Brightlingsea - 21/22 May 2006 (first/second day)

Yacht Gothik

Brightlingsea Harbour

Essex

Sunday 21 May 2006

Click here to see a map.

A quiet period was forecast for this morning with gales commencing in the afternoon. Before it got too windy we needed to rig the sails and take a trip up the mast. Unfortunately this meant getting up very early - not such an easy task after last nights celebrations but somehow we managed it.

The trip up the mast was straightforward, all fixtures and fittings looked good with nothing untoward. Nice view.

There was a whole host of other small jobs to do - not strictly necessary to allow departure but we took the time to get a few done.

Monday 22 May 2006

Gales again. It's looking serious. There is a small chance of a break in the weather tomorrow but it will worsen in the evening. Wednesday and onwards looking very poor indeed - at least in the English Channel with strong south westerlies. Since it has now been blowing for such a long time up the channel the sea conditions may be particularly troublesome. The direction of the wind will mean beating (tacking) into it. Not an inviting prospect.

We spent most of the day twiddling our thumbs but made a plan to transfer ourselves and our luggage to Gothik in the hope that we could at least go for a test run early tomorrow morning. If Gothik and the forecast are in a fit state we could make a dash for Ramsgate.