Day sail with Gareth and Penelope

Nevil Adkins

On arrival at Sutton Harbour, tried using the GoPro to view the tangled rope reported on Destiny's keel but not very clear on the preview screen. Decided to exit SH and snorkel on the keel outside to avoid the ire of the harbour staff. After exiting the Lock on free-flow we used one of the pontoons near Mountbatten to do the inspection. First dive showed the rope wound round the shaft of the keel but fortunately not entangled with anything else. Second dive and three swipes of the bread knife cleared it. Set off about 1145 and put sails up in a breeze coming down the river. This light W 8-10kt breeze gave us a close-haul out to Rame Head. Getting clear of the Head, the breeze picked up to 12-15kt and backed to SW, spinning our close-haul to almost due south. We enjoyed a bit over an hour, eating lunch and visited a few times by common dolphins, but they didn't hang around long. At about 1330 we bore away to a goose-winged run towards Newton Ferrars until we were lined up to gybe and sail into the Sound. Doused the sails just inside the Breakwater then returned to Sutton Harbour, tying up around 1600. Managed to test the AIS using my laptop and demonstrated that the unit is working, indicating that it is definitely a problem with the software settings. Found a 'connections wizard' in the set-up menu and fixed the issue so we now have AIS displaying again😀. Next time try the same with the radar... Overall a lovely day sail with Gareth and new crew member Penelope.