Ipswich to Brixham

[jimi]

With passport woes and dog we decided to go to Devon rather than the continent this year so on Friday I left Ipswich at 10am with a couple of friends for the delivery trip. We had a cracking sail to Ramsgate where the wind started heading us and strengthening until we we beating hard and tacking by the time Dover slipped past. Hard on the nose now at F6 we started motorsailing and by the time we got to Beachy Head it was F7 ish with big seas .. we stayed too close in and took a bit of a pasting but we plugged on , decided to go outside the Owers cos of the weather and has a fast beat to Portsmouth from the Outer Ower with a double reefed main and half gennie. Decided to stop a Portsmouth for the night. Tied up at 17:00 on Sat. Left at 7:30 am on Sun and tacked down the Solent and out the Needles with the tide with us... and the wind was due west about F5, seastate was much less unpleasant though and we tacked until we were off Portland where we got fed up and motorsailed the rest of the way into a gradually decreasing westerly. Arrived in Brixham at 01:30 on Monday morning..

All in all a bit of an endurance fest but we had some great sailing adn a bit of an adventure ;-)

Hope the return trip is downhill though!!!!!

 

[Capt Popeye]

Sounds a great adventure; how did the dog take it?

 

[jimi]

Sounds a great adventure; how did the dog take it?

;-) sound asleep in basket at home ;-)

 

[Koeketiene]

;-) sound asleep in basket at home ;-)

Smart dog

 

[sarabande]

No real shelter in that stretch from Eastbourne westwards apart from Newhaven which is a bit of a pig with an awkward pier arm refracting the waves, and ferries. Brighton in rough is definitely out. Going outside the Owers was very very prudent. I was behind Morning Cloud in similar conditions, bringing another boat back to Cowes. Cloud kept going, we ducked out and ran for it.


Anyway, a good trip to write up in the log. I hope it's easier and more fun going back.

 

[jimi]

It was a very wet trip, never seen as much spray coming over the boat for so long... and that includes channel crossings in full gales. The plus side was the decks got very clean (no doubt the seagulls at Brixham will fix that) but the windows seals were weighed in the balance and found wanting! Had to leave a dehumidifier running to dry it out for the family arrival. Otherwise the boat performed admirably with only a few jaw clenching moments when we fell off the back of waves resulting in big bangs!

 

[MoodySabre]

Moodys specialise in leaky windows

 

[pioneer]

Eagle windows specialise in fixing them, always had good service and work from them

 

[Jomo]

It was a very wet trip, never seen as much spray coming over the boat for so long... and that includes channel crossings in full gales. The plus side was the decks got very clean (no doubt the seagulls at Brixham will fix that) but the windows seals were weighed in the balance and found wanting! Had to leave a dehumidifier running to dry it out for the family arrival. Otherwise the boat performed admirably with only a few jaw clenching moments when we fell off the back of waves resulting in big bangs!

Helped Pyrojames take Croix Des Gardes to the Hamble the previous weekend, mostly good sailing with odd bouts of motor-sailing. Glad he picked our weekend to go and not yours

 

[Habebty]

Doing the same trip in 3 weeks time, hopefully a little quieter

 

[jimi]

Doing the same trip in 3 weeks time, hopefully a little quieter

If you get an easterly I'll scream .. cos thats when I'm planning the return trip ;-)