The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| Exeter and back | 2017-01-21 | Cold days cycle ride into Exeter and back. Just above freezing. Very gentle ride with Liz - reflected in the somewhat slower than usual average speed.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Sail with Liz and Julian | 2012-04-14 | No wind but some thunderstorms. Not the ideal sail on the estuary for Lizs brother.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Up river cruise to Goat Walk | 2012-05-19 | An up river dinghy cruise from SYC to the Goat Walk. Light winds on the way back. About 15 boats out.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Monday evening sail | 2012-05-21 | A suprisingly breezy Monday evening sail.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Channel Islands - Exe to Brixham | 2012-06-01 | A sail down from Starcross Yacht Club on the Exe to Brixham ready for an 0200 departure from Brixham to Guernsey. Average speed an estimate as GPS time data lost.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Wayfarer sailing | 2024-04-27 | A free sailing event at SYC. About F3 to F4 but quite cold and overcast.
Turned the Wayfarer over to check its buoyancy and to have a look at the centreboard (which seems to still be in quite good condition).
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Lympstone and back | 2017-08-27 | Round to Lympstone and back with Liz. Lovely hot summer's day.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Exeter and back | 2017-05-08 | Cycle ride into Exeter and back with a stop at SYC on the way back.
Not a bad average for me as I was on the Marin hybrid loaded up with a pannier, locks and a book.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| June sea breezes | 2017-06-17 | A splendid sail in the Wayfarer on the Exe Estuary. Drifted about for half an hour waiting for the sea breeze to kick in. When it did it was a splendid steady F4 to F4. Combined with neap tides, it made for a splendid sail. Liz helmed and we went to rescue a pair on a Topper that capsized and seemed to be filling with water. Luckily a passing rib helped as after we had a couple of goes we still hadn't found a spot on the Bull Sands where Liz could stand up in the water!
Then went and had a look at the B14 event and got slightly in the way of one of the crews (oops - apologized later!).
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| A very gusty sail | 2012-07-29 | A very short sail as Liz wasnt too keen on the gusty conditions. It was windy as the top speed of 8.2 knots was actually against the tide. It felt fast for an old Wayfarer with a lot of the front of the boat out of the water as we planed down wind.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Monday evening sail | 2012-07-30 | A Monday evening sail to the Goat Walk - quite gusty.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Down river dinghy cruise | 2012-08-18 | To the beach cafe and back. Sunny weather and F2 to F3.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Scoobys second canoe trip | 2012-09-08 | Sccobys second canoe trip. To the Bull Sand and then down to the Warren. First trip out of his depth.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| First Wayfarer outing of 2024 | 2024-04-21 | A late start to this year's Wayfarer sailing but quite a good one. Mostly F4 so one reef in the main and then backwards and forwards across the estuary umpteen times to get the a feel for the boat again.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-08-29 | Work and back
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-05-02 | Cycle ride to work and back. Not that windy but the wind was against on the way to work and against on the way home!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| New Years Eve bike ride | 2016-12-31 | Exeter and back
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Exeter and back | 2016-11-19 | Another 20 mile ride into Exeter and back.
First ever average of 13 mph on a twenty mile ride.
Storm Angus had left the flood prevention overflows in full spate in Exeter.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Safety boat at SYC | 2013-02-17 | Too windy for us to go out sailing as we havent been out for a couple of months. So ended up doing safety boat. Good fun - a little bouncy. Suspect the occasional max speed peaks are GPS data anomalies.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Another twenty miles | 2016-10-26 | Out with Liz for another cycle ride into Exeter and back.
Trying to "power" up the bridge at Powderham, I broke 3 spokes on the rear wheel. So the last 2.5 miles are Liz alone as she went home to get the car to rescue me and the broken bike.
That means the "reserve" bike tomorrow - the almost unridden Ridgeback Genesis Day Two.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| March safety boat | 2013-03-24 | Safety boat at SYC. A cold march day - two degrees centrigrade. The windchill factor made it feel like minus four. GPS data anomalies account for the three or four short peaks in speed.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-08-15 | Work and back
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-05-12 | Into and Exeter and back to work.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Exeter and back | 2016-12-29 | Into Exeter and back. Moving average a little disappointing given how hard I pedaled!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Super summer sail | 2013-05-18 | A lovely sail up to the Goat Walk at Topsham. We had planned to go as far as the motorway bridge but the wind didnt have the west in it that the forecast said it would. Met Malcolm and Graham at the Goat Walk. The max speed of 6.9 knots isnt bad given that there was no tide to speak of.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| First beach cafe sail of the year | 2013-05-25 | From SYC down to the beach cafe and back. The forecast said next to no wind but a lovely sea breeze kicked in.
Top sail.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Walking the hound to the Turf | 2013-05-26 | A hound walk to to the Turf Pub with Scooby Lizzie and Julian
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Exe SWM dinghy sail | 2023-08-30 | A lovely sail with Malcolm B in the Wayfarer. Out to the Exe Safe Water Mark and a little way beyond. Lunch on the beach and an ice cream at the Beach Cafe. The wind was mostly F3/F4 with occasional gusts to F5. A lovely sail.
And then used the new electric winch at SYC to retrieve the Wayfarer.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Lympstone and back | 2017-07-23 | Round to Lympstone and back with Liz. Liz's first time back on a bike for about a month.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| SYC Dinghy Cruise | 2019-08-03 | SYC dinghy cruise down to the beach cafe.
Slightly stronger winds than forecast - about F4 much of the time - and a big 4.4 metre tide resulted in a top speed of 9.4 knots. Not bad for a 40 year old Wayfarer but we still haven't broken the 10 knots barrier yet!
Unfortunately the battery in the GPS ran out half way back.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Lympstone and back | 2017-01-22 | Round to Lympstone on a lovely winters afternoon. Enough wind for the sailors at Starcross Yacht Club but not so much as to make the cycling unpleasant.
Photos are from Lympstone looking at SYC and from SYC looking at Lymptstone.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Scooby's first canoe trip of 2013 | 2013-07-07 | Up river to the new wreck just north of Starcross and then back down to the Bull Sands where Scoobie ran non stop (when he wasnt digging). Luckily we were too early for the Olly Murs sound check!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Canoe trip from SYC to Turf Pub | 2013-07-08 | A canoe trip from SYC to the Turf Pub on the Exe Estuary. Set out near low tide. Journey follows the just greater than paddle depth contour on the way out and later, with the higher tide, on the way back.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Sunny summers evening sail | 2013-07-10 | A lovely summer evenings sail. Just enough wind to go down estuary against the incoming tide.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Round to Exmouth | 2017-08-14 | Round to Maer Rocks at Exmouth. Started raining just as I got to Exmouth. The last seven miles straight into the wind and the rain were hard work.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Brixham to Exe | 2017-04-23 | A lovely day sail on Derek H's Fulmar.
First a quick trip with Liz on board round Berry Head. Mostly motor sailing and watching the wildlife.
Then, after dropping Liz off back in Brixham, a sail back up to SYC on the Exe. Light winds - but enough to sail most of the way. A chance to "play" with some of setup on Thalmia including the cruising chute and a think about how a preventer might be rigged.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Out to sea dinghy cruise | 2021-06-12 | About 16 boats sailed down from SYC to the Pole Sands and Beach Cafe. Then a little way out to sea (up and down around the safe water mark). A little bouncy for about 100 yards in the swashway as the last of the ebbing tide meet the sea breeze. Comparatively little screaming heard from the crew.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Starcross Steamer 2017 | 2017-02-05 | Down to Starcross Yacht Club for the annual Starcross Steamer dinghy pursuit race. One hundred boats on the water.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Another twenty miles | 2016-10-19 | Another ride into Exeter and back.
Hard work!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Bike ride to Exmouth and back | 2013-08-11 | Bike ride round the Exe Estuary from Cockwood to Exmouth and back.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| The not-Topsham sail | 2013-08-18 | Thought the westerly wind would be ideal for a sail up to Topsham. However, it turned out to be too gusty and with large wind shifts to make that a good idea.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Up river safety boat | 2024-05-04 | A lovely sunny May day with a F3 wind and little tide. Up to about the Goat Walk.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Round to Exmouth and back | 2016-10-25 | I missed out on yesterday's cycle ride due to the incessant rain and being a wuss. To make up, today's ride was round to Exmouth and the start of the Jurassic Coast.
On the way out I told myself that I'd catch the ferry back. When I was there I thought "that wasn't so" bad so I rode back.
It's a long way for someone like me!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Exeter and back | 2017-04-16 | Into Exeter and back. A fair old head wind on the way out but speedy on the way back. Not a bad average for me given that I'm still not fully over the lurgie I've had for the last couple of weeks.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Lympstone and back | 2016-12-19 | Round to Lympstone for a very nice and rather spicy tomato soup in the Swan Inn.
This ride takes me just over 500 miles since I started this regular cycling stuff back in mid October.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Start of holiday Scooby walk | 2014-01-11 | Scoobys first walk of our winter holiay
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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
|
| Basic bike ride | 2014-01-27 | Along the estuary to the A379 and back
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Lizzie bike ride | 2014-03-07 | First time back on the bike after a couple of very wet months. To the Swing Bridges and back again.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Straight Point Paddling | 2023-06-15 | A near enough perfect day's paddling. Out with the tide against just the start of a sea breeze. Then along the coast to Straight Point. Flat calm and pretty much no wind.
The Marines were firing otherwise I'd have gone on further.
Then back via the beach cafe (the choccie ice cream not as nice as Route 2's) and then pushed back up the estuary by the tide and building sea breeze. Hardly a cloud in the sky. Just about perfect.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-08-07 | Got rained on
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Down river safety boat | 2019-08-17 | Safety boat for the Jim Vallis Memorial dinghy cruise.
Down to beach cafe.
Wind between about F1 and F4.
Tags:
Exe estuary
|
| Exeter and back | 2016-12-18 | Foggy ride into Exeter and back
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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.
Tags:
Exe estuary
|
| 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!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Squires Cup safety boat | 2014-06-08 | Safety boat duty on a rather damp and drizzly Sunday in June. Free tea though!
Tags:
Exe estuary
|
| Evening up river dinghy cruise | 2014-06-12 | A lovely evening's sail up to the Goat Walk at Topsham. Sun and a decent wind (which only died as the last couple of boats arrived back). We had a brief detour a little way down the Clyst taking advantage of the high tide.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-06-16 | Into work and back
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-09-01 | Into work and back
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Second Wayfarer sail of the year | 2017-04-14 | A short sail in the Wayfarer. Sail somewhat shortened as replacing the forestay with a new one took longer than expected - the mousing line was shorter than the mast so we ended up with no stay or mousing line in the mast!
Light winds so we practiced some on water reefing.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-06-20 | Hot. Very hot.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-06-23 | In to Exeter and back. Stopped at SYC on the way back.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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
|
| October beach cafe sail | 2014-10-11 | Good winds and big tides for a late season sail from SYC down to the beach cafe. Some excellent winds round the Warren and the Docks. Died away a little bit for the last mile back to SYC.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Commodore's Cruise | 2017-07-29 | The weather forecast was rubbish - no winds and heavy rain. Turned out to be a nice wind and only occasional rain.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| First Wayfarer sail of 2017 | 2017-04-02 | First time out in the Wayfarer this year. A very gentle sail and then a drift back down with the tide as the wind died away as forecast.
Some noisy scroat was scaring up the birds in a hovercraft between the Clyst and the Goat Walk.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Hundred miles this week | 2016-10-22 | The fifth 20 miler of the week. I'd expected this to be a gentle cycle ride with Liz but she was all gung ho! Way faster than I was expecting and I wasn't allowed my usual stopping places to have a breather.
This was the fifth day out in a row doing 20 miles meaning that the target of doing 100 miles in a week was reached with 2 days to spare.Day off tomorrow!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| First beach cafe sail of 2015 | 2015-04-19 | A down river sail from SYC to the Exmouth beach cafe.
Strange winds - a bit of everything. Off Cockwood the NE wind met a sea breeze and shifted 180 degrees! It did this on both the way down and the way back. Coming back to the Club the wind got a bit lively for the last 5 minutes of the sail.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-09-06 | Work cycle ride
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Lympstone and back | 2017-01-28 | Round to Lympstone and back with Liz. Got rained on at Countess Wear.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-07-28 | Very windy (WindGuru said 25mph gusting 40) on the way back and wet. Wind was maybe 30 to 45 degrees off being dead on the nose so slightly easier than it might have been.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Lympstone and back | 2017-11-05 | Strong winds from the north (force 6 maybe gusting a little more) made this quite a slow ride with Liz.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Lympstone and back | 2016-12-04 | Round the Exe Estuary trail to Lympstone and back.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Another twenty miler | 2016-11-20 | Well almost a twenty miler. The 2 inch rain fall in Exeter meant that the last part of the cycle path ride was under water.
Hard work cycling in to the head wind that was the remnants of Storm Angus. Disappointing that the winds dropped away for the homeward leg - as shown by the drifting boats when stopping briefly at SYC.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Down river paddle | 2022-07-15 | And just a little bit out to sea.
Lovely day - hot but with a cooling sea breeze.
Retrieved a kite surfers board after he had some minor difficulties.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Short Wayfarer sail | 2023-05-07 | Not much wind so just a short Wayfarer sail up the estuary a little way.
Docking arms now fitted to new launching trolley.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Work cycle ride | 2017-07-25 | Work and back
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Pole Sands Paddling | 2020-08-31 | An ideal days paddling. Wind and tide with us on the way out and on the way back!
Liz fell in when getting out of the kayak on the Pole Sands.
Much screaming from Liz and Scooby when we came back round the outside of the Pole Sands.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Exeter and back | 2016-12-03 | A windy ride into Exeter and back, Liz still in post lurgie mode.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| St Peter Port to SYC | 2016-06-04 | Up at the hideously early hour of 03:00 to catch the first of the tidal flow up the Little Russel at 04:00. A lovely clear night at 4am with all the navigation lights clearly visible. After Platte Fougere we "turned left a bit" to allow for the strong Spring tides. For much of the time the weather forecast was correct and what little wind there was was on the nose. However, the visibility was good making crossing the shipping lanes a lot easier than on the way out.
The photos of the Channel Light Vessel show an absolutely flat sea. The wind did pick up for a bit after this which made for a lovely sail with flat seas. A while north of the shipping lanes we were joined by about 6 to 8 dolphins for about 20 minutes. An hour or so later a much smaller porpoise made an appearance.
Amelie's engine held up well and we were back on the mooring at SYC by about 19:30.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| SYC to Topsham SC | 2016-06-11 | A paddle up the Exe from SYC to Topsham Sailing Club and back. First paddle of the year - a poor do indeed!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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
|
| Exe estuary paddle | 2022-09-20 | A short paddle across the Exe estuary.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Down river dinghy cruise | 2022-08-13 | Safety boat duty on a down river dinghy cruise. Twenty one boats, a big spring tide and a few minor dramas.
And my first double scoop of ice cream in about 3 months. Lush.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Exeter and back | 2017-02-27 | A gentle ride into Exeter and back. A mixture of sunshine and showers but at least the wind was from the side.
Most impressively, Liz managed to come off her bike but still remain standing at the end of the manoeuvre!
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Exeter and back | 2016-11-28 | A windy ride into Exeter and back. Luckily the wind (F5 to F7 on Met Office forecast) was mostly on the side,
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Exe Estuary paddle | 2022-07-06 | Across to Exmouth for a paddle up the east side of the estuary.
Just past Lympstone the wind picked up to a F4 and paddling became hard work. Pleased and surprised to see I was still doing about 2mph against a F4.
Stopped at SYC on the way back for lunch.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| Mackerel for tea | 2016-07-18 | A glorious summer sail on a Dart 18 with Nigel H. Caught some mackerel for the first time ever - a few hundred yards off the safe water mark. Blisteringly hot and light winds - ideal for a summer sail / drift
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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".
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
| 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.
Tags:
Exe Estuary
|
