Cardiff towards Watchet

All the problems appearing on our shake down cruise are annoying, and Julian has been working hard on fixing them. I did very little, because I came down with a horrible migraine on Sunday afternoon, and went to bed!

Both of us wanted a break on Monday, so we took one and played tourist in Cardiff. Very nice! This also meant an hour later start on our planned next leg to Watchett, which was not a bad thing.

Julian set the alarm for 06:00, and we consulted the weather and rechecked our tide calculations while we drank a cup of tea. We decided that locking out at 07:30 would be early enough to get us to Watchet while the flap gate was open, so were a bit more leisurely getting ready than we initially planned. Then all of a sudden it was 07:15 and we had to leave immediately to make the 07:30 lock out.

We went out in company with a charter fishing boat, and started getting the main sail up as soon as we were out of the Cardiff approach channel and could go head to wind. The wind was due to increase and get very gusty before we got to Watchet, so we bent on the no.2 jib, which meant we needed a couple of rolls of the main rolled round the boom to balance the rig. This revealed the next "shake down" problem.

When I rolled the reefing wire round the boom at Bristol I accidentally fouled the roller furling mechanism so it would not turn. Julian had to go forward to the mast and re-run the wire. Luckily this happened when we wanted to furl for balance, not because the wind had strengthened!.

We only managed about half an hour of pure sailing in the end. First the wind went too light for us to keep up the necessary speed to make the tidal gate, then went in came back it was on the nose. We put the main down, then got it up again, then put it down, but the engine was on at practically full throttle all day.

By the time we neared Watchet the wind was due south, and very gusty. The last couple of miles of the approach had Robinetta sailing on the stay sail in the gusts, then straightening up to head straight into the wind on engine alone in the lulls.

I phoned the harbour master as we approached and he told me to tie up on the fuel dock, and that someone would be down to give us directions to a permanent berth soon. We were tied up at 13:50, and moved to our own berth at 14:30. Julian grumbled a bit at the delay, because he wanted to go for a beer!

Robinetta settled gently into soft mud as the tide ran out, carving her own mud berth and settling perfectly upright. That's us safe for a couple of days!

Settled in the Watchet mud