A quick catchup on the past 5 days

If you’ve been reading earlier posts you might be wondering how I’m getting on…

The short answer is that I’m making progress but solo sailing is pretty knackering! I managed about 160 miles across 4 days of sailing but some of these were quite long at 13 hours sailing.

That’s a long day if the boat needs lots of hand steering (which it sometimes does). So I’ve been getting in quite late and lacking in energy for blogging.

So what’s been happening?

I set off from Portland Harbour heading for the Isle of Wight, and started off on an easy morning’s sail where I could tie off the tiller and potter about. Things got a bit dicey off St Alban’s head and Durlston head where I got stuck near a tidal race – not fun! But in the evening I made it to Studland Bay for a tranquil night on a swinging mooring.

On Wednesday I opted for a split day – a short sail up to Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight for a lovely afternoon with my dear friend Stefan. He’d been planning a bit of a sail but ended up getting sucked into boat logistics – helping me track down some petrol (marinas on the island were all out so we had to head inland). It was a real tonic to have Stefan’s company and his help was invaluable.

Then a night sail down the Solent with a hairy moment as my electrics went out – quickly rectified with an emergency power bank. Although it was a short sail the entry to Portsmouth needed a lot of concentration with a tricky channel and two big ferries swooshing out as I made my final approach in the small boat channel.

I tied up next to an IMOCA 60 – these are high speed racing boats that people race singlehanded round the world. It made my boat look tiny!

Thursday was a straightforward but long sail solo to Brighton. I made good use of a tidal push through the Looe channel and sailed along nicely. The afternoon went slowly though – it felt like the GPS was showing ‘3 hours to Brighton’ for about 4 hours! And wind running across tide meant the boat couldn’t steer herself so it was another steerathon.

That’s left me wondering how feasible multiple long solo days are. Each one is doable but the tiredness builds up.

But I finally made it to Brighton marina, the biggest in the UK. My friends Calum and Dick are joining here which will bring lots of fresh energy (and cooking!)

Dick and Calum had a gentle introduction to sailing with a very sunny motor sail round Beachy Head. We’re now in Eastbourne, where the wind is increasing and going right on the nose which might slow our progress towards Dover and Ramsgate. We’ll aim for Rye today with a strong headwind forecast.