The Long Way Round - 2018

We had arrived in Weymouth in soaking rain, strong winds and rising seas, very glad of the refuge. After this experience, we were not keen to set off the following day with continuing rain and strong winds forecast.  So we took the opportunity of a final day of "holiday" away from home and explored the Weymouth sea front after the rain had passed through.  Our holiday theme extended to cream cakes for tea and a final meal out in the evening - lovely :) The next day, it was finally time to set off on our last leg back to Plymouth Sound. It had been so frustrating to be stuck in port many times over the past week due to the gale force westerly winds. The sun shone brightly as we set off in favourable but light easterly winds to pass close inshore round Portland Bill.  What a difference this was compared to our last time at sea!  The Bill can be a menacing place for small boats in bad weather. Rounding a Very Peaceful Portland Bill in the Sunshine :) It was...

In the picture below, you can see what I feel about expensive Solent marinas and nasty strong headwinds.  No, not pleased. Medina River - Off the Folly Inn There is some debate amongst meteorologists as to whether "equinoctial gales" is a valid concept.  This is a discussion for academics in warm, dry universities.  Sailors know that more gales turn up at these times of year. Our folly at the Folly Inn was to pay for 3 nights, and then only use two, because the weather gave us a break to get to Lymington.  The improvement turned out to be minimal.  We tacked down the Solent with the tide, against the SW wind, which gusted to gale force.  The main was heavily reefed (a rare time that we used the deepest, 3rd reef) and we had our heavy weather jib on the inner forestay.  Rapport was well balanced and only occasionally slammed in the choppy waters.  When she dipped her bows, green water ran aft down the decks.  We were very glad not to...

Ramsgate gave us the shelter we needed, a pleasant restaurant and, joy of joys (to Rosie) a Waitrose supermarket. Ramsgate Under Cloudy Skies After two days in the slightly bouncy marina, the wind eased and freed into the north and we were off, round South Foreland, past Dover and down Channel.  We waved goodbye to the East Coast, having sailed straight past all the lovely bits, pressed by our need to use the favorable winds.  Next time perhaps? Progress was fast until we came close to the Solent, where an adverse spring tide slowed us painfully.   As dark fell, navigation lights shone in all directions. Westward Ho - Approaching the Solent We tied up in Haslar Marina at 01:00 in the morning but then had to move again, so crawled into our bunk at 02:00.  The marina is being dredged, which is good because at low water our keel was well buried in soft mud.  It had been kind of them to let us in anyway and next morning we again moved out th...

A Family of Great Crested Grebes With Their Unusual Nest Site We enjoyed our short stay at South Dock Marina with its friendly live-aboard locals and watching the birds also making their homes there. But we needed to press on and the tide would carry us out with a fair wind when we set off again at midday. It was much faster unravelling ourselves through the twists and turns of the Thames and we felt much more at home this time.  The out-going tide is stronger than the in-going due to the added alluvial (river) flow in this direction.  So we positively speeded along as we sailed our way out, reaching 11 knots over the ground at times. So it was that we were able to return directly to Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppy, this time choosing to tie up alongside their floating pontoon albeit for just 8 hours overnight.  We never got to see Queenborough in the daylight - or even to walk ashore there! The following morning we started out from Queenborough at 03:50 in...

At 08:45 we slipped our PLA (Port of London Authority) mooring in busy Gravesend and headed west along the River Thames towards central London. We had our PLA recreational boating maps to hand on the iPad and switched the VHF to channel 68 to listen out for any communications from vessels using the Thames. Passing Moored Ships on the Way Into London We sailed past a number of quays where large ships were loading or unloading their cargoes and then passed under the M25 Queen Elizabeth road bridge with the cars above oblivious to our presence. Approaching the M25 Queen Elizabeth Road Bridge The river started to get narrower and to turn through sharper bends, making us have to start the engine and motor-sail when the wind moved too far ahead of us. The Tate and Lyle Sugar Refinery We passed the Tate and Lyle sugar refinery with the words "Taste The Sunshine" emblazoned on the side.  (Tate and Lyle use cane sugar from tropical countries to make their refine...

Our plan was now to take Rapport up to London and meet up with our sons, Dan and Mike 40 miles into the Thames from Queenborough to Rotherhithe. This meant an early start to catch the tide out of the River Medway and then into the River Thames - 04:30 am this time (not much sleep for us then). We had reserved a night on a PLA (Port of London Authority) visitors' buoy 20 miles upriver at Gravesend.  We needed to reach this by 11:30 am before the strong tide turned against us.  And we had downloaded the extremely informative PLA recreational craft visitors' maps showing the features and hazards of the Lower and Upper reaches of the Thames.  This gave instructions on the best route for yachts to take to avoid the many shipping movements along the river. The wind was a strong WNW, so we were again beating and this time motor-sailing into it to aid our progress.  The tide picked up and we made fair speed short-tacking back and forth just outside the main shipping ch...

We had spent enough time in the North and it was now time to make haste southwards as we started to feel the approach of shorter days and colder nights. So we bade farewell to Whitby and set off to sea again on a mission to reach warmer waters! We left Yorkshire on Monday and by Thursday had found Kent - having covered a distance of 260 nautical miles. We had optimistic plans to sail overnight to Lowestoft but were making such painfully slow progress south, as the forecast NW wind had failed to appear, that we diverted to Spurn Head at the mouth of the Humber Estuary to spend the night at anchor.  We struggled to reach Spurn Head against a foul tide as darkness fell and a fog set in, obliterating our ghostly view of the succession of coastal windfarms.  It was 10:30 pm when we finally rounded Spurn Head to find shallow water and drop anchor next to the lonely RNLI Lifeboat station there.  We had to radio Humber VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) first for permission to en...

The 160 miles, sailing overnight from Peterhead to Blyth turned out to be a lot harder than predicted!  The favourable breeze from the NW died away to a headwind from the SSE, leaving a choppy sea and slatting sails.  With headsail furled, I ground my teeth and motored on, deciding against dropping the mainsail too, which would have increased the rolling even further. As high pressure meets low, the winds are variable but the skies are much clearer and we are having lots of sun.  This leads to cold nights and warmer days.  The butter has been hard to spread for weeks now but is getting softer, as we move south, especially at lunch time! Blyth marina is the home of the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club, which has been based in the lovely old Calshot light vessel LV 50 since 1952.  Here we received a warm welcome that evening and enjoyed a convivial lunch next day. RNYC Light Ship (from their web site) At the moment, south going tides are inconveni...