Three more big jumps to get home

The tides worked in our favour for departure from Cowes. We headed upriver to the fuel barge at 0830. Fortunately the attendant was already on board and able to serve us, as technically it doesn't open until 9am. Roll on the day when every fuel berth is 24-hour and card-operated. It can't be that difficult if pretty much everywhere in France and the Netherlands can manage it.

Initially we had very light northerlies, turning around 1400 to even lighter southerlies and then dying away completely. So it was a very long day of motorsailing with very few excitements other than identifying south coast landmarks from a good way offshore. We were pleased to pass Brighton, having really not enjoyed it very much on our way out, crossed the Greenwich Meridian, and we passed very close to Beachy Head just before sunset, although the lighthouse didn't flash until long after we had passed it.

We crept into Sovereign Marina, Eastbourne pretty much in darkness at around 2015. It was easier than the approach to Portland Marina in the dark but still requiring lots of concentration! We hadn't made a booking and I was a bit disconcerted to be asked, but of course there was plenty of room although we were on a wobbly finger berth rather than alongside the jetty as we were in June.

View towards Pevensey Castle

The slightly eccentric delights of Pevensey Bay

Eastbourne Martello

I'd been struggling with tidal planning as the obvious time to leave was around 3pm (1500) on Thursday 16th, but that meant doing the Dover Straits and the approach to Ramsgate in the dark. Eventually it dawned on me that a better option for us was to leave at 3am on Friday 17th. There was a risk of hitting a lobster pot in the dark, in the shallow waters between Eastbourne and Dungeness, but a much better arrival time. That also gave us a full day in Eastbourne; Alex and David headed into town, while I did a load of washing and a brief Asda shop, replaced our knicker-whirler at Wilko, and then went for an interesting run eastwards along the coast, past the many tower blocks before reaching the bungalows and caravans of Pevensey Bay, and then inland a bit for a view of Pevensey castle... although as it was already getting hot I opted against getting all the way there and visiting properly. Instead I headed back to the beach and enjoyed a brief swim.

So at 0315 we topped up with a dribble of expensive diesel and locked out, on our own, at 0330. Despite the promised SW breeze there was virtually no wind and thank God we hit no fishing equipment, although with faint light at 0530 we did see and dodge a pot marker. The tide picked up as we rounded South Foreland and we made good speed, heading northwards for the first time in many months. 

At 1030, off Folkestone, we passed a small inflatable dinghy crammed full of maybe 20 people in orange lifejackets. We were not very close and made no effort to go closer but in fact they changed course and passed slightly closer to us. I was literally at the top of the companionway getting ready to call Dover Coastguard when they called us, having presumably seen on AIS that we were the closest vessel. They asked a lot of questions about what we could see: the dinghy appeared to be making way, not in danger of sinking and only 3-4 miles offshore. (Fortunately Alex with her brilliant distance vision could see much more than me). Subsequently another yacht agreed to stand by until officialdom turned up, but of course there was a mass of shipping not far off. It was very striking actually to see a dinghy full of people – we all hear so much about it but it was horrifying to see how incredibly vulnerable they are. And of course we will never know what happened to them.

By 1400 we were safely tied up in Ramsgate marina once more, 60M from Eastbourne. I felt I'd done Ramsgate, so I only got off to help David fetch fish and chips, and have a shower!

And finally at 0800 on Saturday October 18 we headed out of Ramsgate towards SYH. For the first time for ages we weren't much bothered by the fact that the wind was easterly, but once again there was very little of it and the seas were smooth to slight so i was very comfortable with the shortest route through Foulger's Gat and crossing the Sunk at Barrow no. 2. We had a tiny sail up towards NE Gunfleet, then the sea went shit brown and we knew that we were almost home. At Stone Banks with almost no water under the keel we had enough wind to sail into Harwich Harbour and a little way up the Orwell. By 1635 we were back on our home berth and it was very nice to have a neighbour call out "Welcome back" as we nosed in. 

We had no cars at SYH of course (because of the one-way car hire to Plymouth) so in the end decided the easiest option was for all four of us to get a large taxi back to Hoxne on Sunday 19th. Hawk Express charged us £62, but the alternative would have been a cab to Ipswich, train to Diss, another cab to Hoxne and then a drive to SYH and back, so one taxi was a lot simpler.

See next post for the final facts and figures.