Short sail on a lovely Bank Holiday Monday 8nm (395nm total)

First a picture from the English Raid photo collections. This was taken by Henry Trevelyan and shows Daisy G on the left and the wonderful Swedish pilot boat, Haegar,  from Vienna. We are just setting off from Newtown Bay on the Isle of Wight for Lymington. We put in a reef very quickly just after this was taken as the wind blew up.

This Bank Holiday I took my wife and sister down for a sail. A lovely day but surprisingly quiet. Plenty of racers out, but not many otherwise. I finally saw two of those extraordinary International Moth dinghies, which rise up on two hydrofoils fitted to rudder and dagger board. Most wonderful, daft sight. Couldn't get my camera out in time.

We sailed down to Shipstal point for a picnic and then back to the marina. We were firmly aground with the low tide when we came back from a walk. For the first time I tried the trick of pumping out the ballast to lighten and float the boat. It worked, but I can't help feeling that the rise of tide in the time I spent pumping probably had as much to do with it as anything else.

Very pleasant, relaxing sail. There is a lot of weed growth on the paintwork, where it splashes above the antifouling. I shall repaint the boot top with a white antifoul over the winter, and probably take it a bit higher up the sides. The Coppercoat still stays clean.

The shed is coming on well, with the first courses of the base blockwork coming out of the ground. The blocks are made from local limestone by a family just across the road from us. They are just like natural stone, so it should look good. All being well it will be ready in time for the winter.