2021 Summer Cruise, Day 1.

I had intended to start a short summer cruise later in July but with a heat wave forecast I decided that I would be better off on the boat than sweltering at home so, on the 15th July I decided to leave for the boat next day. I had that morning got home from replacing the anchor chain drastically shortened after fouling it at Lindisfarne and sorting the few issues from my round GB trip so the boat was ready. There was then a mad rush to get together food, diesel and other items for a 2 - 3 week trip with the possibility of not going ashore because of crowded harbours etc.. The next day I had a very full car and a hard days labour loading the boat on a hot day but it was done at last and I had a relatively early night as it would be an 04:00 start on the 17th. 

I actually started much earlier as I woke at 02:15 with a nice 9 knot wind from the north so I left at 02:45 to take advantage of that and a full tide once out of the river which would give me a good chance of getting to Portland rather then Studland. It was a clear night but very dark as there was no moon so care was needed going down the Hamble where shore lights confuse things and unlit boats on moorings are not easy to see. 

Once into Southampton water I found it very busy with commercial shipping including a very large cruise ship coming from the west, the largest ship I have seen using the Needles channel, with so much going on I had to motor until 04:00 with  a quick dash to the western shore at Fawley then staying close in and out of the channel until past Calshot.  With dawn breaking it was then a pleasant sail for a hour and a half until the wind died and on went the motor again.

Lots of boats had left the previous evening against the foul tide, I suspect I passed many of them as I went down the Solent as there were boats anchored all over the place with traditional anchorages filled and overflowing.

Approaching the Needles at 05:30.

I reached the "Bridge" buoy at 06:10 and 20 minutes later there was enough wind to sail with the large (60 sq. m) spinnaker that I was able to carry until past St Albans Head.

Approaching Anvil point at 08:40, slow progress through the water
with light winds but helped with a couple of knots of tide.

 

St Alban's Head.

With fluky winds it was touch and go if I would get round St Alban's without gybing and standing out to sea, in the end I gybed the mainsail but left the spinnaker as it was for 10 minutes and I scraped by.

Lots of boats in Chapman's Pool just west of St Alban's at 10:00.

Lulworth Cove. It was very crowded with at least a dozen boats in there.

The wind was still variable and suddenly the 5 knot wind veered and increased to 15 knots just as I was passing between two sports fishing boats and it was panic stations for a while until I had the spinnaker down. Shortly after the wind disappeared completely and after waiting for a good while for it to return I motored on to Portland anchoring in the harbour at 16:15.

Entering the Harbour with the 505 UK National & Open European
Championships under way, disappointing to see only a couple
of dozen boats, although I guess Covid reduced the numbers,
and just 5 races, when I had a "Five O" 50 years ago there
would have been far more. But at least this excellent boat is
still being sailed competitively.

Evening in the anchorage, there was plenty of room but most of
the arriving boats were going into the marina, which is not cheap.

A warm day with fluky winds but an excellent sail from the Needles to past St Alban's Head.

Slide show of all my pictures from Hamble to Portland, 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:

54 miles over the ground in 13.5 hours.

Click here for Day 2

Round Britain Anchorages - The Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

In the right conditions this is a stunning anchorage but does have some major disadvantages which need to be considered. Care is needed when entering and leaving particularly going over the bar, see the Pilot, but its not difficult, my preference it so move against the tide or very shortly after it changes favourable to give more thinking time but you will need a good engine once the tide gets going. The inshore route along the east side should not be attempted in poor visibility due to lots of lobster pots. 

The island does get very busy, even during the partial Covid-19 lockdown, this can often be avoided by going ashore during the high tide period when the causeway is covered but some eateries etc. may be close. Check out their web site. 

Click images to enlarge.

A picture I took in 2008.

The anchorage with the first set of leading marks visible.

Note the anchors in the drying area waiting to puncture your
dinghy so take care!

From close to the slip way.

See also:

• 2021 Round GB Days 11 - ? Blyth to Lindisfarne.
• 2020 Round GB Stage 23, Ethien Haven to Lindisfarne.

Now the disadvantages:

According to the pilot the anchorage is uncomfortable in strong south westerly winds.

It is also very exposed to strong easterlies and particularly difficult during the ebb tide with the wind pushing one way and > 2 knots of tide pushing you the other. See 2021 Round GB. Day 13/14 - Anchor Watch

But the biggest problem is that the anchorage has a significant amount of debris in it and I had problems on both visits, in 2020 it was a car tyre and in 2021 an abandoned anchor. After the latter incident I posted on a Facebook group for round GB sailors and a couple of weeks later another group member fouled another abandoned anchor. 

A trip line is mandatory but is not guaranteed to work, for instance in my problem with the abandoned anchor.

Round GB 2021. Defects and issues with the boat.

This is the last post in a thread, to start at the beginning click here.

I had very few problems with the boat on this trip, largely a reflection of a lot of work and more than 6,000 solo miles completed before I left.

Failures:

The USB powered hub that allows me to connect the PC to multiple devices, most importantly  GPS, AIS and NavTex failed. It took quite a while to find a replacement that could be powered from 12V or a USB socket - the old one was about 15 years old!

The Power lead for the PC started to fail coming down the Irish coast and was a pain causing the navigation software to fail on several occasions until I gave up on AIS and used the back up GPS dongle instead of the plotter or AIS output. This was particularly annoying as I think it is the only cable that I didn’t have a spare for, I have now.

The mainspring on the clock broke or detached. I can restore pocket watches but I don't have a spring compressor for this size of spring so it could be a problem, fortunately I do have a spare clock (its a long story) and although it is of good quality with a centre seconds hand it needs winding more frequently. Update: The spring was detached from the arbor, reattached, service and again keeping good time 😀

The anchor windlass remote control did not work when I tried to use it for the first time in a couple of years, not yet investigated but probably a loose wire. Fixed, loose connector.

The headsail furling gear failed 3 times, the first partly due to user error, the others were hopefully fixed by changing the lead for the furling line, it has certainly now been OK for a lot of sailing.

A deck leak became apparent the first time it rained, initially I thought it was the deck gland fitting that had been disturbed when running a cable for the wind instruments  the day before I left but when I checked it was OK. During a rainy day in Fowey I remove the headlining and found this was not the case. I removed the central Dorade vent cover and found a small drilled hole partially covered by it. I'm sure it was not visible when I previously removed the cover to fix the vent and I did not do any drilling so I can only assume that it has been there a long time and filler had fallen out. It is now sealed with a small screw and some  sealant.

One broken winch handle pocket, it was already damaged and using it to hold the boot hook with mooring lines attached when going into Crinan canal locks finished it off. Replaced.

The cockpit floor is like a skating rink when dry so will need a coat of deck paint before I sail again, I suppose it hasn't done badly, 2 round GB trips as, due to covid, I did not have time to redo it last winter. 

Other:

I Lost 18 metres of chain, I'm not sure yet if I will buy a new full length chain or live with 32 metres, some nylon warp and weight to back it up. The former is the best option for some cruising areas but 50 metres of 6 mm grade 40 chain would cost £263 and 40 metres of heavier but much stronger 7mm grade 40 (of 44Kg total weight vs 42.5Kg for 6mm) would be £280, both needing to be collected or delivered for £70. Replaced with 42 metres of 40 grade, 7mm chain.

The spinnaker guy snap shackles sometimes go into the jaws of the pole, they need a Parrel bead. Fixed.

Summary of the 2021 Round GB trip and some statistics .

Statistics

438 hours sailing.
1,879 nautical miles over the ground.
47 days sailing.
24 days weather bound.
39 nights at anchor.
29 nights in a marina.
5 nights on a mooring (Tobermory & Fowey).

Days weather bound were due a forecast of strong or gale force winds likely to arrive before I could reach shelter, I sometimes left with a forecast of strong (Force 6) winds if I was in sheltered waters and / or I would be running before it and seas were not expected to be excessive. Forecasts of course were not always correct, in both directions. No days were lost due to lack of wind.

Although not as restrictive as in 2020 Covid-19 restrictions still limited options and length of stay ashore and I still haven't visited Skara Brae and a number of other places of interest.

Day by Day

	To	Day	Hours	Miles
Thu 15 Apr 2021	Seaford	1	14.0	67.9
Fri 16 Apr 2021	Rye	2	8.5	39.2
Sat 17 Apr 2021	Ramsgate	3	14.0	55.1
Sun 18 Apr 2021	Ramsgate	4
Mon 19 Apr 2021	Lowestoft	5	15.0	74.6
Tue 20 Apr 2021	Lowestoft	6
Wed 21 Apr 2021	Lowestoft	7
Thu 22 Apr 2021	Filey	8	28.0	134.0
Fri 23 Apr 2021	Filey	9
Sat 24 Apr 2021	Blyth	10	14.5	72.4
Sun 25 Apr 2021	Holy Island	11	8.0	38.1
Mon 26 Apr 2021	Holy Island	12
Tue 27 Apr 2021	Holy Island	13
Wed 28 Apr 2021	Holy Island	14
Thu 29 Apr 2021	Holy Island	15
Fri 30 Apr 2021	Peterhead	16	28.5	129.9
Sat 01 May 2021	Peterhead	17
Sun 02 May 2021	Peterhead	18
Mon 03 May 2021	Peterhead	19
Tue 04 May 2021	Peterhead	20
Wed 05 May 2021	Peterhead	21
Thu 06 May 2021	Peterhead	22
Fri 07 May 2021	Peterhead	23
Sat 08 May 2021	Peterhead	24
Sun 09 May 2021	Hunda Sound (Scarpa Flow)	25	22.0	98.1
Mon 10 May 2021	Hunda Sound (Scarpa Flow)	26
Tue 11 May 2021	Stromness	27	4.5	13.7
Wed 12 May 2021	Stromness	28
Thu 13 May 2021	Loch Eriboll	29	12.8	55.5
Fri 14 May 2021	Loch Nedd	30	11.5	48.5
Sat 15 May 2021	Stornoway	31	9.0	47.0
Sun 16 May 2021	Loch Ewe	32	9.0	38.0
Mon 17 May 2021	Loch Shieldaig	33	7.5	33.3
Tue 18 May 2021	Churchton Bay	34	8.5	29.8
Wed 19 May 2021	Lochcarron	35	6.0	23.2
Thu 20 May 2021	Lochcarron	36
Fri 21 May 2021	Lochcarron	37
Sat 22 May 2021	Plockton	38	2.3	8.0
Sun 23 May 2021	Plockton	39
Mon 24 May 2021	Plockton	40
Tue 25 May 2021	Loch Na Dal	41	5.3	17.5
Wed 26 May 2021	Tobermory	42	10.0	41.8
Thu 27 May 2021	Tobermory	43
Fri 28 May 2021	Tobermory	44
Sat 29 May 2021	Ardalanish	45	8.8	38.2
Sun 30 May 2021	Port Ellen	46	11.1	51.8
Mon 31 May 2021	Port Ellen	47
Tue 01 Jun 2021	Port Ellen	48
Wed 02 Jun 2021	Port Ellen	49
Thu 03 Jun 2021	Port Ellen	50
Fri 04 Jun 2021	Bagh na Doirline	51	5.5	20.2
Sat 05 Jun 2021	Eilean Dubh, Carsaig Bay	52	4.8	20.1
Sun 06 Jun 2021	Crinan Canal	53	3.0	6.3
Mon 07 Jun 2021	Ardmarnock Bay	54	8.5	15.0
Tue 08 Jun 2021	Portavadie	55	1.5	3.5
Wed 09 Jun 2021	Portavadie	56
Thu 10 Jun 2021	Portavadie	57
Fri 11 Jun 2021	Campletown	58	8.0	33.1
Sat 12 Jun 2021	Browns Bay (Larne)	59	8.0	39.8
Sun 13 Jun 2021	Bangor	60	4.5	15.2
Mon 14 Jun 2021	Ardglass	61	7.3	35.6
Tue 15 Jun 2021	Ardglass	62
Wed 16 Jun 2021	Dundalk Bay	63	10.0	38.1
Thu 17 Jun 2021	Sorrento Bay, Dublin	64	11.5	40.6
Fri 18 Jun 2021	Milford Haven, Dale Shelf	65	21.5	110.0
Sat 19 Jun 2021	Milford Haven, Dale Shelf	66
Sun 20 Jun 2021	Milford Haven, Sandy Haven Bay	67
Mon 21 Jun 2021	Milford Haven, Sandy Haven Bay	68
Tue 22 Jun 2021	Newlyn	69
Wed 23 Jun 2021	Newlyn	70	26.0	120.0
Thu 24 Jun 2021	Newlyn	71
Fri 25 Jun 2021	St Mawes	72	7.8	34.3
Sat 26 Jun 2021	Fowey	73	5.5	20.9
Sun 27 Jun 2021	Fowey	74
Mon 28 Jun 2021	Plymouth, Jennycliff Bay	75	7.7	23.3
Tue 29 Jun 2021	Hallsands	76	8.8	25.5
Wed 30 Jun 2021	Lyme Regis	77	11.0	45.0
Thu 01 Jul 2021	Studland	78	10.8	49.0
Fri 02 Jul 2021	Hamble	79	6.5	30.0
	Totals:	79	436.7	1,881.1

Click here for a list of defects and issue found with the boat during the trip.