Bumping along

The weather here is odd at the moment, super humid, with lots of moisture in the air.   Monday was grey, foggy and wet, with a bit of South South Westerly wind to add a bit of chop to the mix.   Andrew and Mars only had Monday free, so I got down early and rigged up in the rain. I am getting quicker, and the systems are getting smoother.  The new lazy jack cleating arrangement makes life easier.  We got on the water, squeaked past the dredger at the mouth of the channel to the harbour, and were well away by 10.

It was a broad reach most of the way along the coast towards Williamstown.  I was hooting along but decided I better put a reef in.  I did a bit of an average job, as the boat was bouncing round so much, but it was a good move. 

 We were still getting about 5 knots, and I clocked 7.2 knots maximum surfing down the swell off the breakwater.   I was a bit worried about jibing with the swell, so I tacked round onto port tack and we headed into  Williamstown, watching suspiciously for any freighters to come looming out of the fog.

Andrew volunteers on the Castlemaine, and said that we would pretty safe berthing for lunch on the commercial jetty as at most only one ferry would be running on a weekday.  We moored up for a nice lunch and a bit of shore leave for Oz.

After lunch, as we were heading out I noticed the tugs heading out to escort an incoming freighter.  The wind had eased a bit, and to get round the breakwater under sail alone would require tacking back and forwards across the shipping channel, which didn't seem like a great idea with the approaching freighter.    I fired up the Torqeedo and we started plugging straight into the wind.

Once round the corner and heading straight into the swell, it was a fairly bumpy ride.  So as not to hold Andrew up too much, I motored on till we were past the last south cardinal mark after which the angle was ok for sailing.  

I shook out the reef, and we pottered home, mostly between 2 and 3 knots.  Thanks to the rather grim weather forecast there were not too many fishing boats out, so retrieval was no hassle.  Home by about 2.30 pm.

This, btw, was my 31st day on the water with Anjevi since launching in late February, and I have done just shy of 250 NM.  A month of SCAMP sailing, in around 9 months. Definitely more fun than a month of Sundays.

This day, in any of my other boats past and present, I would have been moderately anxious.  In the SCAMP I was pretty relaxed.  It was a good day! It is a great little boat.