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Post by allan on Jan 22, 2011 23:41:15 GMT
As Martin has said in his post about his trip out on Friday, I have been off to Appledore this weekend.
In left Cardiff on Friday via the 0730 lock. For only the second time, I locked UP on the way out! A strange feeling. It was very foggy so I stayed inshore down to Barry watching the radar all the way. Once past Barry things started to clear and the wind increased enough to turn off the engine. I wish I had put a larger genoa as the wind did not go above about 8knots all the way. I still managed to get past Ilfracombe before the tide turned and I had to slow down after turning past Mo rte point. All the books say don't attempt to cross Bideford bar before HW-2 so I went in at HW-3! Not as silly as it sounds, the sea was flat calm with no swell and if there had been a problem I was happy to back out. I had thought of going to the quay at Instow but as it was early I decided to go against Appledore quay and headed to the pub and fish and chip shop with Edwina, who had met me on the quayside. Chausey settled well as the tide dropped. After a day walking the Devildog and visiting NDYC (which was closed!) on Saturday I have now visited all but one pub in Appledore and had fish and chips in both chip shops. I will be leaving on the morning tide and heading home.
Allan
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Post by allan on Jan 25, 2011 0:16:33 GMT
After a lovely time in north Devon, I was up up early, for me, on Sunday. By 09-00hrs I had passed the lifeboat and headed out over the bar and into Bideford bay. After putting the sails up, I decided to make some adjustments to Eric, my autopilot. This was because there was almost no wind. By the time I had finished I was doing over 6knots in 18knots of wind! I headed out toward Lundy to avoid the worst of the tide then tacked into tide and made it to past Ilfracombe before the tide turned. between there and Aberthaw the wind came and went. During that time both Eric and his friend Ernie, the chartplotter, started alarming and saying they had lost GPS signal. After a bit of a play I decided to turn them off and go back to old fashioned eyeball. Although the wind was still fluky I managed to sail up past Rannie and locked in at 20-15hrs.
All together a good weekend, a little strange to do over a hundred miles and not see another yacht.
Allan
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Matt
Member of CYC 
Ocean Factor
Posts: 620
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Post by Matt on Jan 25, 2011 13:42:01 GMT
'a little strange to do over a hundred miles and not see another yacht'.
That's because your the only nutcase out there Allan lol! Hope you wrapped up warm.
Matt
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Post by allan on Jan 25, 2011 15:27:27 GMT
Where were you on Friday? Sat at a desk? Working in a factory? Shopping? Watching telly? I was wrapped up in thermal clothing, in beautiful weather, with music playing loud and wind in Chausey's sails. Who is the nutcase? LOL
Allan
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ishtar
Member of CYC
Ishtar
The original Ishtar
Posts: 970
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Post by ishtar on Jan 25, 2011 21:19:35 GMT
That's really funny. When we came back in on Friday, as we approached teh club, the flyover was bumper to bumper with cars. Louise said 'I wonder what they've been doing all day' with a big grin on her face.
Actually, it wasn't that cold, after the first hour or so. Just beautiful in the sun, although we were not as lucky as allan with the wind.
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Matt
Member of CYC
Ocean Factor
Posts: 620
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Post by Matt on Jan 25, 2011 22:21:12 GMT
I was actually in Cardiff County Court Friday day trying to sort out my ongoing freakin divorce, groan...
Yes I would have much rathered be out there there on the water Allan (just jealous of course).
Matt
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Post by allan on Jan 26, 2011 7:43:14 GMT
Sorry to hear you are still suffering in the divorce courts. I know how lucky I am to sail as much as I do. I think the "luck" with the wind mentioned by Martin is more to do with spending a lot of time out there. I had from 0 to 24kts of apparent wind over the weekend.
Allan
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ishtar
Member of CYC
Ishtar
The original Ishtar
Posts: 970
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Post by ishtar on Jan 26, 2011 18:44:25 GMT
Well, we were 'out there' for seven hours. I think 30 minutes sailing in that time is a bit disappointing.......
Better luck this week, hopefully.
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Post by allan on Jan 26, 2011 19:35:35 GMT
I think you missed out for two reasons.
One was that you stayed quite close to the north of the channel, when the wind had north in it all day. As soon as the fog lifted on Friday morning and the tide turned I headed offshore to get out of the lee of the land. Most of the sailing I did was closer to the English coast.
The other reason you missed out is that you are not as lucky as I am! Perhaps you did something bad in a previous life?
I don't know if it is related but on both Friday and Sunday the best winds I saw where when the tide was high. I plan to try to research that this year.
Saturday is Edwina's birthday so I won't be sailing this weekend. XCweather and windguru are giving good winds for the weekend, Saturday looks a little better for sailing than Sunday at present.
Allan
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ishtar
Member of CYC
Ishtar
The original Ishtar
Posts: 970
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Post by ishtar on Jan 26, 2011 20:35:15 GMT
Yeah, I thought that - I actually went 4 miles off the coast at one stage, trying to find the wind.
It doesn't matter, it was the first trip out of the locks and the first trip into the Channel for a few months, so worked well as a 'shake down' cruise.
Louise has booked a shift for Sat, so we may try and get a sail on Friday again.
I'm wating the weather, but the charts don't seem to match the wind at the moment, so I'm skeptical. We shall see.
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Post by brian (Blue Bear) on Jan 26, 2011 22:22:37 GMT
I think Ishtar is showing off his New Mota!!! He would have sailed with the old motor, He'll be looking for a Mcgregor (or whatever their called) soon...
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