2021 Summer Cruise, Day 2.

Yet another of my cunning plans that did not work out! All started well with another early start this time at 04:10 to catch the tidal gate for the inshore route round the Bill, according to Reed's Almanac this is 3 hours long but its normal to try and get there as early as practical within that to get the calmest conditions and the longest west going stream across Lyme Bay. But you need to do it under power and in daylight to avoid the numerous lobster pots, so on this occasion I and crews of half a dozen other boats got a little more time in bed and aimed for an hour into the gate.

Portland in the pre-dawn with not a breath of wind.
It was much darker than it looks in the photo.

Heading for the inshore route around the Bill.

Dawn over the Bill.

Boats spreading out to cross Lyme bay to various destinations.

Having got round the Bill the question was which way to go, directly across Lyme Bay or along the coast? It was apparent that going direct would mean a lot of motoring and a very long day possibly requiring a rest day afterwards. Going along the coast might give a bit more wind and, spread over two days, more opportunity to wait for the wind, also some scenery. I opted for the scenic route but as things turned out there was very little wind and a lot of of motoring.

Golden Cap, east of Lyme Regis and Charmouth is not as
golden as it used to be within my memory with lots of greenery. 

Lyme Regis was already busy when I arrived at 09:40. It was
also noisy, some from the beach but mainly from power boats
charging around creating wash, It was also hot. I stuck it for
over an hour  when a very light breezes came in so I moved out.

Nice clear water at Lyme, the anchor in more than 3 metres of
water, with the heat wave visibility reduced substantially over
the next couple of days as algae and plankton bloomed.

The light breeze did not last long, I made less than 2 miles in over
3 hours, much of it in the wrong direction so on went the engine
and I reached Beer at 15:40. 

Beer anchorage, not the most comfortable one around - the
current tends to keep the boat pointing roughly parallel to
the coast and waves curl round the head causing the boat to
roll, fortunately the sea was very calm and I had a reasonably
comfortable night.

Looking towards Beer Head from the anchorage.

Portland - Lyme Regis, 20 miles in 5.5 hours.

Lyme Regis to Beer, 9 miles over the ground (6.5 if motoring in straight lines) in 4.8 hours.

Slide show of all my pictures from Portland to Beer, page through by clicking the arrows or click in the centre of the pic to view from Flickr in a new window or full screen:

Click here for day 3.