We had a few forays out on Hurkur during September as the weather was so nice. Fishing trips and also a couple of days in Brighton again. This time we didn’t need to book ahead as the dredging was done thank goodness, so we waited for a good forecast and went on 16th September. 11.30am lock, a bit of a bumpy sea and of course the wind was on the nose most of the way. Met up with our friends on Blue Diamond who were also in Brighton, on their way home after their cruise in the Solent.
The next day we had a walk around the pontoons Westerly spotting, just to see if we could get any boats to join the Cluster, but not very successful. There are a lot of live aboards in Brighton, who are not really sailors, just using the boat as a cheap form of accommodation. Tregunna (a Westerly friend from Sovereign) arrived in the evening, he had sailed from the Solent and on his way home too.
We left the next day 18th September, at 7.30am to catch the tide. Nice clear day but Easterly so motoring, but as we rounded Beachy Head and altered course we were able to get some wind and actually sail for a while! Arrived at Sovereign about 12am.
We took Hurkur out again on 21st to do some fishing with Andy, Eddie’s cousin. Lovely calm day, perfect for drifting along. We got some mackerel, bream and other fish. Andy kept his catch but we had loads of mackerel in the freezer from a previous trip so decided not to bother this time, we are all fished out! It was a good end to the season because Hurkur was due to be lifted at the beginning of October for the annual maintenance.
