Ochi Day sail

16 nautical miles

This would have been the start of a four day sail round to Latchi, but for the fact that tomorrow the forecast is for the sort of winds you sail through if you have to but avoid if you don't!

The crew today was me, Tim, Sidney, Mark and Jacob.

This was Mark's first sail with us. He had valiantly helped re-surfacing the deck when we were on the hard, but had not the opportunity for a sail yet.

The weather today was kind to us and so Mark enjoyed the sun on the forepeak, using the inflatable dinghy as a backrest.

We set off early to get a smooth sea as we wanted to re-calibrate the auto-pilot. We had found a dinghy anchor next door to the compass which we hadn't known about and so it was throwing the alignment out.

The calibration first involved two wide and slow circles, then running straight at more than 4 knots and aligning to the GPS and finally allowing the autopilot to learn the characteristics of the rudder.

The autopilot was significantly more responsive now and held course very much better. Just shows how important it is to ensure there is no metallic material near the compass.

Tim had brought some haloumi. Having the ability to grill haloumi in the middle of the day just adds that finishing touch to a wonderful day sailing.

The wind was light - really gentle sailing weather.

It was a day of firsts - we allowed Jacob to try his hand at helming too. The first time Tim had met Jacob he was helming my Wayfarer and he had noted how well he handled the helm.

Today he was to try his hand at a very much bigger boat.

Everything is much more sluggish and feels unresponsive compared to a dinghy, but he soon got the hang of it and you can tell from the smile on his face how he enjoyed it.

Sidney looked perpetually cool in his shades, black baseball cap and black T-shirt!

Although the sun was not as bright as it has been, the reflected light off the water makes it seem brighter than it is.

We headed off down towards Cape Kiti and we checked our position using compass and chart. The new binoculars with build in compass make it much easier for taking bearings.

Actually it was a fun sail. I think all of us enjoyed it.