Speedwell of Rhu Ship's Log

17 th to 18 th of August 2012 - Off to the Olympics

Friday 17 ^th August

The howling wind and rain overnight meant that the 0430 alarm got turned off and we went back to sleep. We had been intending to go to Poole, a long day sail. This meant leaving before dawn so that we could catch the tide and didn't arrive in the dark. All the information available gave the impression that Weymouth was closed until after the para-olympics. After breakfast the weather improved and we were keen to leave the very expensive marina, Andy rang Weymouth and was informed that things were back to normal for visiting boats, including the price. As this was an easy day sail we quickly got Speedwell ready and were out of the marina by 1000. We had a great sail, running under genoa and mizzen. We were overtaken by a large sailing boat called Pink Cloud who was clearly in a rush.

Pink Cloud went straight through the race at Portland Bill. This encouraged me to cut the corner as well, seeing that the wind conditions weren't that bad. Weeeeell, I think we now realise why people should give it a wide berth. Anyway needless to say we had an exciting sail around into Weymouth where we rafted onto Pink Cloud. There was a very nice couple on board who took our lines. They keep their boat in the River Orwell so we will no doubt see them again.

Saturday 18 ^th August

Today it was very warm so we had a short stroll and then found somewhere for a leisurely lunch saving our energy for the next day's sail around to Poole. After a bottle of wine, and a bit more, we returned to the boat and were quickly noticed by the harbour mistress who asked to move to raft on a smaller boat so that a bigger boat could raft on Pink Cloud. We managed this without mishap, despite the alcohol, and rafted on Pooh Bear, a boat nearer to our size. Later they let us look around their boat and they looked around ours. In the meantime the boat that was supposed to raft on Pink Cloud wasn't happy that Pink Cloud were planning to leave at 0600 the next day, so insisted that they have the big empty space on the pontoon. So we needn't have moved after all. It was a shame as we had liked being on Pink Cloud. During the evening the fog came and we could only just see the other side of the river. We sat watching boats come in in the dark and fog and thought we might be in Weymouth a bit longer. Fortunately the Lifeboat was nearby.

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