Position 50:46.09N 0:56.13W

Dawn saw us south of the Isle of Wight.  Frustratingly we were headed as the tide turned, and we spent a couple of painful hours trying to claw our way NE.  The sea became horrendous, almost impossible to sail into as it was so short and steep, and would continually knock the speed out of the boat so we had to bear off a little to try and keep punching into it.  Eventually it dropped a little and we unfurled the genoa, which helped.  Finally the wind started to veer and this allowed us to head in towards Ventnor and then with a tack or two we started to point our bows towards Hayling.  Food was hard to prepare in such rough conditions but we somehow managed to feed ourselves without spilling it all over ourselves. 

Our final fetch from Bembridge to Chichester Bar was an exhilarating sail.  The wind piped up more, and by this stage we had full main and full genoa – well overpowered but the waves were now much easier and it was interesting to see how Nutmeg performed: she just heeled over a bit more and raced along at 7-8 knots.  It’s worth noting that most of our sailing in Nutmeg over the past 10 years has been family cruising so we don’t have a lot of upwind experience in this boat, so this qualifier has been a real learning experience for me; doing a 100-mile beat and then a windy/wavy 70-mile beat into Channel chop has proved what Nutmeg is capable of.  She is never going to point particularly high but I’ve learnt a lot about sail trim to keep her moving and I’ve also re-learned what I learned 10 years ago – which is not to be afraid of bad weather in this boat; she is designed for it and she will look after us.  Light winds are more of a concern to be honest.

We blasted straight past the Bar beacon and into the channel, still doing 7 knots, and dropped sails and put the engine on when we were opposite HISC.  Back onto the mooring with no issues, and we both felt really weird with the boat not moving around!  After a clean, tidy and pack up, we dinghied ashore and were home by 1600.  Both of us had really bad sea legs!

I’m massively proud that Emilia and I have successfully achieved a successful qualifier; I was very nervous before setting off but I’ve gained so much confidence in all of us – Emilia, Nutmeg and myself – that we can do the AZAB safely and happily.  Which is what a qualifier should be for, I guess – this was a big psychological hurdle to get over.  Really looking forward to the race now.