Sailing...finally!!

Today we finally set sail. We left Fleetwood at about quarter to ten and we went through the bridge and the locks under power. Once out of the locks we navigated through the channel still under power with eyes constantly looking at the depth gauge underneath the keel. When we got out of the channel we got out the mizzen followed by the gib and finally the main sail. As soon as all the sails were out the boat instantly started to heel. We had to put in a few tacks since to get to the buoy we needed to go against the wind on a beat. This also meant that we were against some large(ish) swells. This inevitably lead to sea sickness, first to fall was Stephan, followed by Joe Winrow, Imran Ahmed, Peter, and Stephan (again). When we finally reached Peil Island we got out the rib from the back of the boat and went to the island itself. When Andy went to get the last load off Tenacity the lifeboat came off the ramp and roared past. While on the island we explored the castle and played a few games of hide and seek and followed by a completely random game, courtesy of Andy, in which we stood in a square and attempted to touch each other’s shoes. On the way back to the boat we went to see the pigs that lived on the island, they were quite cute. Benito also found a new friend to play with, (i.e. a toy duck he conned out of three really cute black Labradors). While the first load went on the rib back to Tenacity they were greeted back on board by the return of the lifeboat roaring up the ramp again. As we are writing this blog the wind speed gauge is starting to touch 25 knots.
By Matthew Taylor and Peter Mackin