Now I come to think of it, it's the 1st of September today do this should probably have been titled "September weekend" but I've started so I'll finish beep beep beep.
Woke this morning to an overcast day with a working breeze from the West with some variable South in it. We got bacon butties out of the way then set off downriver with a fair wind but a very foul tide.
As the river wended it's way generally Eastwards and the wind veered and backed between South Westerly and Westerly we alternated between sailing downwind with the Genoa poled out and reaching. All the way we continued to make slow but steady progress downriver.
Eventually, by lunch time, we'd made it to Cliff Reach just upriver from Burnham and had a discussion about what to do. Mark was quite keen to press on out to sea and maybe head for the Blackwater but I felt it was already a bit late in the day and if we'd wanted to do anything that ambitious we needed to have made a much earlier start.
To add to my woes, I wasn't feeling all that clever. Whether it was last nights modest beer intake, a revenge attack by the roast duck or lack of sleep or some other cause is a mystery but I've definitely felt better!
With the tide set to turn in another couple of hours an excursion up the Roach would be mostly against the ebb and having ruled out the other options it made sense to put her about and head back upriver on the last of the flood.
Having thoroughly exercised the downwind sailing lessons learnt on the big trip a few weeks ago, now we put into practice the upwind techniques we've recently developed and honed. I'm delighted to report that we did so to good effect - such good effect in fact that for the first time we succeeded in staying ahead of all the boats chasing us upriver!
Nothing under sail overtook us at all. In fact, they didn't even get close. Result!
Arriving back at Fambridge, Mark was put in charge of bringing us alongside as a training exercise. He pulled off the manoeuvre without mishap albeit at a speed that had the erstwhile skipper jumping about quick smart to get a line ashore! Perhaps a wee bit less throttle next time my son!
The rest if the afternoon passed by at a doze. Happily, a snooze proved to be a sovereign cute for whatever had been ailing me and I was happy to repair to the pub for some scoff and a beer or three.
Time now for a nightcap before getting our heads down. We're not sure what our plans are for the Morrow, we'll play it by ear
Woke this morning to an overcast day with a working breeze from the West with some variable South in it. We got bacon butties out of the way then set off downriver with a fair wind but a very foul tide.
As the river wended it's way generally Eastwards and the wind veered and backed between South Westerly and Westerly we alternated between sailing downwind with the Genoa poled out and reaching. All the way we continued to make slow but steady progress downriver.
Eventually, by lunch time, we'd made it to Cliff Reach just upriver from Burnham and had a discussion about what to do. Mark was quite keen to press on out to sea and maybe head for the Blackwater but I felt it was already a bit late in the day and if we'd wanted to do anything that ambitious we needed to have made a much earlier start.
To add to my woes, I wasn't feeling all that clever. Whether it was last nights modest beer intake, a revenge attack by the roast duck or lack of sleep or some other cause is a mystery but I've definitely felt better!
With the tide set to turn in another couple of hours an excursion up the Roach would be mostly against the ebb and having ruled out the other options it made sense to put her about and head back upriver on the last of the flood.
Having thoroughly exercised the downwind sailing lessons learnt on the big trip a few weeks ago, now we put into practice the upwind techniques we've recently developed and honed. I'm delighted to report that we did so to good effect - such good effect in fact that for the first time we succeeded in staying ahead of all the boats chasing us upriver!
Nothing under sail overtook us at all. In fact, they didn't even get close. Result!
Arriving back at Fambridge, Mark was put in charge of bringing us alongside as a training exercise. He pulled off the manoeuvre without mishap albeit at a speed that had the erstwhile skipper jumping about quick smart to get a line ashore! Perhaps a wee bit less throttle next time my son!
The rest if the afternoon passed by at a doze. Happily, a snooze proved to be a sovereign cute for whatever had been ailing me and I was happy to repair to the pub for some scoff and a beer or three.
Time now for a nightcap before getting our heads down. We're not sure what our plans are for the Morrow, we'll play it by ear
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