During Seavets Poole week 10 of us did the annual cruise round the harbour, those sailing this year were Dave R, Maurice, Simon, James, Nick R, Owen, John E, Joe, Bill and myself. The forecast was a bit patchy but the sun was a bit stronger than the wind, so after a delayed start we decided to shorten the course and head from our base at Lake Pier to Rockley for a coffee rather than the long haul down to Giggers island. As we left Rockley the wind picked up nicely and we enjoyed a nice beat in the straps up to our lunch stop at Shipstal Point. Here we took shelter under a tree from the strong sunshine, managing to upset some local ramblers by cluttering up the beach with our kit which was a shame as there seemed to be plenty of room for everyone to enjoy this lovely spot on a sunny day.
After lunch we set sail in lighter winds to round Long and Round Islands, then Green and Furzey Islands before reaching Shell bay. The Cafe here is very much fine dining these days, so we had to make do with a water stop while we waited for the back markers to catch up. As they were making slow progress against the incoming tide, as last year we decided to launch and intercept them before heading back between Furzey and Brownsea islands. It was a gentle sail back with the help of the tide so we rewarded ourselves with an ice cream stop at Hamworthy on the way back to Lake Pier, arriving back right on schedule.
The following day and in much stronger winds James, Simon, Owen, Joe and myself who had stayed on longer at the campsite decided to complete the cruise by sailing up to and around Giggers Island after another coffee stop at Rockley. We had an even beat up in a fairly strong wind, rounding the island without grounding and then enjoyed a downwind blast back to base, it rounded the week off nicely, and we managed to sail 33miles over the two days, with a top recorded speed of 19.6mph on Thurs and 26.6mph on Friday
It would have been nice to have more wind for the main cruise on Thursday but Friday would have been challenging for the full cruise. On the plus side we enjoyed very warm weather, the camping at Huntick farm was good with a BBQ on one night and two trips to the good local pub, also our sailing base at Lake Pier is still as good as ever with a new toilet block and still only £2 a day parking.
Richard
Thursday Morning
Friday Morning
Friday Afternoon
