Good timing

It looked so nice out on the water as Oz and I went for our morning stroll on the dog beach that I decided to take the Core Sound out.  Anne agreed to come for a couple of hours, and we managed to get out on the water by about 11.30. 

The wind was variable in direction and strength, and basically I set up the sails and the tiller and let the boat go where it wanted, heading over towards Williamstown, then south, then over towards Point Cook.  I sailed back in and dropped Anne off at the AYC beach, then headed out again. What had been a grey misty day had developed an increasingly ominous looking sky.

Apparently the poet Shelley liked storms, and would deliberately sail towards them when he saw them.  Looking at those clouds, I could understand some of the fascination - but I remembered Shelley's fate, and decided that it was time to get home. 

As I was waiting to retrieve the boat, three nice young chaps, speaking Arabic, were making a right hash of launching their boat.  One smiled and told me "first time..." as his friend erratically attempted to back their boat down the slipway. 

Probably not the best time to be heading out for their first trip, as just as I packed up, a mighty blast of air tore through the car park. Here is the wind graph for the day. 

The gust was over thirty knots, three times the forecast wind strength for the day.  Which goes to show, keep an eye out, and listen to that voice of caution, regardless of the forecast.

It was good timing that I was back in before the blow, and good also that I went today.  The forecast for tomorrow looks dismal now.

Distance 5.8 NM, top speed 4.9, Moving average, 2.3