Jonathan Taylor

Headed out the marina with 20knots, gusting 30. Headed up river to Rochester bridge. Turned round and headed to the strand where we picked up a mooring and made some hot drinks. Motored back to the marina and headed in. Wind remained high the entire time which made entering the marina challenging.

Left the marina and headed down river to pick up a mooring at the strand. Spent a couple of hours on the mooring watching the solar eclipse. A family of swans swam right up to the boat, including 6 babies, and checked us out. Swam around the boat for roughly 10 minutes before heading on their way. As it was starting to get dark we left the mooring and headed back to the marina.

Left the marina with almost no wind at all so started motoring down towards the strand. Picked up and mooring and chilled out for a bit where the wind gradually picked up. Left the mooring, put up the main sail and sailed down towards fort Darnet. Turned round and sailed back to the marina.

Left the marina and started motoring down towards the strand. Saw a small dingy with 4 people on board in the middle of the channel who looked like they were having difficulty with their outboard. Went over towards them and asked if they needed any assistance. We towed them down towards the strand where they had put in and stayed in the area to make sure they safely made it back in. Time was getting on by this point so picked up a mooring and made a cup of tea. Motored back to the marina and had dinner on the boat.

Left the marina with 10 gusting 15 knots of wind and sailed with the main up downwind to the strand. Put up 1/2 of the Genoa and achieved 4-5knots. Wind picked up to 15 gusting 20 knots which made for an exiting sail. Picked up a mooring buoy and had lunch whilst the wind picked up to 30 gusting 35 which was much higher than forecast. After lunch we returned to the marina where Charissa steered us into the lock and then our new berth.

Left the marina under motor and headed down to the strand and moored up to set up for the race. Set off with wind behind 15, gust 25 knots. Followed the course down to what we thought was channel marker 13, which sadly it wasn’t so had to head back to go round losing about 30 minutes in the process. Down wind course included a couple of gybes with the turn around point of stangate spit. Backwards trip involved a lot of tacking back and forth, with a fairly scary moment tracking with the depth sounder showing 8 meters to find we could not turn. Quickly realised we were in fact not at 8 meters and was well and truly aground. Quickly turning the engine on and moving as much weight to the back luckily we floated again. This was even more lucky as we were at this point 4 hours before low water so would have been a very long wait. Lots of tacking back and forth it took us roughly 2 hours before the course was back onto a beam reach allowing some progress to be made. Turn up Gillingham reach again head to wind so tacked back and forth making it through the finish line long after everyone else with a time of 6 hours and 36 minutes. A very enthusiastic session of horns from the race line was a nice finish to our first ever race

Left the marina and headed into wind and put both sails up. Headed downriver achieving 4-5knots with the tide. Wind was 10 gusting 15-20 knots. Nice leisurely sail down to Sheppey turning to port to head out to see. Slight swell but nice downwind sailing conditions. Observed the Montgomery to port then turned round to head home. Head to wind so tacking back and forth but after 45 minutes making no real headway switched on engine to motor sail. Half way home observed burning smell. Confirmed adequate water coming out of exhaust so eased off the throttle slightly and got back to the marina with no issues. Need to investigate the engine in daylight

Left the marina and met up with Freya, Toucan and Drumgold. Headed up river in procession. Wind was 20 gusting 25 knots so sailing about 3-4knots with just half the headsail out. Got near Rochester bridge and the wind became more unpredictable gusting over 30 knots so pulled in the sail and motored instead. Turned round and headed back towards Chatham marina. Rafted up on the pontoon outside and boarded Freya for lunch. Had to leave early so broke free from the raft just as Omega showed up to take our place. Very short return journey back to the marina.

Left the marina with virtually no wind so motored up river. Wind picked up slightly so turned round and started sailing downriver. Still minimal wind so only going 1-1.5 knots. Rounding the bend caused mostly head to wind so turned the engine back on.

Left the marina with very little wind and headed downriver. With all sails out could not overcome the tide so motor sailed until level with the strand where the wind picked up. Sailed down past Kingsnorth then turned back. 4 hours out and roughly 1.5 hours back.