Simon C and his GP14 were to be seen bright and early and mast up when Simon M with his Trio and Steve, and Del arrived at Bath Road, Lymington at 07:30 on Sunday (10 July) morning.
The sky was clear of clouds, the sun already hot, and a zephyr of a breeze stirred the waters, beckoning us.
We launched at 08:30 and drifted for the first hour to the entrance where the breeze picked up and in a lovely F2 we sailed to Keyhaven by 10:30. We sailed in one end and out of the other without stopping, and then landed for a short while on the shingle bank near the large red Port Hand marker at the entrance.
After a few minutes of sorting ourselves out, we headed across to Totland with the tide briskly beneath us on a reach and beat, and landed on the soft sand to the East of the pier (which looks to be being refurbished and it’s going to be beautiful once completed). We left Simon C to tend the boats, and with a requirement to come back with a banana, while we had a coffee at the cafe. The cafe had no bananas, but one of the waitresses had one in her bag and was prepared to give it to us, and we did pay for it. Simon inhaled it upon presentation.
We dragged the boats to the water and set off for Alum Bay, and landed on the eastern end, which I’ve landed on before, but perhaps the water was a bit higher last time because we had to avoid big underwater rocks. The beach just to the west of us had no underwater rocks but was quite pebbly. Lunch and a laze about was enjoyed while the ebb switched to the flood, and we set off for the lighthouse, and pottered about in the incoming tide for a bit before turning for Lymington. Simon got too hot in his wetsuit on the long downwind leg and decided to take his wetsuit off. I might have sung a version of the instrumental tune “The Stripper”. That man can wiggle his tush!
We arrived at about 4pm, sorted the boats, repaired to the pub for some refreshments and headed home.
The sail was about 19.5 miles, the wind never more than a F4 and mostly a F3, barely a cloud in the sky and warm winds. Great company and brilliant chat. A lazy daysail in the Western Solent… It was simply a pleasure to be there and interact with the exhilarating geography. Photos from Del, Simon M and Simon C and video by Simon C. https://youtu.be/YDCDtBAzBLo
Steve