Sailing on the Longest Day!

Well that’s it - the longest day has been and gone!  That means the days are getting shorter, the nights are drawing in, winter is on the way and we’ll be skiing and  snowboarding before you know it!

So how do you celebrate the coming of winter with no skiing or snowboarding to be found?  How about sailing on The Solent?

I have very little experience of sailing but would love to do more and was fortunate enough to go with www.EscapeYachting.com who are based in Lymington in the New Forest.

It really doesn't get much better than this – at 3.30pm we were welcomed on board with a glass of champagne, issued with life jackets and were soon heading out of the harbour into the Solent! Our crew were Nigel (skipper) & Chris (2nd skipper, deck hand and cook – the important one!!) who looked after us, let us take part in as much of the sailing as we wanted and kept us entertained!

Some of us chose to steer (there’s probably a sailing type technical word for that!) and I managed to turn the steering wheel the right way and didn’t crash or capsize, while others chose to sit back and relax with the wine that had been pre-ordered and was chilling on the boat when we arrived!

We sailed for about two and half hours – which flew by as we enjoyed the views of the Solent, became very efficient at switching sides of the yacht as we tacked and making sure we didn’t spill any of our wine, watched out for and tried to identity all the different bird life, watched the huge variety of different boats (both sailing and motor, large and small) that cruise the Solent and of course chatted about skiing and snowboarding and where we are thinking of going next season (ok we may be a little obsessed!)

Then we anchored up in a sheltered bay off the Isle of Wight and enjoyed a fabulous meal cooked on board by Chris and then sailed back into Lymington and a lovely sunset for around 9.30pm – just in time to get a couple of drinks in before last orders at the bar!  Après yachting doesn’t have the same ring as après ski but it tastes just as good after all that fresh air and fun!

I would definitely recommend Escape Yachting - they even organised the weather, kept it dry and windy enough to have a good sail but not too windy that I was ill or scared!  Then again maybe they organised that just for us! 

You might not have had your summer holiday yet but winter is on its way and this is definitely an excellent way to pass some time before it gets here!

You can find out full details about Escape Yachting’s Solent days on their website. Mention Altitude sent you and you’ll get the day out for £99 per person!