Joanna Spencer-Smith

Had a lovely morning swimming in the bay, but then the wind got up, so…. Clear and sunny and winds of 5-6kn, initially from SW but swinging round to SE. Set off 2:45 , popped spinnaker up around 4:30 as progress too slow! Took it down just before Hurst. Returned to base only to find another boat in our spot outrageous! We parked nearby whilst the Dock masters moved it over. Paul delighted at extra parking practice!

8am sails up and off we go. Wind from the west, 15kn overcast. Put in one reef. Good boat speed over 7kt. 10:20 approaching shipping lane. Fog rolled in. Changed bearing from 350 to 300 to try and avoid traffic Joanna tried to be helpful by getting the handheld radio out of its holster to change settings so we could monitor shipping lane traffic ch13 but Somehow accidentally set off the distress call and was unable to cancel it. Paul had to duck inside and call coastguard and various boats offering help and sort it all out. Meanwhile jo stressing at the helm heading back to France… Ben and his calming aura came to the rescue and jo demoted to look out. Later given horn responsibilities, but never actually deployed them. Having finally cleared the shipping lanes at 1:30 we reset course to 5 degree and shook out the reefs. Wind now 12-13kt SW tide 2 knot westbound. boat speed just over 6kt. Still foggy. Fog finally lifted about 2pm. 15 mins later it was time to put the reef back in as wind now up to 20kt. Starting to catch up we Aurora who left before us. Oh no - someone who will have heard all the shenanigans on the radio earlier! Somewhere around half two, land became visible. Ben spent some time in the helm I’m banned from touching anything ever again… Had to ring border force to get permission to stop at Studland bay instead of going back to lymington. Anchor dropped by 4 pm. Picky bits, rehydration and view of Harry’s rocks to follow.

Beautiful sunny day, started early (5:30 set off) to catch the tide at Hurst. Full sails up as F4 wind from the East. Once out of the shadow of the Isle of Wight wind increased to around 20kt. Paul decided to update the chart on an hourly basis to check our progress. Apparently it’s much harder to get pen to paper when the boat is all tippy-uppy! Especially when it reached F6 (26kt) when I was on the helm. Decided to reef around 10 7:30 until about 11:30. I got a little nauseous despite relative calm see state. Paul kept forgetting to update chart… Kept sailing until about 16:30 when wind died. We were only 2miles outside Cherbourg by then, so motored in. Picked the berth furthest away from the office! 34 degrees here - rehydrating!!

Glassy water, 0-4kt of wind. Sunny sunny sunny. The tide did all the hard work. We got the spinnaker out, and on the gibe around the mark managed to get the snuffer rope caught over the radar unit. Ben had to lie on the sail and squish it down so we could tack (which was only necessary due to shallow water). Drifted sideways over the finish line! Sent Ben up mast afterwards to rescue the rope!

Mostly against both wind and tide so had to give in and use the motor. Was a good excuse to run it for the first time since it was serviced. Almost like it was planned and not the result of a bit of a lie-in and and extended breakfast! Wind was about 5kt to begin with, but when we passed the Needles increased to 12kt. Glorious sunshine (Ben got burnt). Had a go at popping up the spinnaker and even gybed it.

Naff all wind, and turn of tide, but we got the sails up and dried them out!

SW winds, av 24kt. Not too gusty dropping slightly. Lovely blue skies - except for the direction the wind was coming from… decided as there were only the two of us to run for shelter. Don’t quite make it!

F4 winds from the west, sunny weather.

Sunny with westerly winds F5-6. Saw a seal as we came into Cowes.

Westerly winds starting at F3-4, escalating to F5-6 by the end. And 1/2m swell and one vomit overboard. Sunny weather became overcast but no rain until we were safely moored up with a cup of tea to hand.