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Sunday 5 January 2020

First proper sail

First sail of the season and first sail for me on Louisa. It was excellent. On Saturday I took her out for a short sail to find out what didn't work; a winch and a possible problem with the electrical distribution. On Sunday it was the annual winter rally to Queenborough. 8 boats and around 24 club members which was an excellent run out. Two friends joined me on Louisa and we had an excellent sail. Down river was with the tide and wind and we managed over half the passage with the cruising chute up. It pulled nicely and was a probably more than I could have managed on my own. We then sailed up the Swale to Queenborough against the tide and, first and probably a last for me and Louisa, with an onshore breeze one of my friends took Louisa alongside under sail. He then serviced the dodgy winch and removed excess grease which fixed the problem. It was great to be taking the sails down from the quay side. Lunch at the Flying Dutchman and then a sail against the wind back. Really pleased with the boat and her performance. All three of us enjoyed the trip. However, I do remember feeling the same last year when I did the trip in Mischief!