The Flying Lentil The log of Festina Lente, Sigma 38

For the last few years, we know its summer when I spend hours on end studying the weather , searching for that ideal forecast which will take us on our way with minimal discomfort . This year was no different and to our delight , in mid May , 12 hours of fresh NE wind were promised in perfect time to bring us to Dartmouth for the beginning of the Dart music festival. It was too good to miss , albeit it meant sailing overnight and leaving in heavy rain.
The skies soon cleared and the promised wind wafted us into a sunny Dart estuary in time for breakfast . We had arranged to meet up with the Ananda’s – Stella and Keith Myerson – but soon also bumped into many friends from Hamble , many of whom were renting a house overlooking the estuary for the week ,so the overwhelming choice of music was mirrored by a frantic and delightful social whirl. To cap it all , we moored on a pontoon mid river next to Apple , the little gaffer we last saw in Bermuda and the Azores , and it was great fun to catch up with them as well.
The festival is a 3 day event , and we were looking forward to more of the same for the Sunday , but with 3 days of 25- 30 knot Westerlies forecast for the beginning of the next week , we decided that it would be sensible to at least get round Start point on the Sunday before it came in , so we rather sadly left with Dartmouth still partying away behind us . Monday saw us anchored up in Plymouth sound , but Tuesday seemed a bit easier so we thrashed our way 20 miles to windward to Fowey , in company with another yacht and two big sail training vessels. We got in ahead of them all despite the big boats motoring, and decided that the experience was worth it just to prove to ourselves that both us and the boat can get to windward in a solid 25 knots , but also just to remind ourselves why we don’t make a habit of it!

From Summer begins -2015

Fowey was nice and worth the discomfort , and the next day gave us a much easier sail to Helford in less wind and bright sunshine , where we will wait for Ben and Steph at the weekend.
So , a brief fair wind to Dartmouth , a hectic and sociable music festival, followed by some hard cold sailing to windward sees us nicely at the entrance to the Channel , and ready for the next stage of our summer adventures . It seems we are off!