I have great ambition for single handed sailing around the Ryukyu Islands. I determine to sail all by myself on Sunday to see if I can manage on my own. It is a very beautiful day but there is hardly any wind.

The first challenge of going solo is raising the sails. This has to be done facing into the wind otherwise the sails fill and become unmanageable. It is nice to have someone on the tiller keeping the boat headed into the wind as you pull on the throat and peak halyards to raise the the mighty main sail. I get the the boat into the wind and with the motor just ticking over I tighten the tiller tamer such that the tiller cannot move from side to side and accordingly bring the boat to port or starboard, filling the half way raised sail and causing mayhem.

It works well and I raise the mainsail without fuss. The jib is easy as it has a roller reefing system. You just pull on a jib sheet and the sail sets. Actually it took a lot of work with Nick to get the system to work smoothly but now it is perfect.

So we flap around for an hour or so but there is not enough wind to drive the boat anywhere. However the sky is blue, the sea is blue and I am happy. The wind such as there is, is blowing on shore and I finally give up and start to run back to the harbor. Now the wind disappears completely and we have to motor in. I manage to get the sails down, the fenders out and come alongside without too much embarrassment.

Not very exciting but all good experience.