We left the club at the crack of (Student) dawn... 12 noon. The weather was a little overcast but it was warm and the breeze was spot on, F3 at a guess and coming from the SW.
I put a reef in the main and unfurled about half of the Genoa as James needed to feel safe if I was going to persuade him out on the boat again. With the weather being ideal and it being, nearly, the longest day I knew there'd be other club boats about, so I sent out an email on the club forum to see who else was around.
We made great time going over to Studland, going out nearly to Old Harry then tacking our way back to the moorings. As we prepared to paddle ashore in the coracle I made the shocking discovery that we only had one paddle. Time to made a make shift paddle out of the boat hook and a day shape :) Fortunately it didn't need to get used in anger as Mark came by in his inflatable and offered a tow.
Looking back towards Bournemouth the weather was looking very ominous but for the mean time.. Studland was glorious.
The Banks Arms provided food and beverages for the afternoon and after a pleasant few hours we went back to the boats. The makeshift paddle worked well for about a hundred yards then fell apart, so we thumbed a tow back from Mark again :)
Midshipman Mark and his lads went back to their boat as they were heading back to Poole. Lapwing Paul, popped over for a coffee, Whisper John, Michele and Minky the Jack Russel hung onto the side for a while and Mithia Rob also paddled across. Ciao Bella has mugs enough for three onboard... Clearly wasn't enough :) We packed away ready to return around 7:15, With James' increased confidence the reefs were shaken out and the Genoa fully unfurled allowing us make cracking time across the bay.
I think it was a successful trip, Jmaes seemed to enjoy it and even ventured to the bow to investigate. It was great to have a bit of a meet up with other boats and Ciao Bella continued to impress me with her good manners.
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