Too adventurous by half

After a wet Coronation weekend, we left Cowes on 7th May with a fast run down the Solent and through the Needles. This became a bit of a bumpy, tiring run against the wind in driving rain until late at night the next day. Exhausted, we pulled into Brixham for the night, ready to set out for Plymouth at dawn the next day.  It was a good decision as the kind staff at Brixham marina let us use their drying room and we just made fish and chips before the restaurant closed. 

May 9th -  Friends this is going to be a very short report tonight as we are now happy and safe but have had a really challenging day. We set sail from Brixham at dawn as planned, aiming for Plymouth. But in the afternoon we were suddenly struck by winds of over 40 knots - a storm that was not predicted but nearly knocked us over. The crew were fantastic and we survived without damage to ourselves or the boat.  We made the hard decision that we could not risk going on to Plymouth, so. Turned back to run with the wind. We anchored outside Salcombe until the tide was high enough to cross the sand bar and happily we are now safely on a mooring buoy in Salcombe Harbour, enjoying a beer.  The weather looks ok for another attempt to get to Plymouth tomorrow.  I hope we have now had out full share of excitement for this trip and from now on it gets a lot more boring.

Cowes to Brixham         113 nms

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