Brief sail with no wind

10 Sept 2022

Club events were cancelled this weekend due to the passing of Her Majesty the Queen. I had organised a team for today's planned race and we decided to just go for a sail anyway. My nephew Morgan, his friend Florence, and my friend Sue from the yacht club met mid-morning to find little wind but dry weather and mild conditions. High water was around 1200 and without needing to rush to meet a race start we were able to take our time and depart the berth with little drama around 1145 in plenty of depth. 

Bay Leaf seemed to struggle a little getting out of the river even against a low incoming flood, I wondered if the clutch was slipping or something, she had plenty of engine revs but not much forward thrust. We got out to sea perfectly ok to find little wind and smooth water. Morgan was keen to set full sail so we stopped the engine and unrolled the genoa. Florence hadn't been before so it was good to have time to explain and enjoy the activities. There were only a few other boats out.


Lovely and calm with the engine off. We tried various directions but the wind was light and we barely kept station against the tide.



But we were enjoying the air and the view back towards Littlehampton and nobody got seasick!



After about 45 minutes we thought we might as well return to the berth so we dropped sail and motored back, enjoying waving to people on the harbour wall. The forward drive seemed to engage well this time, maybe I need to give a firmer push on the gear selector, something to look into. By 1pm we were back and eating the sandwiches that Morgan and Florence had kindly brought aboard. By 2 they had to leave so I took a few moments on my own to get a coffee from the clubhouse and make sure Bay Leaf was secure. Nothing planned for the next couple of weeks until Club sailing resumes after the Queen's funeral.

(Photos by Sue or Morgan using Morgan's phone)


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