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14/08/2020 |
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07/08/2020 |
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On Saturday 01 August we departed the anchorage at St Agnes at dawn under motor. The wind picked up from the NW as we approached the end of the shipping lane between the Scillies and Lands End and we were able to sail. There was more shipping than usual and most of it was altering course as the lane had finished. One ship the MV India was on a collision course and we decided to call them up on the radio and establish their intentions, as suspected it was about to alter course to proceed eastwards but we were thanked for our contact and wished a safe voyage. We made good progress and once past the Lizzard decided to press on past Dodman Point before seeking an anchorage for the night. We settled on Portmellon Cove just south of Mevagissey there were a few boats on moorings and only 3 others at anchor. A picturesque setting sheltered from swell and wind and very quiet on a Saturday night, (don’t tell anyone else about it !)
With food and water starting to run down we decided to try and book a berth in Torquay for Sunday night but were told that they were fully booked so it we needed to find an anchorage again.
On Sunday the day began again with light winds from the west
but they soon built to a F4 giving us a very pleasant sail past
We had a later start on Monday so that we could time our arrival at Portland Bill as the tide turned fair. The wind behaved as it had for the last few days light and motoring to start but lively sailing by the finish. We have seen groups of up to 10 dolphins several times a day every day since we left the Scillies the population in the West Country seems very healthy.
We anchored in
The wind on Wednesday was SW 5 to 6 but, as the sky cleared,
there was a temporary lull at around 10:00 am.
We decided to carry on, with the hardest manoeuvre being to get out of a
blown on alongside pontoon. We executed
a classic warping off by motoring hard against a bow spring and our big round
fender to get the stern clear of the pontoon; then rapidly astern while casting
of the bow spring. Once out of the
harbour we unfurled the genoa leaving the mainsail zipped up in its
stackpack. We were making 7+ knots with
little effort. Because we had started
later than intended waiting for a lull to get out, the tide had turned against
us on a full spring ebb when we reached the Needles Channel off the
As we approached
As the evening drew on the wind dropped and remained in the
SW making the anchorage at Osbourne House (Queen
At dawn on Thursday the wind had dropped and become a light southerly we hauled anchor and after a while the wind increased to F2 and we were able to sail close hauled through the Looe channel. At 09:00 when the wind moved round to the SE and dropped, the engine was started and remained running for the rest of the day.
As we passed Brighton we phoned
After we rounded Beachy Head and passed
We decided not to set an alarm for Friday wake up and just
start when we were ready as the tide would not be fair till around midday. We
had however become conditioned to early starts and hauled the anchor at
06:55. The wind was very light so it was
on with the motor again we had checked on the MOD website that the Lydd firing
range was not operating so we were able to stay inshore around Dungeness to
keep out of the worst of the tide. The
wind stayed light and we continued to motor picking up a fair tide as we
approached
Luckily the comment seemed to do some good and a SE breeze
set in and allowed us to sail with only a few short bursts of engine until we
reached the top of the Gunfleet Sands and bore away downwind. We arrived back home at
In total we had covered 938 nautical miles and spent 14 nights in marinas 8 nights on moorings and 9 nights at anchor. Back to Top