Just had my first solo trip on my Storm15 "Robin" on Coniston water.
I spent a couple of hours going downwind after nearly an hour getting set up (where does the time go here). At the lower end of coniston it gets decidedly choppy so I decided to turn around and work my way back up.
There wasnt a great deal of wind, around 6mph but coupled with the waves I managed to dip the gunwale under taking on a substantial amount of Conistons finest. Good time as any to practice my capsize drills I though but no, stepping smartly over to starboard, she came up again leaving about 10 inches of unintended water ballast in the cockpit.
Once on an even keel, I got her bailed out ok mainly using a 5L water bottle with a hole in the bottom which proved much better than a bucket which was just too big for the little Storm, so soon got her dry (unlike my sandwiches and floating banana).
Got a good turn on speed on the way back in between periods of complete calm.
I suppose Swallow owners must get used to the interest raised with their boats. A small launch came out from the sailing club to investigate and Robin got very good compliments.
Getting back to the pier was a bit of a trial. Just got lined up when the Coniston launch turned up. On the next circuit it was the Gondolas turn, which sneaked up behind me so had to go round again. What happened to steam giving way to sail?
All in all a pretty good 4 hours outing.
