2022 St Kilda Day 83 Cawsand to Beer

This leg needed an early start, like many on this trip, in this case to make the tide around Start Point, so I was off at 03:30 and for a while it was a mixture of sailing and motoring with variable winds. A better wind set in off Bolt Head and took me a good way east to take advantage of a forecast easterly wind. With good progress and no sigh of the wind veering I toyed with the idea of going all the way across Lyme Bay rather than north as planned, but decided against it as it would almost certainly mean an overnight sail and the need to rest at the next stop.  

Passing Salcombe at 05:30.

That was a good decision as not long after the wind started to head me and at 10 o'clock I tacked on the veering wind but east of Dartmouth the wind died to nothing and I motored on. I had not decided on an anchorage as the overnight breeze was forecast to be N or NE which would mean I could anchor almost anywhere. In the end I decided on Beer as a recognised anchorage albeit one know to often be unexpectedly uncomfortable. As it turned out  the sea remained smooth all night .

Branscombe where the Devenshire red Sandstone starts to give
way to the Limestone of the Jurassic coast. 

Beer Head

Beer Head and the anchorage off the beach.

67 miles in thirteen and a half hours.

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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.

July Cruise

I left Gosport at 13:00 on Wednesday 24th freshly power washed on the SeaLift, arriving Hallsand immediately behind Start Point on Thursday 16:30 after a varied trip down ending in several hours in fog that ended just inside Start Point and a few hundred yards from the anchorage.

Fog clearing from Start Point Light, half a mile east of here the visibility was
about 100 yards - I was within 0.2 miles of 4 boats, visible on AIS and/ or
radar but did not see any of them.

After a good nights sleep I left at 07:00 in rough seas, especially around the Start and past Pawle Point, Bolt Head and Bolt Tail, with light winds the engine was used quite often until a fresh breeze set in as I passed the Eddystone and I had to stop trying to film dolphins to set the Genoa. With the wind changing frequently it was a toss up between going to Fowey or St Mawes but I ended up at the latter.

Arriving St Mawes Friday
Pic by Ron D

Sancerre and on the right a 100 year old working boat coming into
St Mawes after a race

On Saturday there was a local trip with Roger and Ron on Rogers 41 foot Blue Magic but with gales forecast I gave up on thoughts of going further west in Sancerre and made a dash for Fowey and for the 2nd time this year I spent 3 nights there to shelter from gales

Sunday evening, the lull before the storm.

I spent a little time before the gales hit the day after arrival motoring up the river in the tender but at low tide could not get very far even with a draft of less than a foot.

Motoring up the river with the china clay handling wharfs behind.

Then home again in pictures:

Night 1, Start Point and Hallsand (anchorage centre, remaining beach right)
 without the fog.

Dartmouth for Fuel

Exmouth, the moorings were in over 3 knots of turbulent current just an hour
before high water, it looked uncomfortable and difficult to get on to single
handed (but would have been easy with a crew) so on to anchor behind
Beer head for night 2.

Leaving Beer, very early in the morning and on to Lyme Regis for fresh food
and a shower at the sailing club..

Lyme Regis, relatively new pontoons at the end of the Cob.

Lyme Regis Harbour. I joined the sailing club here over 50 years ago
but have not sailed from here for about 45. Much has changed but it
is still Lyme.

Sailing at Lyme in the late 60's, Albacore "El Avispa" (The Wasp)
I sold her shortly after to get an old 505.

Golden Cap, an Iconic land mark between Lyme Regis and Portland.

Approaching the Bill on the inshore route minutes before the change
of tide but still with 4 knots of current behind me.

Off of the Bill

Quarry workings just north of the Bill on the east side. Its amazing
how they worked barges etc. into here 200 years ago. On to anchor in the
harbour for night 3.

Track from Beer to Portland Harbour via Lyme Regis.

HMS Defender a type 45 Frigate off Portland.

Anvil Point, nice to have the Lulworth range shut for the month.

Track from Portland Harbour to Osbourne Bay

Cheating the tide up the Solent

I got from Portland to Hurst Narrows in less than 6 hours then took more
than that to beat up the Solent against the tide and the Fastnet fleet to short
of Cowes when, with it getting late, I put the engine on to motor to Osborne
bay to anchor for the night before moving to Haslar next morning.

Slide show: