Lanzarote Day 1 : Here comes the sun
Purple Mist
Skipper: Kate Cope
Sat 17 Sep 2022 18:21
The last day in Hamble was predictably a bit of a whirlwind. Rob came down early to help after only having 2hrs sleep !! He was busy finishing up his work and packing his bag.
The last job was to swop from the racing main to the home-made ex J105 sail I’d modified earlier in the year. As always with boats things never quite go to plan and Rob spotted my gooseneck bolt had loosened itself. It was within 2 turns of falling off completely. This exact problem happened to Jangada mid Atlantic …clearly Purple Mist took the instructions to just be like Jangada too literally. Last minute dash to the chandlery and she was sorted…I bought 2 spare as well! At least the sail did fit and actually she goes quite well with it.
Thanks to the guys who waved us off and threw off the lines for the last time - Gemma, Andy and Jeremy. I felt a bit of a fraud as next stop was only the fuel pontoon .
Out in the Solent we were spotted by Matt Smith , thanks for the photo. At this point we thought it perfect A5 weather until 2 mins after we hoisted the wind increased rapidly and the angle went forward so back to the jib.
Wind was much stronger than expected but on the beam so we made record progress to Portland Bill. If only we were racing ! The only obstacle was warship Diamond live firing right in our path . Tempted as I was to ignore them especially as they were not listening on Ch74 as advertised I headed up. This stuffed up our track to the TSS Shipping lane corner so we ended up crossing in the TSS ..something you are not allowed to do in races.
Last night was pretty chilly with a frisky northerly, glad I had thermals and mid layers.
Today as we close in on France the Sun is out, wind is a bit light but we have the A5 flying on the basis it’s tougher than the S2 but that’s the sail I need out really.
Final picture thanks to Rosie Hill for spotting Old Purple Mist - the Sun lounger ! out and about … I did love that boat but bits of her kit are still aboard …like the delivery jib, storm sails and various safety kit. I like to think her spirit transfered to new Sun Fast but luckily not her sluggish speed !!
