Well that's it really. It was clear that the ENE wind F5 gusting to F6 over night had set up these waves. The Devon coast being at the wrong end of Lyme Bay for such a wind and though the wind had eased to F3 to F4 the waves hadn't and were at odds with the flooding tide. The wind was due to ease further in the afternoon but I didn't think it likely the sea would flatten much and we were on a tight schedule to do the whole journey to Wareham. Even if we cut the journey short at Portland or Weymouth it would still mean 6 hours and it was unlikely to improve much unless in the lee of "The Bill". Making an executive decision, I took the helm back and turned the boat to reverse her course, doing a bit of surfing as we did so.
Creeping back into the river mouth the sea calmed and we were back in the idyllic and tranquil setting that belied completely the soaking we had just received. After a brief stop at the ferry pontoon we returned to our "trot" mooring up river opposite the Noss Marina.
To finish with another literary allusion - we licked our wounds and prepared to fight another day.
No comments:
Post a Comment