So I’m now a fully qualified RYA Day Skipper (Tidal). And if I may say so, a damned good one at that!

Day 1 : Port Solent -> Hamble
It took us a while to remember what we were doing, so intially things were fairly shambolic, but we improved. Hamble has very nice showers.

Day 2 : Hamble -> Yarmouth
Maggie was skipper for the day.

Maggie and I had a mini condiment-eating competition. We did vinagar, mint sauce and mustard, until Maggie made a beeline for the toilet!

Day 3 : Yarmouth -> Lymington -> Alum Bay -> Ocean Village
Skipper for the day was me! There was no wind for the first leg accross to Lymington, but the tidal vector I calculated was accurate and we practised some mooring, had lunch and had a go with the bosun’s chair (being winched up the mast). The wind picked up in the afternoon and we had some good sailing down to Alum Bay, practising Man Overboard all the way there. Anchoring up was pretty idyllic and Maggie and I rowed acrross to the beach and bought some ice cream at a touristy shop we found after we climbed up the cliffs.

Chris took over the navigation for night sail. A bit hairy at times – we nearly ran in to a sand bank – but otherwise it was fun.

Day 4 : Ocean Village -> Cowes

Southampton harbour was pretty busy, but once out in was pretty good sailing. the wind was pretty good by the end of the day. Nearing force 5. Cowes was fun as usual. We had supper at a restaurant – i had swordfish – and got fairly drunk on wine.

Day 5 : Cowes -> Port Solent

Force 6. some good sailing, but we arrived fairly early and it was all over too soon.

Photos to follow.