First sail for a few weeks and with the hull recently scrubbed off and the prop clean we had a lovely gentle sail out to Redsands Towers in the Thames Estuary. A friend came along and we put the big blue sail up as soon as we got going. F1/2 SW'ly and we made a solid 5 knots with the ebb. 3 1/2 hours later with the big blue one down we rounded the towers as the wind picked up and backed to SSW F4. With the self steering doing it's thing we made it back to the Medway against the tide in good time. A great sail back to Gillingham reach where we put the engine on for the last 1/2 mile to the mooring. Whilst bringing the big sail down the halyard left the top of the mast so a quick run up the mast on the block and tackle with bosun's chair and that was fixed. The tide was set for an earliest return to the club of 18:30. We missed one of the whithies and had to punt through the shallow mud to find the channel. As we reached the club the end of the dinghy slip was just covered. All in all a very successful trip out.
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