The weather forecast for the past few days have started to show a series of lows coming our way over the Atlantic with landfall and the associated nastiness arriving in time for the start of our jaunt along the SW coast. As it happens the winds are forecast to be around 18 to 24kts which is F5 or F6 but with larger gusts. This is perfectly doable, but the direction is on the nose…..

Now, we are not adverse to general windy nastiness and indeed we’ve had our fair share of stuff in the past….however, the weather is also forecasting fairly unremitting rain along our path until Saturday….and we’ve not got our sea legs yet…and it’s supposed to be fun….and we’re retired so no real rush…and James has a groin strain. He likes to think that it was a heroic piece of athleticism, but in reality it was sustained while carrying coffee upstairs (maybe that counts as athletic heroism at 71).
As a result, we spend the day loading, tidying, stowing and victualling Heydays so that we are ready for the real ‘off’ around next Saturday or Sunday.

Post script…..
The right decision. The headlands we were due to round or pass, Needles, Durlston, St Aldhelms are all experiencing gusts over 30kt…well into gale territory and not something to be voluntarily chosen as a hard beat to windward.

A lovely view of the Needles from the comfort of John and Chris’s balcony…