Back in harbour - phew

We had a long trip out on the boat today - leaving in fine weather with little wind and no significant waves. I drove her across to the Isle of Wight past Hurst spit where it is always choppy but I managed fine. This was my first real go at driving her this season. Feeling confident we popped into Keyhaven and could see the back of the shingle spit and Hurst Castle, then past Lymington and over to the Island where I chased a large blue boat which D wanted to see - a fascinating boat used for setting various channel markers etc with lots of equipment on board. Having passed her we went into Newtown Creek where we intended stopping but it was very busy.

Deciding to head back to Christchurch I was concerned that the tidal stream would be going the wrong way and the waves were huge with sailing boats keeling over significantly in the wind, so we decided to wait and went into Lymington. We could hear two maydays being dealt with on on the radio one of which involved a search which always puts you off!

Later we headed back to the channel to round the spit when we hoped the tidal stream would be better but huge black clouds and a high wind had come in from the west making the situation worse - now we had wind over tide and huge waves. I couldnt face it and what D had determined was my trip was handed over to him to captain which he did brilliantly. We have never taken our small boat through such waves and hopefully wont again - challenging is not the word! Only as we eventually got back towards Mudeford did the waves drop.

Still all's well that ends well and we arrived back in harbour with time to pick up a bouy and have our usual picnic before heading back to the mooring.

Enough boating for this weekend me thinks ..which is good as I need to get ready for our holiday - only 3 more work days - but who's counting!