Anne Mann

A flat calm sea. Grey, cool and showering ! Wind from behind up to 16 knots. Genoa out & sailing. Anchored at Ile De Brehat Now looking at the weather as up to 55kmh later as to whether to move … ?

A force 3/4 for the afternoon was forecast. We had maximum wind of 9 knots but mostly 3-6 knots, except for berthing up and the wind blew to 12 knots !! A flat calm sea, and hot sunshine all the way except for a cloud bank over St Quai but that cleared.

We had winds of 20-21 knots SW leaving Cherbourg to Cap De La Hague, and a cracking sail but sadly nose to wind turning towards Alderney from there. At least it was dry except for the spray over the boat at

Left at Full moon at 03:15 leaving the Anchorage at East Head. Through the shipping lanes of the Isle of Wight and anchorages. Then it was sun rising, blue skies into dense fog, blue sky and a further dense fog bank nearing the French Coast. The sea was lumpy and the winds picked up to 18-20 knots with the barometer going from 1022 to 1016 on arrival nearing Cherbourg. A busy Marina and by 19:00 all of Q pontoon was full.

Head to wind all the way and the wind picked up and the tide turned creating lumpy conditions with waves over the boat !

A flat calm sea and warm until we got to Dover where we hit dense fog with the least visibility of 0.9 fathoms. No Ferries or Dover Port could be seen visibly. We then hit more dense fog just past Dungeoness and then the tide turned and the wind strengthened to 18-20 knots and the sea state became moderate with 2-3 metre waves and the wind bang on the nose. More hazardous with Fishing Pot Alley for miles on the approach to Sovereign Harbour, with 5 pots just outside near the safe watermark. However, a superb helpful Lockmaster in Sovereign Marina made the locking in great after such a gruesome trip after Dover

Wow, after a very wet soaking yesterday this morning started off sunny and warm. We left our berth in Dover and under Port instructions headed to the inner wall of the East Entrance, then given instruction to leave, closely followed by the Pride of 🇫🇷 France. A calm sea and warm. Both sails out and motor sailed close in as the tide against us. Sailed past Ramsgate and Broadstairs. Out to the Windfarm and through Foulgers Gat. The wind picking up bit by bit but a nice F3-4 and slight sea state. Into Felixstowe and down the River Orwell for low tide and berthed up in our home Port. A good day ⛵️ on the water but the last day of our Summer holiday sadly.

Into the Lock at 08:20 for the 08:30 lock. Out at 08:45 and into low tide with 0.0 under the keel. Calm but once out the wind picked up to 10-12 knots. With the wind in the NW and W it was behind so a full Genoa was deployed. But it rained and rained and rained some more and indeed for the entire journey. The wind forecast was F3-4 but it was blowing 20-23 knots from Rye Bay all the way to Dover. Boats were being blown past the Western Entrance due to the strong tide and 20-23 knot wind. Into the fuel berth and that took 45 minutes as no self service and form Filling to do. Then into the New Marina and a nice berth. Now to dry off 🤞

Another day with a wrong Forecast. Winds mainly NW to West and then SE at Eastbourne and anywhere between 2.4 - 15 knots.

We left Cherbourg in Semi dark at 06:45 and motored out to the outer Harbour. Wind directly behind the stern so we Motor-sailed with just a full Genoa. The winds died (forecast was F3-5) but it was anywhere between 11-14 knots and SSW. Arrived near Chichester with Border Force arriving checking our passage. Arrived at Chichester at Low Water Springs tide so waited a good half hour before going to the Bar. Low water was 17:20 and at 18:00 we had least depth of 0.4 m with a 2.2 keel. Into the moorings at East Head Chichester and anchored up for the night.