The Sunday forecast for the last few days has been a light South Easterly breeze, sunny but cold to start. The temperature when I left the house was 2 Celsius and when I went forward on Naiad to hoist the burgee, tighten up the bobstay and cast off the starboard mooring line, I nearly slipped on the ice that coated the deck. Just as well that I was holding on!

It was indeed a beautiful day and I wasted no time in getting the heater going and the kettle on. Then is was set to preparing the boat for sailing. Unusually, the moorings were on the weather side, that is the wind was blowing off the Eastern bank and this meant that I did not need to paddle out of the mooring against the wind. I simply pushed Naiad along the pontoon until she was out in the river and then hoisted sail.

The wind was very light and I it took an hour just to get half a mile upstream but it's not the distance or the destination, it's the sailing and I thoroughly enjoyed my outing. I did have to resort to using the paddle a few times when the wind totally died but I still had a good time. I had a lot of things to do back home, so it was just an hour out and an hour back.

Some of the club moorings as I gently sailed up river. As you can see, there is very little wind.

A different shot of the North Moorings.

The view ahead. A slightly misty morning on the river with little or no wind to disperse the mist on the water.