Arwen's meanderings

Hi everyone and welcome to my dinghy cruising blog about my John Welsford designed 'navigator' named Arwen. Built over three years, Arwen was launched in August 2007. She is a standing lug yawl 14' 6" in length. This blog records our dinghy cruising voyages together around the coastal waters of SW England.
Arwen has an associated YouTube channel so visit www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy to find our most recent cruises and click subscribe.
On this blog you will find posts about dinghy cruising locations, accounts of our voyages, maintenance tips and 'How to's' ranging from rigging standing lug sails and building galley boxes to using 'anchor buddies' and creating 'pilotage notes'. I hope you find something that inspires you to get out on the water in your boat. Drop us a comment and happy sailing.
Steve and Arwen

Sunday 11 September 2011

I'm no good with a camera but

I hope these do justice to the sailing in the last couple of days.......... force six today with gusts force seven......and the teams had their work cut out staying upright.............

up.............

UP....and over.............?

Going,  going.............

GREAT RECOVERY Mr Spithill..........and splash down

Today, the weather was at the top end of what was acceptable for these boats. With 20mph winds and gusts up to 30mph, crews worked hard. The races had to be moved further offshore for safety reasons......but the 500m dash speed trial......well that was 40m off the Hoe and frankly was spectacular. Even the crews on the water would have heard the collective intakes of breath from 10,000 people as they pushed the boats to the very limits......

I can't even tell you how this team managed to recover after the forward 10 metres buried itself
we were already for a rocketing pitch-pole manoeuvre.................

time for a breather before the next speed trial

accelerating up to the speed trial start line

its getting quite chaotic out there

Its like a Grand Prix........sunlight, high speed and high adrenaline speed, buzzing low helicopters

and that wind just whipping across the waters

and yes, lots of spills and thrills....



jockeying for position with Umpires on high speed jet skis

and crowds of fans on every vantage point

10 knots speed limit? Not today Guvn'or


Next post I'll focus on close ups of the boats technical specs and some of the crew with some detailed commentary. I'll add a few vid clips as well.

Steve

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