Tuesday May 20
Newtown creek is a very sleepy little river on the Isle of Wight that we often sail past on our way to Cowes. Apparently it gets very busy in season and you can moor on a visitor buoy or anchor – in May on a Tuesday it’s very calm.
However, if you look into its history you will discover Newtown is by no means new and used to be a thriving Roman port. Later it was considered worthy of a Viking raid in 1001 and in 1377 it was sacked by the French.
Luckily all is peace and tranquility now with seals and bird life for the resident black sheep and grazing cows to enjoy. The seals make a kind of moaning noise that at night you can easily mistake for a howling wind.
We had a lazy morning and then woke ourselves up with cold water shock when we went for a swim in the bracing water. It was the first time we have used our swim ladder and I began to appreciate our open transom. After a while the water was very nice and refreshing.
David took the opportunity to scrub the bottom as La Bamba has got somewhat weedy waiting for us to play with her.
La Bamba is a considerable improvement on boats I’ve been used to and I really appreciated the warm deck shower after my swim! Another first use.
We also fitted the cutter sail so we can try it out. We think we have it on ok but will check with Simon from SE yachts. The cutter is a smaller jib that fits inside the normal jib – a sail you might want to use in stronger winds.
In the late afternoon we sailed up and down the Solent in lovely sunny weather of around 12-14 knots, tacking the cutter and seeing how she feels.
Yarmouth looked very inviting but we headed back up the Lymington river as the Optimists began their evening sail training.
Our mooring technique in Lymington needs more practise…but we got in safe and sound.
I’m leaving the boat for a couple of days while David stays to supervise the rest of the work that still needs to be completed.