Sometimes that niggly feeling you have before you launch, you know the one, the "is this really a safe move" one, should be trusted. It is your gut telling you not to push things stupidly.
I should have listened to it, that gut feeling! But, with so few opportunities to sail this year, i was keen to get out on the water.
It is amazing how quickly a forecast can change over the course of an hour. In the space it took to rig and launch the wind had increased significantly and had changed direction to easterlies.
And so I found myself clearing Mountbatten breakwater and into a sea of chaos. Not so much the waves but the gusty wind. It came hurtling off the Jennycliffe Bay heights. The further out into the sound I went, the worse it became.
Today I found it difficult to control mizzen and jib. The freaky gusts were just too much and at one point the wind gust was so fierce that I was sure the jib was about to part company with the masthead.
I gave it an hour but sometimes you just have to admit defeat. Sailing is supposed to be fun isn't it?