Portland to The Sun

After a lot of setbacks - mainly to do with the new rig, poor weather and my back - we gave up the idea of crossing the Channel to France, Spain or Portugal this year, and decided to retreat to the Isle of Wight, East Cowes seeming to be a good place for a 6 month winter berth. Several sailors we met had given favourable reports, and research showed that it was a lot cheaper than the West Country. We would be sheltered from the wind and waves (ideal for Brian's endless boat DIY), and close enough to Brighton for when he needed a good cappuccino.

Almost immediately after we had made that a plan, the weather changed and a beautiful Indian Summer arrived. Quite a few sailors in Weymouth where we were tied up on the Town Quay for a week, told us in conversation that they were off to Portugal. We were pretty disappointed not to be doing this also, but we weren't totally confident about starting off on a long voyage with a still-unproved rig and loads of DIY-clutter on board, so we did the next best thing and left Weymouth on Friday 23rd for East Cowes via the Needles Channel.

We had only ever sailed around the south of the Isle of Wight before, so this was all new to us, and a real challnge to be heading for strong tidal waters again after the tiddler tides of Weymouth and Portland. There was very little wind, so we had a nice sail across Weymouth Bay and anchored for the night in Studland Bay north of Old Harry Rocks. It proved to be a good anchorage, with little swell.