Saturday, 8 October 2011

Dartmouth and Home

Delayed in Dartmouth due to Fog.
Although the fog only lasted until 11 or 12 in the morning it meant we missed the tide for the onward journey, so after two days of waiting we repositioned the boat to Brixham for a night so that we could depart that, much less complicated harbour early next day and make the trip to the Solent in one.
Two French navy vessels arrived in Dartmouth on our last day. After sitting outside the Harbour for a few hours waiting for the visibility to improve the emerged out of the fog as we slipped our lines.

Next day we left Brixham, catching a favourable tide down to Lyme Regis where we picked up a mooring buoy to wait for the right tide to make Portland head and the needles in one.
With two knots of tide behind us and a favourable wind we were approaching the familiar waters of the solent by midnight, and despite having to slow down following reports of a dinghy drifting in the needles channel were tied up outside Yarmouth by one in the morning.  
Next day we headed for Portsmouth where we met up with Gerald on Scarlett Lady, who had come to meet us, and the intrepid Oliver on Jolly Olly.
All three of us set off on Monday  3rd of October, a brilliant sunny day with just the right amount of wind for the sail to our home port of Brighton, and the end of our wonderful six month journey.
Jolly Olly en route.
  Along the way we have met many fine people who we hope will remain friends forever and experienced practically every type of sailing and weather that the Gods can throw at you. We have explored beautiful new sailing areas, and explored the Scottish Islands, experiencing a way of life, and indeed a pace of life, that makes you wonder if your still in the UK.
We will never forget this journey, and will always be grateful for having had the opportunity to make it. 

1 comment:

  1. Hi

    It was good to see you in the River Yealm, and thanks for a very pleasant evening. We made it to Torquay the following day and Exmouth a couple of weeks later. We moved her on this week to Yarmouth IOW, very pleasant sailing. With luck she will be back in Lowestoft for Xmas

    Best wishes John Yacht MODO

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