Back to the here and now...

From Portsmth, we sailed out into the Solent and a strong head-wind. There were a hell of a lot of boats around racing, and they didn't seem keen to obey the rules of the road either. We did our best to keep out of their way but, on one or two occaisons, I would have liked to have seen them give way while we were on starboard tack and they were on port.

So we had a few good tacks in the blustery conditions but, with time getting on, the Skipper decided to motor the rest of the way into Lymington. Motoring was very uncomfortable with the wind over tide but we were making a decent speed over ground.

To cut a short story even shorter, the engine overheated! We then successfully sailed into the river and started the outboard. We made it with no problem really, but it was a bit worrying.

Jacky was a bit of a hero & did most of the steering & didn't seem bothered at all that the engine had overheated "What a lovely sail we've had today", she said (or something like it).

Anyway, Vega1494's engine seems to be ok now after much scrabbling around in the bilges by the skipper (touch wood,touch wood,touch wood).

Oh, and we later found out why there were so many yachts about: Apparently it was Cowes Week!