Wednesday 7th July - Shepherds Wharf - Cowes

Although warm, the day dawned grey and cloudy and we decided to to set off early to get the best of the tide, in spite of the wind being light but quite southerly.

Soon after we set off the wind increased and became more westerly, on the nose. As the tide built so did the waves so it was an easy decision to put into Newtown Creek to sit it out until the tide changed and the waves would diminish.

We revelled in the 'comfort' of the Shrimper. To be able to go below and sit in the warm, drinking coffee, reading or watching a DVD was luxury compared to the exposed feeling of our old lugger 'Chloe'.

3 hours later and we emerged into a totally different Solent, warm, sunny and with a slight sea state. Unfortunately the tide was coming in swiftly so after a brief sail we put the motor on and hugged the shore, heading for Yarmouth.

Outside the harbour, Wednesday night racing was in full swing, but having dodged the fast cruisers we entered the harbour and were directed to a nice spot on the walk ashore pontoons.

After further liaison with Brad we decided that the weather window to get to Poole, and back again, didn't look good so reluctantly we abandoned that plan and decided to use the rest of the week to explore the Solent instead.