I decided lunch ashore might be a good idea, unfortunately rain intervened, also it was cold and quite busy, certainly enough to overwhelm the local hostelries under Covid-19 rules so I came back after a brief visit. I had decided not to bother putting the outboard on the dinghy as the tide would be with me both ways, although going in was a fair pull because of the wind.
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| Sancerre in the distance from the landing place. |
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| The anchorage. |
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| The Abbey. |
Tuesday bought stronger than expected winds from the east which caused problems in the anchorage which is fairly exposed to wind from that direction, especially at high tide when guarding reefs and sand banks are covered. This was not an issue as the tide was coming in as the wind and tide were coming from the same direction, As soon as the tide changed things became difficult, the strong (2 knot) tide in the anchorage tried to hold the boat heading to the west but the wind which was now 20 knots with gusts above was pushing the boat into the tide often overcoming it causing the boat to push over the anchor then swing round, this was exacerbated by waves, not that big but steep and close together, caused by the wind over tide.
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| The boats position over 24 hours from Tuesday morning. The anchor symbol is the approximate position of the anchor after adjustment during the evening, its in about 6 metres of water at low tide and about 11 meters at high tide (we are one day off a spring tide). The anchor was on the end of just under 50 metres of chain. The circle is the guard area, if the boat goes out of it an alarm sounds - I had the software running on two devices, with different limits to be sure. |
The dense plots to the left of the plot above show the boats position before the wind arrived and the tide changed and the boat was stable. When the tide changed at about 16:00 things started to get wild with the boat swinging all over the place, exacerbated by the tide being slightly stronger to the south (bottom of the plot) than to the north, after an hour or so of these gyrations the anchor could be heard grumbling, probably being literally screwed out of the sea bed which at least in the shallower water, appears to be relatively thin sand and mud over rock.
With rain showers and strong winds I was suited up ready to go outside and had an early dinner. It was not long before it was necessary to take some action and I motored hard astern to reset the anchor and I expected to be on "anchor watch" until low tide at 22:00, monitoring the situation and making small adjustments to the rudder (otherwise locked in position) to try and keep the bow from riding over the anchor chain causing damage.
Fortunately at about 20:00 the wind backed round to the north east and everything calmed down a little. On the right of the plot the dense areas SE and NW of the anchor symbol are the boats position after things calmed during the flood and ebb tides respectively.
Now, 10:15 on Wednesday, the wind is about NE at 15 knots, the sea calm and boat is stable and comfortable which is just as well as, if the wind is as forecast, I am likely to be here until Friday morning before heading off to Peterhead.
Click here for Day 15, ashore on Lindisfarne.
The forecast was rather more moderate on Sunday morning, strong winds are still forecast for the coming week but not until Monday/Tuesday and not as strong as in previous forecasts, so the Lindisfarne anchorage should be tenable.
Despite missing the tide waiting for the up-to-date weather maps I decided to press on with a forecast of reasonable winds to get there, that did not come to pass as winds were light and did not exceed 7 knots all day and was generally around 4 knots until a mile or so out when it picked up to a good sailing breeze and all that did was create more disturbed water as I went over the bar going into the lagoon at Lindisfarne.
The fine weather did bring the opportunity of some sight seeing, rather different to last year when going in the opposite direction I passed the interesting bits in thick fog.
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| Dunstanburgh Castle |
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| Seahouses with Bamburgh Castle in the distance. |
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| Seahouse |
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| Inner Farne |
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| Bamburgh Castle |
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| The leading marks into Lindisfarne, you carry on on this heading until the marks come into line then quickly turn left keeping them in line until another set of marks (the church and a purpose built tower) come into line, turn hard right and follow them into anchorage through the narrow channel. |
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| The view on the way in. |
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| Looking out of the anchorage with the Farne Islands in the distance. |
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| Looking up the anchorage towards the lagoon. A fellow solo sailor at anchor, one of the few yachts I have seen so far. This picture and the one above was taken at low tide, as I write the current here is 2 knots and about 4 knots in the narrowest part of the channel. |
A great, albeit chilly, sail. after clearing Filey Brig I was able to sail all the way to Blyth offing at good speed. The dampener on this was the possibility of getting stuck in Blyth for an extended period due to approaching weather, hopefully not for 12 days as happened last year.
Click here for Day 11, Blyth to Lindisfarne.
72.4 NM in 14.5 hours an average of 4.99 knots. Wind generally easterly at 7 - 12 knots.
The night was the coldest sailing I can remember, and I have sailed in snow and washed ice and frost off of boats before sailing. I was wearing a fleece lined shirt, a Musto "Snug" windproof fleece, a thick padded Gilets and a premium offshore suit but the cold wind cut through everything and I was never warm.
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| Filey was a welcome sight, especially as some warm sun was making me much more comfortable. |
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| Filey Bay. |
A cold and disappointing day, the inshore forecast indicated east to north east winds F3-4 which would have been fine but when I left it was west of north and by lunch time, when the updated forecast was still saying E - NE, it was still closer to north than north east. In the very constricted waters of the Thames Estuary that meant using the engine.
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| The Long Sands Two Way Route and surrounding waters. |
To complicate matters on this trip there was fog, with visibility ranging from about a mile to half a mile for most of the morning with a few denser patches. 40 years ago without electronic aids the passage would have been very tense for the navigator finding the way and for the skipper and lookouts trying to avoid shipping, it would probably not be attempted if the fog was forecast, especially single handed.
Today things are much easier:
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| Sancerre's instruments are in the cockpit were I can see them. Top left the chart plotter / multi function display, top right the control for the autopilot displaying the boats head from an electronic compass and below the VHF transceiver. |
On the main instrument the left half of the screen is showing the chart, the boats position and planned track. The right half is showing the doppler radar output. Both sides include transponder returns from AIS (Automatic Identification System) equipped vessels which is mandatorily for all large ships, passenger vessels and is optional for small ones such as Sancerre, the little green mark on the radar screen west of Sancerre is one such return, IIRC a fishing boat.
The sharp eyed with a big monitor might spot a bit of blue mixed with the green on the right hand section, that is the radar return. The yellow arrow on the left hand section indicates the direction of the tide, tapping on it will give the rate.
AIS shows the vessels position, track, speed etc. and the system automatically calculates a closest point of approach and will set off an alarm if that is within specified limits. The radar also has an alarm function and should show most vessels and is also useful for navigation, showing land, radar reflectors on buoys etc., but it does take practice to interpret.
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| The area shaded red is the "guard zone" any radar return in the area will trigger an alarm, unfortunately it frequently false alarms so it is not that useful if you want to sleep. Pic from the next leg. |
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| My back up, an iPad with GPS, a full set of Admiralty UK Charts and a WiFi link to the AIS unit to show all AIS equipped vessels in the area. Both pics taken at the southern end of the 2 Way route. |
There is something about the "Sunk" Deep Water anchorage just north of the 2 Way route, this year as last my planned track went straight through a couple of anchored ships and I had to make detours.
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| The deep Water Anchorage in clearing fog, 6 hours into my trip. Left to its own devices the auto pilot would have taken me straight into the stern of the left hand ship. |
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| I moored in front of this very expensive yacht, I was told that it was impounded last week as it had 8 illegal immigrants on board, presumably a luxury service. They were obviously trying to sneek them in (look carefully  ). |
74.6 nautical miles over the ground in 15 hours. Winds 5 - 11 knots on the nose.
Some bad weather is on the way with more cold north easterlies this time possibly F5-6 so I may be here fore a few days.
I woke at 03:00 to find the wind was west of North, a big improvement on NE so although the tide would be foul approaching Dover I moved out with the possibility of sailing to around the S Foreland rather than having to motor much of the way, Like the last, this cunning plan failed as the wind soon came round and became very variable in direction and from 6 or 7 knots up to 18 knots and later quite a bit more at times.
After sorting that out I was heading to shore and about half a mile off with the wind well over 20 knots so I tried to reef the headsail, but the roller reefing would not work, the problem was relatively easy to fix but not in such bad weather, in a rough sea and when heading towards the shore so the sail came down and on went the engine.
With the sail down removing the control lines riding turn (caused by the sail coming out too quickly when I started the day - a gust caught it and snatched the control line from my hand but in the dark I did not notice the riding turn) took about a minute but raising the sail again in those conditions which persisted all the way to Ramsgate (at F5) would have been hazardous and in practical terms I would shortly need the engine to round the South Foreland and go up the Gull Stream directly into wind so the mainsail came down as well and I motored on to Ramsgate. The last few miles were in very rough conditions due to 20 knots of wind against 2 knots of tide in shallow water.
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| Passing Dover in a brief lull. |
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| A rather dishevelled Sancerre on arrival. Big headsails, especially less flexible relatively new ones, can be a problem single handed. |
55.1 nautical miles over the ground (far less if not beating and less still through the water going direct) in 14 hours. Winds 5 - 20+ knots.
A civilised start time of 8:30 and I was round Beachy Head by 9:45.
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| The "Seven Sisters", just west of Beachy Head. |
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| Approaching Beachy Head |
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| The inshore route around Beachy Head - not as intimidating as Portland Bill but more impressive cliffs. |
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| Approaching Eastbourne |
Again winds were difficult and when I arrived off Rye the anchorage was very bumpy and I thought I would have to move closer in at 22:00 when the rising tide would permit, but that proved to be unnecessary.
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| Seaford-Rye. Hard work with changing winds. |
39.2 nautical miles over the ground in 9 hours. Winds 5 - 20 knots.
Slide show all of my pictures from Seaford to Rye, page through by clicking the arrows or click in the centre of the pic to view from Flickr in a new window or full screen:
Posts on this trip may be written in real time or retrospectively so the tense will change, many will be cleaned up and additional pictures added when I get back and / or when stuck in harbour for a while.
If I am in one place for an extended period I may go back and update previous posts, add photos etc but the main proof reading, addition of photos and slide shows is normally done when I get home and have access to my main computer with its big screen, and some will wait until winter when there is little or no sailing to be enjoyed.
Charts are variously screen shots from:
I was away at 03:30, on Thursday 15th April, leaving Deacon's Marina & Boatyard on the last of the flood which is the easiest and safest time to get out of a narrow berth which as other times has a strong current trying to knock you into other boats. It also gives a long favourable tide from the eastern Solent eastwards,
With the forecast wind the plan was to go North of the Rampion Wind farm so I went though the narrow Looe channel just off of Selsey Bill, that proved to be unfortunate as after a very pleasant albeit cold sail on a reach most of the way there, the wind freshened and I went through close hauled and into a very nasty sea caused by 15 - 19 knots of wind against 2 knots of tide in shallow water (5 metres at LAT (Lowest Astronomical Tide)) about 6 metres when I got there a day off of a spring tide.
Then the wind headed me again and it was clear I would not get north of the Rampion wind farm without tacking so I went to plan "B" and went south in the hope that the wind would revert.
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| Approaching the Rampion Wind Farm, thoughtfully placed on the direct line from Selsey Bill to Beachy Head - there will be many more to negotiate going up the east coast. |
The "Cunning Plan" failed and once past the wind farm the wind veered further and it was a struggle to get to Seaford, just along the coast from Newhaven and about 7 miles NW of Beachy Head. But at least I did it all under sail once I was clear of the Hamble and Southampton Water.
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| Evidence that my cunning plan failed, not for the last time I suspect. |
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| Seaford Anchorage, only useful in offshore winds or unusually calm conditions, |
67.9 nautical miles over the ground in 14 hours. Winds mainly c 12 knots but occasionally c 19 knots.
Finally.
I didn't think I would make it when I went out to the car at 06:00 to find it was snowing - hard. Or when south of Newbury one of the idiots doing 70 or more crashed, fortunately I was less than half a mile behind and got through fairly quickly leaving behind a 5 mile queue. Fortunately the snow cleared north of Winchester and its been a decent day albeit cold.
I put all of the gear, upholstery etc. on board and loaded up with stores, fuel and clothes whilst the boat was out of the water when I was finishing winter maintenance once Covid-19 restrictions allowed me to visit. It was a pain hoisting everything up but it saved several days when restrictions were lifted so I could stay on board allowing me to get away sooner.
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| The boat carrier is remote controlled. |
Sancerre was launched by about 10:00, sails bent on, running rigging on and other work done by early evening. More work tomorrow, including running a cable up the mast for the wind instruments, then I'll take the car home returning by train and hopefully I will be on my way on Thursday.
As last year the weather is not cooperating, then it was westerly gales when I was leaving to the west, this year it is east or N East winds, perhaps for a couple of weeks, that will make it difficult to get eastward then potentially limit anchorages when heading up the east coast, it's Déjà vu all over again, but hopefully this time I'll not get stuck in harbour for 12 days as I did in Blyth last year.
Slide show of my launch pictures, page through by clicking the arrows or click in the centre of the pic to view from Flickr in a new window or full screen:
