Fortnight in Dover

Been here two weeks & a day now. No sign of the weather letting up though - still who wants to sail through France in this? Even the ferries are using tugs to get them to their berths.

Our Aussi neighbours have just left after fitting a new window in our cockpit tent from their onboard supply of spare windows! As payment they're cooking dinner for us later?!

The photos were supposed to be from Dover castle but when we arrived at the top of the hill, the castle was on a different one, so we sat on the cliff and watched the ferries for a while. With navigation like that, it's a good job you can see France from the harbour exit.

Complaints

Just a quick post to mention Gaz who gave me two buckets that we now use as our washing machine, and hasn't stopped complaining for not been mentioned on the blog since. Also to Kev - there's nowt rong with me spelling. Complain formally when you find another solicitor :-)

The white cliffs

After three nights in Eastbourne we were up at 0500 (ish) this morning. The lock shuts on the hour & half hour, so it was a mad rush to get in for 0530. With just one French yacht and a fishing boat there was plenty of room this time. The tide was low and we saw the remains of a WW1 ship sticking out of the water at the entrance.

It was bright & sunny, but no SW3/4 as predicted -just a variable nothing. We motored through dense fields of lobster pots & fishing boats for a few hours making good progress as far as Hastings. By now the predicted wind had kicked in and we were making 5.5 - 6kts motorsailing. Unfortunately the wind brought a thick fog bank that totally enveloped us for the next 30 odd miles. The wind increased to around 17kts with a moderate swell. Off Rye the engine suddenly started to labour and the speed dropped off. I shut the engines and restarted each individually to see which had picked up a rope or net, but they both came back on ok. We carried on sailing toward our waypoint off Dungeness with an even more cautious look out than before. At Dungeness I hardened up out to sea rather than hitting the waypoint as the fog signal sounded much to close! As we passed the headland at 9kts over the ground we put the already reefed main away and sailed on a dead run towards Dover. The fog was really thick and we brought out the life jackets for the first time since we bought them. A while later two yachts appeared 50m away motoring together. I put the engine upto 2500rpm with the full genoa, but still couldn't keep up and they disapeared within a few minutes. It was a good opportunity to play with the radar, and we monitored the two yachts all the way to Dover, as well as other ships & land. 2M off Dover I called up port control and advised them of our intentions and was told to call when we were 300m off the western entrance. As I called up from 300m the huge wall of the port came out of the fog and we saw land for the first time since Hastings. The sea state was really bad outside the harbour and we were refused entry until another boat had left. As we came inside the walls the sea became calm and the fog vanished. We were escorted to the marina by the harbour patrol. At £15 a night we'll definitely be here until there's a forecast with no "occasionally very poor in it!"

Eastbourne

We set off from Brighton at 1200 after only one nights stay. There was no wind for our trip to Eastbourne, but nice sunshine through the misty bits. We sat on the fordeck with the autopilot remote control, sunbathing until it started veering off course for no reason and I went back to the cockpit to keep an eye on it. There was some excitement when a dive boat called a mayday for an unconcious diver, and some more going through the overfalls at beachy head.

We called up Eastbourne marina outside the entrance and were told to proceed into the lock with the green light. It was our first time on our own in a lock and we had ropes hanging off everything for every eventuality. When we arrived there were already eight boats inside the 50m long lock, and we had to squeeze into a really tight spot. One other boat came in, down the middle and the gates shut - easy!

Mum & Rob came down on Sunday to see us & to bring essential supplies of popadoms & chillies as well as the wet suits.

The Southeast

The weather was forcast north backing northwest for Friday. We needed to leave Bembridge around 0800 to make the most of the easterly going tide for the 40 odd mile trip to Brighton, but were pushing it to get off the beach and out of the shallow Bembridge harbour after 0700 due to the falling tide. I woke at 0500 and went out to look at the visibility which I was hoping was good for crossing the Nab channel area which is the main route for shipping into Portsmouth & Southhampton. It was ok & I went back to bed, listening to thunder for the next hour.

I didn't want to set out until I'd listened to the 0730 weather report, but by then we had to be out of the harbour and couldn't return until the next rising tide. We decided to go. At 0715 I went into the water which was only knee deep to fetch the anchor. We grounded and then floated back toward the kedge after the bow anchor was in. A few other boats had left 20 minutes before in a group and I was hoping to see them all sailing East. When we got out of the harbour they were just heading into the Solent and we were on our own. The weather confirmed the forcast and although the thunder had stopped, the sky to the East looked as black as night.

We weaved our way through the tankers all anchored waiting to go into the Solent and across the Nab channel where we met coming from opposite directions a minesweeper and a massive container ship. The F2 or 3 Northerly was blowing Northeast 17kts and I was thinking about going back. We were making 8-9kts through the water (motorsailing) and over 5 across the ground as the tide wasn't with us yet so we pressed on. After 10 miles we reached the marker for the channel through the shallow area around Selsey bill. The sky had brightened although it had looked so close to the rain we had all the wet gear on ready. The wind still hadn't backed and as we had to change course for Brighton (28m) we sailed into a head wind. The genoa was up & down for the next few hours, until we were a few hours from Brighton when the wind dissapeared completely and we motored in flat sea & full sunshine the rest of the way.

We berthed on the fuel pontoon at 1603 and filled our tank for the first time since setting off for Cherbourg. It took a fiver - that includes running the engine for an hour each day for hot water & charging batteries while on the beach! Brighton is the biggest marina in the country and I nearly had to do a passage plan back from the fuel pontoon to our berth which we arrived safely at, at 1625 with wind westerly 12kts!!!

The Isle of Wight

Left Yarmouth at 0847 for Bembridge. After setting off into a north easterly, we reasoned that as we came to the top of the Isle of Wight, we would bear away southward and make a tack, but as we did the wind followed us until we tried the same thing again at the end of the Island when it became southeast!! Still we have a good engine and a fair tide and made it through the winding channel into Bembridge at 1400. It's probably not a good passage plan not to know where you intend to go when you arrive somewhere, but as we didn't and the beach looked so inviting, we sailed onto it.

Our next destination was Brighton and as the wind was north easterly we stayed for four nights. The beach & sun was really nice, even taking my first (intentional) swim. We clawed back some budget overspend only lashing out on bread, milk & nesquick (strawberry!) except for one night when we went wild and bought a bag of chips from the chipshop.

Eastward again

Living on Poole town quay among all the posh motorboats and a few superyachts has been a nice change. The night after the fireworks we had a car show on the front, which people drove their own cars to. There must have been around a hundred altogether, from the Austin Healy club, Triumphs, and all the usuall MG's through to the modern Lotus elises, Mazdas and a few AC Cobras.

Anne & Alex came down Sunday 3rd June to see us but we only had time for a tea as we had to be out of the marina by 1200. We cast off at 1215 intending to go out of the harbour for a look at the Looe channel which is a shorter route to the Solent than the main channel, and then to Brownsea island until Wednesday when the tides would be in our favour going into the Solent without having to get up at two in the morning!

After going through the channel, we decided to go as far as Christchurch, where we would anchor in the bay, but it was such a nice sail we carried on (through 300m of overfalls at Christchurch ledge) all the way to the North channel into the Solent, flying the cruising chute the whole way. We took down the chute and started the engine expecting the North channel & the trap to be everything they were suposed to be against a spring tide 10m from the steep beach between shoal banks, but as usual everyone had exagerated the dangers and it was a nice sail through to Yarmouth where we picked up a mooring buoy. Stupidly I took an outside buoy which ended up causing us the roughest part of the trip - things were falling off the table. Even I felt queasy - luckily Mayuri was knocked out on a seasickness pill already!

As the harbour master took my £11.50 the next morning, he helpfully told me that if we come again we should use the buoys closer to the beach.