Haze Grey and under way...

So the fun never ends.....we were invited by our classmate "sir" Richard (OBE) to go sailing to the Isle of Wight on the weekend. Yay!  I haven't been sailing in.....decades maybe. And since my loving dad dunked me in the drink when I was 13, I have a panic  issue when we start to heel. Once up I'm ok. but it's that feeling of inertia that instantly brings all muscles to a rigid state.
On a last minute decision, we decided to go down the night before so we could get the early start from the marina. We traveled down by train (love those trains here) and settled into the last room available at the Royal Maritime Club right across from  historic dockyards in Portsmouth. Boy, that brought back memories of the kids and I  going to see HMS Victory or the Sea Faire. The room as "vintage" but clean and spacious. I've been in much worse!!

lobby signage

compass cafe

Once you get out of London, the English breakfasts get so much better. We had an amazing buffet at the club: scrambled or fried eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown, tomatoes, proper mushrooms, beans......
And then to top it all, we found the yogurt in the corner. It turns out that it is from the tiny village we used to live in. No, they didn't have it then, but they do now. And my was it tasty. Some of the best we've had. I know I can't get it up here, which is a shame.

But it's time to head to the marina. Richard and his lovely Carolyn are picking us up in the car. It's just a short drive north to the military base with the marina. Once inside the base it's an quick drive to the water's edge. There lies the Mon Ami, their 40' sailboat. ( ok, it's 39.3' must be a metric thing)  Time to get her ready to sail.

Capt Richard and Carolyn's butt

It was windy....no more than windy!! We quickly decided to motor to Cowes otherwise it would take us hours to tack there. To say we were "seaswept" was no an exaggeration.  The photos and video do NOT represent how wet and gusty it was.

top heavy ferry

looks deceivingly calm

waterlogged lens

We did arrive in Cowes safely, if not a bit damp. After motoring up the Minerva River for a bit, we had to wait to take daughter #1 on board. She is living and working in Ryde this summer and wanted to spend the day with her folks then transit back to Portsmouth. Ah, to be young again. Once she was aboard, we went further up river to Folly Inn on the water. A wonderful pub with nice food and a gorgeous view.

outside at Folly Inn

dessert first!

food porn #1

food porn #2

Now we are full, warm and not ready to sail anywhere. But home we must go. There was some serious talk of spending the night on board. There were three cabins!! but some people needed to get to work the next day. The two students were ready to play hooky.....
The trip back was under sail and we did quite well. I had my sea legs by then and the intermittent heeling didn't freak me too much. More booze may have helped. Our capt was sober so there was no risk of danger. Oddly, all the traffic we saw coming to the Isle had disappeared and it was smooth saling back. We made excellent time as well. The wind was at our back, and with the main sail and the jib out, plus the tidal flow we were going at 8-9 knots. The only problem was the cockpit was full. I wandered down below to the soft compfy cushioned dinette. Drifting off, drifting off with the rocking of the boat .Suddenly, we turned into the harbor and all the papers which had been on the table above me, came crashing down on my head. A bit of a rude awakening from a near stage of slumber.
While it had been sunny and bright on the return, the clouds were rolling in from the west. We got moored up with out the fuss Capt Richard expected. Now the part every passenger hates - - the clean up and stowing. But once that was over, we all said our good byes, we were dropped at Portsmouth Harbor train station with 5 minutes till our train departed. Soon we were London bound. Only then did we realize how sun/wind burnt our faces were. But it should mellow into a nice tan...



(sorry Glad there was no notice that we were coming down)

(Got to sit in on a lecture yesterday with Lord  Paddy Ashdown as speaker. Very good!!)