It was a lovely October day again today, around 18 Celsius with a South Westerly wind. I didn't feel too bad by noon so I went down to Naiad for a cup of tea and a sail if the wind allowed.

The wind was blowing around force 3 which was borderline for sailing Naiad but after I'd had my tea I decided to give it a go.

As you can see from the above photo, the wind was a little patchy and I hoped that this would mean that t would not be too strong. I pushed back out of the mooring, hosted the main and stays'l and sailed up river towards the ship Inn.

Normally speaking, it takes around 2-3 hours to get to the Inn depending on the wind strength, today it took just an hour and that was with beating upwind. It was a cracking sail but the wind bordering on too strong for full mainsail. I really should have stopped at the inn and put a reef in the main for the return journey. Nevertheless, I got back to the mooring safely in just 20 minutes but, as I said, the wind was borderline. A fraction stronger and I would have put a reef in.

As I sat in the cockpit with my cup of tea after stowing sails and tidying up, the wind did get a little stronger.

It really is so very nice sitting in the cockpit on the river after a good sail.