2024 April 12th Days 14 - ?, Anchor problems & going back to square one.

Unfortunately Brixham is as far as am going to get on this attempt, the anchor windlass failed when I was anchoring, I had hoped that it was a minor electrical problem but the motor is dead and will have to be replaced. 

I am going back to the mooring on the Hamble to do that, I’m not sure how long the job will take and I don’t want to run up more big bills at a marina if it turns into a long job. I can then hopefully pick a new start date with better weather than on this attempt. 

A replacement motor for the windlass is on order for delivery to the RAFYC so hopefully it will be a quick turn round.

Now I have to wait for some calm weather to manually pull up 40 metres of chain and a 10Kg anchor. Fortunately in an emergency I can still anchor using the bower and chain rode or with one of the other anchors and rope rode, but getting either back up will always be an issue so I will probably head for a buoy at Studland so I can time my entry to the Solent with the tide and onto the mooring. Of course the weather is making life complicated again with more high winds arriving Sunday / Monday.

Saturday 13th April.

The view from Fishcombe Cove

I woke up at 06:00 to find no wind vs the F3 - 5 forecast so I got the anchor up with less difficulty than I thought I would have - but it was very calm, it would have been very difficult pulling into fresh wind or tide. I moved a short distance to pick up one of the new "Eco Buoys".

In Fiscombe / Churston Cove waiting for yet more bad
weather to hit. It would be very picturesque and peaceful but
For jet skis dashing about, I guess they don’t like the noise
either as many have music blasting out to drown out the engine.

I could be here for a while:

Selsey Bill to Lyme Regis - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Southwest veering northwest, 3 to 5, increasing 6 for a time. Slight or moderate. Mainly fair. Good.

Outlook for the following 24 hours: Northwest 3 or 4, backing west or southwest 5 or 6, increasing 7 or gale 8 later. Slight or moderate, becoming moderate or rough later. Fair, squally showers later. Good, occasionally moderate later.

It could easily be Wednesday or Thursday before I get away. Typical, the 19:00 forecast remove the F6 bit.

Click here for yet another change of plan and the trip back to Portland.

2024 April 11th Day 13, Portland to Brixham

With a reasonable forecast I took the plunge and set off towards the west, the official forecast was for winds from the SW but the models showed winds were likely to have more south in them, I wasn’t sure where I would end up, Brixham seemed most likely but Hallsand, behind Start Point, or an overnight sail to Plymouth (or in 2 days via Brixham) might be possible to get me to a place of safety before more bad weather arriving Sunday or Monday depending on which model you looked at.

Close to spring tide the inshore route would not open until the afternoon and would likely be too dangerous, even if the wind remained quite light at F3 so I left at 09:45 to be past the Shambles before the tide changed to the west, this would keep me clear and down tide of the Race and the shallow water and hopefully I would be past The Bill before the strongest tide for a good push across Lyme Bay.

It was quite foggy with visibility initially about ¾ of a mile so I motored out at 3 or 4 knots behind a very large radar “blip” that turned out to be a huge sailing catamaran heading towards Weymouth. I motored on towards the East Shambles buoy until the wind picked up a bit then hoisted sail and made good progress wondering what a c 45 yacht was doing heading down the east side of Portland, it turned out they were not making a dangerous attempt at the inshore route but heading for West Shambles before heading west. I kept thinking perhaps I should do the same but decided being upstream and upwind of the Shambles with the possibility of getting swept into the Portland race when the tide turned was not where I wanted to be even in quite benign conditions, as things turned out it would have saved some grief and got me well on my way but I would do the same again.

One line from the boat is the heading, the other the direction 

I was actually going because of the tide.

Plain Sailing until 14:39 and 3 miles off Portland, normally
 a safe distance in reasonable weather although I had aimed
for 4 miles but was set in by the tide and pushed north by
the south westerly wind.

After all of the strong winds the tide was rather late turning and having made better than expected time out under sail I spent quite a while making little progress to the west, then the tide turned quickly and I was off with 3 – 4 knots under me. The fog was now thicker and I did not see a yacht coming the other way until she was a cable away, she did not have AIS and I was no longer using radar, perhaps I should but any large vessel should have AIS / Radar in if it was a warship, boarder force etc. not transmitting AIS info they would certainly see me so I was happy to save amps.

Then the trouble started with the wind quickly increasing to 20 knots or a little more and although I was well off The Bill the seas with wind against tide became very confused, waves were not that big but very steep, close together and coming from various directions, probably the most dangerous, although by no means the biggest I have been in for years.

Once SW of the Bill the sea quickly became the forecast “slight to moderate” and I made reasonable speed close hauled but was set well into Lyme Bay by the tide and leeway and I was forever reefing and shaking them out as the wind, largely SSW, varied from 12 – 10 knots. 

Struggling to make progress before motoring in.

This put me down tide of Brixham once the tide had turned and getting from 5 – 9 miles off Teinmouth was going to be a problem, especially with the wind now varying from WNW to S and from 5 – 25 knots. Having gone from well reefed to full sail then back to 2 reefs in the main and head sails I decided to motor the last 7 miles in an hour and a half rather than sail for 4 or 5 hours. I arrived off Churston / Fishcombe Coves and anchored at 02:00, but not without incident, the anchor winch was not working properly, to be covered in the next post.

The whole leg (dashed line). 70 miles in 16.25 hours.

Click here for Anchor problems & going back to square one.

2023 June 26th, Day 74 Fowey to Brixham

Broad reaching with the Cruising
Chute from the pole as the wind was
very marginal, and sometimes well over
for the spinnaker.

After motoring for an hour and a half to Udder Rock the wind filled in and I sailed until lunchtime in variable winds up to F5 before putting the engine on for an hour to guarantee carrying the tide around Start Point. 

Considering all of the crud on the bottom of the boat it was a surprisingly quick trip, I had planned to stop at Hallsands behind Start Point but the various models all suggested a south westerly wind the next day which would have put me on a dead run to Portland, so with time in hand I went on across Start Bay to the anchorage just outside Brixham.

I have been disappointed with the antifouling, the SeaJet "Shogon" is their 2nd most expensive and won a recent PBO "best in test" award, and it claims to be effective for "Up to two years" with 3 coats. I put three coats on in March 2022 and another in July but it was clearly very depleted when I power washed her in mid March and weed was already re-established a month later, by the time I reached Tobermory the bottom was very rough to the touch and I cleaned what was reachable numerous times on this cruise but still lost a lot of speed, a good knot under engine. It would seem that two years life assumes light usage of the boat.

The top grade and hideously expensive "Emperor" used for the boot line (the Shogun is not available in white) has fared better, still at least somewhat active in March when I recoated that, so I am going to have to bight the bullet and lift the boat out to re do the antifouling - I can at best do one coat drying on the piles and need to do at least three on the hull and three on the boot line and, needing to power wash if the boat has gone back in the water that would take four or five seasons over at least three weeks - the tide being insufficient at neaps to get into the dock.

Rounding Start Point in almost slack water.

Although potentially a bit exposed and fairly deep the anchorage off Churston Cove / Fishcombe Point has very good holding in firm mud, both times I anchored there the anchor bit instantly and very firmly, getting it up was not that difficult with the windlass but the anchor does need the mud scraping off.

56 miles in  twelve and a half hours.

Click here for Crossing Lyme Bay

2023 April 16th Day 2 - Portland to Churston Cove

A day after a neap tide the tidal gate around the Bill opened at 08:14 so daylight was not going to be a problem, on the other hand a late start would probably mean a late arrival. I weighed anchor at 06:15 and in calm conditions and with a reasonably clean hull I arrived half an hour early but in benign conditions and so close to the neap tide I went round early with no problems.

Last year I commented that there always seems to be fishermen
at the harbour entrance, this time it was a couple of guys fishing
from kayaks

The North Breakwater.

I always have to avoid pot buoys going round the Bill, this
time I had to avoid the Lobster boat as well.

My track around the Bill, 128 yards off and being
early I went a bit further north than I normally go
coming out. The "kink" further west was me avoiding
a pot a marker and getting the mainsail up.
(Tide indicators from when I took the screenshot
not when I went round)

The wind which had been close to zero when I left had increased to SSW at 6 knots so once well clear the sails went up for a chilly but pleasant trip across Lyme Bay kept busy trimming the sails to cope with the variable wind. Without a significant wind shift I clearly wasn’t going to make Hallsands or Plymouth so I was resigned to Torbay, hopefully to anchor rather than spending an expensive night in a marina.

The wind picked up to c 11 knots from the south at mid day then to 15 -17 knots at about 14:00 so it was a quick reach in to Brixham and I was at anchor off of a cove next to the harbour which is in two parts named Fishcombe Cove and Churston Cove, there are now 3 large mooring buoys in the cove effectively filling it so I anchored in 10 metres just off. 

Wending my way to Brixham.

Brixham from the anchorage, Battery Park on the right.

Fishcombe Cove / Churston Cove, Battery Park on the left.

49 nautical miles in 12 hours.

Click here for the trip round to Fowey.

April 2019 cruise to the Fal in company with Suhaile

Thursday 18th April. Gosport to St Mawes.

The Cruising Association organised a rally for the 50th anniversary of Robin Knox Johnson's ( president of  The C.A.] solo circumnavigation, the first one done non stop. A group formed off Hasler marina a little before 10 o'clock to see him off with a few of use sailing in company with Suhaili to Falmouth for the celebrations.

In company with Suhaili going from Gosport to Falmouth for the event.

Off Lymington, most boats turned back just before Hurst.

It was a very pleasant, albeit cool, trip through Spithead and the Solent in a light wind. I was surprised how quickly the heavy Suhaile was going in the conditions and I needed the spinnaker to keep up. That led to some embarrassment going down the Needles channel. 

I had planned to take the kite down before going through Hurst narrows but with a lot of boats under my lea I decided not to as I was on a fairly close reach for the sail and really wanted to bare away to drop it, as the NE wind was quite constant I decided to hold on to it. Big mistake! 

As we passed Totland Bay a gust of wind came down off of the hills and I broached to windward, in 15 - 20 knots of wind. I led the sheet off but it kinked and jammed in the turning block. I was now going sideways towards the Shingles bank and I could not free the sheet quickly. In desperation I let the halyard run, I had taken the precaution of putting on a very long halyard so that the sail could be in the water with the halyard still secure at the bottom of the mast. That recovered the situation but it was then very hard wet work hauling a heavy waterlogged sail out of the water, minus one guy that had disappeared as the sail thrashed about (I had a spare) and repacking it as the boat continued under main alone to keep the speed down.

It took a long time but I had it sorted by the time I reached the fairway buoy when I unfurled the Genoa. After half an hour I was somewhat recovered and in dry cloths to I got the spinnaker up again to dry out.

Crossing Lyme Bay

Unfortunately the Cruising Association advertised the sail "in company" but did not mention that Suhaili was going to stop off at Fowey on-route so I got to the Fal a day ahead.

Welcome committee off the Fal. Roger and Ron
on Rogers Dehler 41.

Suhaili (right) at the start of the parade.

Some of the 50+ boats in the parade.

Tuesday 23rd April. Gosport via Fowey and Brixham. 

Sancerre alongside in Brixham,
Photo by Roland V (Achilles 24 "Hot Foot")

Brixham

The sea turned very rough leaving Brixham in 25Knots of wind but was better later even with gusts to 30Knts - the forecast was wrong until after I left! A very pleasant sail from c Portland onwards.

A total of 66 hours at sea, 21 at night. 305 miles.

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