Dartmouth Cruise Part 1

Our annual attempt to cross the channel was abandoned before it started.  The forecast for Saturday was for Southerlies so another plan was hatched.   We decided to go West this time as in addition to crossing the channel in Ciao Bella I also wanted to go around Portland Bill.... it's off the map... There be monsters :)

GPS plot of the cruise.

Saturday 7th:   Poole to Weymouth.  I was joined by Paul in his Corribee and my neighbour John crewed for me.  We had a bit of a late start from Poole, not getting away until about 10am.  We had enough breeze to sail out of the harbour and around Durleston Head, due to the late start we were now fighting the tide and had to motor around St Aldelm head. Amazingly a yacht race was tacking around the head against the tide!

Racing yachts tacking against the tidal race.

Lapwing motor sailing against the race.

 Out of the race we were able to sail again, eventually arriving at Weymouth around 8pm.  The harbour was absolutely rammed, we managed to get rafted out in the Cove.  We grabbed some food at 'The Old Rooms' before heading back for an earlyish night... Sunday would be a long day.

Rafted out in Weymouth

Sunday 8th:  Weymouth to Dartmouth.  We were up and away by 7:30 in the morning.  Today was the big one for me as we were heading around the Bill.  Sails were up and we were making good speed but couldn't get the direction without tacking, we needed speed and direction to get across Lyme Bay in one hit so the engines went on to get us around the Bill.

Hello Bill

  Once around we could easily make 255 degrees on the compass so off went the engines again as we started the long slog across Lyme Bay.

Following the compass across Lyme bay

As the afternoon came around the wind started to die and the tide turned against us, it was time to start the engines again.   Mid afternoon and the weather turn a tad wet but at least the wind picked up, you can see the change of direction on the track, bizarrely despite the rain it was great to be sailing again.  It didn't last long, 40 mins latter the rain had stopped and so had the wind... back on with the engine... and back on course :)
As the Devon coast came into view I saw a flock of gulls dive bombing a school of fish.  As we approached I could see a pod of Dolphins also in the fray.  Ever sociable the Dolphins came to say hello, they stayed with us for several minutes before heading off in search of lunch again.

We eventually were within grasp of Dartmouth.  It had been a hell of a slog across Lyme bay and I wasn't looking forward to doing the same on the way home.  

Dartmouth entrance in sight

Another late arrival had us struggling to find a foodery.. After traipsing around every pub in Dartmouth we eventually found food at the Bayards Cove Inn.  The evening was finish off with some great music in the Windjammer pub.

Monday 9th:  A river cruise.   Despite having had a really long day on Sunday we had to be up early as we'd moored on the short term mooring, we had to vacate by 0845.  A motor up to Totnes for lunch was planned before coming half way back and picking up a mooring at Dittisham.   The main sail cover stayed on all day but we manged to use the genoa on and off.  We went up on a rising tide which was a blessing as I managed to find the mud a couple of times.
Totnes does not put itself out for sailors,  there are very few places to moor up and they are not advertised.  We did find a nice place for food with a good beer garden over looking the river.  As we left Totnes John heard someone calling me,  My friend Nick was doing a survey at a yard there and had seen me going past.  We stopped for a quick chat before plodding on again.

Leaving Totnes.. Cheers Nick.

We picked up a swinging mooring near to the jetty at Dittisham and rafted up for the night.  Dittisham is a lovely spot.  With both Paul and I only having tiny inflatables we had to do a bit of ferrying, I paddled over in mine then Paul took mine back for John.  Once ashore we checked out both of the pubs, both great, but settled in the Ferry Boat Inn for the evening.

John getting crabby in the FBI

The paddle back to the boats was an amusing affair but was eventually completed with no dramas.

Tuesday 10th:  Back to Dartmouth.  Although Dittisham was beautiful, it had no facilities so we decided to go back to Dartmouth, below are a few pics from the mooring.

  Dartmouth Yacht club has it's own pontoon near the lower ferry and the prospect of a walk ashore and hot shower was too good to ignore. Despite the benign look in the photos, by the time we got to Dartmouth the wind had really picked up and it was a bit fruity trying to get on the pontoon.
Paul and I both needed fuel so loaded my tanks onto Lapwing and motored over to the fuel barge, only after filling my main tank and two 5l tanks did I find out that they were charging £1.96 per litre... Ouch!  Motoring back to the pontoon and the wind was ferocious now.  It took us two attempts and some fending off before we were safely rafted up on Ciao Bella.
Dartmouth yacht club is very hospitable and besides providing showers it has a friendly bars with good coffee.
A day of relaxing followed, my Brother and his lad popped down from Plymouth to say hello and have some fish n chips  in the evening.  John, Paul and myself had a table booked at the Anzac B&B.  Good to see Simon and Aga again.  This was followed by a beer or two in the oldest pub in town.. with a comedy landlady... like a sketch from Alf Garnet.

That's enough for today, I'll write up the return journey soon :)