A cloudy, greyish start to our 5th Rest Day within seven sailing days. After breakfast on the boat, meusli, banana, yoghurt and toast with Salcombe ginger jam…. down to the hard graft. Having washed the topsides ( waterline to toe rail, the sides of the boat above the waterline ) yesterday on arrival from Salcombe, T got out the marina hosepipe again and scrubbed down all the coach roof, decks and cockpit. Much wetness everywhere…. assisted by Christine who came along behind to brush off the various piles of bird poo!!

Christine had not seen the “magic eraser” sponge in action… with added water it wipes away black scuff marks, soiled smears, little scratches and and any serious soiling off the off white coach roof. Prior to this Christine had indicated that after sitting on the boat for so long, she wished to do a “power walk” in Plymouth.

So at 12 noon we did. 16,000 steps and 7 miles later on return to the boat… we had walked from the Mayflower Marina opposite the Royal William Yard all the way into Plymouth…. along both the infamous and famous Union Street ( something to do with off duty sailors, pubs and ladies )…. to the Hoe. Wow what a vista out over Plymouth Sound, Drake’s Island and Mountbatten.

Walking along the Hoe towards the Barbican, Christine and T participated in a light lunch in a cafe overlooking the entrance to Plymouth Harbour. Christine did not enjoy her Calamari but T’s tomato soup was sumptuous. Mike had been called away for the day on family business in Buckinghamshire. Whilst Christine poked at her calamari, T gave her a quiz on the various cardinal buoys in front of the cafe!

The Barbican with its two smaller marinas, bars, cafes, restaurants plus the many touristy type shops claiming to represent indigenous culture… was passed through and back up on the Hoe… to admire the new memorial to RAF Bomber Command and to examine the statute of Sir Francis Drake. Seagulls had obviously enjoyed Mr. Drake’s hat as they had pooped and dribbled all down his face!

The Mayflower Steps were not ignored… where the Pilgrims had set sail for North America on 6th September, 1620. On landing in America, they named it “Plymouth Rock”. Amazing…. truly amazing… they crossed nearly 3,000 n.miles of open ocean with no GPS, no chart plotters, no engines, no accurate charts, no sextants, and…. no sea sick pills.

The evening was taken up with a grand meal at Jolly Jacks, where brother John and sister in law, Helen came to visit the weary sailors…. bringing cornish pasties x 3, goody bags and a variety of “eats” to go in our “greedy box”. Christine had already purchased 3 cornish pasties in the Barbican earlier…. so we now had six on board. This is called “victualling” and in a more modern sense, “refuelling.” Thus ended a varied and heart warming rest day.

Day 13, Plymouth to Falmouth, Friday 8th June, 2018.

Having retired the night before at 10.30pm, we were up at 4.30am to firstly refuel the boat with red diesel and then catch the down Channel tide for the first few hours of our sail south westwards to Falmouth.

Dawn broke at about 5am… not a brilliant sunrise like that experienced in Portland… but a grey, gloomy day and chilly too. Sailing due south out of Plymouth Sound, we turned westwards after clearing Penlee Point and Rame Head. Visibility was not good and closing in with sea fog… so for a short while, on went the automatic fog horn booming out two short and one long blast every two minutes. Traffic however, was sparse and without incident. The visibility seemed to improve and then suddenly close in.

Once again, having wanted the forecast of Force 3 to 4 winds to be true… there was no wind! Again…. began to feel like the doldrums! So we motored all 40 odd miles…. with the main sail up… to give the boat stability and to make ourselves a bigger target for other mariners to see. Alas… no wind ever made a billow in our huge mainsail … so chug chug and more chugs… all the way into Falmouth. Oh yes… two sightings of importance… sharp eyed Christine…. spotted two sets of dolphins… one at seven o’clock and then an hour later a single dolphin surfaced twice within six feet of the boat. On an earlier trip some years ago, off Falmouth, T, Rob and Josep witnessed a basking shark displaying its big black fin in these waters.

We docked at 11.20am in the Pendennis Marina in Falmouth. Total distance 41.80 nautical miles, duration 5 hours and 50 minutes. We are now in Cornwall.

Day 14, Rest Day…..Saturday 9th June 2018, Falmouth.

We woke…. some folk early, some folk later… a rest day… does it matter if you have a lie in?? What a lovely day weather wise… warm sunshine, light winds and blue, blue skies in every direction. Breakfast in the saloon… cereals, toast and various yoghurts and jams.

We were receiving visitors today at 11am… Liz and Brian from North Cornwall… teaching friends of T’s…. from way way back whilst teaching in Northamptonshire. So the Poli Poli team spruced up the ship, shook the carpets and mats out and generally worked hard to ensure that we were “ship shape” and ready to receive guests. Liz and Brian duly arrived by 11am in their eco warrior Nissan Leaf car… and were given a tour of Poli Poli.

Today was also laundry day…. our last two were at Poole and Portland. The Poole set up for laundry was ok and Mike was successfull in getting the clothes washed and dried. The Portland set up cost T 10,000 steps back and forth along the pontoons and a whole lotta pound coins. Now here today at Falmouth Pendennis Marina… instead of notices threatening you with “keel hauling” if you abused the washers and driers at Portland marina, Pendennis actually gave you clear and accurate instructions… and no threats of keel hauling. But it takes all day!

The day with Liz and Brian went well and a fine Spanish Tapas lunch was taken at the waterside restaurant opposite Poli Poli. Christine and Mike walked the Falmouth High Street and spent the afternoon in the National Maritime Museum where there was a special “Titanic” exhibition. T had previously seen the same exhibition in Liverpool whilst also viewing various nautical presentations at the Greenwich National Maritime Museum in London…. namely the “Harrison five clocks”, Turner and the Sea, Nelson, etc etc. All magnificent.

So having entertained our friends from the past, done the laundry with fewer problems than Portland, eaten well and for those followers out there… who think our little adventure is nothing more than a glorified “booze cruise” or pub crawl… very little alcohol passed our lips on this our rest day! Just a half of Cornish lager for T and little more for Mike.

The day ends with preparation for tomorrow’s sail to Penzance… our most westerly destination on the mainland in this southern section of the voyage. We always prepare a fairly detailed “passage plan”… absolutely essential. We look at the “pilot” books and entries for Penzance… and we examine the advice of the likes of Tom Cunliffe in the Shell Channel Pilot guide as well as studying the charts for dangers nd ports of refuge en route. Good planning and a policy of “no surprises” ensures the safety of all on board.

We depart Falmouth, tomorrow Sunday at 8am, with a following tide and hopefully enough good speed and acurate navigation as we have to arrive at Penzance at High Water minus two hours or no later than HW plus one hour. High Water Penzance is 14.47 hours, so our arrival window to get into the wet dock is earliest time 13.47 hours and latest time 16.47 hours. This is called a tidal gate.

Tomorrow we will also sail round the Lizard en route to Penzance and across Mounts Bay. After Penzance, we depart the mainland for the Scilly Isles. Progress to date is good.

Day 5… the first rest day since departing Eastbourne.

A day of “must do jobs” and just relaxing from the 4 previous days of continuous sailing. Heavy rain first thing in the  morning but a nice sunny afternoon. So paperwork and blog work am, a walk to the Sunseeker factory and a very quick visit to the Force 4 Chandlery… Mike bought a pair of comfortable shoes and a light lunch in the quayside cafe was taken by team of three. Christine sun bathed in the cockpit after luncheon then helped T mend the port quarter main sheet winch which seemed to have jammed. Sleeping noises came from below decks. Finally T did his 10,000 steps on a walk along the harbour front to Parkstone and back…. in warm sunshine. Dinner was enjoyed  in the Rancho Steak House… and then beddy byes!!! Such a tiring day.

 

Day 6….Friday 1st June…. Sailing from Poole Harbour to Portland Harbour.

On waking up at 5am noted that thick fog had enveloped the whole of Poole Harbour…. could not see Brownsea Island at all. Had agreed that, because of the tidal stream times, best to leave Poole at 11am…just before High tide… and in the hope that the fog might have just simply melted away. It did… just about.

So we left Poole Harbour quay marina at 11am promply after writing out a passage plan and preparing the log book day entry.  Mike helmed all the way out of the harbour, past the posh millionaire houses on Sandbanks , passed the chain ferry and out into the buoyed channel past Studland Bay.

Harry’s first Sandbanks house was pointed out as was that of Graham Souness… both well known ex-footballers and millionaires. Harry had to move to the other more private side of millionaire’s row… cos folk on the tripper boats could see into his front garden! Harry is of course Harry Redknapp… father of Jamie and bank accounts named after pet dogs.

We saw three other sailboats… two with black sails ( ugh!)…. but they followed the inshore route on motor and with sails up. Suddenly a black rib… almost in silence… raced past us…. full of military looking guys all in black … silently sped past. A knowledgeable Poole sailor had told us the day before…. “you hear the Royal Marines coming, the SBS boys arrive in silence…”. Have to ask brother John about that!

Motoring out to the limestone stacks of Old Harry and his wife… wind increased so sails went up and we managed to sail at 8 knots southwards for 14n.miles until nearly 1.30pm. By now the tide had turned and gave us a big boost when we finally turned westwards to Portland Bill. As the tide pushed us west, the wind died and the fog suddenly came down. Off Saint Alban’s Head, visiblity was down to 100 yards at best.

The final 10 n.miles or so were motored in thick fog…. visibility getting worse all the time. Poli Poli is equipped with a loud speaker hailer on the mast… and through this we are able to blast out a fog horn warning to vessels close by…. it is in fact quite deafening!! You configure the fog signal through the VHF radio and for a motor sailor it is two short blasts, one long blast every two minutes according to the International Collision Regulations. So as we headed west to Portland we blasted out the fog horn.

Approaching Portland Bill we saw traffic on our AIS receiver…. black triangles start flashing on the chart plotter screen in front of you. These turned out to be fishing boats and a big naval ship departing Portland.

We approached the massive harbour wall… the entrance to Portland Harbour… a gap somewhere. So with “blind navigation” we went through the gap ( according to the chart plotter and Navionics charts )…. and followed two red buoys right to the marina entrance. All done by putting the green line ( your course overground ) on the required destination ie a red bouy on the chart…. and manually steering to it with nil visibility. Mike and Christine were eyballing as best they could and would spot the said red bouys when they suddenly appeared in the thick fog. They were first class spotters. Hairy but we made it into Portland Marina by 4.30pm.

38.5 n.miles from Poole in 5 hours 30 minutes. Now 149.2 n.miles from our starting point in Eastbourne. Needless to say we tied up the ship, connected shore power to charge our batteries and give us 240 v power. The team quickly retired to the marina bar/restaurant for a well earned drink and later, welcome scoff…. seafood linguini twice and one battered cod and chips! Very welcome. Somewhat strange day with the fog!

Day Seven…. Saturday 2nd June…. Rest Day in Portland.

Up at 6am…. glorious blue sky and sunshine. Could not believe the change from the fog of yesterday. We did morning jobs…. Mike hoovered and dusted downstairs inside the boat, Christine did repair sewing work to a strap on the spray hood which had chafed badly…. T washed the salt off the boat with a hosepipe and brush.

Mike and Christine had a good walk afterwards up and over the cheese shaped Bill of Portland to the small town near the marina plus the village of Fortuneswell…. but but…by 12 noon the fog suddenly descended… and spoilt the day… well not really, we just made the best of it cos guess what…. the sun and blue sky returned by 4pm. Had enough of fog. T did his 10,000 steps by walking from the boat to the laundry room, the office and facilities…. did a weeks washing plus good exercise.

This evening to the very popular Cove House Inn at Chiswell, Portland for a 7.15pm supper… views over the 16 mile long Chesil Beach. Pub food but the establishment has a very good reputation. We will see….. early start tomorrow for Dartmouth…. 3am… round the infamous Portland Bill.

 

Day Eight…. Sunday 3rd June….. Portland Bill to Dartmouth.

After a fine supper at the Cove House Inn…. local scallops, new potatoes and salad one example of excellent pub food… retired to bed for a very short night. Team awoke at 2.30am this morning Sunday. Some “boat for sea prep” had been done the night before… first decision whether or not to sail… was to check visibility ie fog. Looking out the aft cabin porthole, the lights of Portland blazed bright and vivid… so yes, we move out at 3am. Much activity on deck…. trying hard not to make too much noise re neighbouring boats all fast asleep.

At 3am precisely Poli Poli slipped her moorings and , again trying to minimise noise… using engine and bow thruster did an about turn manouvere from the berth and headed out into the huge channel inside the harbour walls…. heading for two reds, then a green and a red … indicating the north ship entrance.

Chilly at first, Mike stood on the bow with his powerful head torch, searching for lobster pots and other unknown but deadly objects in the waters ahead. Slipping out of Portland Harbour in the dark…. a waning gibbous moon and attendant planet Mars brilliant on the southern horizon… we sought out the East Cardinal Buoy marking one end of the deadly Shambles Bank that lies to the south east of Portland Bill. Christine identified the 3 white flashes first ( her turn “spotting at the bow”…. the regulation lights for the East Cardinal). The pre-dawn sea…. shimmering in the fading moonlight as Poli Poli roared along at 8 knots. The down side of this was that there was nil wind.

Turning south west to the West Shambles Cardinal… Poli Poli settled down to a long run of some 50 nautical miles across Lyme Bay to the far off Devon coastline. A magnificent sunrise around 5am saw us striking out westwards leaving the flashing light of Portland Bill lighthouse to the north. We had chosen not to do the “inner passage” around the wedge shaped Portland Bill headland re night time and wrong tidal streams…. but take the safe route round the outside of the infamous Portland race and its many dangerous overfalls.

Once on the 275 degree long tack across Lyme Bay…. turns were taken in disappearing downstairs into the warm, snug saloon for a little lie down and dreamland. A keen watch was maintained from the cockpit helm station at all times and the occasional lobster pot was sighted ( and avoided )… even though we were 20 plus miles from land. In the very far distance you could just make out the land…. where you would find such towns as Bridport, Charmouth, Lyme Regis, Sidmouth, Exmouth and Dawlish. Later we could work out Teignmouth, Torquay, Paignton and Brixham… some of these being, of course, the English Riviera.

T made a breakfast repast of baked beans on toast using the gas oven and grill at 6.30am… and all three crew team had his or her fill. As we were motoring, no sails up, Poli Poli was level on an even keel and there was no heeling. Relatively comfortable.

Two very big fishing trawlers were passed close by, moving through the flat, “slight” sea dragging huge nets behind…. hoovering up the fish and with an attendant long stream of sea gulls following the trawl.

At about 7am a huge, massive 650 foot long cargo ship appeared…. heading east to west on our inside… at 18 knots heading on a strange course… miles away from the main shipping lanes far to the south. We were puzzled at it headed towards Torquay, followed the Devon coast around and disappeared over the horizon at Start Point. Most peculiar. We thought a big car carrier out of Southampton. Why was it on such a route?

The Devon coast line slowly but slowly revealed itself, and suddenly it was 9am . We could now see the Mew Stone, a huge brown lump of rock that guards the western entrance of the River Dart… and the way up to our final destination.

Back to pilotage by buoy hopping, Christine on the helm located the South Cardinal, a red and a green and we navigated slowly up river on a falling tide to the beautiful town of Dartmouth.

At 10.30am two lovely ladies took our lines and we moored in a tight berth at the very posh Dart Marina just up river from the Britannia Royal Naval College. Tired yes… but satisfied with a job well done. Lunch was booked for 1.30pm at the Royal Castle Hotel… but first, Poli Poli was put to bed… after lunch…. bed for us too!

58.6 nautical miles from Portland, seven and a half hours duration today. A total of  207.8 nautical miles from Eastbourne.  

 

Day Nine, Monday 4th June 2018. 

Just another ‘Rest Day” in lovely Dartmouth. Breakfast on the boat …. bright, warm and lots and lots of sunshine. All team members attended the luxury showers in the Dart Marine Hotel which adjoined the marina.

T persuaded Mike and Christine to take the equivalent of a ‘busmans holiday’ on a tourist ferry boat up the River Dart to the town of Totnes. T remained behind having visited Totnes some years earlier. Brother John, who resides just north of Plymouth, describes Totnes as a town of ‘high hats’ and ‘long skirts’….on return, by bus, Mike and Christine likened the town to ‘Woodstock’… my own personal take was ‘Deliverance.’ The Dart Valley from Dartmouth to Totnes is a jewel …. alongside the Beaulie, the Cuckmere, Salcombe Valley, the Fal and many many more. The homes of Agatha Christie and the Dimbleby’s were spied … the little sail boat moored below their house… ‘Rocket’ ( which featured on a BBC sailing travelogue type programme some years back … when Dimbleby senior announced to the world that he had a tattoo! ).

T met up with Elsie and Roy …. and Rex the lovely dog …sitting on the water front in Dartmouth …. temperature now getting up to 24 deg C! Even Rex was panting … much discussion about a green/black.blue Norwegian flagged 60 foot ketch. Elsie and Roy were touring South Devon in their caravan… and came to Dartmouth to check out Poli Poli. Their boat “Armor” is moored in Sovereign Harbour on the same pontoon as Poli Poli.

The late afternoon was taken up with mending a slow puncture in the dinghy which travels attached to the stern of Poli Poli…. and whilst manoeuvring the dinghy round the stern of our boat, T spied a huge piece of sodden, filthy old rope 4 inches thick wrapped around the port side rudder stock at the top. Obviously drifted down with the tide having been cut off and thrown into the river. Scary … it was removed…. lesson learnt… on a tidal river mooring… check your rudders for flotsam and jetsam before departure!

Evening time …. a very pleasant and different style meal at the Cherub pub in Dartmouth … the oldest inn in the town.. on a steep slope up from the river frontage. A shared sea food platter of crab, crayfish, smoked salmon , smoked haddock, bread and salad was enjoyed by all … washed down by Korev Cornish lager and Diet Coke with no ice!

Back on board … T managed to lose the slip of paper on which the marina WiFi code was written.. so no blogging that night. Apologies, Christine worked out the next day passage plan from Dartmouth to Salcombe … and it clearly demonstrated that we needed to get up at the crack of dawn. So 10pm bedtime for all!

Day Ten… Tuesday 5th June…

A sailing day from Dartmouth to a mooring buoy in Salcome. Poli Poli departed her berth at the Dart Marina at 5.45am and Mike helmed her out to the open sea. The Met Office forecast north easterlies force 4 or 5… and once beyond the Mewe Stone rock at the entrance… the winds of up to 20 knots duly turned up. We sailed and sailed and sailed some more… an invigorating sail , bows cleaving out a path through the white horses… topping 8 knots SOG ( speed over the ground).  After about three n.miles we turned south sou east for the Skerries Bank red buoy and watched a 700 feet long cruise ship as it began its entry into Dartmouth… probably a Seabourne round Britain cruise.

‘Our course took us past  the dangerous Skerries Bank to a point off Start Point … a major South Devon headland. In crossing over from Dartmouth to Start Point we were in effect traversing Start Bay, a lovely Devon bay with a long arc of beaches stretching from Combe Point to Hallsands in the south.

Realising that today’s date is 5th of June… and tomorrow is D Day 1944… and having visited Slapton Sands many times… I recalled the disaster that struck American soldiers here some 74 years ago.

Slapton Sands had been chosen as a rehearsal location for American landing craft in the days before D Day when the actual invasion of the Normandy beaches in France took place. During the exercise and rehearsal, some 746 American soldiers were killed when their vessels were attacked by German E-Boats out of Cherbourg. Poignant and very sad. There is  a memorial  on the beach at Slapton.

We sailed to a point SSE of Start Point on a starboard tack, then gybed to make our final tack to Bolt Head, passing Prawle Point in doing so. We gybed at 7.30am and by 8.20am Christine took the helm to take us into the Salcombe River… now very grey and windy. Sails were taken down 15 minutes later, and with the engine on… we motored up the entrance channel, over the somewhat dangerous ‘The Bar’, turning to starboard at the Pound Stone … then north east up the channel to the big yellow visitor mooring buoys immediately opposite the Salcombe Harbour Hotel. After a couple of attempts, Mike and Christine using our untried Duck mooring hook secured Poli Poli to a big yellow buoy… safely.

Breakfast in the saloon below .. out of the 15 to 20 knot wind… quite chilly bearing in mind it was early June. Baked beans on toast, cereals, toast and jam, selection of yoghurts and hot tea! Very welcome. Then T did ‘blogging’ on Mike’s I-pad. Finished at 12.35pm. Boilie cake for late elevenses.

After a rest late morning … looking out and seeing grey, gloomy clouds plus a howling north easterly wind, we decided not to launch our own dinghy to go ashore but to utilise the water taxi service at £1.50 per head. It would have taken ages to prep our dinghy and secure the outboard engine to the transom. A posh water taxi arrived and a folding note changed hands… the water taxi helmsman agreed to help put a second safety mooring line from the yellow buoy……as we did want the boat to be there when we returned later!

A distinctly cold afternoon in South Devon… jumpers and coats , we wandered the one high street … many, many tourist type cafes, souvenir shops and no end of marine clothing shops… Mike took us into only two pubs… the Ferry Inn with amazing views of the estuary was the better of the two. Once outside we walked up the hill to a viewpoint and took photos of Poli Poli in mid stream, bow to the tide, looking resplendent in her Oxford Blue.

After a little shopping for food items and a 12 volt car I phone charger ( from a newsagent )… we duly returned to the boat by water taxi. When moored in a marina you generally have a link to shore power which is 240 volts and charging phones is never a problem. On a mooring buoy or at anchor you do not have such a power supply… we on Poli Poli rely on a wind turbine to charge our 12 volt battery bank… and if you have a 12 volt car charger… bingo… you can charge mobile phones.

Following a feast of hot Cornish pasties, various breads, salad, cold meats and a slice of boilie cake…. we relaxed until early bedtime ( up again early tomorrow for the sail to the Mayflower marina in Plymouth. T now needs to work out the passage plan for tomorrow… we leave at 7am!

Day Eleven, Wednesday 6th June… Salcombe to Plymouth.

 

Mike got up early … I heard him about 6am’sh…. or was it 5.30am? Anyway we slept the night on the big yellow mooring buoy in the Salcombe River opposite the main hotel… where we spied not a sign of life! Windy from the north east and grey… oh so grey… sadly that will be one memory of the Salcome valley… grey and chilly… in early June for goodness sake!

By all reports the team slept well…. river was fairly calm and flat, no swell and certainly no “like being in a washing machine” ( a Margaret and Lynda observation after a night on New Grimsby Sound off Tresco in the Scilly Isles).

Our standard practice on early morning starts is to wake 30 minutes before the engine starts…. quick wash and cup of tea… and off. 7am arrived and we disconnected the two docking lines which linked us to the yellow visitors buoy ( we paid £23 to the Harbour Master’s deputy…. a young man from Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire… who arrived whilst we were having supper the previous evening … and wanted to talk football… the “Dons” saga re Wimbledon).

Mike helmed Poli Poli back down the Salcombe River channel, heading seawards tot he south. We needed to clear the coast by a couple of miles so as to avoid the “overfalls” off Bolt Head.

Most headlands…. including Beachy Head have “overfalls”… a shallow ledge which extends out to sea from the headland… and fast moving tides across this shallow ledge can cause very rough and dangerous sea conditions… also known as a “race” in nautical terms. Examples include the Alderney Race in the Channel Islands and the Portland Race off Portland Bill in Dorset. Best go round them. They are shown on charts as little wavelets.

So having avoided the overfalls of Bolt Head, we turned north westwards at 7.30am… a single tack course all the way to the entrance of Plymouth Sound. To the north east it was grey and rain threatening. We put up all the sails and sure enough… the wind died to less than 7 knots and the heavens opened… rain! On with our “oilies” not Sou Westers Simon…grey, grey and gloomy….. and wet!

Making good progress under motor… little wind in the sails… but at 3,200rpm we were making 7 knots through the water. Crossing Bigbury Bay at three miles distance we sought out Burgh Island near Challaborough Bay…. an unusual island which has a well known Art Deco hotel and has a strange form of transport … a sea tractor on stilts…to get you across the channel from the mainland. alledgedly Agatha Christie, Noel coward and other pre-war luminaries made this hotel a regular retreat. We could clearly see the island through the Steiner Commander binoculars ( courtesy of Erith School !! )…

Arriving at the two yellow buoys which mark the start of the channel into Plymouth, we had long spied a naval vessel on a possible collision course with ourselves. When seeing the white ensign flying at the stern, we did the decent thing and let the warship pass in front of Poli Poli. We were doing 7 knots, the warship 13… so no contest as to who was going to get into the channel first.

Disappointment followed as we noted that it was only a naval patrol vessel… a letter P prefacing its number and not an F or D… we don’t have any cruisers or battleships anymore…. just an aircraft carrier the size of Portsmouth… or do we? Anyway Christine thought that the pride of the Royal Navy passing us by… rolling us in its wake… was decidedly a scruffy vessel…. stained rust marks at the focsle and faded grey green topsides.

In order to get to our marina in Plymouth, we took a short cut ( but not a risk ) as we had judged that there would be enough water under our keel as we crossed…. the short cut known as The Bridge… a gap between the famous Drake’s Island and the Mount Edgecumbe shore. Christine expertly steered the boat through the reds and greens and back out into the Tamar river. A short distance from here found us in the Mayflower Marina opposite the very imposing Royal William Yard ( an historic Royal Naval establishment for supplying ships of the line )…. now gentrified with so called up market bars and restaurants.

We berthed at 10.20am …. 3 hours and 20 minutes from Salcombe River… 23 n. miles… mostly in the “doldrums” ( as Liz one of our followers put it )… so more motoring than actual sailing. A friendly Deputy Harbour Master Mike, guided us in to berth B2 and took our lines. Once safely tied up…. the gloom lifted, the sun came out… and we headed for Jolly Jack’s cafe emporium for a “big boys and a big girls” proper full English… except that Christine let the team down and had poached eggs on granary toast! This was followed by a couple of hours of inside boat cleaning, dusting and polishing…whilst T got his shoes, socks and trousers sopping wet pretending to wash the salt off the topsides with a hosepipe…. a men and water thing. Good job Margaret was not there to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We departed Lymington marina at 10.50am this morning… a grey, cool but not very windy day. Visibilty was not perfect… we could only just see the Lymington – Yarmouth ( Isle of Wight ) ferry in the far distance. Christine, on the helm, guided Poli Poli out into the West Solent.

We put up both sails after going head to wind… and did our very best to sail down towards The Needles famous red and white lighthouse. The wind died to a miserable 4 knots North Easterly… so little progress made. To sail properly and make real progress Poli Poli needs at least 10 knots of wind. There is no better sound in sailing… than the moment , with sails filled with wind… you switch the engine off… and you hear the rustle of the bow wave as she picks up speed. That sound signifies the power of nature… 15 tons of man made machinery being moved by nature. Not today though.

Poli Poli motored down past the castle at Hurst Point on the western side of the Solent channel…. then through the gap at Fort Albert. Visibility was not good and it was not long before  we could hear the boom of the Needles lighthouse with its fog horn warning blaring out.

A mile off the Needles can be treacherous and is a veritable graveyard of ships… the passage from the actual lighthouse to a west cardinal bouy called the Bridge. You have to plan for a fair tide here and make sure your passage plan works! When you get it wrong, the sea boils in anger.

Turning west on 270 degrees just passed the SW shingles red bouy, we headed out across the  expanse of Poole Bay. No wind at all now… turning the sea from “slight” to a glassy, oily looking “smooth.”

At about 1.30pm…. in the gloom of a mixture of fog, fret and haze we could make out the famous shapes of Old Harry and the Dorset cliffs…. namely the various limestone cliffs… Old Harry as a stack and then his many wives. We had crossed the bay east to west.

The green No. 1 Bar buoy was soon spotted and we commenced our entry northwards into Poole Harbour. Christine helmed by techniques of bouy hopping, pilotage and her own ( and Mike’s )local knowledge.

Christine “revved” up a bit when we thought the chain ferry was about to put up it’s black signal ball… and cross over in front of Poli Poli from Sandbanks to South Haven. Navigating around two different fleets of small dinghies belonging to local sailing clubs ….but which  had spilled over into the shipping channel… we finally berthed at the Town Quay marina at 2.30pm.

It was Christine’s birthday… so we participated  in  suitable refreshment and good company in the evening at the Banana Culture restaurant overlooking the marina. By 9pm thick fog had descended but a good time was had by all.

Today was a short journey… 25.4 nautical miles but it took our total distance since our start from Eastbourne… to over 100 nautical miles. So to date we have travelled 110.7 nautical miles…. only 3,890 to go….. hey ho…. onwards.

Day Four… Wednesday 30th May, 2019.

A very wet night with a light north easterly wind rattling a few main halyards on the many masts around us. Up at 6am … low tide, very still, and…. quiet and peaceful. Amazing sea bird shrills…making a change from the incessant wood pigeon coo’s back home! We are berthed very close to a large nature reserve with views across to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.

Leaden sky with more rain to come later. We held a passage planning meeting after coming back from The Ship Inn in Lymington ….today we are sailing from this marina in Lymington  to Poole and have a few serious tidal constraints to ponder. Wind and tide are the most important factors in sail boat passage planning.

We were leaving at 8am this morning but after realising that the sail would be against a very strong tide coming up the West Solent… we changed the departure time to 11am when the tide should have changed. And if the forecast north easterly had materialised we would be heading into a wind over tide scenario… which is very uncomfortable sailing. So let’s get ready for 11am departure and let the outgoing tide sweep us down past the famous Needles lighthouse and into the English Channel.

During the previous evening a yacht had rafted up against us on our berth whilst we were having dinner on Sunday evening in Cafe Rouge. We found out at 10.30pm that night when we returned to our boat. The rafted up boat was deserted so we could not speak to them about our intention to leave the next day at 9am. Anyway it resolved itself when Mike spoke to their Skipper just before 8am… and they departed soon after.

We left at just gone 9am from Brighton… having said our farewells to Mike the dive boat Skipper of “Sussex” wildcat. Our passage plan was to head from the marina direct to the Owers south cardinal buoy. Motoring out into the morning sun, we passed a lady skipper in another Southerly ( a 35 ) with child on board. We shouted greetings as we went passed heading south west to Selsey Bill.

The sea was oily, glassy calm and so so flat… not a breath of a breeze. So up to 3,200 rpm on our trusty Yanmar and once the tide turned in our favour after an hour, we motored at speeds of up to very nearly 10 knots. We reached the Owers Buoy… a huge yellow and black floating marker in 3 and a quarter hours… some 26 n.miles from Brighton. Then headed west, avoiding the dangers of rocks and shallow water of the infamous Selsey Bill… the “graveyard of ships gone by” including Ted Heath’s “Morning Cloud” in the late 60’s or early 70’s.

By navigating by a technique called “bouy hopping” Mike on the helm… we motored across to the Nab Channel which is a major shipping lane… and on the outside followed the coloured buoys round to a point opposite Bembridge on the Isle of Wight where, looking right and left, we crossed over the shipping lane. Two huge cargo ships came past not ten minutes later.

Working our way round the NE side of the Isle of Wight… still little wind and a slight sea…we passed Osbourne House and the royal bathing beach…. Christine took a great interest in viewing with the Steiner binoculars….”somebody” retold the story of Lucy Worsley holding up Queen Victoria’s knickers on a BBC4 history programme. They were big, big knickers!!

We berthed at the marina in West Cowes by 3.45pm … some 51 n.miles from Brighton..6 and three quarter hours later. We have always had a warm welcome at the Cowes Yacht Haven and today was no different. We tied up on pontoon 10… a long 90 feet straight berth. Very busy Bank Holiday Monday and half term…. so lots of children plus three sailing school boats. Busy, busy. After putting the boat “to bed” and a well earned rest for our trusty Yanmar… nearly 7 hours non stop, we relaxed!

Dinner was taken at 7pm in Murray’s Sea Food Restaurant in West Cowes High Street…. wonderful food and good company with Brian and Rita… friends of Mike and Christine. Cowes Yacht Haven marina…. very busy as expected… the Solent being a major UK sailing centre… but well organised. Good showers and toilets…. a strong 7 out of 10.

Poli Poli departs from the marina at Sovereign Harbour ( Premier ), Eastbourne on Sunday, 27th May 2018. She will sail westwards clockwise round Britain, a four and a half month journey and will cover nearly 3,000 nautical miles. Poli Poli will return to Eastbourne, East Sussex mid October 2018.

On board will be Toby Hufford ( Owner and Skipper ), Margaret Hufford ( when it is not too rough!! ), Mike and Christine  ( for the entire voyage ) and four other crew who will join and leave at various points en route.

Poli Poli in her home port…Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK.

The name “Poli Poli” comes from the East African Swahili language… meaning “slowly slowly” which is how we sail… no racing! Certainly not “pesi pesi” which is the opposite.

Poli Poli was built at Itchenor on Chichester Harbour in 2009 and launched in January, 2010. Northshore Yachts built all Southerly yachts here in West Sussex up to 2012. The Southerly brand are now being built by Discovery Yachts in Southampton.

Poli Poli is a bit different to most other sailing yachts. She has a lifting keel which allows her to sail in very shallow waters. At the touch of a button, a big hydraulic pump can raise or lower the one ton solid cast iron keel… so we can vary her draught from 0.82 metres to 2.60 metres. This means with the keel up… Poli Poli can sail up shallow rivers, leave harbours on very low tides as well as sailing in deep water with the keel fully down and under full sail. When the keel is fully up… it sits inside a 2 ton cast iron grounding plate… meaning she can sit on the bottom… on a beach or mud, balancing on the twin rudders and “skeg” under the propeller. All Southerly yachts have this unique feature.

Poli Poli under full sail, 6.9 knots SOG, off Beachy Head en route to Brighton, Autumn 2017.

Poli Poli on her berth, north Harbour, Sovereign, Premier Marinas, Eastbourne, autumn 2017.

Continue reading “Poli Poli Circumnavigation of Britain 2018” →

We received messages from all over the world for a successful trip…. well UK, Spain, Mexico, and  Australia to be be precise. So thank you…. Madrid, Stamford, north east Yorkshire, Plymouth, Santiago de la Compostella ….. Hailsham, Mexico, Eire, Ulster, Sydney Australia, Guildford, Whitchurch in Bucks, London, Bexley, Bexleyheath, etc…apologies if we have missed anybody out.

We made serious attempts to sail off Beachy Head…. but the wind died to virtually zero. So on went the trusty Yanmar 40hp and up to 3,200 rpm we motored parallel to the coast…all the way to Brighton Marina. The Sussex coast was magnificent in the sunshine… magnificent white chalk cliffs of Beachy Head, Belle Tout lighthouse standing proud, Birling Gap and then the wonderful Cuckmere Valley and Haven ( best examples of meanders in the UK ), Seaford Head…. and past Newhaven westwards.

At Birling Gap a familiar voice came over the radio … Channel 16… ( very naughty !! ) from an Island Packet anchored up in Cuckmere Haven… P and J from a very much alive Parrot boat… then another guy joined in as well went we moved to Channel 8 ship to ship wave length. More good wishes.

From Eastbourne to Brighton is a relatively short journey by sea… just over 23 nautical miles and we were in the marina by 3pm.

Having visited Brighton Marina many times…. we have mixed views… the staff try very hard to help…. we had a “meet and greet ” guy called Jamie… who came to our allocated pontoon to take our lines on arrival. He was first class. For the very first time, our shore power connection worked first time…. and the lady up in the office was helpful with a smile. As we already had about ten jokes about the boat being called “Roly Poly” …. and compared to the jam sponge of the same name…. the lady in the office smiled. Sadly Brighton Marina needs a big investment in updating the showers and toilets, and although very clean…. a 5 out of 10. Our yardstick are the loos at Swanwick up the top of the Hamble River… a Premier Marina…. beautiful loos and showers… 10 out of 10… and also very good, high quality books in the laundry room!! Nice music and fresh flowers… visited in 2016.