Solent to Dartmouth ... Iron Sail?

fastjedi

fastjedi

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Just my luck ... The week I pick to move our boat from Solent to Dartmouth is showing next to no wind (Monday 8th to Sunday 14th) ..... can I have some strategy suggestions from the panel please?
1. Cast off from Yarmouth Tuesday lunchtime, take lots of food an drink, be patient, hope the forecast is wrong (it often is) and sit it out for as long as it takes!
2. Coast hop, catching every tide, use the engine where necessary
3. Get to Weymouth fast as I can ... then wait for some wind to cross Lyme Bay
3. Set my poor little 1GM10 at 2/3 thottle and get the job done (I am of the school that thinks the motor is only for getting in and out of marinas)
4. Lie on the beach next week, book a Friday and Monday off to complete the trip some other time!
 
If it was me, I'd stick to my plan of leaving next week, prepare passage plans for options 1 and 2 and see what the weather brings on Tuesday; as you say things can change and anyway you shouldn't need too much to get your nice Hunter moving and if all else fails you can always motor. Whatever you do decide, do take plenty food/drink; there's nothing worse than a boat with no grub etc!
 
Annual West Country cruise ....

From Solent to WC .... two weeks allocated .... most never made it and turned around to get back home.
It's either blowing on the nose and you beat there, or you beat back ... you have large bays to cross etc. - so no bolt-holes ....

I would love to do the trip on my boat ........ but having tried to do a Swanage weekend from Langstone one weekend .... gave up and retired to Newtown Creek !!!

Of course it can be done .... with calculated and luck ....
/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Do you have any crew? My preference is just to sail very slowly and take as long as it takes - there is always some wind, especially if you keep out in the channel a little.

However, this drives crew mad so it might be a better option to keep to the coast and make the most of each tide, anchoring whenever it turns against you. The coast between the Solent and Dartmouth is fantastic and this would offer a good chance of seeing it close up without having to worry about lee shores.

Alex
 
I'd get moving - sail when you can and motor when it's too calm to hit the tidal gates along the way. If you get there early, then why not enjoy some cove hopping sailing when you're down there? My only objection to motoring is when people motor when there's a perfectly good wind, but on the nose.

I once had a 1GM10 running for 30 hours non-stop - not what I'd planned at all and it used up nearly 8 gallons, but got us to our planned cruising ground without drama.

Having said all that, I remember a 26 hour trip from Rye to Newhaven in an old wooden bowsprit-type boat as my father also only used the engine when he absolutely had to. We saw a lot of Hastings as the tide took us backwards and forwards and sailed with every little breath of wind. A beautiful day and night but I've always planned things differently on my own boats.
 
Go anyway.

The forecasts for the next week are fairly low confidence, apparently, so the chances are you'll get some wind. One of our best trips to Weymouth was in near calm conditions, we caught the spring tide nearly all the way and stayed close in to the cliffs, wonderful views and eerie lighting with the misty sky and glassy sea.
I've also motored most of the way across Lyme Bay, our 1GM manages to push us at about 3.5kts most of the time and is noisy, so like you ours is an auxiliary. But Dartmouth is worth the pain when you get there, or you wouldn't be planning to move there, and there is nearly always some wind at some point to relieve the tedium.

Is breaking the journey and leaving the boat in Weymouth an option?
 
Might see you along the way, although there is a possibility that we will be a bit ahead of you.

Current plan:
Sat night: Yarmouth
Sunday/Monday night: Weymouth
Tuesday night: Dartmouth

As with all things to do with sailing, the plans are "fluid".

Have a good trip.
 
Just SWMBO and I on board (She has the same sailing experience / knowledge as me) I talked to Weymouth about the possiblility of leaving the boat there from 14th to 19th if necessary ... and they wouldn't even give me odds on there being space)
 
You will make better and more comfortable progress over the ground motoring in a flat calm than beating into a lumpy s/westerly...I have enjoyed many an enforced sojourn at Weymouth waiting for a marginal ''window'' ,and I have scared myself in the inner Portland passage when I shouldn't have been there..
My advice.. Its a perfect forecast ,take enough diesel in cans to do it on a one-er , ease in and away from the shore according to tide ,and go ! congratulate yourselves once you are there.
 
Don't be afraid to use your engine - it will wear out from age age as much as from use.
Last year I did the first leg of a trip from the Solent to Southern Ireland. We used the engine for 75% of the time and it went like this:

Day 1 - leave Gosport 4 am, direct to Salcombe, arrive circa 2 am
Day 2 leave Salcombe late morning for Fowey
Day 3 Fowey to Newlyn
Day 4 Left Newlyn after lunch for Padstow arrived about midnight (with less than 5mins to spare before lock closed!)
Day 5 get bus to station and tarin back home. (the others then continued to Milford haven and onwards to S Ireland)

There were 4 in the crew which helps and we slept in port at least once every 24 hours .29 foot boat and 23 year old engine. Obviously we didn't have "bad" weather but not good enough to sail for most of the time.
 
Been there done that! About two or three years ago seas flatter than a flat thing and no wind SHMBO complained about the heat while underway (never before known) Very boring. Do take a good look at how much time you will save by going into Weymouth over going direct. By the time we came out past the Bill and the race savings over going direct from Yarmouth were less than expected.
 
Agreed, last year as we passed the Bill, and rounded Shambles, I thought of plugging on, rather than putting into Weymouth, but swmbo was ready for a break and serious dinner in Mallams. You are probably looking at 7hrs from Yarmouth to the Bill, similar to Weymouth. And it takes a couple of hours out of Weymouth to round the Bill via the outside passage. So I would suggest that Yarmouth-Dart would add maybe 5-6hrs onto a Weymouth-Dart trip, and might just prove that little bit too wearing for a family crew.
 
Sail there.

How much confidence do you put in such a distant forecast? My crystal ball says plenty of N, NE and even some E between those dates. Esp if you have spi.
 
Thank You for your words of encouragement .... Departed Yarmouth 1pm on Tuesday. Had a fantastic sail as far as Lyme Bay early on Wednesday morning ... then got locked in the Bay, firstly by tide with no wind and later by SW wind!... had to fight our way out with the engine. Arrived Brixham at 7pm on Wednesday and Dartmouth 7pm on Thurday.
 
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