Another social sailing day, with a jambed centreboard 9nm (159.2nm total)

We went for a sail with some more friends this weekend, so much time given to picnicing. We sailed onto the beach at Arne which worked fine. We nearly got stranded by the tide, but a bit of shoving got us off. We then spent half an hour getting the table top off to free a centreboard jambed by some pebbles. The table was stuck by some sealant which had to be cut through with a kitchen knife, which took ages. I am going to scrape off all the sealent next time I am out and replace it with a strip of foam. Then it will be a 10 minute job to unscrew the table and clear the board. Over the winter I may devise a hinged mechanism for the table so it can just be flipped open when needed. Getting centreboards jambed is an almost inevitable problem at some stage. It has only happened twice to Daisy G. despite drying out many times over the last year.

We had quite a time trying to tack through drying channels around the back of Green Island. The channel markers are so far apart that judging the channnel edge is near impossible (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. The other boats sailing past were just lucky.) We went firmly onto the mud at one point but lowering the mainsail and pushing the bow with a paddle got us across the wind. Then using the jib we managed to sail slowly through the mud and back into the channel. I motored for deeper water from there. No jambing of the board this time, but it was near liquid mud, which just washes out. It is pebbles and shells that jamb.

The friends are thinking of buying a 20ft dayboat themselves and have been out on a Hawk 20 for a demo. They were bowled over by the Baycruiser. They though it was a much handier boat and far better looking! I did warn them that if they want one it will have to be a new one as there are no secondhand ones on the market. I think they may be convinced that a new boat will be worth it.

Very curious weather conditions. In the harbour it was a glorious sunny day. A little more wind would have been nice, but there was enough. But over Handfast Point at the end of the Purbeck hills we could see that low clouds/fog was clinging to the headland. It looked like it was foggy out to sea all day. Then a cold wind blew in from the sea through the harbour mouth. You could literally see it as fog was condensing out of it and arching up over Brownsea Island as it hit it. But bright sun and about 24C all round. Very odd. I wouldn't have wanted to be out in the Channel.