After enjoying our trip to the isle of Wight in 2020, we planned on another adventure away again on my boat, Galloper. We set aside a couple of weeks in mid-September with rough plans of what we would like to do. Once again, our trip was at the mercy of the weather so plan as we might, we couldn’t book anything in advance in case the forecast was unfavourable. As with any angling trip, half of the fun is in the anticipation. We spent ages talking about what we hoped to do, where we hoped to go and what we hoped to catch. I spent a while studying charts and we all spent a small fortune between us on tackle to cover every occasion that might present itself.
We kept a close eye on the weather as our trip got closer. I had a run of trips just beforehand including a couple of long offshore trips the two days prior to leaving. It was flat, calm and sunny throughout these trips and all looked promising for our passage west. The tide times dictated that we would leave in the middle of the night this time, not leaving us much time to load the boat up between my last trip and our departure time. I had a regular group out the day before we left. The weather was fantastic and we spent the day chasing bass offshore. Russell and the lads knew I was on a tight schedule so, with plenty of bass coming aboard and their quota filled, they were happy to head in slightly earlier than usual. To be honest, the lads were keener to head in than I was on such a sunny and glassy afternoon. I was relieved to see it so calm with just a few hours before we would be heading back out on the first leg of our journey. The forecast for the week ahead was looking patchy, but certainly looked good enough for what we wanted. It wouldn’t be settled enough for us to let our guard down at any time; we would keep one eye on the forecast at all times and take each day as it came.
After learning a lot
