headed up the channel over the bar. We eventually moored in a very tight spot on a very very short pontoon in Chichester Yacht Basin at about 1600. It might end up being my last sail of the year. The boat is being lifted on the 23rd November. Awe.

Kerry and Alexander in the Solent

The Team Photo on the Folly Pontoon

Ella definately has not been eating ice cream. Our youngest crew member.

Now I know where Terry got his hat idea from – the lovely Lotte!

Rendezvous with the Good Ship Brimble

The Waverley Paddle Steamer off Cowes

Log ?? 22nd September 2012
The forecast was for a delightful Saturday and a beastly Sunday so I decided it may be best to make the most of the good day and give Sunday a complete miss. My nephew, Alexander and his girlfriend, Kerry were to be my crew. Alexander had sailed with me to Scotland in 2010 but had little other yachting experience and it was all new to Kerry. We arrived in Lymington on the Friday evening and ate in the packed restuarant in Lymington Yacht Harbour. The food was great and the atmosphere was like a ski resort cafe, busy and noisy with everyone having fun. In the morning we prepared the boat and went through the safety procedures before heading out to Jack in the Basket where we hoisted the sails. It was a F4 Easterly but the tide was fair and we were in no hurry to cover the ten miles to Cowes. My friend John was sailing on Brimble with some of his work colleagues. We picked them up on our AIS and after a chat on the mobile decided to rendezvous near Portsmouth. This was a good plan because Cowes was getting near and it was only noon. It was good to see the Waverley Paddle Steamer off Cowes, a wonderful sight. We tacked gently across the Solent dodging the other yachts. I wasn’t used to so many boats after my three years up north so it was fun explaining the colision rules to Alexander and Kerry, who were probably suitably bored but there was nowhere for them to escape to. We made our rendezvous with Brimble near Ryde and took a few photos of each others yachts. Eventually we turned down-wind with the tide now ebbing towards Cowes where we would moor together at the Folly Inn. After a few minutes my mobile rang and it was Torsten! He was on the Red Funnel Ferry with Lotte and Ella heading for Cowes and just wondered if we were around. We certainly were! Torsten had been the the Southamton Boat Show with his children but they were getting bored so he took them on a boat ride. We picked them up at East Cowes Marina and all six of us trundled up the Medina to the Folly where we moored next to Brimble. Torsten was just going to stay for an hour but we eventually persauded him that there was ample room on John’s Twister for three more guests. We all went on the river taxi to the Folly Inn for a few beers and a nice meal. The usual dancing on the tables was taking place big time by about 9pm – not by us of course.
In the morning the rain started as per the forecast and there was a stiff breeze from the east. Brimble headed back to the Hamble and we pottered down to East Cowes Marina and caught the ferry home. Next week I think Grit and I will go down to the boat to do some running training on Tennyson Downs.

Terry describes the Jurasic Coast to Nicky

Anchored in Swanage

You can see the narrow calm patch of water if you keep close to the St Aldhelms Head. On Terry’s advice – don’t try it West bound!

We weren’t going to waste our biscuits by tossing them on the beach.

Terry said he would sail much closer to St Aldhelms Head if it was his boat but it felt pretty close to me.

Log ??? 15th September 2012
I took the train to Weymouth with Nicky, a good friend of Grits. Nicky had completed her Competent Crew course in 2010 but hadn’t had much of an opportunity to use it after a planned voyage had fallen through. Terry Newman, who built Sumara and lives in Weymouth, would join us in the morning. I normally leave my almanac on the boat so I hadn’t had a chance to check the bridge opening times whilst in London. It wasn’t until 0900 in the morning when I realised that we needed to catch the 1000am opening or we would have to wait until 1200. It ended up a bit of a rush. Sumara attract a lot of attention and I had some visitors. Sadly I didn’t have much time to chat. Arthur Meech who had a nice wooden ketch called Noella in the harbour called over to say hello. A bit later Mike Patrick, who helped Terry with the building of Sumara, introduced himself.  Mike did the planking and made an excellent job of it. He thanked me for keeping the varnish up to standard! We couldn’t chat for long or we would miss the bridge. The forecast was for a sunny day with light westerlies. As usual the actual shipping forecast was for stronger winds.
The tide was not going to start to run around St Aldhelms Head until 1700 LT so we had plenty of time to slowly sail along the Jurasic Coast with Terry giving us a fascinating commentry. Nicky and Terry did all the helming and I made all the tea. We saw a couple of groups “Coasteering”. This was a new phrase to me until Alexander, my newphew, told me of his exploits. He has sent me a link to his very professional video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OVXsgXUdr0&feature=results_video .

I think you get the idea- it looks great fun.
Interestingly we were a bit early to round the headland but the tide turned about one hour before prediction so our timing was fine. There is a nasty race off St Aldhelm’s but Terry assured me that GOING EASTWARDS it is fine to sail a biscuits toss from the beach and avoid the bad water. We were nearing springs so it could have been a bit nasty to get it wrong. Terry is 81 years old now and has sailed and canoed along the coast all his life so there is a very reassuring feeling as we are whisked past the cliffs at close range. I normally go the long way round!
We rounded Durlston Point and then left the buoy marking Peveril Point on the port and turned up into the wind to head for Swanage Bay. The yacht heeled right over at this point and Nicky was calmly reassured by Terry that this was a normal sailing angle! Sumara does heel rather easily but it is so normal to me that I foget to warn new crew. We rounded up, dropped the sails and pottered over to a nice space to drop the massive Rocna anchor in 4m of water. For some reason I have never anchored in Swanage before even though I used to come on holiday here every year of my childhood. After a nice supper Nicky and I pumped up the Avon dighy and rowed ashore. We wandered out to the fishermans cottages that I used to stay in as a child and then had a pint before rowing back to the boat in total darkness.
The tidal gateway for Sunday was, of course, the Needles Channel. On spring tides this gate is firmly shut if you get there late. We aimed to arrive at Hurst Castle at 0900 LT to give us one hour to spare. It meant an early start. The shipping forecast was giving a F5-7 westerly but it never happened and we needed the motor to assist us most of the way in order to arrive on time. The tide is truly fierce at Hurst Castle and we were swepted past at about 8 kn. Soon all settled down and we headed for Jack in the Basket beacon before mouching up the river to Lymingtom Marina. (about £27.00 per night).
It is really nice that when we arrived a kind man came over to help with the ropes, as it happened all went smoothly and we didn’t need the assistance but I liked the gesture. Futhermore a few minutes later a very kind lady called Fiona and offered to drive Terry to the station! In fact she ended up driving Nicky and me to the station which was a fantastic help. Meeting helpful and generous people like this make sailing so worthwhile.
I hope our little trip refreshed Nicky’s training. I’m sure she must of learned a lot from Terry – I always do!
We arrived back in London early in the evening after a lovely weekend.