Choppy Seas, New Outboard & Dolphin Surprise! | Sailing Ep.12

Where to begin with this one. It's a mash up of two weekends and 2 plans/ trips where neither are completed. Trip one was a passage to Osea Island, where we planned to anchor and spend the day on the beach there, play with the dinghy and then sail back! We got there all good and as we got there the wind began to pick up and I had a fantastic sail! (I say I because Charlie wasn't feeling great! Not from seasickness). We got to the island and the wind had picked up a fair bit and the anchorage was very busy and lots of boats and jet skis flying around so we decided to grab a mooring ball round the corner. I wasn't greatly pleased with the mooring and to be honest wanted to keep going so I decided to sail back.. yes from where we came from! Its about the journey right!? I drop the line and head back out screaming along as the wind has picked up to 14-15kts constant. GREAT SAILING! As we head towards the Wallet (A stretch on the east coast) the swell began to pick up as did the chop... Well before I knew it this turned into 2-3m short and confused chop and a wind of 20-24kts with it. (Wind against tide). We were thrown around everywhere and with Charlie in the V Birth thrown around everywhere, waves crashing over the bow, and me trying to reef alone in the seas, I decided turn back.. Wasn't quite the sail I had planned. It shook me a little as this was the worse conditions we have experienced but I was pleased I made the decision to turn back when I did.. an hour of bashing was more than enough! Trip 2 - A lovely weekend at Walton on the Naze was planned. Weather looking ok and yet again the wind and chop had other ideas, we got there fine but the forces for when we were coming back changed and picked up significantly and therefore we abandoned the idea of staying and came back the next day as you can see in the video. We made the most of it though and had a lovely day and play in the dinghy! The new to us outboard is a Torqeedo 1003 Travel. It was brought in 2017 and is in good condition considering its age and after testing for a couple of hours I have to say I am very pleased with it. I cant get it to charge now but thats another story. I hope you enjoyed the video! Thank you for watching. Charlie & Carl xx