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Chapter 6 Dartmouth to
Chichester
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Day
38 Sunday 18th June, Dartmouth to Exmouth – 29 NM
We picked up our friend Ray
at 0700 for a trip upriver on the tide to Dittisham, a broad section of
river just 2-3 miles north. We passed several marinas which were quite a
way out of the centre of Dartmouth with yachts on the outer pontoons
rafted two or three deep, and we were glad that we’d arrived early enough
to get a mooring close to the town.
We picked up a mooring just
NE of Ned’s Point, looking up towards the house where Agatha Christie
spent a good proportion of her life, and wondered where Miss Marple lived.
It was prime countryside with twee English villages, just as we’d imagined
St. Mary Mead to be, and we wondered who had murdered whom during the night.
We could have happily murdered yet another of the harbourmasters staff who
stared to hassle us about mooring fees. We eventually found the receipts
for the previous nights stay and showed it to him and he reluctantly let us go,
although I’m sure he wanted yet another contribution to the council tax
for us tying up to a mooring while we drank our morning coffee. Still, the
night we had spent on the town pontoon was much better value (at £12) than
Salcombe and at least we had proper showers, a supermarket and decent bars
and restaurants nearby.
At 0830 we were once again
off down river under power and out into the open sea. Ray had decided to
join us on the short trip to Exmouth and go home on the train. Once again
the wind was non-existent even though we were promised a SW3/4 and the
wind reluctantly started to blow after 10-15, allowing hoisting sails and
gently sailing in a SE1/2. It was not with us for very long, frustratingly
veering SW and dropping off and we again found ourselves with engine on
trying to make the tide.
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By the time we had got to the narrow main channel into
Exmouth the wind had risen to a SW4 and was creating quite a chop. The
chop was made worse by the continual rush of weekenders on big speedboats
shooting up and down the channel and out across the sandbanks to the west.
As we approached the main Exmouth harbour I radioed the
marina for any spare berths and was politely reminded that the marina
was for members use only and visitors were not welcome. There was a
visitors pontoon across the bay from the marina and they suggested I
used this. The
wind was still on the up, and by the time we had made it to the
visitors pontoons the wind was easily a westerly 5 and the whole
expanse of shallow water which forms the wide river was very
uncomfortable indeed.
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The land to the west was very low, offering no
protection whatsoever, and we found ourselves going further and
further upstream looking for a place to moor or anchor that was
comfortable for an overnight stay and where we could put ashore our
friend without getting him soaked through.
We were rapidly running out
of options as the tide was 2 hours into the ebb, and we were only a mile
from Topsham road bridge where we were going to run out of options when we
passed council owned visitor mooring
(£5 per night) near Turf Lock at the start of the Exeter Canal.
It
was well protected, with just a 50 metre row to the Turf Lodge pub and
restaurant and we eagerly took it, turning the engine off at 1435. It was
probably the best located of all the places we stayed, with pontoons
outside the pub for the dinghy and a ferry to Topsham but as we were meeting Mary’s cousin for another night ashore
we missed seeing if it lived up to its promise.
We dropped Ray at the city
centre station and then had a great night ashore with Mary’s cousin in her
new house. The only downer was the thought that I had to re-navigate all
the way back down river the next day!
Day 39 Monday 19th
June, Exmouth to Weymouth – 59 NM
Slipped our mooring at 1120
for what was supposed to be a short trip to West Bay but
what ended up being a much more exciting adventure. The wind was a SW4/5
and we were most relieved when we got out again into the open sea.
As we passed the last
channel buoy we noticed the red flag flying for the local firing range,
and made our way out to sea to the markers identified on the chart. To our
amazement the firing stopped as soon as we were within a mile of the outer
marker, resuming again when we were a mile the other side.
The wind backed shortly
after that to a more southerly direction, perhaps even SSE, and there was a noticeable swell and
chop and we added a second reef the main before I radioed West Bay
harbourmaster to see what he thought about the situation. His reply was
that we would be very welcome, but with the sea that was running it would
be very bumpy and uncomfortable.
Then I made a mistake – a
mistake that cost us a lot of time and left us both exhausted and
exhilarated later that evening.
A quick check on the tide
tables, pilot and chart showed that we would have favourable tides around Portland bill and a quick
calculation showed that we could expect to reach Weymouth by 2000 at the
latest and we decided to go for it. I duly set new coordinates into the GPS to take us on our new
course, and then read all the pilot information. It was only then that I
realised that we were going to sail around one of the most dangerous
headlands in the British Isles,
and at two miles offshore we would probably miss the infamous tidal race,
but it was too close for comfort. I added another mile to be on the safe
side, and also plotted the course to go to the east of the Shambles
shoals, leaving the cardinal to port. It turned out to be a wise
decision.
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At about 1700 two
things happened - our speed dropped off and the sea got considerably
rougher and when Mary checked why we discovered my tidal calculations were
completely wrong – I had substituted high for low water and vice versa. It
was easily done as the tidal fall is practically non-existent with a
spring range of only two metres and with a high that day of just 1.5
metres I was thinking “low water” and “River Forth” not “English
Channel.” The bottom line was that we were going to have a long haul into
Weymouth.
With wind over tide and
being close to a major water phenomenon we spent the next three hours
experiencing white water rafting in a sailing boat. With the sails up and
the engine flat out we were making 3 knots and there was nothing else for
it but grin and bear it.
At 2110 we rounded the
Shambles cardinal and, with the wind SW5 now on the beam we dispensed with
the engine, sailing to the harbour entrance at a steady 6 knots. We tied
up at 2255 on the Cove Quay, ready for our fish supper that we felt was
thoroughly deserved.
We had had a tough day, but
in the Moody we had never felt at risk.
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Day 40 Tuesday 20th
June, Weymouth
We spent the day chilling out and enjoying the seaside,
watching the very politically incorrect Punch and Judy on the beach and cream teas on the front.
We came to the
conclusion that Weymouth is a pretty good place, and will no doubt get
better as the Olympic water sports centre will be based in Portsmouth
Harbour. We also decided to remain on the town pontoons at Cove Quay –
there was so much more going on there than at the marina the other side of
the lifting bridge.
Day 41 Wednesday 21st
June, Weymouth
Spent the day taking the
bus along Chesil Beach to West Bay and Bridport, Mary’s grandfather’s
home, and the main reason for our interest in the port in the first place.
Our initial plans were to
aim for Poole harbour, though for once we had not thoroughly planned where
we would end up after crossing through the channel at Sand Banks, one of
the most expensive places to live in the world. As it was we never made it
as when we were off Swanage in a big sea with the beam winds gusting over
30 knots we slackened the jib put a few more rolls in but with the violent
motion of the sail the snapshackle securing the jib sheets came free,
resulting in no drive from the Genoa. We rolled the Genoa and then sailed
on main until we were off Studland Bay, some 3 miles from the entrance to
Poole harbour. We put into this sheltered bay really as a temporary
anchorage while I sorted the sail, but it was so pleasant there that we
decided to stay and after an initial anchor drag in the strong winds the
Bruce dug well in and we had a comfortable night.
Day 43 Friday 23rd
June, Studland Bay to Yarmouth IOW - 18 NM
Anxious not to miss the tide through the Needles channel
off the western edge of the IOW we set off early (0540) on a windless
sunny morning, motoring across Poole bay and rounding the red can on the
Needles channel entrance at 0700, motoring into Yarmouth Harbour just as
the harbourmaster was finishing his morning coffee. We were lucky to
secure directly to a pontoon with no shore based access, so after a
leisurely breakfast and short dinghy trip to the tender pontoon we went
walking out to Freshwater bay and the Needles, getting back “home” at
about 1800.
Day 44 Saturday 24th
June, Yarmouth IOW to Gosport - 22 NM.
To catch the tide we again set off early, slipping our
moorings at 0625. With an E1 we ended up relying yet again on the engine,
motoring up the Solent at 7 knots, turning into Cowes just for a look. On
the east side of the estuary entrance were at least 200 moorings, all
empty, presumably all in place for Cowes week visitors. We came to the
conclusion that we were much better off visiting Yarmouth as Cowes seemed
very much ”a bit of a dive”.
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From Cowes we continued down the eastern part of the
Solent, keeping to the landward side rounding the Sand Spit fort before
motoring up the channel into Portsmouth. It was very busy, with vessels of
all sizes coming and going, and one almost continuous line of Yachts
coming out of the harbour.
We had decided on the
Haslar marina as it had a good write up and it seemed to be the most sheltered.
We called them on the VHF and the girl who answered put us onto a mooring
whose owner was absent “rather than the visitors mooring, which can be a
bit rough.”
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We felt really at home there, particularly as there were so
many Moody’s all around, including four Moody 31’s, and the one we were
moored next to invited us that day to a Moody Owners meet on the IOW!
We had also timed our arrival to perfection, as there was
just enough time to get to the Morrisons supermarket and get back with the
booze and food before my sister and partner arrived to join us.
They both know the marina well, having friends who all own
“Bavaria's.” We had spectacular day
visiting the fleshpots of Portsmouth, including the new spinnaker tower,
which is a simply super place.
In the evening we went for
a motor up river and around the naval ship that are there.
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Sadly, most of
the navy ones were being stripped of anything good or being scrapped, with
only a handful of other navy ships around. There was an interesting group
of four vessels that were moored closely together, a French ship tied to a
Russian one, with a British naval vessel tied alongside an American one. A
strange collection!
Day 45 Sunday 25th
June, Gosport
As soon as my sister and
partner left, we set off once again on the ferry to Portsmouth, this time
walking south to Southsea. We were hoping top find a friend who was the best
man at our wedding and who we had lost touch with until very recently, and
we were hoping that he would be at home.
Sad to say that he had
moved on, but we eventually tracked him down late that evening. He had
moved to Gosport, just 10 minutes walk from the marina, and it was great
to meet up again.
Note - Additional
pictures of Portsmouth are available to view - please
click here
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Day 46 Monday 26th
June, Gosport to Chichester harbour (Itchenor) - 13 NM
After a leisurely start to the day we set off at 1055 for
Chichester. The wind was a flukey NW2 and we slowly sailed out of the
harbour, turning east past the Horse Sand Fort, over the Horse and Dean
sands and then across Hayling bay to the Chichester West Pole outer
marker. We carefully followed the transits across the Chichester Bar,
making our way into the harbour before turning right past East Head and on
up to Itchenor, were we picked up a visitors mooring while we investigated
what was possible further up, as it was now well past high water and
access to Chichester Marina was not now possible. It started to rain and
as Chichester was some way off we decided to move downstream to the
anchorage west of Itchenor where we could get out of the main channel away
from the ever-present wake from vessels messing about on the river.
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But as
soon as the tide ebbed we realised that this place was probably the
inspiration for Flanders and Swans “Glorious Mud” song as the sticky,
slimy stuff was everywhere, including under our keels and as soon as we floated again we moved back
to Itchenor and the local pub.
Our passage plan the
next day was to head for Brighton, and we wanted to give ourselves a good
start so we could have as full a day as possible amongst the bright
lights. It was a trip of just over 40 miles, so as early a start, at first
light, was to be prefered. Trouble was the blasted Chichester Bar, as
leaving at 0415 would mean that we would get to the bar at 2 hours before
low water, and whilst all my predictions and calculations showed that we
should have at least 1 metre under the keels, it depended on a number of
factors that were not in the books (e.g. shifting sand and shingle banks).
That evening at the pub we decided to canvass opinion and find out more
from anyone with local experience of “The Bar”.
In all we spoke with
about 6 yotties, all of who confirmed my calculations, agreed that I
should have at least 1 metre under the keels, but no one was prepared to go
across the Bar 2 hours before low water! I think that it was the way that
everyone wished us luck that really put me off and I could not sleep
thinking about it. At 0200 we discussed the situation between us and made
the decision that we should not hit the bar until 0800, 2 hours after low
water. The rest of the night I slept really well. |
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