Sailing.....

Docks at Dartmouth

I went sailing last weekend. It was a 3 day sailing trip and it was with some colleagues from work. We sailed from Dartmouth to Newton Ferrers, a small quaint village along the coast, and back.

The Margarita

Our sailboat, the Margarita, was a 36ft sailboat. It had accomodation for a crew of 6. The first day of our sailing trip was horrible. We had really bad weather. The sea was so choppy and rough that 2 of the crew were sick (not me!). I came close to losing it too. It took a lot of mind control not to throw up. And it was cold and raining! In other words, it was a storm that we sailed in. It was so bad that another boat that was following us had to pull into an earlier port. We managed to reach Newton Ferrers all in one piece. It was only after we had docked that we found out that we were sailing in Force 6-7 winds. That meant near gale force winds! We were all quite chuffed at that (or at least I was, being a complete novice).

Sailing!

Newton Ferrers is small, quaint, and beautiful. I shall let the pictures speak for themselves.

Newton Ferrers (from shore)

Newton Ferrers (from boat)

The Dolphin (nice pub in Newton Ferrers)

Unfurling the sail the next day [me (deckhand) on the left, Tim (skipper) on the right]

Day 2 was great! We sailed from Newton Ferrers to another small coastal village called Salcombe. This was on the way back to Dartmouth. The weather was terrific! We had good winds and lots of sunshine. We did some proper and good sailing on day 2. We were all very happy and no one got sick.

Salcombe

WWII Memorial in Salcombe

On day 3, we sailed from Salcombe back to Dartmouth. Day 3 was alright. We had plenty of sunshine but not much wind. Some of the boats had to use their motor to get them to their destinations. However we were lucky as we left Salcombe early and caught much of the winds before they died down later in the day.

In action! Look at the tilt of the boat! That's sailing for you....

Along the way, we met an old sailboat and a naval warship.

Really old sailboat (Arrghh me mateys!)

Naval warship

Overall, I found sailing to be enjoyable. I enjoyed the camaraderie on the boat and visiting quaint villages along the beautiful English coast. It provided a welcome break from work. Although the first day was scary, I'm still in one piece. And I now have sunburnt ears.

The heroic crew of the Margarita!