Somewhere old, somewhere new?

[chubby]

Do you find yourself going back repeatedly to favourite spots or feel a need for novelty?

Based in Portsmouth, a spring tide means a westerly stream during the afternoon and if I want a sheltered non marina anchorage or buoy then I alternate between Newtown and the bottom of the Beaulieu River, the former midweek and the later has more space on a Saturday: the anchorage is rarely full and there a reasonably priced visitors buoys. This gives a return on the eastgoing flood the next morning.

Neaps work better for Chi.

Looking at this season`s log I find myself going back to the same places, because I like them and they suit my cruising but should I seek new spots: Owers lake, off Ventnor or Sandown bay, Freshwater, Thorness Bay, off Stanswood, inshore east of Yarmouth?


In search of novelty I once sailed though the Looe channel and anchored off Selsey in a NW wind. Not a particularly restful spot. A thing you only do once.

The harbours are fine if meeting others or you cant resist a pub or need provisions but I can manage one night away from shops and leccy: there was even enough 4G signal in Newtown to watch the strictly results show on my phone: there are priorities.


The Dorset bays are great if you aren't disturbed by seahorses but too far for a gentle weekend. Hurst and Totland are fine when on passage but I feel an almost magnetic attraction as I pass Newtown entrance! Should I resist next season!

 

[capnsensible]

I like a nice mix. Knowing various havens to re visit is good but so is exploring. I think Ive had more of the second than the first so far this year.

 

[johnalison]

Over the last twenty years or so since I retired we have cruised gently between Cork and Gdansk. I have actually visited each extreme only once each, but most places from Scilly to Bornholm several or many times. I love going into a strange harbour or area, with that delightful sense of uncertainty but there is something special when returning, when I 'take possession' of the place and it becomes 'mine'. Thus, I agree with your idea of favourite places, but still like the idea of exploration.

There are a few places where we have returned several times to find the same slot available to us, and now refer to these places as 'ours', resenting the idea that someone else might occupy it. 'Our' mooring in Kolobrzeg no longer exists, sadly, but I expect that our place in Gudjhem is still available, though the likelihood of our returning is now low.

 

[prv]

I prefer novelty, but with usually only a week's holiday at a time it's a challenge to achieve that now. We'd need to be reaching out west of Falmouth or beyond St Malo to add many new stickers to the chart on the saloon bulkhead. I will make it to Brittany and the Scillies at some point, but work and crew availability do make things difficult...

Pete

 

[johnalison]

I prefer novelty, but with usually only a week's holiday at a time it's a challenge to achieve that now. We'd need to be reaching out west of Falmouth or beyond St Malo to add many new stickers to the chart on the saloon bulkhead. I will make it to Brittany and the Scillies at some point, but work and crew availability do make things difficult...

Pete

You haven't mentioned Normandy. It may be that you know it well but it often surprises me how many south-coasters avoid the place. It may not give the rocky spectacle of the Channel Isles and Brittany but it is not without interest. Many will limit their Normandy to St Vaast, which is nice but not representative. Dives, Deauville, Honfleur Fecamp and St Valery are just few places of interest, and the cheese is better there too.

 

[capnsensible]

A trip up the river to Caen passing through Pegasus Bridge is quite special.

And, with a certain flair, drying out on the wall in Barfleur. :encouragement:

 

[chubby]

You haven't mentioned Normandy. It may be that you know it well but it often surprises me how many south-coasters avoid the place. It may not give the rocky spectacle of the Channel Isles and Brittany but it is not without interest. Many will limit their Normandy to St Vaast, which is nice but not representative. Dives, Deauville, Honfleur Fecamp and St Valery are just few places of interest, and the cheese is better there too.

We have done most of the northern French coast and agree the Normandy coast is very special and there are a few unvisited ports: Port en Bessin in Normandy and the new marinas in Brittany, I was more thinking of weekend places rather than summer cruise places. On a summer cruise I always try to find somewhere new , on a weekend overnight the old favourites attract.

 

[dslittle]

Yesterday I was going through the log. So far this year we have been to just over 40 new places. All of them have had special charms. The boat is going ‘home’ at the end of this week and I am already feeling a bit sad!!!
Still there is always next year’s cruising to plan...

 

[oldharry]

After over 25 years in Chi Harbour there are very few places within reach for a day or two that I havent been to many times before, with one or two exceptions where one visit was enough! But yes I do enjoy going new places. There just arent any within normal range of my boat, any more

 

[Concerto]

Not been able to sail as much as I would have liked this year due to other commtments. However this year I have visited 5 places I have been before in the past few years and 8 I have never visited or not for over 25 years.

Last year it was 4 to 9 and included the Isles of Scilly. The year before was 2 to 6 and included my first long holiday singlehanding round to the Solent for the Westerly Owners Association 50th anniversary rally.

I should explain that I only returned to sailing in 2014 after a 22 year break, so virtually everywhere would be new.

As I normally sail singlehanded, I set myself challenges which are quite hard, usually long distances like 60 to 100 miles in a day. Last year it was to sail to the Isles of Scilly and I had expected to take 8 or 9 days to get there, but I did it in 6 days with a day off to rest and most days starting at about 6am and berthing about midnight. Most sailors from the Medway who aim for the Isles of Scilly never make it and I did it in a record time due to good weather. This year I decided to join the YM Scuttlebutt to Cherbourg, but the destination was changed due to poor weather to Isle of Wight. It did not worry me as I went over anyway and sailed the north eastern coast of France for the first time since I started sailing in 1965.

Yes I enjoy going to different places, but I really love the sailing part of the trips best.

 

[DJE]

Do you find yourself going back repeatedly to favourite spots or feel a need for novelty?

We spotted you off Gurnard on Sunday afternoon and guessed you were on your way to Newtown. Not particularly restful there last Saturday night - we had a maximum gust of 46 knots and a raft of two boats came off their mooring and ended up on the mud for the night!

- Have you tried Keyhaven? Or I can give you detailed pilotage notes for Titchfield Haven if you can take the ground.

 

[LittleSister]

You haven't mentioned Normandy. It may be that you know it well but it often surprises me how many south-coasters avoid the place. It may not give the rocky spectacle of the Channel Isles and Brittany but it is not without interest. Many will limit their Normandy to St Vaast, which is nice but not representative. Dives, Deauville, Honfleur Fecamp and St Valery are just few places of interest, and the cheese is better there too.

Indeed, not just one but two St. Valerys! (sur-Somme and en-Caux)

Plus Le Havre (interesting town, kept us well amused for a few days when held up by weather), Courseulles, etc.

We somewhat overlooked the cheese potential (and never made it to Isigny), because we were focused on our comparative study of Normandy ports' patisseries!

 

[DJE]

Port En Bessin is well worth a visit. Our cheapest alongside berth of the year at about 17 Euros for a 39 footer. Now water or electricity unless you have connectors like the fishermen use but an interesting town, nice walks, lots of bars and restaurants and not far to the supermarket. But maximum stay is 48 hours and there is room for only about 4 yachts of about 12m length. This pontoon is the extent of the visitors' berths.

 

[LittleSister]

Port En Bessin is well worth a visit.

Thanks for tip. Looks great: Google Streetview reveals it's only c200m to the Patissier!

 

[westhinder]

Port En Bessin is well worth a visit. Our cheapest alongside berth of the year at about 17 Euros for a 39 footer. Now water or electricity unless you have connectors like the fishermen use but an interesting town, nice walks, lots of bars and restaurants and not far to the supermarket. But maximum stay is 48 hours and there is room for only about 4 yachts of about 12m length. This pontoon is the extent of the visitors' berths.

View attachment 73545

Absolutely agree. But any northerly winds above 4 Bft kick up a nasty sea with high, short waves up to at least 3 nm offshore, so only advisable in favourable conditions.

 

[westhinder]

The number of options for a weekend is obviously limited, in my home waters more limited than the Solent.
But for longer cruises I prefer new destinations. The trouble is, the longer you sail, the further you have to go to reach really new cruising grounds. On the other hand, it makes a nice change to revisit places that you have been sailing past for the last few years as you hurry along to further destinations. No risk of getting bored for the foreseeable future. ?

 

[johnalison]

The number of options for a weekend is obviously limited, in my home waters more limited than the Solent.
But for longer cruises I prefer new destinations. The trouble is, the longer you sail, the further you have to go to reach really new cruising grounds. On the other hand, it makes a nice change to revisit places that you have been sailing past for the last few years as you hurry along to further destinations. No risk of getting bored for the foreseeable future. ��

We have faced this problem for the last few years, so our definition of 'new place' has turned into 'funny little place that we never thought of visiting previously'. An alternative strategy that I am nowhere near old enough to contemplate is to downsize and go shallow, and then visit all thos places you never dared enter before.

 

[chubby]

We spotted you off Gurnard on Sunday afternoon and guessed you were on your way to Newtown. Not particularly restful there last Saturday night - we had a maximum gust of 46 knots and a raft of two boats came off their mooring and ended up on the mud for the night!

- Have you tried Keyhaven? Or I can give you detailed pilotage notes for Titchfield Haven if you can take the ground.

Fortunately I was at work on Saturday tucked up in a warm office! Yes Newtown on Sunday and back Monday.

I have been to Keyhaven but have to pass Newtown to get there and somehow the boat knows its way to my favourite buoy in Newtown.

Now Tichfield haven would be sporting, always assumed like Christchurch and Ashlett a bit shallow, now how about Ventnor haven?

 

[dom]

....now how about Ventnor haven?

A quaint and pleasant town of its day. Visited a few weeks ago, anchored off, Haven taken over by fishing vessels, the rancid mud stinks, charted depths unreliable, really wouldn’t advise as a stop whether you can take the ground or not!