Two go Sailing

As predicted following a wet windy afternoon the August gale blew itself out and after a quiet night we set off at a respectable 10:30am for the short trip to Ramsgate. As we were heading north towards Ramsgate we wanted to leave Dover via the east entrance which is also the one used by all of the cross channel ferry traffic. Dover port control are very pleasant and after a radio chat with them we were given permission to follow the DFDS vessel out of the harbour with strict instructions to then head north for at least half a mile - once outside of the protective walls of the harbour we could see why - there was a queue of ferries heading across the channel, presumably getting themselves back in sync after the delays of the previous day. The weather was lovely, blue sky, white fluffy clouds and a nice SW 3-4 plus a big spring tide meaning that we were scooting along the coast at a very respectable 6 knots! After a couple of hours I contacted Ramsgate Port Control on VHF to ask permis

By now we had reached the point in our almanac which said we were in South East England and my position plots were heading ever closer to the Greenwich Meridian - which would mean that for the first time in over a year I would be plotting East rather than West! That said we still had some way to go along the English Channel and the weather forecast seemed to be changing - the big high pressure that brought with it light winds and sunny hot days seemed to be breaking down and the weatherman started to mutter something about the jet-stream dropping south allowing atlantic fronts in! What this means for us is more wind - probably some rain and more challenging sailing! After a night in Littlehampton the morning dawned warm and sunny with light winds and we motored out of the river about 2 hours after high water drinking our breakfast tea and munching a bowl of cereal. Sadly the wind never got above 4 knots all morning so it was a long motor along the coast - passing Worthing and Shoreha

Well I have to admit that the heat has made me quite lazy so apologies that this is a bit of a catch up! After a weekend spent in Hamble listening to the rain and wind the weather had calmed down a bit to enable us to carry on to Gosport with the promise of the heatwave returning later in the week. We knew we needed to spend some time in port as the skipper needed to service our trusty diesel and I needed to do some laundry. I did look at the laundry in the Hamble marina but sadly the machines smelt as if someone had been washing muddy dogs in them so I decided to wait!   We left the Hamble river mid morning for the short trip round the corner to Gosport - we had decided that Gosport would be good for our purpose as the High Street was only a short walk from the marina and there was a large branch of Halfords where the skipper could buy some oil and other bits for the engine. We also wanted to take the opportunity to visit both the Mary Rose and The Victory whilst in Ports