July already!  Let the Cruise begin

At last! We are much later setting off on our main Summer Cruise this year. Much of June, after Gaffers festival, of course, was taken up with goings on in Camberley and thereabouts—helping Hayley to move house, putting the Mews property on the market, visiting the Finchampstead branch of the clan, and finishing off the sheds at Westward (but that’s another blog entirely!)  Anyway, we are off to London again, and we had better make it, as we have already booked shows and dinners, using the offers available on our favourite site “Travelzoo”

The passage plan:

Day 1: Yarmouth- Egypt pt- S Bramble- Ryde Mid- HorseSand– Brighton; 65nautical miles

Day 2: Brighton– Beachy Clg– Dungenness Clg– Dover ent– S Sands clg– Gull Stream S– Ramsgate; 80nm



Day3: Ramsgate– N.Foreland Clg– N Foreland    E -SMargate– Reculver– Copperas– Spile– Sea Reach 7  - Holehaven -  Thames Channel buoys—St Katharines Dock. 80nm

 



The new pontoons at Yarmouth

Friday 5 July  At sea Y’mouth- Brighton

 Engine hrs 956 fuel 7/8P, 8/8S. Water 1/2

1435 Clearing Yarmouth. Radio checks OK. Ideal conditions, bright, with a slight haze, rippled sea, and a welcoming view of The Solent, with ferries crossing, colourful yachts, and fast sports ribs buzzing around leaving foamy trails which mirrored the puffy clouds above –WWYGI?.

Yarmouth astern

Engines set to 2500rpm giving 12knots log (speed through the water), and 11sog (speed over ground).

1500 At W Lepe buoy. On track 12.5 k =. AOK.

1530 Abeam Norris/W Ryde.  Solent is extremely busy.

A fellow traveller

Passing Horse Sand Fort

Sea is flat, very scenic. Speed is 13k =. Fuel reads 3/4 Port and Full Stbd.  Some “chirping” from dashboard , but all is OK (AOK)

Racing yachts 

1600 Horse Sand Fort. Rippled. 13K= , AOK

1610 Tricky negotiation through a large fleet of racing yachts, amongst a clutter of  half-submerged fishing pots.

1650 Entering Looe Channel. Flat calm. Beautiful conditions. 13.5 log, 15 sog—a good tide. 27nm to Brighton entrance (BE). Rpm still 2500.

1730 18nm 076T to  BE. 13log, 14sog. AOK. Flat. Dry. Warm. Bright.

 .1745 Fog. Visibility 1/2 nm. Radar on—no forward targets in 3 nm. Just overtaking a beautiful classic “Gentleman’s Motor yacht”

.1755 Visibility down to 50 metres.  With one forward radar target. Maintain speed at 14k.

.1800 Pass target  at 1nm 010T. Sounding horn at 30sec intervals.

The Medina entrance at Cowes

.1805 Passing yacht at 300m. Target at 1m 010T turns out to be a large ship.0

.1825  Fog moderating. 5nm@079T to BE. Switch off horn. AOK

.1830 Visibility now 2nm. But very patchy. 2 yachts ahead. One without radar reflector.

.1845 Approaching Brighton Entrance.

The Ryde Hovercraft

Crew at work (?)

.1900 Sunbathing on the fuel dock, waiting for the attendant. 211litres @ £229.20. The Marina is very busy, and the office sounds harassed. Several promises of getting back to us fail, and we decide to proceed with dinner on the fuel dock, where we eventually spend the night, enjoying a well-earned sleep. 

Today was as thick a fog as we have experienced, and the first time it was necessary to sound the horn. However, the sea state was near-perfect, and we had lots of sunshine.

 

All in all, a great day, with the promise of more to come.

 

 

 

 

Saturday 6 July - Brighton to Ramsgate

 

Brighton Astern!

 

.0745 Cast off from Brighton fuel dock. Checked out by vhf with marina office, who apologised for the mixup. We will see them again on the way home.

.0755 Cleared Brighton. 2500rpm. 12k=. Bright. Flat. 10nm visibility AOK.

.0800 2700rpm 15k=. Lots of nets and pots.

.0845 Beachy Head. AOK . 15log 16sog. Flat, bright, clear, beautiful passage inshore under sparkling awesome white cliffs.

Looking back on Beachy Head

 

 

 

.0930 20nm @070T Dungenness. Slight sea. Bright. Vis 6nm. 15.5k=. AOK. No traffic.

.1015 8nm@074T to D’ness. Vis 8nm. Rippled. Bright, with slight haze. AOK. Occasional dropouts on usb GPS, but main gps OK.

.1030  Hailed by RYE firing range security vessel . Advising maintain course until clear of D’ness.  GPS dongle failure sets of reload of pc software. (“No satellites visible”) Main station OK. AOK. 15.5k=.

.1045 Dungenness. Sea conditions perfect, so the  crew is working well. Set course direct to S Sands Clg. AOK.

Crew at work at sea

 

.1130  Sea increased to Moderate. 10nm@050T to SSC. 15.5log, 16sog. Port engine running very hot (95+). Reduce to 1500, then gradually increase to resumption. Passing blockage in raw water intake?.

.1200 Off Dover Entrance. AOK. 14.5log, 17sog.Moderate. (Normal lumpiness for Dover) set course for Ramsgate Approach.

.1250 Arrive Ramsgate, and direct to fuel dock.

120ltr stbd, 148 port, total 268ltr @ £298.41.

Directed to last remaining slot in row G. Berth £26.10 inc.. Facility codes 1520 gate, 1247 shrs.

 

Relaxing in Ramsgate

Taking tea on a very sunny deck at 1345. Afternoon of the Wimbledon ladies final for crew, while skipper joined Maria Callas in the mists of musical dreams.  The evening dinner on board was the envy of all neighbouring “Bisto kids” - oven roasted BBQ  spare ribs with stuffed peppers.  Another fabulous day!

Sunday 7 July - Ramsgate to London

Brighton astern

 .0745 Clearing Ramsgate Harbour slightly earlier than original plan, so as to enjoy a more leisurlely Thames cruise. Set rpm to 2700, giving 15log and 13.6 sog—a slightly adverse tide, but sea conditions were very good for a close inshore passage around N.Foreland. A slight haze limited visibility to about 6nm, but it was bright, warm, calm, and perfect, apart from a measle of almost invisible fishing pots.

 

 

North Foreland lighthouse

 

.0800  N Foreland lighthouse. Idyllic. AOK. 15log, 12.7sog.

.0810 Off Margate. On track. Rpm to 2600, 14k=. Set course to Copperas, 8.3nm@267T.

0823. SE Margate cardinal buoy. AOK. 14k=. Hazy, but scenic, with colourful spinnakered yachts ahead.

.0832 S Mgte 3.5nm@ 268T to Copperas. AOK.

.0840 At Reculver buoy. This is a new buoy since our previous trips, as the passage we used then has now silted over.  However, we had 3.7 metres below the propellers at the shallowmost point. AOK.

Unexploded ammunitions still below

 

.0845 Copperas buoy. Set course direct to Splie, 10nm@ 285T. 14.2k =. Lots of pots to avoid.

.0930 Spile . Vis 2nm. Flat, with a struggling sun. 14k=. Course  Sea Reach 7, 12nm@ 289T.

.0955 Passing dangerous wreck off Medway Channel. Flat sea, dense haze, but bright enough for crew to read comfortably astern in cockpit. A good tide giving 15ksog.

.1015 Crossing channel at Sea reach 7. Vi  poor. Radar on. 15ksog. Passed by large ship.



M25 above

.1045 Mucking no 3 buoy. Visibility between channel markers is good.15sog.

.1100 Reduce wash for small sailing craft. 2000rpm 10k.  Then maintain 12k.

Thames Barrier

.1215 Thames Barrier.

 

.1305 Fuel barge unattended.

.1320 Enter St Katharines dock lock. We have arrived! Engines 792. Allocated berth in E Dock.

Tight to enter, but sunny and quiet, and 2 miniutes from Waitrose. Heaven! Al fresco cockpit dinner in 8pm sunshine rounds off a great trip.

Monday 8 July - First day in London

Tower Bridge opens for "The Dixie Queen"

 

A bright sunny warm start with breakfast in the cockpit. Tidying up, setting the boat to “Apartment mode”, phonecalls, checking out the facilities and a preliminary schedule took up an hour or so before the first adoration of Waitrose.  During this we were delighted to hear that niece Nadine and great-niece Molly would visit later in the morning. Our first visitors.



Nadine and Molly



A smile from Molly

We had a lovely time with them, first on board, then a riverside walk before escorting them back to London Bridge station.

 

 

 

We had a leisurely stroll homeward along the South bank, stopping off for liquid refreshment at Brown’s under the Tower Bridge. Then back to Middle watch for a delicious curry in the (sunny still) cockpit.

 

Tuesday 9 July.

 

It took a while yesterday, but we finally got fixed up with internet (but only on the ipad), courtesy of the sim-card in the ipad which my brilliant family bought for my 70th birthday (Thanks again—you were right that it would be very handy when we were on cruise!). Using this, we checked in to a supper and show at The Little Ship Club this evening, featuring “The Showstoppers”.

At The Little Ship club

In the afternoon, after a relaxing lunch and a bask in the still blazing sun, we took a “Routemaster” to the optician to order apair of glasses, and then took a leisurely stroll along the river to The Little Ship club where we lounged with drinks and newspapers until suppertime. The Showstoppers were a grour]p of 4 artistes, including a brilliant piano accompanist. They invited suggestions from the audience, and then concocted an impromptu “musical”, this one being “The Sydney Queen”. It was very well done, and most enjoyable.

Gill and The Shard

 

A night-time meander home finished off yet another  perfect day, as we sat  in the cockpit over  a midnight cheese snack while our Dutch neighbours enjoyed chatting next door.

 

 

 

Wednesday 10 July

Incredibly, the weather is still brilliant, and we have made up a partial “things to do and see” list, but before starting, we needed to get our glasses sorted out, so, after a lazy breakfast, it was off to Specsavers on The Strand. This positioned us nicely for a tour of Covent Garden and a stroll to Trafalgar Square, taking in a leisurely lunch at Brown’s of Covent garden en route. London was packed, and the congested bus route on the way back gave us plenty of opportunity to survey the teeming hordes of tourists from the upper deck of the bus

A street artist

 

Thursday 11 July

Strolling by the river

 

 

 

Today was the day we finally got internet sorted out for the pc.

The old the new and the latest

 

 This involved an hour on the phone to Orange, after a fascinating walk through the very heart of the city at Leadenhall.



In the Coliseum at "Coppelia"



 

  However, the main focus of the day was undoubtedly “Coppelia”, by the Moscow Ballet at The Coliseum.

Open air opera in Trafalgar Square

 It was fabulous, and the cast took 5 or 6 well-deserved curtain calls. The dancing was world-class, and the music was still ringing through our ears as we passed the live big-screen open air broadcast of “Rondine” in Trafalgar Square.