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Our Journey West 2024
We are retrospectively adding brief details of our journey "Brightlingsea to the West" below.
Overall Details & Stats.
Departed - Sunday 14/07/2024
Returned - Sunday 15/09/2024
Total days on board - 63 (Inc. 3 day trip home from Plymouth for family reasons)
Total distance traveled - 702 nautical miles (801 Statute Miles)
Total hours at sea - 124 (5 days 16 hrs) Average speed 5.7 kts.
Longest individual journey distance - 60 nautical miles (69 miles) - Both Dartmouth to Waymouth. and Weymouth to Portsmouth share that accolade.
Longest Journey Time - 11 hrs - Weymouth to Dartmouth (We took the longer but safer route round the shoals)
Nights at anchor or on buoy - 1 - at Osborne Bay I.o.W. - not what we had planned but there were very limited options for this with an 8 year old boy on board and when the weather was very windy and changeable as it was for us in 2024 and we needed to rest & sleep in the knowledge that we were not going to wake up somewhere else!! (interestingly we found that some authorities actually charge you to anchor in river locations - Dartmouth, Salcombe & Fowey being good examples.)
Brightlingsea to Ramsgate.
Departed - 04.10 14/07/24 Duration - 7hrs 20mins Distance - 48 Nautical miles Average speed - 6.6kts
14th July 2027 - Yes, we have finally set off!!! An early Sunday morning start for Chas, Christina & a fast asleep Oscar, if he only knew what he was missing. The small Proseco bottles with county names for each of the counties visited were a pre-start present from Jemma and proved a very nice & delightful touch!
Ramsgate to Dover.
Departed - 11.00 15/07/24 Duration - 2Hrs 45mins Distance - 16 Nautical miles Average Speed - 5.8 Kts
A good sunny day with pleasant winds to get us away from the Goodwin Sands and round the corner to Dover where we found the entry procedures a lot more relaxed than previously when they were not very yacht friendly. The new Curve marina had plenty of space but long walks to/from the marina office, etc.
Dover to Eastbourne.
Departed - 09.00 17/07/24 Duration - 7Hrs 50mins Distance - 41 Nautical miles Average Speed - 5.25 Kts
Not our favorite place by far but serves as a good stopover rather than going straight to Brighton.
Back in the day, Eastbourne was not an option as what I believe was a war time concrete floored outer harbour area and sometime gravel extraction workings, had not then been fully extended into the locked inner harbour with all its facilitates as it is today. It has made a very useful reduction in the journey time from Dover to Brighton. I can recall a very good friend Jim Penson who very sadly is no longer with us, telling a story of a time he had tried to anchor in the outer harbour area one night before everything was fully completed, only to find he could not get his anchor to hold on what was a flat concrete bottom!!!!
Eastbourne to Brighton
Departed - 09.40 18/07/24 Duration - 2Hrs 50mins Distance - 20 Nautical miles Average Speed - 7.1 Kts
Brighton to Osborne Bay & The Solent.
Departed - 09.00 20/07/24 Duration - 7 Hours Distance - 46 Nautical miles Average Speed - 6.57 Kts
This journey saw us arrive at the Osborne Bay anchorage on the North side of the I.O.W, which on previous visits to the Solent had looked a very peaceful and tempting overnight anchorage, but weather, time & tides had not allowed a stop-over. I was very hopeful that this time it would happen and thankfully, it didn't disappoint.
No Mans Land Solent Fort. These were passing day & night and making a huge amount of wash. V - Below: Osborne House in early morning sun.
Sunrise on day 1 of our journey Back home 9 weeks later
The remainder of the journey is still W.I.P. unfortunately, really must get it sorted out soon!!!!
