Margaret Bulleid

Clear blue sky from dawn to dusk! Wind building from 5 kts to over 20 at times just past Cowes. With a foul tide all day progress was always going to be slow, and we motored most of the way to Cowes. Passing Cowes we went very close in until beyond Egypt point, making use of the back eddy. Then excellent sailing with full main and 50-75% genoa. Although we had hoped to get to Totland bay, the calm anchorage at Newtown Creek beckoned!

The trip started following a sleepless night being rocked continuously on our mooring in Braye Hbr. Being the first Monday in July you would expect plenty of room but at 5pm there were only 4 moorings left, obviously the most exposed! In an attempt to keep the first mate in good humour, the mainsail was raised and we silently drifted off towards England. (It’s always satisfying to sail off a mooring, if a little stressful! 😬) Once clear of the submerged extension to the breakwater the genoa was set and we set off on a port tack on the best course to windward. Sailing comfortably with full sail, our first encounter with a ship came 11 M into the trip. We were the stand on vessel and a CPA of <0.5M was about 10 minutes away. The ship would need to alter course. However, at the same time we were hit by a wind shift of 45deg and had to bear away. We were now heading for the French Coast! The wind strength had also increased to about 20kn so we put in the first reef and reduced the genoa to about 50%. So once clear of the ship, we tacked onto starboard. We were now sailing with a COG that would take us to Brixham, with a VMG towards Weymouth of only about 2 to 2.5 kn. But it had to be done!☹️ 1.5hrs later and the wind began to back, and a tack was in order. Now sailing on a port tack, the wind continued to back, and with the help of the tide were able to achieve a COG towards Weymouth. Hurray! We had by now rolled out the full genie and were making 6kt towards our destination. We sailed hard for the next for the next 5 hours often being over pressed. We should have rolled in some gennie, but put it off. At 15:00, 3 M short of the E Shambles buoy, the wind dropped and shifted to the N. Not wanting to miss the N going tide along Portland, it was on with the “iron topsail “, and we motored for Weymouth. Not a very satisfying end to the day, but it would mean we that we would get tied up in time to clean up and into the best pub in Weymouth (The Red Lion), for an early supper! 😊 Lessons learned. The strategy of working the tides worked well. Hope I can get that right again! The wind / shifts and sea state predicted by PredictWind (ECMWF) were pretty good, although the shifts were more abrupt than expected. Sailing healed at ~25deg for hour after hour is very tiring, even in a slight / moderate sea. Remember to avoid this for a cross channel passage! When berthing alongside another vessel, deploy fenders along the full length of the boat! 😬

The day after RTIR 2024 in which only 154 boats finished out 939 that entered, with 418 retiring! (Others not starting.) Gusts up to 50 kts and big seas. But today, conditions were still boisterous with winds 20 - 28 kts- directly against us! Two reefs in the main and ~40% of the genoa enabled us to maintain SOGs of 5-7 kts, tacking gamely towards Yarmouth. But progress was slow and the tide turned before we got to Yarmouth. We took the sails down and motored for the last mile.