Back in Poole

Here we are back in Poole after a wonderfull trip around the British Mainland.

We arrived sfely around 13.30 at the Haven to be met first by Jim and Mary Stevenson in their very luxurious tender, just by the training bank, followed by many flag waving friends at the Haven, where it was quite busy with the ferry leaving and fishing boats drifting around. Then we met a sand carrying vessel giving lots of toots as a stupid fishing boat wouldn't get out of the way. Soon sorted by the pilot boat at high speed. Then ten or more marine fast boats returning from Weymouth where they had been providing Olympic security. Next was our friends Rob and Wendy, also returning from Olympic duty having "borrowed" an Olympic RIB to come and meet us.

We were soon tied up again on our berth in PYC since when many of you have sent congratulations.

Olly and family were waiting at home with a bottle of FIZZZ and we are now off to Gill and Ian's for more food and we hope more FIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

I will post a couple of pics and hope to do a blog summary when I have more time and help with computer skills.

Les. and Gail

Nearly home

We left Dover on Thursday on a misty morning with little or no wind and headed towards Eastbourne. We motored all the way passing Dungeness on the way where we saw a few porpoises which I am sure had a flourescent glow about them.

Apart from that there was not much to report untilwe arrived at Eastbourne where we joined the queue for the loch which opened every half hour. There were about ten boats "jilling about" when a boat behind us said he couldn't stop because he had lost his engine. Luckily the lifeboat was just discharging it's crew to a rubber boat and were able to take him into the loch safely.

The marina was enormous, not what we have been used to, with shops a plenty and even a cinema.
Next day we set off for Portsmouth on a lovely sunny day with a gentle breeze for once behind us. We put up the cruising chute and gently sailed for about four hours before having to fire up the faithfull Yanma to make a sensible time and get in before dark. Entering the solent we realised how busy the south coast is, hpassing the Queen Mary ii and two other cruise ships leaving. Coming through the narrow channel into Haslar Marina there were boats everywhere.

This morning we were joined for our penultimate sail by Olly and Marin who came up on the train. They enjoyed perhaps the best sailing of the who;e trip, with a cracking force 5 easterly down the solent. As it was the start of Cowes week we had to sail through hundreds, perhaps a thousand, boats starting their races up the solent. Pretty lively.

We decided to sail into the Beaulieu river and up to Bucklers Hard where we werejoined first by Melissa and Skipp, then by our friend Robin Long bearing a bottle of champers, which we followed by a meal in the Master Builder pub with Olly and family.

They have all now left to go home so we will sail the last leg hopefully tomorrow back towards Poole. We anticipate arriving around lunch time.

Thanks to all who have followed our blog, which has been a really nice way to keep in touch with all our friends and family.

Dover

We slipped Suffolk yacht haven around seven having had the Garmin re fitted
I was furious when we found we had no AIS and even more so when the radar said there was a fault. And no depth or wind readings either. So much for electronics. I was minded to return to Suffolk Y H but Gail wanted to press on, even though we would be crossing the Thames estuary with fog patches forecast.
We sailed a little and as usual motored a lot as the wind died completely. The intention was to go to Ramsgate, but as the sea was flat and we had made good time with the tide under us, we pressed on towards Dover. As we approached thick cloud enveloped the white cliffs, and ferries appeared ghost like through the mist. Eventually we were given clearance to enter port , and tied up in the marina 11 hours after leaving Felixstow. We are now enjoying a drink in the Royal Cinque Ports Y C before finding somewhere to eat.
No pics yet as on 3G

Ready to move on

The replacement Garmin has just been fitted so we are hoping to leave towards Ramsgate in the morning when the tide is right, around 06.00 tomorrow morning.

We need to shop for some up-wind food. Pies, soup etc. which is easy to heat up, as the weather is still pretty grotty and fairly cold here today.

Of course the Garmin agent at first said fitting of the replacement unit would be covered by Garmin, as it was a software fault. Now though, it seems that since we bought it from Force 4, and had our own electrician fit it, who are not actually Garmin registered dealers, we shall have to pay for the installation. Sometimes one gets the feeling big companies are very good at hiding behind the small print. Certainly we wern't told by Force 4 that we needed a Garmin dealer to fit the unit. They said you simply plug it in. As always, we live and learn.

Otherwise, all well and looking forward to getting moving again. Even managing to watch a bit of the Olympics on BBC iplayer.

Pictures show Felixstow container port and some more details on Spirit yachts.

Back in the Orwell

Well here we are once more at Suffolk Yacht Haven where we hope the electrician will receive our Garmin chart plotter back tomorrow or the day after.

We spent three very enjoyable nights with our friends Geoff and Sue Sinton at Woodbridge. We moored on Geoff's mooring on the Deben, and used his boatyard launch to travel back and forth from boat to shore. We stayed with Geoff and Sue and as always probably ate too much. We also managed to watch quite a lot of the Olympics. Glad to see us doing so well, although I would prefer the commentators to give more credit to the silver and bronze medalists rather than seeing them as a failure to win gold.

We visited Sutton Hoo which is in my book of the 100 most important places that made Britain. We've managed to tick a few off on this trip, and sailed past a couple more.

The weather looks like it might settle down a bit after Tuesday so we shall be hoping to progress back towards Poole by the middle of August. Fingers crossed.
The pictures show Geoff and Gail, Woodbridge, and my next yacht under construction.

Going Back

Well, we've decided to turn round and head back up the East coast.

Not really, but we are going to head back towards the Deben tomorrow to take up Geoff Sinton's kind offer to use his mooring for a few days.

We had an electrician look at our Garmin chartplotter today and the conclusion was that it must be sent back to Garmin for replacement, hopefully under warrenty. This means we shall have to wait about five days, so better to use Geoff's mooring rather than pay to stay in a marina. And the Deben should be interesting. Geoff is going to come round to sail the boat with us, so no navigation problems.

Just off to order my new yacht from Spirit Yachts lower down in the marina. Just the odd couple of million £ required.

Ipswich

We left Lowestoft for the second time at 07.45 on Monday, 30th July. Although we knew we would be punching the tide, and have to head towards Harwich instead of the Deben due to tide, we figured we woud try to move before the clouds built up. The wind was still from the South West, probably backing South later.

We had a tight fetch for the first 20 miles, with the wind up and down under the building clouds, meaning first one, then two, then one, then no reefs, and the same again for the whole trip. Reefs in and out.

Rounding Orwell Ness lighthouse, we had to start beating, and having decided to take the inside passage, were tacking within a few metres of the shingle beach (a bit like Chessil). The wind was still increasing to force 6 and dropping under clouds to about 2 to 3.

With Tom on board we had the best sail of the trip, with sails being trimmed all the time to get the best speed. We eventually crossed the traffic separation scheme off Harrich around 16.00 when the chartplotter went blank. It had done this a couple of times in the previous legs, but this time didn't come back.

We checked into Suffolk Yacht Haven at 18.30 where our friend Geoff Sinton, from Cadet days, drove over from Woodbridge, where we went back for a glass of champagne and supper in the pub where we met another old friend from Cadets, Anthony Mason. He had just returned from a three and a half year trip to the Caribean. Geoff had just returned from a trip to the West coast where his boat and team won the Tilman prize, and second overall (despite being a smaller boat than the winner), in the three peaks race.

We have now moved up to Ipswich where there are better facilities since we will have to stay a few days as the weather A boat previously owned by our friend Robin Long, and on which I had many happy sailing days, helped by copious quantities of great wine and beer.