PetiteFleur
Well-Known Member
Well. I have to say we enjoyed the Solent. Lots of places to visit, easy sailing waters and the water was clear - unlike the muddy Thames Estuary! The weather was excellent which obviously helped a lot.
On the way down we had an excellent sail from the Deben to Folkstone, two hours ahead of schedule then the wind swung and we had to motorsail all the rest of the way to Eastbourne when we got in at 0230. The next days sail to Gosport was OK but motorsailing again. Once in the Solent we visted the Portsmouth Dockyard and went round Victory and Warrior. We also visited Lymington, Yarmouth, The Needles, Bucklers Hard & Cowes. After the crew change with just my wife and I, we explored in a more leasurely manner, revisiting the places mentioned and also Newport, Newtown and Chichester Harbour. We got booted out of Cowes because of the RTIR, so went to Newport and dried out against the Quay wall for two nights. Took the bus on the Saturday to (first time using my bus pass)to visit the Botanical Gardens and as a bonus watched some of the early leaders of the RTIR from the cliff top. Then on to Osborne House and finally Cowes to watch the boats returning. We stayed overnight at Newtown - nice and quiet. We wanted to visit Bembridge but the tides were not suitable so we returned to Gosport and went up the Spinnaker Tower - well worth it for the view and also did some shopping in the Gunwharf Quays centre. We also revisited the Dockyard and did the Harbour Tour and other bits we missed the first time.
The return trip we did in three days with crew changes. Gosport to Eastbourne; Eastbourne to Ramsgate & Ramsgate to the Deben. Again with the wind against us and motorsailed most of the way arriving in Eastbourne in the dark again! The next leg we went between the Goodwins down the Gull channel tacking and then the engine overheat alarm went off, so we switched off the engine and investigated - couldn't find anything wrong, water out the back, header tank full, oil OK so we waited a few minutes and restarted the engine and it was fine. Not sure what the problem was except we had been running the engine at 3000 rpm for about an hour beforehand and maybe it just got too hot? Seems fine now. Picked up another crew member at Ramsgate and had a good trip across the Thames estuary, sailing most of the way and entered the Deben at two hours before HW.
So, our thoughts on the Solent - very nice(but the perfect weather helped), lots of places to visit, clear water, excellent facilities at all the marinas we visited, and 'locals' nice and helpful - even Mobo's! But the Marinas were expensive. The cheaper places we found were Yarmouth during the week, Lymington Town Hard, Newport and Newtown. I'm sure there are other places but that will be for the next time.
The downside? not many, Ferries, Hovercraft and Fast Cats zooming all over the place, many more Ribs then on the East Coast, many more Yachts of course but not as many Mobo's as I imagined I would see. Oh, and after topping up with diesel at Chichester(20 Litres) the very large Mobo alongside took 800 Litres - I'm glad I'm a sailing boat!
In conclusion - would we go again? Yes, it's better than I imagined and we may be back next year.
On the way down we had an excellent sail from the Deben to Folkstone, two hours ahead of schedule then the wind swung and we had to motorsail all the rest of the way to Eastbourne when we got in at 0230. The next days sail to Gosport was OK but motorsailing again. Once in the Solent we visted the Portsmouth Dockyard and went round Victory and Warrior. We also visited Lymington, Yarmouth, The Needles, Bucklers Hard & Cowes. After the crew change with just my wife and I, we explored in a more leasurely manner, revisiting the places mentioned and also Newport, Newtown and Chichester Harbour. We got booted out of Cowes because of the RTIR, so went to Newport and dried out against the Quay wall for two nights. Took the bus on the Saturday to (first time using my bus pass)to visit the Botanical Gardens and as a bonus watched some of the early leaders of the RTIR from the cliff top. Then on to Osborne House and finally Cowes to watch the boats returning. We stayed overnight at Newtown - nice and quiet. We wanted to visit Bembridge but the tides were not suitable so we returned to Gosport and went up the Spinnaker Tower - well worth it for the view and also did some shopping in the Gunwharf Quays centre. We also revisited the Dockyard and did the Harbour Tour and other bits we missed the first time.
The return trip we did in three days with crew changes. Gosport to Eastbourne; Eastbourne to Ramsgate & Ramsgate to the Deben. Again with the wind against us and motorsailed most of the way arriving in Eastbourne in the dark again! The next leg we went between the Goodwins down the Gull channel tacking and then the engine overheat alarm went off, so we switched off the engine and investigated - couldn't find anything wrong, water out the back, header tank full, oil OK so we waited a few minutes and restarted the engine and it was fine. Not sure what the problem was except we had been running the engine at 3000 rpm for about an hour beforehand and maybe it just got too hot? Seems fine now. Picked up another crew member at Ramsgate and had a good trip across the Thames estuary, sailing most of the way and entered the Deben at two hours before HW.
So, our thoughts on the Solent - very nice(but the perfect weather helped), lots of places to visit, clear water, excellent facilities at all the marinas we visited, and 'locals' nice and helpful - even Mobo's! But the Marinas were expensive. The cheaper places we found were Yarmouth during the week, Lymington Town Hard, Newport and Newtown. I'm sure there are other places but that will be for the next time.
The downside? not many, Ferries, Hovercraft and Fast Cats zooming all over the place, many more Ribs then on the East Coast, many more Yachts of course but not as many Mobo's as I imagined I would see. Oh, and after topping up with diesel at Chichester(20 Litres) the very large Mobo alongside took 800 Litres - I'm glad I'm a sailing boat!
In conclusion - would we go again? Yes, it's better than I imagined and we may be back next year.
