D-Day

We cast off to make the 09.30 lock out. Matthew and George had just arrived and waved us off ( which made me a little nervous. I could have reversed a bit straighter )

     We tied up in the lock without any drama and watched as another yacht looked very clumsy tying up behind us. That would have been us pre tuition. 

    The current wasn't turning down channel for a couple of hours but we had decided to finish any jobs whilst bobbing about. At least we had got the lock over with. 

    The Chart Plotter wasn't responding and kept emitting three loud beeps. Eventually sussed out that it was the 'man overboard' alarm. Must've pressed the wrong button. 

       We had decided to follow the way points that Mick had put in for us. We couldn't have done any better. Unfortunately the wind was blowing WSW and yes you guessed it, that was to be our course. We had to tack or go back. We tacked. We could have easily made it to Brighton and waited for a favourable wind. But we continued through the night. I wouldn't advise it. It was very tiring and when the tide turned we actually went backwards. 

I like the auto pilot me. 

After this shot we put on our Gill offshore gear and life jackets

   The 4 hour shifts didn't happen as we were reefing or tacking together. We pirouetted a couple of times trying to sail to windward. No problem, just try again. Alison was having a bad day emotionally, up one minute, down the next. She sympathised with me afterwards. 

   We sailed as near to the shipping lanes as we dared, to get the best angle in, to make some headway. 

A passing tanker

The last tack was huge, it gave us chance for a breather, apparently I was snoring whilst Alison kept watch. We got within 200 yds of a tanker and then turned to make the Isle of Wight. 

    Then the Dutchman mainsail control line snapped, giving a flapping bad shape to the sail. We took it down and just with the jib we were still making 6.5 kts. Cool!

    What now? Go on or go in? We didn't have much in the way of pilotage and marinas although plentiful in that area were difficult to find on the chart plotter. 

      If the wind dropped the jib alone wouldn't cut it. We radioed Solent Coastguard to recommend us a nearby marina that was easy to get into. Gosport was the answer. We had the Premier Marina booklet for that one!

     Looking harder and harder on the plotter the detail is there if you persevere. Although the Solent map is packed with contours, tidal diamonds, buoys etc. it's not as bad as I had feared. 

   On entering Portsmouth harbour there was a multitude of yachts streaming out in a race. Ferries going backwards and forwards, power boats, jet skis, tugs, fishing boats and a paddle steamer and a hovercraft.

JESUS! MARY! & JOSEPH!