Simon decided at the last moment to come today and brought his friend Thomas Winstanley along for a 'first sail'. Simon joined Stuart on his boat and Thomas crewed on mine. 5m/s winds were forecast for the day, but they never really got above 3m/s and for most of the morning we had very little wind. Our crew began to get bored when the wind dropped off and we decided to maroon them on Nejima, a series of large rocks just off Hayama, while Stuart and I sailed about waiting for the winds to pick up. An hour later the wind returned and I ‘rescued’ the boys and headed to Hayama for lunch. We ate near the shrine overlooking the sea.
Back in the boat after lunch we sailed around Nejima – Thomas was ‘fearlessly’ hiking out, when we hit a wave and he went for an unplanned swim. He had the good sense to keep hold of the jib sheet and was pulled along by the boat laughing all the way. Once he pulled himself on board he immediately settled back into his hiking position and 5 mins later …………….. went over again! Once back onboard we headed for Zushi and let the crew take control of the boats. They steered, trimmed the sails and practiced tacking for an hour before heading for shore at about 15:45.
