Day23 Jan 31st Amble to Lindesfarne.

 There are a few places I particularly want to visit and one of those is just 23 miles to the North of us.  Visiting is entirely weather dependant as it is an anchorage. Sunday is almost dead calm and Monday  very light albeit in exactly the wrong direction.  We'll check in the morning and it all is still good then we are off to Lindesfarne.

Passage plan

Weather  light easterly winds sea slight, cloudy.

HW AMBLE.  10.50    HW. LINDESFARNE  1010

After clearing the breakwater head NE to deeper waterthen head generally N. keeping our deptharound 10m or more. We are safe from hazards for the first 3 hrs. 

Red Cardinal "Newton Rock" marks a large sandbank. Leave to port.

Red Cardinal "Sunderland North" Marks another about 40 mins later leave to Port

Red Cardinal "Shoreson" Leave to port CTS 317 ° midway between inner farne lighthouse and the mainland.

Green Cardinal ."Swedman" to starboard. CTS 317°

Finally Green Cardinal "Triton" marks the final approach of 309° using the land mark and Spine as a transit.

Find an anchor spot and we're here.

Trip 24 nm.  Total 581 nm.

 

Lindisfarne – also known as Holy Island – is one of the most important centres of early English Christianity. Irish monks settled here in AD 635 and the monastery became the centre of a major saint’s cult celebrating its bishop, Cuthbert. The masterpiece now known as the Lindisfarne Gospels was created here in the early 8th century. The ruins now visible are those of a 12th-century priory, which claimed direct descent from the early monastery.

Day 22 Jan 30th Sunderland to Amble.

 Well the forecast has changed and the Strong on shore winds are now dropping in strength and will be good for a cracking broad reach up the coast.  

Passage Plan.

Weather   wind E F3-4  Bright and sunny 

Tide    HW 1630 Amble

Leave Sunderland 0900, 

After clearing the breakwater,  head more or less due north for 25mins, maintaining about 10m of water beneath us.

When red and white beacon is on the beam alter course to 340 Degrees, heading between the Blyth windfarm and the land.  After the windfarm, Coquet Island, with it's castle like square lighthouse, should be visible, keep this well to port.

Amble is to the North West of the island, and is best approached from the NE to avoid the many patches of rocks. 

Approach the outer breakwater on a course of 225, the marina is about a 400 yds  up river on the left.

There is a cill to cross! HM on Ch 14 or marina on Ch 80

Trip 30 miles   total 557

Might be worth a visit.

Coquet Island is a small island, situated 1.2 km off Amble on the Northumberland coast. The Island is owned by the Duke of Northumberland; however the RSPB  manage the island as a bird reserve, for its important seabird colonies.The most numerous species is the Puffin, with over 18,000 pairs nesting in 2002, but the island is most important for the largest colony of the endangered Roseate Tern in Britain – about 90%. There were only 92 pairs in 2005.  Other nesting birds include Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Arctic Tern, Black-legged Kittiwake, Fulmar, three gull species, and Eider Duck. It is also possible to view seals on and around the island. 

Day 21 Jan 29th Hartlepool to Sunderland

Decision made,   Looking at the things to do in the various ports along the way, it seems Sunderland has most on offer.  It's a short hop up the coast, and as there's a possibility of the weather holding us in port on Saturday there will be plenty to do.

Also looking further ahead Tynemouth and Blyth are very industrialised and a bit bleak so may opt to go on to Amble Marina

Passage Plan.

LW Hartlepool is 1000 hrs.

Weather  Wind W F4/5 veering Northerly by 1300

We will aim to leave 0730 in the morning.

Follow the recommended track of 308° to the port hand cardinal 1 then 081° crossing the  Victoria dock fairway at the outer cardinals, then once clear of the N breakwater head N. 

Leave plenty of clearance on breakwater. 

It's about 3 hrs to Sunderland and the wind will 'Head" Us along the way. So some tacking to do.

Breakwaters and the town are very conspicuous. 

Stay in 15m water until entrance is due west to clear unmarked Hendon Rock. 

South Breakwater has hazardous underwater debris marked with Red Cardinal Bouy

Harbour Master on CHI4

Trip  20m    Total 527

Day20 28th Jan. Day in Hartlepool

 You may have seen the news yesterday detailing the acquisition of some 500 year old maps by the National Museum of the Royal Navy. Well it just so happens, Hartlepool is home to one venue of this National Museum and well worth a visit. It also encompasses HMS Trincomalee, the oldest naval vessel still afloat.

.

Cameron's Brewery

This is the largest independent brewery in Britain You can visit from Monday to Thursday.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, There are three stopping points over the next 30 miles. In order they are

Sunderland. A small Marina which has limited space.

Tynemouth. 2 small marina's here Royal Quays and Prince Albert.

Blyth.  No marina here but a welcome at The Royal Northumberland Yacht Club Pontoon.

Ooh Err , Decisions, Decisions.

Day 19 27th of January Scarborough to Hartlepool

 Passage plan 

The wind will be somewhat unpredictable today, however for the last part of the journey I'm pretty sure we will have a broad reach into Hartlepool.

Weather   W at first then veering N afternoon F3-4 Bright but cloudy

Tides  Scarborough HW 1540  Hartlepool Hw 1500 LW 2120

With an 8-hour journey we must leave Scarborough as soon as the tide makes it possible.  This in reality will be about 10:30. After clearing the Breakwater turn to port around the headland, keeping an eye on our depth. Once abeam the tower on the top of the hill, turn North. If the wind is true to the predictions then when we will have to bear away to the north east more and more.  To the point when we can tack and head straight towards Hartlepool. That needs to be a heading of about 275.  Once within 2 miles we will cross the Tees approach channel, then keeping to the North of Longscar rocks and cardinal bouy, we head in to Hartlepool Marina.

contact Tees Harbour Radio on VHF channel 14 before entry then Channel 37 or 80 for the marina

Trip 48NM     Total  507 

Things to do in Hartlepool

Day 18 Jan 26th Scarborough Another fine sunrise.

 

I have been looking at the weather and the wind over the next few days is variable to say the least. There are a number of stopping points over the next 100 miles but as usual they all have their constraints. Whitby was the next stop on the list, To get in and out of the inner harbour, means negotiating a swing bridge which operates -2 to +1 HW. HW Whitby is 1521 on Wed and 1545 on Thursday. Which is fine for getting in but no so good for coming out if we have a 5 hr journey to the next stop.  Then there is the wind.  Whitby shouldn't be entered in strong North  to easterly Winds.  Well the good news is it's not strong but the bad is its dead N at arrival time. This is one of those occasions when we must go to plan B.   

Plan B is to carry on to Hartlepool.  Now this is an 8 hour journey from Scarborough so make those sandwiches and lots of them!.  An advantage of Hartlepool is we can get in at nearly any time other than LW +- 1 and tomorrow that occurs 2200 and we hope to be there way before that.

Enjoy the rest of your day in Scarborough 

Day 17. 25th Jan Scarborough

This is the view this morning

We'll get under way after breakfast and be in Scarborough for about 1030 ish.

Scarborough

We have now reached  Scarborough,  and will stay for 2 nights I think. We visited Scarborough in October 2019,  and were dead lucky with the weather. It was just like the picture above.   It's a proper seaside town  and even in October it was busy.  There's loads to do here , so take your pick .

No 1 on my list is the lookout on the pier cafe for a good value breakfast,  that'll set you up for the day.

Then there's,

Scarborough Castle, spectacular views from headland

Peasholme Park,   Lake and woodland,  occasional model warship battles on Lake.

The Beach    , Donkey rides 

The Spa ,tea and cakes, occasional music concerts

The Sea Life Sanctuary,     

Scarborough Market Halls   

Rotunda Museum

Has anyone got any more idea's?

Day 16 24 th Jan. Grimsby to Scarborough

 

Off we go 

Passage Plan,

Weather 

 The difference a day makes top is yesterdays forecast and below todays what was SW is now NE, still it's very light so we'll carry on regardless.  Almost scuppered the Filey bay option.  (See Below)

Tides  Grimsby  HW 14.45      Scarborough (25th Jan )HW 0132 and 14.05

Exit ASAP after lock goes to free flow, once outside, CTS 085 down Grimsby Middle Channel toward Spurn point.  Keep active watch for larger ships. Track eastwards around the wind Farm eventually heading North. Once abeam East 2 Cardinal set CTS 330 for Flamborough Head.  After Flamborough we can either alter course (300) into Filey bay to anchor for the night or crack on for Scarborough on our original course. We can decide this once we assess the conditions close to Filey.   I think we will probably be motoring a lot of the time today so stopping early might nicer, with a peaceful night at anchor.

Trip (once we are in Scarborough) 60NM   overall 459nm 

Well, as expected we have taken a little longer than first planned for and are anchored in Filey Bay. We will complete our Journey to Scarborough on the morrow.

We are now 16 days in and considering we have had 3 days stuck in port.  Our average daily milage is nearly 29Nm so a little above what we were aiming at, but that's OK as there is a lot of coastline, but very few places to stop.   But getting ahead of ourselves can have advantages too.  There will be more time to enjoy the prettier places we will get to, without the angst of worrying about keeping on schedule.

Day 15 A rest day then on to Scarborough

After the exertions of Friday we deserve a relaxing day as there are more long hauls to go.  Tomorrow (Sunday) we set off around 12.45 as soon as the lock opens to free flow. We will be heading for Scarborough.  This will mean we will arrive late at night, 10.00pm. As the weather is very settled, we have an opportunity to anchor in Filey Bay, overnight, Then complete our journey on monday morning. 

In the meanwhile what's to see in Grimsby.

1/. Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre.  In the 1950's this was the world's largest fishing port.

2/. Ross Tiger.   In case you missed the one at Lowestoft, here another last remaining Sidewinder Trawler but this ones from the Grimsby fleet.

3/. Grimsby Minster 

4/. People's Park

5/. Cleethorpes Beach

6/. Cleethorpes Pier.

To name but a few.

Wind Farms

We have been skirting round any wind farms along the way, but in British waters most are navigable by the small leisure boat. 

Here are some Wind farm dos and don’ts…from Yachting Monthly

Do

Update your charts – paper and electronic – at least annually, particularly in the North Sea and off Liverpool, where new windfarms are being added or extended every year.

Check regulations for each wind farm when sailing in foreign waters. Some allow passage through the windfarm, others don’t.

Keep an increased lookout for shipping, as sailing around windfarms may force small yachts into channels also used by larger shipping.

Watch out for turbulence and sudden gusts when passing downwind of turbines.

Take extra care when navigating near windfarms in restricted visibility. As new structures are being added and work boats may be moving unpredictably, it’s best to err on the side of caution and keep clear.

Monitor a windfarm’s working VHF channel if available.

Check your mast height. The lowest point of the rotor blades have a least air draught of 22m above MHWS – plenty for most yachts.

Make use of windfarms as navigation marks, often showing the location of shoal patches.

Don’t

Sail within 50m of a turbine, as each turbine has an individual exclusion zone.

Pass too close to work boats operating in windfarms. They don’t have exclusion zones, though some may claim they do, but may well be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre and should be respected as such.

Forget about tide and wave energy. A number of sites on the English south coast, the Welsh and Irish coasts and off Northern Scotland have development sites that may need extra care.

Day 13 Thurs 21st Jan Decision time.

The mariners lament,  too much wind and not enough wind. After all the strong winds brought by storm Cristoph it's all going to die away to nothing. Friday is showing W F5 and Saturday NW F3.  It will be prudent I think,to miss Wells next the sea for another day and press on to Grimsby.  It will be a 16 hr slog but it'll get some miles behind us after being stuck in Lowestoft all week (no offence Lowestoft)

The tides along our journey are dominated by the filling and emptying of the Wash. They splay out N and E on the ebb and the reverse on the flood. On a 16 hour journey, we are not going to be able to dodge foul tide, so by and large we'll just ignore the effects and take it on the chin. An important consideration is getting to Grimsby on an ingoing tide or at least slack water.  Also entry to the fish dock is on free flow which is -2 to + I H W Grimsby.  HW is 1222  So with a journey time of just over 16 hours, Departure time is1930 hrs tonight.  Our first night passage.

Passage plan.

We've got everything on this one sailing at night windfarms strong tides t DSS traffic separation schemes and lots of Sandbanks a picture paints a 1000 words so instead of doing this all all in writing I've done a series of screenshots from Savvy navvy

Leaving Lowestoft

 

Passing Scroby Sands Wind farm 

Two routes around Sheringham Shoal

North between docking Shoal and Race Bank wind farm

Final Approaches. 

 

Trip 101 Nm Total 399Nm

Day 12 Wed20 January. Waiting for a window

 Around the corner to the North West is "The Wash " The Wash derives its name from the old English word Wase and later Wasche  which meant mud, slime or ooze, and it is indeed 100 square miles  of mud flats and shallow waters with next to no places to stop.  

There are one or two small harbours just before the Wash, but next Large marina to stop at, in anything other than settled weather is Grimsby. A passage of just over 100 miles.  

The weather isn't being kind but with the right conditions,   we may be able to cut this into two halves. There is a small stopping place at Wells next the sea. Its a little difficult to get in and out of, but possible.  A quick look at the weather looks like Friday is the time to move on. I'll decide tomorrow whether its a 50 or a 100 miler.

Day11. Tuesday 19th. Jan. Lowestoft.

Here comes Storm Cristoph. Batten down the hatches Not only high winds but torrential rain. Flood warnings across the country 

As I mentioned we will be staying put until the winds die down so what's to do here.

Lowestoft Beach: probably not

Lowestoft Museum: Set in a "Broad" House at Nicolas Everitt Park.

Lowestoft Maritime Museum:  A small museum  busting with interesting objects covering different aspects of seafaring in Lowestoft.

Africa Alive: Highly-rated wildlife park close in Kessingland is dedicated to animals from the African continent.

East Anglia Transport Museum It's what it says on the tin!

Pleasurewood Hills  Lowestofts very own theme park with 35 rides. 

Mincarlo: The last remaining Sidewinder Trawler of the Lowestoft fleet. Now a museum. 

St Margaret’s Church: The Library of Congress

Ness Point.  Just along from the outer harbour, this rather unassuming protrusion into the North Sea is the most easterly point of England.

Day 10 Monday 18th Jan Walton on Nase to Lowestoft.

Having had a quick look at tomorrows passage there is a lot of difference that the tide can make.  A 5.5hour to 7.25hr journey time, Almost 2hrs difference, Bad news is to get the shortest journey time we'd have to leave a 0330hrs in the dark in tricky shallow water. Or we could leave 1530 hours and arrive at a new port in the dark.  Neither one appeals to me, we are on holiday after all.  So Compromise is the name of the game, we'll leave between 11 and 12 and have a journey time of just over 6 hours.  It will be nearly half tide when we leave, we sail in the daytime and no noisy alarm clocks 

Passage Plan

Tide Harwich  LW 0837  HW 1521,   Lowestoft  HW 1310  LW 1846

Weather   Wind W f4/5 all day 

Follow the bouyage out into Pennyhole bay. At No2 red cardinal go due east for about a 1.5miles, before turning to 052  NB cross Harwich deep water channel at right angles. Leave cutler green lateral mark to port, also leave Whiting sandbank to port on past Orford Ness with its red and white lighthouse 

then north for 3 hours or so until Lowestoft breakwaters come into sight

Beware of Newcome sands to the south of the entrance,  follow the bouyage into the Harbour, Make contact with Harbour control on Ch14

Trip   54   Nm      Total   298  Nm

Day9. Sun 17th Jan. Ramsgate to Walton on the Nase

This one is going to be a little involved. Using Savvy Navvy app, first I will Waypoint the Start and Finish. Next a quick look at the weather along the way. Wind is about NW F5 all day. Not ideal but we can work with that.

A quick plot of the route starting at first light. indicates about a 8-9 hour passage.  Next we'll have a look at the tides and see how they affect us. The good news is that it will be arriving around high tide which will make getting to Titmarsh marina a little easier, after a long journey. Finally I'll try to optimise the journey to get the most out of the tidal streams, not always possible but worth trying.

Ok not much we can do with the tides., but the best scenario seems to call for a departure time of 0730 hrs

Passage Plan.

Leave Ramsgate at 0730  

Obtain clearance from Harbour Central. Ch 14. 

Keeping to the side of the dredged shipping channel, head to the first green cardinal and then turn N.E. and then N following the land at about We'll be heading toward the Western corner of the London array wind farm, 

where we must negotiate our way through long sands using fisherman's gat channel then N.E. again along black deep for the full length of the wind farm. Be aware of larger shipping traffic here. About a mile or so after Yellow cardinal BDMI , head toward Black deep 1 green cardinal then Sunk Head tower North cardinal. Turn to NW heading leave NE GUNFLEET E carinal to starboard, pick up heading for SOUTH CORK S Cardinal Leaving it to starboard then head to the north of the headland and south of the port cardinal "STONE BANKS".  NNE of you is The entrance to Hamford water, Marked with a red cardinal "No2" turn SW and follow the bouyage in and take first tributary on the left "The Twizzle" which leads right to the marina.  

Arrival somewhere in the region of 1630 hrs

Trip 56 Nm  Total 242 Nm

We're in the middle of a marsh here, so not much to do except enjoy the peace and quiet. There is a long walk to the nearest pub or we can eat on the boat. Tomorrow I expect to move on at a leave time of 1200hrs. 

Day 8 Sat 16 Jan. Ramsgate

A bit on the breezy side today and wet so we're saying put for today. The weather is a bit variable this coming week with very high winds on Tuesday and Wednesday followed.  So to make a bit of progress and be somewhere safe to stay, I'm looking at missing out the Thames estuary and heading for Walton on the Nase tomorrow a passage of 40 odd miles. Then on to Lowestoft on Monday another 46 miles.  At which point We will sit out the gales. and see what the forecast is then.

Webcam click herehttp://www.portoframsgate.co.uk/our-port/web-cam/

Things to do in Ramsgate.

Ramsgate Tunnels.

On 24 August 1940, 500 German bombs were dropped on Ramsgate in just five minutes. Despite the heavy bombardment, the deep shelters saved lives and as a consequence only 29 civilians and two soldiers were lost. The bombardment on 24 August 1940 destroyed roughly 1,200 homes and, as a result of homelessness, roughly 300 families took to living in the tunnels on a permanent basis.

The tunnels became a subterranean town with shops, barbers, canteens, concerts and even an underground hospital. After the end of the war, the tunnels were slowly sealed and abandoned.

Did you know?  

RAMSGATE is Britains only Royal Harbour.

The Isle of Thanet was in Roman Times actually an Island.

Greek Legend says Isle of Thanet was called the isle of the dead .

The Isle of Thanet has the greatest concentration of Bronze age burial sites in Britain.

Day 7 Friday 15th Jan Dover to Ramsgate

Passage plan 

weather wind Force 3 North Eastleigh cloudy and some rain

High water Dover 1240 hours

After obtaining permission to leave from Harbour Master Head NE along the coast. we will be racking into the wind at this stage. Very close eye out for ferries and other Graphic. Once clear of headland, and withSouth Foreland Lighthouse on bearing of 280 CTS 012° for approx I hr.  There is A-line of red boys directing larger traffic between good win  and deal sands which we can use as a guide.

 At South Brake. Cardinal CTS dead N to pick up the fairway bouys leading us into Ramsgate.Stay to the south of the channel. Call Ramsgate on Ch 14 for permission to enter. if told to wait Stay in area south of Southern Breakwater.

And thats it we should arrive at approx. 1300 hrs.

Trip 16 Nm   Total 186 Nm

Wind is looking a bit lively tomorrow so we'll stay in port two nights ready for an early start Sunday.

If weather holds true to forecast It will be Titmarsh Marina Nr Frinton on Sunday, then Lowestoft on Monday,  Gales forecast Tuesday/wednesday

Day 6 Thursday 14th January

Our First Stopover, A day in port.

Dover   The gateway to Britain, The nearest point to France and Britain's busiest port, is a great place to visit, especially if you are into history.  

Dover Museum, Dover Museum is one of the oldest museums in Kent. It was originally founded in 1836, houses amongst other things "The Dover Boat"  dating back to the Bronze age, The Worlds oldest sea faring boat.

Dover Castle With it's secret wartime tunnels,  English Heritage this on if you're a member

St James Retail Park  is a 15min walk away for grabbing some provisions, notably an Iceland outlet for frozen ready meals.

Pubs and  restaurants a plenty. 

This week - Next Week

The last stop for this week will be Ramsgate just a short hop up the coast Friday looks good for this, leaving around 1100hrs

Next week we round the corner into the Thames estuary. This is an area of shallow water, Sandbanks and strong tides,

There are no fewer than 7 wind farms between Ramsgate and Harwich ( our next major stop), few marinas and relatively few safe anchorages, however I'm sure we'll find something. 

I think the weather forecast will play a larger part of the passage decisions for the next few days.

Day 5, UPDATE Change of plan Brighton to Dover 65 miles

 Wed 13th  Brighton to Dover  65m 9 hrs

Sorry folks change of plan. Looking ahead at the weather it would seem that on Thursday there are strong Easterly winds. Not very conducive when travelling East. It would be best to press on today day and go straight for Dover, there is a brand new marina at there, probably with brand new prices, but there you go.

Hopefully they finished making it and will be able to get in. Dover is not the greatest place to stay as it is a major cargo Port However the fact that they've made a very large Marina would suggest they are trying to cater for the yachting fraternity. As I say strong Easterly winds Thursday, so will probably stay in Dover will be a 2 night Stopover.

Passage plan

Leave Brighton at 7:30 From the Harbour heading South East and then East around Beachy Head then Gybing onto a course of 065 heading for Dungeness. Lots of tide with us here, and should slack as we reach Dungerness with the power station and lighthouse. 

 Bearing up to  055 We need to stay parallel to the coast until we see  Dover in the distance. Being a very busy port Dover requires you radio Harbour control from about 2 miles out. You must be given permission to enter.  You will usually be met by a  Harbourmasters Dory, then be escorted to your berth.  We expect to arrive at 1700 hours.

Trip 65NM  overall   

Time for large gin and tonic I think.

Day 5 Wed 13th. Brighton to Eastbourne 20m, 3 hrs

 Ok another wet day at sea so we'll keep it short.  20 miles around Beachy Head to Eastbourne. There are strong winds forecast after midday, but the tide favours us in the morning. Ironically barely a puff of wind so we may be motoring.

An award winning marina according to its website,  but that doesn't tally with the review ratings its been given. Hey Ho we'll just have to see how this stacks up...only staying the one night anyway.

Passage plan

Weather Wind Variable F2 building to W F6 soon.  wet  visibility 1-2 miles

HW Brighton 11.00

Leave the dock at 0730hrs, probably motor and then sail as wind fills.  CTS 114 until round Beachy head, Then head NE , then N toward red on white cardinal bouy at Eastbourne entrance Important not to cut the corner.  Follow line up the channel on 260 heading then into outer harbour. Also to the east of the channel is a WW1 wreck protected by the two green buoys. CH17 to talk to Lock operator.  Obey traffic lights. 

Arrive approx 1400hrs

Trip 20 miles  Sail 3 Engine 2 hrs  Fuel used 4 L

Miles so far  105

Lets have your views    What's there to do in Eastbourne

Day 4 Tuesday Littlehampton to Brighton 19m 3 Hrs

The only trouble with stopping at Littlehampton is that it can only be navigated on the high tide, which leaves us with a quandary. Leaving on the high tide means that for the next 6 hours the tide is streaming west. Bit of a bugger that , as we are going east and will need to round Beachy Head at some point, preferably not against the tide.

So we can make another short hop to Brighton which is a 24hr access marina meaning we can do the Beachy head passage on a favourable tide  or we can press on to Eastbourne which battling against foul tide for ages.

Decision

Short trip to Brighton on Tuesday

Ok so the wind is veering round to the North and dropping in strength, whilst  Hw is at approx 10 am. After the high winds last night the sea is going to be lumpy across the entrance.  We'll give it some time to calm down and hopefully we can leave around 12.00.

LittleHampton Harbour entrance

All things being equal we will have a run/broad reach by then to push us against the tide.

Journey time around 3 1/2 hrs

Oh I forgot to say, grab your waterproofs, its going to be wet.  

Normally I would elect to stay put when the weather is this wet. Its no fun. getting soaked. 

Trip 19 miles  Sail 3 Engine 1 hrs  Fuel used 2 L

Miles so far  85

Progress.

Its about 2000 to 2500 miles to complete the trip depending on how complete a tour you wish to make. Given that the entire trip needs to be completed in 3 to 4 months. a little simple mathematics tells us we need to make about 25 miles a day as an average. 

This should take into account days when weather is against us. Or we just want to take in a particular port.  

We'll travel no more than  6 day's out of any 7 . Just to give the skipper a break. 

There are some parts of our coastline where there are very few places to stop, so there will be some long passages with only a single place to reasonably stop. Even if it is not a great place to visit.

With 3 days gone and 66 miles travelled we are a little behind schedule but lets just go with that for now, after all it's not a race.

Day 3 Monday 11th Portsmouth to Littlehampton 27miles approx 4 hrs

Get ready to get up early. A change in the weather forecast means a change in destination ' We're going to Littlehampton. So up at 5am ready For cast off @ 5:30 am. Littlehampton is on the river Arun It has a sandbar on the entrance that can dry to 1 metre. Also on the elsb tide the blow out of the entrance can reach 5ks,, Coupled with a strong cross tide.

It's 27 miles and by leaving at 5:30 we should reach the harbour at HW. The stronger winds are in the afternoon and will dissipate overnight. so win ,win.

Passage plan

HW Portsmouth 0933

Weather @0600  wind W F4-5 gust 6 increasing soon.  cloud, some sun. moderate

Leave Portsmouth 0530 Motor using Small Boat Channel  out to Green cardinal mark "Saddle"  before  setting course128 towards green can "Dean elbow" Then  course100 to "Street" Port cardinal off Selsey Bill. Once past Mixon cardinal set cts 060, clearing rock banks off bognor. When about 1 mile off entrance pick up leading marks (White lighthouse and black steel tower) Deeper water is to the east side of the channel.  Visitors pontoon on the right in front of the Harbour  Office. Harbour dues here, as well as mooring fees are £29.59 for a 10m boat. The electricity is done on £2.00 prepaid cards.

All the usual town facilities will be found in Littlehampton. This applies equally to pubs and restaurants of which there is choice aplenty. Sometimes if you have spent a lot of time in tranquil isolated creeks and anchorages it is good to get into town, back to real life. The central location of the Town Quay allows you to do just that without having to stagger too far back to the boat.

Trip 27 miles  Sail 4 Engine 5 hrs  Fuel used 1L

Miles so far  66

Day 2 Sunday 10 Jan

 

Another Cold crisp and slightly foggy morning, and were off to Portsmouth today, Just a short hop so tide is not really a great issue on journey time the ebb tide at the harbour entrance can get quite fierce. So we'll aim to get there at low tide or just after which is about 14.30.

Passage plan  Cowes to Portsmouth 8.5m  1.5hrs approx

Wx  wind f2 wnw  clear calm conditions .

HW portsmouth 0900  LW 1410

Leave berth 1330  Local Pilotage exit Cowes via east Small Boat Channel.  Once clear of anchorage CTS(Course to Steer) 090 for Gillicker point.  Once past here steer 050 to pick up SBC(small boat channnel) between 2bar and 4 bar port hand buoys.  Engine on, ( mandatory in the channel) and follow port hand markers through the entrance.  Haslar marina is immediately to the left past the entrance

Haslar marina CH80 02392601201 Visitors pontoon are L and M to the north end of the marina.

We should be berthed and tidied up by about 1530hrs, time to explore.   Berthing dues approx £45.

Go explore !  Don't get too drunk we have a longer passage tomorrow.

Trip 9 miles  Sail  0  Engine 1.5 hrs  Fuel used 3L

Miles so far  39

Day 1 Swanage to Cowes 30miles 5/6 hours

 Passage plan Swanage to Cowes 28 miles.

Wind ENE F2-3  backing NE by evening.   

Tide  LW hurst IOW  1300hrs  giving us fair tidal streams up the solent.

Typical that the wind is on the nose on our first day, but nice that the sea is flat for our first journey.

Make best course close hauled toward needles fairway bouy.  As the wind is fairly light we will probably need to motor up through Hurst for safety's sake then resume sailing, tacking up the Solent  to Cowes.

Care to be taken nr Yarmouth and Cowes with car and passenger ferries having right of way.

Departure 12.30  ETA Cowes 16.30.

Now some of you might note That this is a average speed of around 7kts but during the 4 hour passage we will be "gaining" about 5 miles from tide alone.  

So here we are in Cowes I've berthed at Shepards marina, a reasonably secure haven a short walk from the town.    

Where shall we go?  Eat out or Eat in,  Local pubs? There is a Spanish Tapas Bar in the marina.

The Duke of Yorks just up the road if you fancy a pint and pub grub, I met ain't half hot mum actor Melvyn Hayes in there a few months back.

OK Sunday,  there's a choice from here

Forecast  Sun 10th NW f2 dry.  Monday W. F4-5 dry

• Stay where we are and await better breeze on Monday
• We can do a short hop to Portsmouth (Haslar Marina), or Christchurch (around 2hrs)
• a longer hop to Littlehampton, around 6hrs arriving 8pm. Probably lots of engine!

Trip 30,  sail 2hrs   engine 1 hr  fuel 2L

Miles so far  30