To go or not to go..... followed by a great day sailing!!

After a couple days being weather bound in Brighton, it was quite a relief to finally get out sailing again, although the decision to go out was quite a difficult one. One weather forecast was forecasting Force 5 to 7 (a little too windy for our fine sailors), and another was forecasting Force 4’s. After much thought and a quick walk to the breakwater to see what the sea state was like, and watching our wind instruments, we finally slipped our lines shortly after 11am, and headed out to sea. As it turned out, it was a perfect day to be out sailing, with no more than 18kts of wind, all from the SW, which gave us a great reach over to Beachy Head. Unfortunately, because we had delayed our departure, we ended up sailing against the tide. Although we may have been a little slow over the ground, at least we were happier with what the weather was doing. A big thanks to Brighton Marina for putting us up for a few days!
Jack did his usual, he had a brave face on for the first 20mins, then headed back down to his normal sailing position: flat out on the saloon berth. It’s quite incredible though, even though he knew it was going to be a little bumpy out there he was still keen to go out sailing. Also knowing that he gets seasick but still wanting to give it a go is really quite impressive – a very brave young man!
All the kids were really great today – they did make my decision of going out sailing quite a lot easier. When I spoke to them and mentioned that it was potentially going to be quite windy and quite rocky, they were all keen to get out on the water regardless, and head off to our next destination of adventure…
We’re now in Eastbourne at the Royal Sovereign Marina and had a very warm welcome from Ed while we were in the lock. We also managed to catch up on a couple maintenance jobs – Dan Monk was all too keen to get up to the top of the rig and fix a faulty navigation light, it was only when he got back down that he mentioned to us that actually he is afraid of heights – nothing like facing your fears!!!
What an inspirational week I’ve had so far – people openly challenging themselves without any hesitation, from sailing the boat in rougher weather to speaking to a crowd about their experiences. We also went to Ellen’s talk – and without spoiling it for any of you who are planning on going to see her speak, it was brilliant! Well done Ellen!!!