Been wanting to go sailing for a while, but Julian had too much to do, what with work, and his OU course. The weather's not been too good for it either, but when I checked on Friday the forecast said bright sun on Sunday. Not much wind, and only 5C but even a row out to check on the bilges would be good.

Got to West Mersea at 1030, and there was still enough water at the hard to launch Worm there rather than the pontoon. The sky was clear and blue, and there was more wind than expected, certainly worth going for a sail!

The bung closing off the sink sea cock was firmly in place, and after checking Robinetta over we hoisted sail on the mooring, and sailed off at 1200. By 1235 we were passing the Nass Beacon, heading towards Brighlingsea on a run.

The wind was very light, but the tide was with us, so we went over the ground at a reasonable speed. Since we were running there was no wind chill; Julian took off his outer wear and ended up helming in his tee shirt! In November! He had to put a couple of layers back on when the sun went behind a cloud bank, but the weather stayed lovely.

We rounded to the Inner Bench Head buoy at 1437 and headed back to West Mersea. The tide was against us now, but slackening, and we made decent progress fine reaching across the river until the wind died just after the tide turned in our favour. We had to put the engine on at 1520, and motored home, watching the sun set behind Bradwell power station.

We were back on our mooring at 1700, with just enough light left to let us pick it up without problems.

A little more wind would have been good, but days like today are why we don't want to to haul Robinetta out for the winter just yet!

Flexible working

A lovely day on the River Blackwater is not incompatible with keeping an eye on work.