Strangest vertical

A different kind of sailing for the run home today.

12 to 15 knots free on the starboard bow over a wind-smoothed flood tide, veering to a broad reach once we passed Clevedon, but never falling much further astern than that. I started with a reef in the main and put a roll in the genoa to ease the boat out a little whilst Dad fried bacon for breakfast, but otherwise the sailing was fast and flat (relative for a Westerly Griffon!) with the little yacht often touching just shy of 5 knots on the (known to be under-reading) clock. The sun shone bright, the sky blue with scattered fluffs of cloud, and even the wind lacked any hint of chill.

Quite blissful.

Strangest thing, on the smallest neap tide of the year (the tidal range today was 4.9m, almost unheard of in these parts) we only had 2-3 knots of flow at peak, even through the bottle-neck that seems to always form off Clevedon.

Consequently, all the many navigation buoys were standing strangely vertical, and lacking their habitual bow waves.

Quite disconcerting.