Update of day 2, 3rd July 2019 - Yarmouth to Cowes
Headwind, rough sea, slow progress
I departed from Yarmouth just after 8am, intending to row past Cowes and on to Fishbourne / Wootton. There was a moderate breeze from exactly the direction I was heading. However within half an hour the wind had strengthened and I was pushing into quite rough seas, although helped by the Spring Tide in my direction. For the next hour I had to row hard to keep the bow pointed into the waves. By big boat standards the waves were not large, but in a small rowing skiff they definitely were and they were bouncing me around non stop. If I stopped rowing to take a quick drink of water the boat swung sideways to the wind and rolled crazily.
I departed from Yarmouth just after 8am, intending to row past Cowes and on to Fishbourne / Wootton. There was a moderate breeze from exactly the direction I was heading. However within half an hour the wind had strengthened and I was pushing into quite rough seas, although helped by the Spring Tide in my direction. For the next hour I had to row hard to keep the bow pointed into the waves. By big boat standards the waves were not large, but in a small rowing skiff they definitely were and they were bouncing me around non stop. If I stopped rowing to take a quick drink of water the boat swung sideways to the wind and rolled crazily.
I was generally keeping a couple of hundred metres from the shore on the basis that the ‘wind over tide’ would make it rougher if I went further out. Then one point I heard a noise like a small waterfall behind me (ahead- I’m looking backwards), and I looked round to see a wide line of frothy waves. I turned to take them head on, and realised I had come over the rocky Hamstead Ledge, with the strong tide creating overfalls ls as it hit the shallow ledge.
After just over an hour of this the wind dropped a bit, the waves settled, things became more pleasant and I was doing 5 to 6 mph with the tide.
After a hard row I decided to take a break in Cowes and was able to take a quick photo of Gurnard Ledge buoy (photos only when it’s calm) a couple of miles from Cowes. I kept out of the way of an entering and a leaving Red Jet ferry, after rowing for just over two hours and rowed into what appeared the least swanky marina, who agreed to let me moor up for a few hours.
One annoyance is that I set off from Yarmouth without my rowing (actually cycling) gloves on and it was too rough for me to stop and search my drybag for them, consequently I now have half a dozen blisters on my hands/fingers. They don’t seem too bad so I hope I’ll be OK.
Having reached Cowes the tide was about to turn so I planned to carry on to Fishbourne/Wootton with the next tide in the late afternoon. The alternative of a start as soon as it got light enough after 4am next morning was too anti-social.
After resting and working out the tides and weather forecast I returned and rowed out of Cowes at 5pm. The wind was much stronger and the seas quickly got really rough so I decided to turn back to Cowes, and after I turned I had the waves coming up behind me.
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