Flashback Friday 41: Solent Sailing

This is the final flashback friday –  Penelope and Parker after 2 years (well actually it is 2 years and 5 days since I registered on WordPress, a little longer since I started on A Luxury Travel Blog) is now a complete record of my adventures – either as a flashback or as another post!  We bow out on the series with a fantastic weekend of sailing with friends on the Solent.

Sailing does feature quite heavily in the Parker calendar – it’s why we both ended up at university in Southampton, how we met and the hobby that let us meet many of our closest friends.  A massive part of our life, a lifestyle I guess.  Most of the sailing we do is racing which is often the complete reverse of being relaxing (although it always destresses). Mr P and I used to race together in a little dinghy and we had a marvellous time racing with friends in Sardinia in 2014.  This year we have done our own thing – me sailing on a 65foot yacht that revels offshore on long courses and Mr P on a gorgeous classic day boat with big fleets.  Because we spend so much time racing – it is a real treat to have a relaxing weekend on the water too!  Much fun was had – “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

This particular yachting weekend was in 2013 – to mark a big birthday year for Mr P.  We’d had a marvellous Arabian adventure across the big day itself so this weekend Mr P got together some of the friends he doesn’t get to see often.  I actually don’t think us girls were invited – that was my fault and was a complete accident (truly it was).  I didn’t realise and speaking to the girls I had assumed we were and got on with the inviting!  Anyhow the boat we borrowed from Lymington Yacht Charters had plenty of space for us all.  We used one of their yachts on our wedding day too – great friends of ours, I can’t recommend them highly enough if you are looking for Solent charter in comfortable and immaculately prepared boats.

We had a perfect weekend of weather – it was March and yet no waterproofs were needed at all.  Warm clothes of course, but gorgeously sunny and not so much wind that waves came over the deck!  As you can see we waited until the sun was over the yard arm (midday) before enjoy some wine in the sunshine!  I suspect most other boats on the solent dressed up for winter sighed when they saw us – whilst we had all our waterproofs and sailing kit with us, not one of us used them.

Little did we know that the weekend would be full of rugby – but it was of course Six Nations time of year.  Lucky that I had invited the girls really – whilst there is a big TV on the boat, the positioning isn’t such that it can be watched from on deck.  So we were left to sail the boat to Cowes for lunch whilst the boys enjoyed some beer and the rugby!  Lucky we are ‘hardy’ types and know a thing or two about boats and can be trusted to keep the mast above the keel and the keel out of the mud!!

One of the things I love most about being at sea is the sunsets.  The last time I got excited about one at sea I was reminded that the sun rises and sets every day… But not every day do they look pretty in the UK (often hiding behind clouds) and more often than not I miss them stuck in my office!  So it was delightful to have such a stunning evening as we headed from lunch in Cowes up to Yarmouth where we were mooring up overnight for a night of fun at Hot Rocks restaurant.

The next morning we decided to head west to check out the needles – always an impressive sight.  There is a big set of shallows to the north of the needles channel called the shingles – we gave them a very wide berth.  We were there only a few weeks after the Valentines Day storm that did immense damage to Hurst Castle spit, the shingles could well have moved a fair distance.

A great weekend – it doesn’t get much better than relaxing with friends in the sunshine and enjoying our favourite hobby.  Which makes me think – we haven’t done this for a while, a re-group is certainly overdue!

I have something new coming soon for my weekly wonderings (not wanderings)! Watch this space – a bit of travel and a bit of what inspires me!