Our friend Vince wated to go for a sail, to play with his spinnaker, and there was rugby in the bar afterwards, Wales v Scotland from Murrayfield no less. The weather looked decent for Saturday, a ridge of high pressure was forecast between strong winds on Friday and a gale late on Saturday night. Vince asked if I fancied a sail, and I jumped at the chance.
We locked out at 11:30, a few other brave sailors and a few more fishermen were in the lock with us. The fishermen, no doubt, intent on luring the year's last few cod onto their decks.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Leaving Cardiff locks"]
[/caption]I helmed as we navigated the dredged channels leaving Cardiff, the dredger 'Sospan dau' waited for us to clear before continuing her work:
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Dredger"]
[/caption]Vince put the kettle on and enquired as to whether I fancied just going for a sail up towards Newport with the last of the flood, returning later with the ebb in time for the game. Perfect! We put the sails up and settled into a nice easy beam reach, enjoying the winter sunshine, tea and good company.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Vince making tea"]
[/caption]I spotted something in the water, it looked like a balloon with an attached messsage. Who knows where it came from? It turned out that it was probably Cardiff - it was a valentine's balloon. Vince let it go and instead of returning to the sea it sailed up and away into the blue sky.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Sky"]
[/caption]The wind strengthened and a slight chop picked up as the tide started to ebb, against the wind. We turned for home, but the wind had backed, and what should have been another beam reach had turned into a beat. As the first spots of spray splashed into the cockpit I regretted not brining my full sailing gear, but we didn't get any wetter, despite the 23 knots of wind.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Beating back towards Cardiff."]
[/caption]Another yacht from the club was shadowing us, but we passed her, Vince's racing experience telling him when best to tack.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Tacking"]
[/caption]It is, of course, still February, and the chill wind did start to have an effect as the sun dipped. No problem, we were soon locking in and tying up. Before long we were in the bar, with a few friends, watching the rugby (Wales won 24-6) and enjoying a few beers.
Thanks, Vince, a thoroughly enjoyable day.
