Another weekend of light and variable winds! A slow sail from Portsmouth Harbour over to Priory Bay – one of my favourite anchorages when the weather is calm. Needless to say, many others had had the same idea and the Bay was fairly busy by midday. The water was crystal clear making it possible to easily see the bottom (at 4m) and lots of Compass Jelly Fish.
The newly repaired GPS worked perfectly (the aerial had ceased to function so was replaced) as did the VHF cockpit speaker which is useful for hearing Shipping Forecasts and Southampton VTS. I have read that Garmin GPS aerials often fill with rain water which prevents them from working. Once the old one was removed it was stripped down, but as there was no sign of water ingress, it must have been a more technical failure.
Most of the return journey was under power due to the lack of wind and the tide flooding East. As luck would have it, by the time I got back to Portsmouth Harbour there was a decent N / NE breeze which helped with getting the main down and stowed while motoring home.
Looking SW towards Seaview:
The Eastern part of Seaview. Priory Bay is off to the left of the picture:
Priory Bay with the entrance to Bembridge Harbour far left:
The pictures don’t manage to convey the extreme heat!
ChioneT.uk 