Tag: Dover

From Canal to Channel

I left Nieuwpoort before light and experienced that sailor’s privilege, to see the sun rise out of the sea. I made my way close inshore against the last of the eastgoing tide. There was no wind and I abandoned attempts to sail.

Anchored ships near the shipping lanes. From a distance, hard to discriminate from the fast moving ships in the separation zone

The sea was glassy smooth and the day grew very hot. Visibility was not good and a haze hung across the horizon, making it difficult to judge distance. I was monitoring VHF channels 16 and 74 (channel VTS) and heard no less than three reports of large inflatable boats carrying migrants. This was the first day of calm weather after a period of strong winds, and evidently boats were setting out uptide on the French coast. A French navy vessel was patrolling and deployed its two fast RIBs to track the migrants along the edge of French waters. From the VHF traffic, it seemed that the migrants were picked up by a lifeboat and taken to Dover.

The MOB markers on the east of the chart were the reported locations of inflatables trying to cross the channel. The MOB marker to the west was a group of channel swimmers!

Approaching Dover harbour I was welcomed by a porpoise gliding past, as well as a seal inside the harbour. I paused to refuel before taking my berth, and this took some time. Although the fuel pumps had the mechanism for self service, a rather uncertain looking man leaned over the high quay and said that self service was not working. Only one pump was working, so I had a wait and once I had filled my tank, I had to visit the man in his shed. He was in charge of a most Byzantine computer system and after a few minutes of “hunt and peck”, suggested I might type it faster. All of this contrived to occupy an hour from entering the marina to tying up. Fortunately, I was not in a hurry.

The EU administration of border control had been accomplished by visiting the cheerful border policeman in his office the previous evening. The UK side of things was achieved via an efficient looking web site. However, the information was far from clear. “We have sent you an email”. No, you didn’t. “You must ring yacht line as soon as you enter UK waters”. When I rang, the automated message told me no call was needed. “You must fly a Q flag until contacted by border control”. I’d be flying that still, if I’d followed that instruction!

The next morning was forecast for northeasterlies, increasing in strength and swinging to SW. I left early, but not early enough. The promised SE wind was light and variable and not long before Dungeness head, I noticed a yacht ahead of me on a parallel course bear away to the south, close hauled. Sure enough, a few minutes later, I experienced the same 90-degree wind shift. I decided to drop sails and motor into the wind, the other boat beat on. I took an offshore route past Dungeness, to maximise the tidal lift but progress gradually slowed across Rye bay. The wind increased to about F6 and though Molly bravely plugged into the short steep seas this created, her speed was rather curtailed. I watched as the boat I had seen earlier crossed and recrossed my path, evidently with much better boat speed than me.

The day started well enough – a three sail reach (I had second reef in anticipation of the forecasted winds)

The new Royal Sovereign light under construction (the stump of it to the right)

Late, I crept up to Beachy Head on a foul tide, slower and slower until the speed over the ground was less than two knots. He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day, so I reluctantly turned tail and sped downwind into Eastbourne at seven knots!

Beachy Head in more benign conditions the next day

The “Seven Sisters”, west of Beachy Head. There always seems to me to be eight, but it depends on how you count them. These are often shown when a stock shot of “the white cliffs of Dover” is needed for a film or TV programme. They’re white and cliffs, it not Dover!

The next day was much calmer, with wind in the north. However it was too light to be useful, so I motored across Sussex Bay past the Rampion wind farm.

I was earlier than planned at Selsey and the current was still foul. However, it was neap tides and the sea was very flat. I therefore decided to avoid as much of the tide as possible by approaching from somewhat south of the Looe Channel and then motoring over the Outer Owers.

This is an outlying reef usually carefully avoided, but this very shallow water (4-12m observed) carried perceptibly less current. The breeze woke up at that point too, so I got a little help from the sails just when it was most helpful!

The Looe channel. For me this is the boundary of the Solent, so I was back in home waters

The beautiful Queen Mary 2 departing the Solent.

This cruise ship (My Resilient Lady) has a much higher capacity but is not exactly pleasing to the eye!

Sunset behind No Man’s Land fort, with spinnaker tower standing over Portsmouth harbour entrance

A great breeze from the north east filled in and gave me a lovely sail across the eastern Solent – what a fabulous way to end this wonderful adventure. I was enjoying the sail so much that I sailed right into the harbour, dropping the main right opposite HMS Queen Elizabeth. The police boat mooched over to give me marks out of ten, though I’m glad it was dark, because it was not a tidy fuel! I had breeze and tide pushing me into my berth, as well as being full dark by that time. I was pleased I managed that nicely but was pleased someone came by to help had I needed it.

So that’s the end of Molly’s Netherlands meander, and what a wonderful adventure it’s been. I’d like to publicly thank the wonderful Dutch organising team, Dirk and Linda Peeters for their guidance during the return leg and to my fellow UK OGA members who were such great company.

The season is mostly over, but Molly will stay in the water this winter because I hope to make a few local trips in the coming months.

Return to the Solent

Having escaped from Chatham marina and made it around the corner of Kent, to Ramsgate, I only had two days to get home to Gosport. This meant two more long days in quick succession for John and I

After a late arrival in Ramsgate (and a short but pleasant evening), we made an early departure the following morning for Eastbourne, again in company with Brian of Puffin Bach.

We had spring tides and wanted to use them to best effect, though the timing was not too convenient. The main tidal gate was Dungeness, but without a particularly early reveille we could not make that with a fair tide. Puffin and Molly managed to leave before 7am and carry the fair tide down the coast past Dover. I put the main sail up, but it was not doing much and we didn’t bother with a jib.

When I arrived at a point two miles from Dover harbour, I radioed VTS to ask for permission to cross, and was told to pass at least a mile outside the harbour. I could see at least five cross channel ferries visually and on the AIS. The latter was really useful for deciding whether I would cross their track safely (ie behind them) and I changed course to ensure this. Evidently my judgement was not accurate enough for VTS, as they called me up and warned me that I would not pass far enough away from harbour, so I duly diverted further around. I did notice a small motor boat pass across the harbour only a few hundred metres out without radio contact, causing VTS to warn every vessel passing in or out, which made me feel better about my misjudgement! My lesson learned was that there is no point in passing close to South Foreland, due to the offing needed for Dover.

As we continued westward, the fair tide decreased and then turned against us. My plan was to pass close inshore after Folkestone, to minimise the foul tide, round Dungeness as close to the beach as possible and then continue in Rye bay out of the flood. It was a hot sunny day and the sea breeze began to fill in, giving us a reach and with the benefit of all sail as well as the iron topsail, we passed about 20m from the anglers on the shore and in nearly 20m of water. I hope we made an impressive sight!

Traversing the low-lying shore off Pett Level, the sedimentary cliffs rose up, leading to Fairlight and then Hastings and Bexhill. My wish to view the sea fronts of those familiar places was fulfilled this time, having been thwarted by poor visibility and rain on the outbound journey.

We reached Eastbourne’s Sovereign harbour almost exactly 12 hours after our departure from Ramsgate, at low tide. The evening was almost completely windless, with three optimistic yachts drifting on the bay. Approaching from the East with the evening sun in our eyes, the safe water mark and isolated danger marks could easily be confused by the unwary. Fortunately, being able to see the boilers of the Barn Hill wreck breaking the surface, the hazard was clear.

After what felt like a very long lock cycle (perhaps a little over sensitive after our experience at Chatham), followed by a stop at the fuel berth, we were no sooner moored, than Brian turned up. Once he was safely tied up, we made straight for the eateries and enjoyed a very nice Thai meal together. This was to be the parting of the ways, as Brian was intending to have a late start, whereas I had opted for a very early start in order to reach Gosport and home the following day.

We took the 0500 lock out and found an easterly breeze already blowing. I had timed our departure to catch the last of the ebb past Beachy Head; we made excellent time round our penultimate headland and set a course to pass just inside the Rampion wind farm off Brighton, towards Selsey Bill. This track was very deep downwind and we were not able to fly the jib, especially with the roll of the gentle swell. Molly got most of the way across Rye bay under engine and main before the tide began to turn back in our favour, and we gave the motor a rest on our approach to our last headland of the journey, Selsey Bill.

Molly passed through the Looe channel under sail, with the wind behind her and the full ebb of a spring tide, at about 7kt and entered her home waters of the Solent again. Passing the familiar landmarks of Chichester and Langstone harbour entrances, I couldn’t resist bearing off and gybing the last few miles with full sail, after all that time dead downwind. Meanwhile, we heard that High Barbaree, after various travails, had left Brighton that afternoon and would arrive in Gosport not long after us.

Molly arrived back on her home berth in the warm evening sun, after 65nm, a little over twelve hours after our departure from Eastbourne, 180 miles from the end of the rally in Chatham and almost 500 miles after last leaving Gosport. So it was John and I enjoyed a celebratory meal at the light ship in Gosport with Liz and Tim before putting Molly to bed for a rest, awaiting hopefully one or two more outings before winter ashore.

Sailing to the East Coast 2: Dover, Sandwich and Ramsgate

Having reached Dover, and with a couple of days of bad weather approaching, I made for Sandwich. When I was planning this trip, I particularly wanted to visit because of the cruise up the creek. This particular river, the Stour, shares its name with my home town, Stourbridge, as well as a counterpart in Suffolk we were on our way to visit.

*Molly* and *Delphyn*, a Contessa leaving Dover

I left Dover with a Dutch Contessa yacht that I would meet again further down the line. We both followed port control instructions to leave via the busy eastern entrance to the harbour. With strong winds and a foul tide, I used engine and staysail to pass the famous white cliffs and along the shore of the low-lying land north of Deal.

The entrance to the river Stour was easy enough to find and the channel well buoyed. I had timed my arrival for an hour before high tide and this gave me plenty of time and depth to get into the river proper. The least depth I saw in the entrance was around 3m, though the main channel in the river was at least 4m.

I’m sure the channel buoy shouldn’t be like that!

I motored past argumentative terns with young, several large groups of seals and many species of wetland birds. The town of sandwich is about 2 miles inland, reached by nearly 5 miles of winding river. I passed two large boat yards and the huge Pfizer pharmaceutical complex, eventually arriving at the lovely town of Sandwich.

The town quay is lined with wooden posts, against which visitors lie, and gives easy access to the town. Sandwich is a very historic place with many buildings dating back to medieval, Norman or Saxon times. I enjoyed a lazy couple of wet and windy days here, exploring the narrow streets. I particularly enjoyed a visit the the small independent cinema, a family run enterprise.

Aptly named street name, given the weather!

The tides are odd here, with the water continuing to flow in for some time after high water, indicating Thanet is still an island, even though the river is much silted up. The friendly harbour master recommended leaving “when you can see the water has just stopped ebbing”. That’s only two and a half hours before high water. In the event, when I left, the water had started to flow in and to turn Molly around, I gently motored her bow into the reeds on the opposite bank and let the flow turn her. I was then able to motor away.

What sort of terns are these? Sandwich terns!

My next leg was a short hop down to Ramsgate to meet two other gaffers heading East from the Solent for the OGA party in Ipswich. The forecast was not looking good and we were waiting for a gap in the weather to make a break across the Thames estuary.

One of the boats, High Barbaree, I’d sailed aboard previously. She’s a Cornish Crabber Pilot Cutter 30, owned by Tim and Liz. The other was unfamiliar to me – a Tamarisk 24 called Puffin Bach. Skipper Brian appeared just at the right time as I entered harbour and took a line for me; I was also cordially greeted by Barbara from Delphyn, the Dutch Contessa that had left Dover at the same time as Molly and who were also waiting for a gap in the weather.

Meanwhile Huw arrived; he had come to sail the next leg with me,. The Solent Crew had a pleasant lunch aboard High Barbaree, during which I invited invited everyone for dinner aboard Molly.

Dinner (well, dessert at that stage) aboard *Molly*

A second very windy day was passed, followed by a very entertaining evening aboard Puffin Bach, with Brian at the Primus stove.