March Sailing Weekend

By David Bennett

Just a short sail from Chi to East Cowes for Layla and even shorter for Taransay Mhor from Gosport. George Britten coming from Brighton in Ragamuffin was starting early as he had a fair way to sail with the tide against him for most of the way. That was the plan.

It was a bit gusty and cold at the pontoon where Layla moored and the forecast was not good for the Saturday but after some discussion we decided to go and have a look. Leaving the pontoon seemed to be a piece of cake and we motored through the lock and into the harbour. The skipper, Chris Rayner, decided to have the headsail out and with a hanky up the front we had a good sail down the harbour. After the Roman Transit the wind got up a bit and at the end of the transit it was blowing a bit more. I noticed over 40 knots on the wind instrument while still in the harbour. Having reached the Hayling Island yacht club and looked out to sea, there appeared to be a wall of water in the Solent waiting for us. It was a no-brainer so we turned round and went back to the mooring and had some lunch. We later learned that Ragamuffin had scratched and the only boat to make Cowes was Taransay who said they only had 20 knots. We finished the day aboard and after a dinner, Kath style, we called it a day.