We left Emsworth in fog and went around the South side of the Isle of Wight without seeing it until we were nearly off the Needles. From there we had variable winds take us to Studland Bay during which we caught mackerel (dispatched with our new priest) in time for a delicious fried mackerel and rocket sandwich for lunch. We reached Studland Bay late evening and a friend canoed out to meet us; we cracked a bottle of champagne to celebrate being off at last.
The following day we did jobs and then moved round to Swanage to meet up with friends for the evening. We left the following morning on a marginal forecast and had a fast and wet sail to Dartmouth with the wind varying between NW and W with a short choppy sea with the wind vane steering doing most of the work.
The sail yesterday has given the boat a good work out and today we will check her over and do a few jobs, tomorrow we aim to sail round to Salcombe.
Going down the West Country to Falmouth is our shakedown cruise to make sure that all the new systems are working and to get rid of any stretch in the new rigging; it is a full time job keeping up with stuff at the moment!
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