Upwind Fight and the Reward

The second of the May long weekends, Pentecost, is approaching. What does the weather and wind forecast say?
Saturday: some rain, NE 4-5 Bf.
Sunday: sunny, little wind, W-SW if you're lucky.
Monday: cloudy but dry, N-NW 3-4 Bf.
We came up with a cunning plan:
1. Fight our way up-wind on Saturday, from Bruinisse to Scharendijke.
2. Sunday, short hop from Scharendijke to Outdorp, with whatever wind there is.
3. Monday, downwind run back to Bruinisse.
You know what? It worked!

Friday, 22nd of May. Getting ready.
On Friday morning, the skipper got on the little Honda and rode to Bruinisse to clean-up little Mekićevica and change the head-sail from the huge Genny to tiny Jibby. Then in the evening First-Mate joined for drinks and light dinner aboard.

Saturday, 23rd of May. Tough, upwind sail.
When we woke-up on Saturday morning, it was sunny and absolutely calm. But the weatherman was warning that it would soon kick-up a stiff NE 4-5 Bf with some rain. He was right, apart from the little rain... it was a lot of rain.
It was drizzling when we got out of Bruinisse harbour, hoisted full main and jib, and set-off on a close-haul up the Grevelingen. The drizzle persisted, the wind continued to build-up to the point that we decided first to put a reef on the main and then to shorten the (already short) jib.
We managed to go all the way to Scharendijke on the same tack, but it was one of the most demanding trips we have ever done. Even with such short sails Mekićevica often had the toerail in the water. When we came out of the lee of Stampersplaat, where the waves from the NE had the most fetch, she was really rolling. Then suddenly when we got behind the Kabelaarsbank and turned into a broad reach everything calmed down and we glided smoothly into Scharendijke harbour. We were tired, cold but immensely happy with Mekićevica's performance.
We spent the rest of the afternoon on a walk to the nearby villae of Looperskapelle.

Sunday, 24th of May. Ghosting towards Outdorp.
During the night the wind died completely and the sun was shinning. We even had our first breakfast al fresco of the season.

Finally the jacket can come off and breakfast outside.

When we left Scharendijke there was a weak westerly wind, enough to push us gently along on a broad reach. We had to turn into the wind to negotiate the Hompelgeul and I anticipated a couple of quick tacks as the wind was starting to build-up slightly. But when we turned all wind seemed to vanish and it was very slow progress, sometimes having to tack suddenly when the wind shifted unexpectedly. Eventually, we made it across, got more wind and continued on a broad reach, sailing right to the entrance of the yacht harbour.

Finally nice weather!

After a lazy afternoon we went for a run and then to Outdorp for a delicious dinner out.
It started to rain again as we were having dinner and we got had to walk back in the rain.

Monday, 25th of May. Downwind run back to Bruinisse.
By Monday morning the rain had cleared and there were good sunny spells. The wind was a weak northerly. Out of the harbour we unfurled the genoa and sailed gently on a SE course.

Leaving Outdorp behind...

...with Big Genny pulling us on a broad reach.

Instead of the usual Grevelingen main channel, we took the quieter Hals. A couple of jibes as the wind backed to the NW and the channel changed direction brought us back to Bruinisse.