The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| Down river paddling | 2022-08-09 | With Nigel H in the inflatable Sea Eagle. Down against some tide and sea breeze to Bull Hill Bank. Then a lovely drift back with the tide and wind.
Thanks to Derek H for the drone pics!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Up to buoy 45 | 2017-08-19 | Quite a "feisty" sail as the weather did pretty much what was forecast - which was F4 gusting F5. They were fairly big gusts on the way out. Ran aground near the Turf Locks - whoops - and mutinous crew made the captain get out and push us off.
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Exe Estuary
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| Pole Sands paddling | 2024-02-27 | Down to the Pole Sands for lunch.
Going to have to be renamed The Pole Pebbles - it is much more pebbley this year.
Tags:
Exe estuary
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| Xmas day bike ride | 2016-12-25 | A ride with Liz into Exeter and back. Lots of kids on the cycle path with shiny new Xmas present bikes.
Tags:
Mill On The Exe
Exe Estuary
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| Beach cafe sail | 2017-04-15 | Down from SYC to the beach cafe at Exmouth. Two very different forecasts - this time the Met Office was right and it was F4 with gusts to the top of F5. Wind was from the NNW so an easy sail with a couple of gybes on the way down. A lot of tacking on the way back but a really great sail for the Wayfarer with one reef in.
A max speed of 9.5 knots isnt bad for an old Wayfarer - OK there might have been a little tidal assist at that point! One day, we'll make 10 knots.
Tags:
Exe Estaury
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| Channel Islands - Alderney to Exe | 2012-06-06 | The return sail from Braye Harbour Alderney to the Exe Estuary.
The second half of the sail was very breezy as we sailed across in a gap between two lows.
Unfortuantely only the 2nd half of the track was saved on the GPS.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Exe estuary drift | 2012-06-17 | Downstream against the incoming tide. Over on the Lympstone side for a change as there was some water. Got about as far as the Duck Pond before the tide started to change.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| A perfect summers sail | 2012-07-22 | With the first spell of decent weather this summer the dinghy cruise down to the Beach Cafe and back had an excellent F3 southerly sea breeze and lots of sunshine. Marvellous.
All the best photos courtesy of Lizs brother Julian.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe paddling | 2022-08-06 | Ended up being a tour (past) most of the Exe estuary sailing clubs. So past Exe Sailing Club and Lympstone Sailing Club. Stopped at Starcross Yacht Club for lunch and then back past Starcross Fishing and Cruising Club. Would only have had to go past Topsham Sailing Club to get the "full set".
Watched a little of the Solo and Laser Opens at SYC.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Exe to Dartmouth | 2024-07-03 | The plan was to get to Salcombe but the fairly strong westerly winds would have made the Start Point to Salcombe bit quite arduous so we stopped in Dartmouth instead. Dartmouth was "full" so we picked up a buoy in Dittisham instead.
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Exe estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-03-10 | Into Exeter and back. Average speed not too bad given that there was quite a strong headwind on the way back.
Tags:
Mill On The Exe
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| Xmas eve ride | 2016-12-24 | Into Exeter and back. First solo ride for a couple of week and the slightly higher speeds made it hard work!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Cycle ride to work | 2017-04-25 | First cycle ride to work in many years. Strong headwind on the way there (white horses on the estuary) but tail wind on the way back. Not easy though on the way back as I hadn't eaten in the 5 hours before ride. Need to plan that a bit better!
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Exe Estuary
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| Meandering on Exe Estuary | 2012-09-09 | Some gusts but mostly lulls on short Wayfarer sail
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Exe Estuary
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| Down river dinghy cruise | 2012-09-15 | Down to the beach cafe and back. Very light winds most of the time but the sun was shining.
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Exe Estuary
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| Autumn estuary sail | 2012-10-06 | An end of summer sail down to the beach cafe and back. Fairly light and variable winds. Six SYC boats.
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Exe Estuary
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| Pole Sands Paddling | 2023-04-07 | First time out in the inflatable kayak this year.
A lovely day and a lovely paddle for lunch in the Pole Sands and then a little explore round the far side of the Pole Sands.
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Exe
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-07-31 | Round to Lympstone and back (via the Turf Locks again).
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-03-06 | Round to Lympstone with Liz. Liz impressed with the new Aldi at Topsham and less impressed with the rain on the way back.
Took some photos of a well preserved old fishing boat in the Turf Lock - later spotted heading off towards Lyme Regis way.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Up river paddling | 2023-08-24 | Up river loop via The Turf, the Clyst and Lympstone.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Up river to the Turf | 2013-04-28 | Only the 2nd dinghy sail of the year. Up river as far as the Turf in a nice gentle breeze
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Exe Estuary
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| Gusty estuary sailing | 2013-05-04 | A sail in the Wayfarer with Derek H. The wind was very gusty and very shifty. Made for an interesting sail even though we only went back and forth across the estuary
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Exe Estuary dawdle | 2013-05-12 | Not quite the F4 gusting F5 that was forecast. That and the fact we managed to get the furling line wrapped round the head sail furling drum means that we didnt go very far.
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Exe Estuary
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| Morning dog walk | 2021-08-10 | Checking out new battery in Montana 600 GPS. Old one was about 7-8 years old and had probably done 500-600 recharges so can't complain too much.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exmouth and back | 2017-07-30 | Round to Exmouth and back. Stopped at the Turf Locks for a pint on the way back. And then another pint when Gerry H appeared. Quite a strong wind but mostly on the side until it moved to being dead on the nose after leaving the pub!
The birds in the photos were by the Turf Locks. I thought they only "grouped up" like this just before they headed south for the winter and it's too early for that...
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-03-04 | A gentle wide into Exeter and back with Liz.
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Exe Estuary
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-09-28 | Windy and slow on the way back
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Lympstone and back | 2016-11-05 | A windy ride round to Lympstone and back.
Back on the Marin after its trip to the LBS for a new rear wheel.
Not a happy bike - gear change was really sloppy, the chain came off and the rear brake rubbed. No wonder it all felt such hard work.
Stopped at the Swing Bridges to watch them open to let yachts up to the canal basin.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Liz and Jill go large | 2013-06-14 | Too much talking too much wind and too much carrot cake to make for a respectable average speed but not bad on the distance front. Next week the girls will be cycling to Exmouth and back apparently.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe estuary dinghy sail | 2013-06-29 | A nice sail on the Exe in maybe a F3 to F4 on the day of the Hurricane and Dart opens. Imploded trailer tyre cut short the time available for sailing a little bit,
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Exe Estuary
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| Liz, Jill and Ben stroke Agas | 2013-07-05 | Liz, Jill and Ben cycle to Darts Farm and lust after the Aga cookers. Jills son probably not so impressed. Back via Topsham.
Average speed severely affected by taking GPS with them when Aga stroking.
Rather unbelievable max speed generated when Liz heads towards the till mistakenly believing she can actually aford an Aga.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe Estuary Meandering | 2021-07-21 | With Nigel H on his Dart 18 avoiding the heatwave. Just enough wind for a cooling breeze.
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Exe Estuary
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| Round to Lympstone | 2017-08-20 | Round to Lympstone and back with Liz. The remnants of a lurgy for Liz and the headwinds on the way back contributed to the single figure average speed!
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-04-14 | Wanted a nice gentle ride as it was the first time back on the bike in three weeks - a camper van trip and a slow to end lurgie having got in the way.
And a nice gentle ride with Liz it was.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
Mill On The Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2018-02-16 | Into Exeter and back with Liz. Straight into a headwind on the way home.
Tags:
Mill On The Exe
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| Another 100 mile week | 2016-10-28 | Exeter and back - bringing up the 100 miles for the week.
For much of the ride, the smoke from the large fire from the buildings surrounding Cathedral Green was visible. Very sad.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Post work paddle | 2013-07-17 | A paddle down the Exe Estuary and along the Pole Sands with Nigel after work. A lovely sunny evening in the middle of the heat wave. Photos by Liz from a distance!
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Exe Estuary
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| Sunday evening sail | 2013-07-21 | That rare occurrence - plenty of water, plenty of wind and plenty of sun. A lovely evening sail on the Exe Estuary.
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Exe Estuary
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| Drew Trophy race from Exe to Brixham | 2013-07-27 | A very slow cruise from the Exe to Brixham for the SYC Drew Trophy race. Came 2nd! Partly due to some boats giving up and motoring due to lack of wind. The photos show the flat as a millpond sea at the start of the race.
Tags:
Exe
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| Turf Paddle | 2023-04-13 | The westerly F3 gusting F4 turned out to be a F5 on the nose from the north on the way out. Complete with little white horses, I was tempted to turn back as I was making little over half a knot. Calmed down after a while and then lovely paddle up to the Turf for lunch moored up to a buoy.
Tags:
Exe
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| Dittisham to Exe | 2024-07-04 | After deciding that we both much preferred trying to get the AIS fully working before crossing the end of the shipping lanes on the way to Roscoff, we decided to head back to SYC and wait for the next decent weather window for a crossing.
A fast sail back.
Tags:
Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2017-12-09 | Into Exeter and back. Just got bike back from a big service by Jon S. Combination of a freshly serviced bike and not much wind made the moving average a bit better than some other recent rides.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2016-12-17 | First ride in a fortnight - work and the weather put paid to the previous weekend.
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Mill On The Exe
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| To St Davids and back | 2016-10-27 | Slightly longer cycle ride today to make up for doing the last 2.5 miles yesterday by car (due to having broken three spokes on the rear wheel).
So it was on the "spare bike" today which I hadn't ridden in about a decade. That's a Ridgeback Genesis Day 2. I stopped riding it as the estuary path used to be too rough for it. With the new cycle way its an ideal bike.
At maybe a couple of stone lighter than the normal bike (with its panniers etc) and with no breeze at all, it felt like cheating.
Keeping up with Liz was much easier than the last couple of time!
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Exe Estuary
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| Paddle round Pole Sands | 2013-10-06 | A paddle from Cockwood, out of the estuary and round the Pole Sands. There were even some little waves at times.
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Exe Estuary
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| Start of holiday Scooby walk | 2014-01-11 | Scoobys first walk of our winter holiay
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Exe Estuary
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| Cycle ride and SYC | 2014-01-26 | A basic cycle ride to the A379 and back again with a stop at the sailing club to watch the death and destruction. Some very big gusts of wind going through led to a few capsizes.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Return to the Exe | 2020-05-15 | First time back on the Exe Estuary after many, many months.
First trip out on our new inflatable kayak - a Sea Eagle 465 FastTrack.
Overall - very pleased with it.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Bike ride into Exeter | 2017-07-02 | A leisurely bike ride into Exeter with Liz. Liz's first time on the bike in a while. Combine that with hundreds of ISCA Academy 10 year olds vying to see which one of them could throw themselves under Liz's front wheel first, and the average speed makes more sense. Stopped at SYC on the way back.
Tags:
Mill On The Exe
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| Exeter and back - quite fast | 2017-02-18 | A very fast (for me) ride out to Exeter (averaged 16.2mph - would have been faster but for the hordes of pedestrians on the last couple of miles) and a somewhat slower ride back into quite a strong head wind. Stopped briefly at SYC to watch the dinghy instructor pre-prep course.
Fastest overall average I've managed on the 20 miles "Exeter and back" ride. First time averaging over 14 mph!
Tags:
Mill On The Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2016-12-05 | To the Mill On The Exe and back
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Exe Estuary
Mill On The Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2016-11-26 | Another twenty miler into Exeter and back.
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Exe Estuary
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| First beach cafe sail of the year. | 2014-05-03 | A lovely F3 south easterly for a sail down to the Exmouth Beach Cafe and back again
Tags:
Exe estuary
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| Sunny beach cafe safety boat duty | 2014-05-17 | A lovely sunny May sail down to the beach cafe and back. Light winds but just enough.
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Exe estuary
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| Push The Boat Out at SYC | 2014-05-26 | SYC's "Push The Boat Out" day to offer people a taster of dinghy sailing. A very successful day - about 70 people got to try sailing and the winds were an ideal F2 to F3.
Liz got to try helming a Topper on dry land!
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Exe Estuary
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| Scooby's last summer holiday walk | 2019-09-23 | Your activity description here
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Safety boat at SYC | 2017-06-24 | Safety boat for SYC dinghy cruise. Nearly an out to sea cruise but it was a little lumpy just out towards the fairway buoy.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-02-06 | Super fast on the way out. A bit slower on the way back. The last five miles were into a fairly strong headwind right on the nose. That and pouring rain and the cold put a slight damper on the last quarter!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
Mill On The Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2017-01-05 | Quite fast on the way out but a bit of a head wind on the way back slowed things down a bit overall.
Tags:
Mill On The Exe
Exe Estuary
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| Sail on Nigel's Dart | 2014-08-18 | A decent wind (gusting maybe F5) for a storming sail on Nigel's Dart. Some excellent speeds with a top speed of over 17 knots - probably the fastest I've been under sail. Top stuff
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Exe Estuary
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| Up river - twice | 2014-08-31 | A lovely sunny day. Wayfarer sail up river and then up river again. Winds got a bit light going up the Exe towards Topsham and the Clyst so just sailed round and round.
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Exe Estuary
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| Bart's Bash | 2014-09-21 | After ten year's sailing at Starcross Yacht Club we've completed our first ever dinghy race (we did start one about five year's ago but got bored half way through and sailed off up-river).
This race was in memory of Bart Simpson who died in America's Cup practice last year and to raise funds for his sailing academy.
Amazingly we weren't last - but pretty close. On the plus side, 68 boats in the water and we didn't hit one of them!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Kayaks and canoes with Jacqui and Carol | 2023-06-03 | A lovely June day, bottom of the tide paddle down the estuary with the Canadian canoe and the inflatable kayak. A top picnic lunch and then across the estuary to Lympstone in the inflatable and the Triumph single seater kayak.
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Exe Estuary
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| Bull Sands paddling | 2024-04-18 | After tailing the safety line while Derek H went up the mast of his Fulmar, down to the Bull Sands against the wind and tide (only F3 and neaps). Lunch on the Sands and then an easy paddle back as the wind and waves got up a bit. Top paddling / exercise!
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Exe Estuary
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| Clyst paddling | 2023-08-26 | A paddle with Marija and Jeremy L up the Clyst as far as the Bridge Inn at Topsham. Quite neapy so not a lot of water at the mouth of the Clyst (even near the top of the tide). Wind was probably the F3 gusting F5 advertised so some good exercise!
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Exe Estuary
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| Beach cafe paddle | 2024-11-01 | Too little wind to go sailing so Malcolm B and I headed down river in the Sea Eagle kayak
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Exe Estuary
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| First SYC dinghy cruise of 2015 | 2015-04-25 | An upriver dinghy cruise to start the 2015 season of SYC organised dinghy cruises. Pleasant wind - maybe F3
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Exe Estuary
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| Back from Brixham to the Exe | 2015-07-19 | A slowish sail back from Brixham to the Exe after the Drew Trophy Race.
Wind was up and down a bit from 5 knots to 15 knots but mostly around about 8 knots.
Sailed past the practise race for the 2015 Wayfarer nationals being sailed out of Brixham Yacht Club. Only 7 boats of the water???
Managed to sail the whole way - whenever we threatened to put the motor on, the wind picked up a bit.
Very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon listenening to Genesis and Pink Floyd on the boat cockpit speakers with the sun out.
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Exe
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| SYC beach cafe sail | 2015-08-01 | We haven't been out on the Wayfarer for quite a while. That sounds bad given that it's the height of summer but a quick check shows that I've actually sailed over 490 nautical miles since our last Wayfarer trip so I haven't exactly given up sailing!
A breezy sail down to the beach cafe - we put in a reef for the way back which wasn't too cowardly as there were a couple of capsizes on the way back.
Big tides which is the main reason for the quite fast average speed.
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Exe
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| Pole Sands Paddling | 2019-06-22 | Out to the Pole Sands in the canoe with Scooby.
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Exe Estuary
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| Beach cafe sail | 2024-10-02 | Down to the Beach Cafe in the Wayfarer with Malcolm. Quite big tides and quite variable winds. Good sail overall.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-04-24 | A fairly gentle ride into Exeter and back. Had the Marin loaded up with a pannier and computer bag as though I was going to cycle into work. After a bit of adjustment it all seemed to work ok.
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Exe Estuary
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| Beach cafe sail | 2018-05-19 | SYC dinghy cruise to the beach cafe. Great winds and plenty of sun!
Heading towards Springs so plenty of tide so quite a fast speed over the ground going past the Warren.
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Exe estuary
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| October dinghy cruise | 2015-10-10 | An iffy weather forecast (F4 gusting F5 with occasional F6) didn't tie up with the conditions at the start time so we went out with one reef. In the end, it turned out to be a lovely sail.
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Exe Estuary
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| Beach cafe dinghy cruise | 2015-10-17 | A mid October dinghy cruise to the beach cafe. Winds of mid F4 forecast but mostly a bit lower than that.
Broke the tiller extension universal joint which made sailing back a bit different to usual.
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Exe Estuary
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| First dinghy sail of 2016 | 2016-04-02 | Weather forecast was for F5 gusting F6 and that was about right when we got to SYC.
As this was the first dinghy cruise of the year, it was cancelled and replaced with a sail near the club.
Put lots of reefs in so the crew didn't mutiny and then banged about across the estuary and back a few times. Turned out to be a fun sail.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| Exe Regatta canoeing | 2019-06-09 | A paddle from Generals Lane slipway in Starcross up to the Turf. Stopped at SYC on the way back to watch some of the Exe Regatta and to let the tide get a bit stronger to help us back against the wind.
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Exe Regatta
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| Exeter and back | 2017-06-12 | Quite hard work as I hadn't been on the bike for the last three weeks and there was a bit of a head wind on the way out.
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Mill On The Exe
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| Dawlish and Exeter | 2017-12-18 | Into Dawlish with Liz to pay a bill and then up to Lutzy's on Exeter Quay. A lovely sunny winter's day with next to no wind.
Liz says "bad back and snotty nose" the reason for the slightly low average speed.
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Mill On The Exe
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| Floods, a puncture and a disputed cupcake | 2018-03-04 | Post snow flooding on the Exe cycle path meant a bunch of walking. Liz didn't want the gorgeous Lutzy's cupcake bought for her so it was half each - the first "snack" this year! Then a blowout on the way home on Lizzie's rear tyre. Not helped by the poxy pump we had with us only being able to half inflate the tyre. A trip to the LBS tomorrow for a replacement.
Tags:
Mill On The Exe
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| Another twenty miles | 2016-10-20 | Third day in a row of cycling into Exeter and back.
Every day is getting harder - surely that's not right!
A couple of "reading breaks" on the way back.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
Mill on the Exe
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| Squires Cup Safety Boat | 2016-06-12 | Safety boat for the Squires Cup racing for dinghies and cats on the Exe Estuary. Not a lot of wind so not much call for our services. Some rain at times.
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Exe Estuary
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| Up river dinghy cruise | 2016-07-02 | An up river dinghy cruise. The weather forecast was about right with its F4 gusting F5.
The "fleet" got spread out quite a bit and, as the weather wasn't great, we headed back to the club quite early.
The camera was on the wrong settings when the photos were taken so they've been over HDR'd to see if they can be made slightly interesting.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| SYC Mystery Dinghy Cruise | 2016-07-13 | "Officer Of The Day" for the SYC "mystery dinghy cruise". What the mystery was to be was, er, a mystery to us.
So we decided that it would be cricket and drinkies on the Bull Sands in the middle of the Exe Estuary at low water.
F4 gusting F5 a fair bit of the time but it seems a good time was had by all.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
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| River Clyst paddling | 2023-06-09 | Up the river Clyst for a couple of miles and then back via Topsham.
There was still more navigable water to be explored on the Clyst but left that for next time.
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Exe Estuary
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-05-23 | Into work and back. Not much wind which made it a bit easier.
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Exe Estuary
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| Darts Farm and back | 2017-01-07 | Off to Darts Fram to hire a tandem for Liz's birthday next week. Liz bought a leek!
Average speed distorted by the time spent shuffling round Darts Farm while Liz looked for other stuff to buy.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2016-11-27 | Liz's first time back on the bike at the tail end of a two week lurgy.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
Mill On The Exe
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| Summer Sail | 2016-07-30 | Went up river to about the Goat Walk and then back again. Liz did some helming for about the 3rd time in the 10 years we've been sailing on the Exe. Then some on water reefing practice and then back to SYC for the "Commodore's BBQ".
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Exe Estuary
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| Jim Vallis Cruise | 2016-08-06 | The first Jim Vallis Memorial Cruise. A dinghy cruise in memory of our friend Jim Vallis who started up the organised dinghy cruises at SYC. A lovely sunny day with the wind varying between nothing and about force 5 - but with no big gusts so very sailable. Joined at SYC by many from Jim's family and Sandra joined us on our Wayfarer for a sail.
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Exe Estuary
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| Free Sailing Safety Boat | 2016-08-13 | Doing safety boat for a Free Sailing at SYC on a lovely summer's afternoon. A pleasant F3 with the occasional gust made for almost ideal sailing conditions with just a few things to keep us slightly busy. A surprising overall distance as we spent the first 15 minutes at anchor (and expected to remain there for much of the afternoon!)
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe to Dartmouth | 2018-06-16 | With the SYC Newport Trophy cancelled due to the possibility of a Force 6, we set of with Peter S for company hoping to get as far as Salcombe.
However, with the wind pretty much on the nose, progress was a little slow for us so we motor sailed.
As we crossed Torbay we saw the annual Brixham Trawler Race taking place.
The weather forecast was pretty much right (with maximum gusts of about 26 knots - F6), so we gave up on the idea of rounding Start Point and ducked into Darthaven Marina in Dartmouth.
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Exe
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-09-26 | First time back on the bike after two week summer hols - hard work.
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Exe Estuary
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