It’s always nice to get a call from Tom at Sea Ventures. I’ve done a few deliveries over the years for him and he’s always great to deal with. ‘Torquay to Swanwick in a Sunfast 32 asap” was the request. No problem. Looks like a weather window next week. Thinking about crew I got a 100% yes from my first call, Graham Elkins! A completely solid chap and always a joy to sail with. So far, so good.

As Graham and I  left Torquay Marina in Tsuru at 2200 on 12th February 2019 we had a dream of a forecast! Beam reaching all the way to the Needles in 12-15 knots of breeze from the South/South-West. Slight to moderate sea conditions. Too good to be true? As we arrived at the Needles fairway buoy at 1200 on Wednesday we needn’t have been so sceptical! Sometimes things do go to plan…

Tsuru was a lovely boat to sail in these conditions; responsive and with a surprisingly easy motion. Our only drama was collecting some fishing kit lying adrift  5 miles off Portland Bill. It managed to get itself around the keel at 0300 in the morning (hey it was dark!). Heaving too and backing off the offending item freed it thankfully as it popped up on our port side. The line found its way into a bin on the IOW but the float has since had a promotion to fender (the rather bright orangey one in the picture above!).