Across Poole Bay

As previously noted, Toucando stayed in Poole on Sunday. Two of the Southampton Sailing Club boats which set off decided to turn back before getting out of the harbour, one of them having recorded 53 knots of wind over the deck - which is the high end of a storm force 10. We all enjoyed an evening together on Buccaneer having a Bolognese, trifle and various bottles we had discovered hidden away in our lockers. I had appointments to keep in the midlands and couldn't organise crew until Thursday, when Malcolm of SSC kindly offered to come back to Poole to help sail Toucando back home.
The morning started with two hours of rain lashing the deck... It didn't seem that much better than Sunday. But by 1030 the rain had stopped and things seemed a little better. Malcolm arrived for a lunch of bread and soup and at 1400 we reversed out of our berth (rather elegantly) and set off round Brownsea Island. The wind blowing off the Purbeck Hills was surprisingly fierce, throwing up choppy white topped waves. We unrolled the staysail and headed out to the open sea.
Once out in Poole Bay we were on a nice broad reach, with the wind somewhere between a force 5 and 6. A large swell was rolling up the channel and Toucando occasionally rolled this way and that. We kept the staysail up, and that was enough to give us an average of five knots through the water which equated to six to nine knots over the ground with the help of the tide. We stayed on a starboard tack for some twenty miles until we got to the Bramble Bank and had to gybe to turn towards Southampton Water. The wind decided to go up several levels at that point, and we enjoyed a near gale force seven for half an hour.
We noticed a tear had started in the staysail, so rolled it up near Netley. We passed close to a RSYC race and observed a large cruise being virtually knocked down as it struggled to bring down its spinnaker. Then we were turning into the Itchen... the industrial river which is Toucando's home. We made a near perfect arrival on her pontoon, the whole passage having taken seven hours.
Malcolm's attempt to catch mackerel was not successful. Fortunately I had acquired some from Mr Sainsbury, so we were able to have fish for high tea. Now back at home the next task is to get that sail repaired. Moral: look at the forecast for the whole weekend, and don't assume it will be any better than promised. Many thanks to Malcolm and other SSC fellow sailors.