Sailing on a sparkling sea

Does summer sailing get any better than this.

Sadly I can't afford a helicopter like some of the professional yacht photographers, but took advantage of the elevation along Durlaston Head and optical magnification out to the max.

Petrel on the water

I wrote about Petrel when she was ashore being prepped for the season, so it was nice to see her cruising past as we had lunch at Itchenor recently.

It was a perfect day for a picnic and petrel looks the perfect boat for a potter down the habour and then find a quiet spot for lunch.

Slipway Saturday - Dell Quay Yacht Yard

Up the Fishbourne Channel in Chichester harbour  is Dell Quay Yacht yard, they have a lomg concrete slipway which is suitable for launching at high water - I'm guessing +/- 2 hours depending on draft.

Say No - to Shark Fins

Saving sharks is perhaps a difficult message to get across, and I say this as a scuba diver who used to take every opportunity to dive with sharks. Ok, I never dived  with a great white, but certainly some of the close cousins, who have all got a rather bad press since that famous movie and are seen as less than cuddly creatures.

The practice of "finning" due to high demand is horribly cruel and seriously impacting these amazing creatures. So it was good to see this display bringing the message home at the airport in one of the largest consumer markets for shark fin.

Headwind

Given the thunderstorms of the previous evening and more rain during the night it was perhaps hardly surprising that it was a bit windy when I went out next day for a lunch time run. The wind was blowing straight up the river and was especially strong along the open area by Bunny Meadows.

The picture doesn't really do justice, the trees were shaking and there were small waves forming across the river. It was a headwind all the way down to my turning point by the Chinese bridge, and then having to slow myself down on the way back.

If I had a wind speed app for my phone I could have told you exactly how strong it was.

Slipway Saturday - Redcliffe

Redcliffe Farm is a camping and caravan site just outside Wareham in Dorset which has it's own slipway onto the Frome River which leads into Poole harbour.

It's a charming spot about a mile down river from Wareham and slightly further the other way to Poole. The river is banked by tall reeds. Below the nearby Redcliffe yacht Club.  Despite being a busy weekend in the campsite, there were plenty of boats and canoes, the slipway didn't seem busy or crowded.

The tidal range at neaps was only 0.8 meters and the slipway is wide and long which makes it usable at most states of the tides for small boats and dinghies. Below a local Falouth Bass Boat launches.

Slipway Saturday -Itchenor

We were over at Itchenor recently at HW springs. A lot of the trailers which had been left on the foreshore had water way over their axles, including more than a few with brakes.

I'm mindful having just replaced a set of bearings which the local trailer shop told me had been changed and which have not been out of the garage since, yet when I opened them up contained a nasty mix of rusty grease and were completely shot.

Road wheels and salt water really don't mix, but I wonder how many of these folks took the time to pressure wash and re grease their bearings when they got home? One of the reasons I'm really fussy about buying second hand trailers.