Leg 33 Weymouth to Isle of Wight
23 August 2017 | Cowes, Isle of Wight
After doing a temporary repair to Talora's engine water leak (replacement parts to be delivered in time for our arrival in Portsmouth), we set about planning the leg to the Isle of Wight.
This leg would be a challenge for a number of reasons. Firstly, at Weymouth we were completely hemmed in by other boats rafter on us and in front and behind us. As the third boat in a raft of four, it was tricky to move safely off, but with some preplanning we did it without injurying or damaging anybody or anything! Secondly, our departure had to be at 4 am to ensure we caught the tide at both St Albans Head and the Needles off the Isle of Wight. After some very careful planning and an early night, we set off in the dark at 4am. Leaving the safety of the harbour and not being able to see anything, including the sea state or crab pots, was really daunting. We tried using a spot light on the sea directly in front of the boat but it did not really work. For once Ray was the one to be scared. "I don't like this, my arse is in my throat" he said as we got further away from the harbour, so worried about picking up a crab pot on the propeller. Eventually, after about an hour, we could see the first glimmers of light on the horizon; thank god the sun was starting to rise!
The next challenge was at St Albans Head. People we had met had warned us about the overfalls and advised to either go wide of the headland or stay really close, close enough that you could through a biscuit to the shore, was one friends comment! We choose to stay close, but as we approached it, the overfalls were very turbulent. We reached it at exactly 7am as planned to pick up the tide as it turned so it would sweep us between the overfalls and the headland. Our timing was perfect. We stuck to our guns and went close to the shore, less then 600 ft from it in fact! It was still turbulent but it only lasted 15 minutes then we were out the other side. What an experience!
Round the headland we could see Swanage and Studland bay as well as Old Harry Rock in the distance. We have holidayed there in the past and would have loved to explore but there was no time, we had to crack on to the Needles.
As we approached the Needles so did two other boats. From our planning, we knew we had to reach this point before 11.30 to give us time to exit the channel before the tide turned against us. With the carry from the tide at St Albans Head, we had made such good progress that as we entered the Needles Channel we were two hours ahead of schedule, amazing! The overfalls at the Needles were really choppy but we stuck to the Isle of Wight side of the channel to avoid the worst of it and raced on the tide towards the Solent. Jim text "I'm tracking you, looks like you're flying home". And we were! We were reaching speeds of up to 13 knots and when we entered the Solent our progress was so good we decided to forget Yarmouth and go on to Cowes, another 10 miles. The speed was amazing and the whole journey of 49 miles only took us 7.5 hours when it should have taken 10 hours..... all down to good passage planning I say!
So, safely in Cowes and feeling just a bit smug, we feel thoroughly tested and just a little bit tired but very satisfied with our progress today. This afternoons walk around Cowes and along the parade was lovely. Early night tonight to recover so we are ready for the short hop to Portsmouth tomorrow. What an amazing day!
Photo is us passing the Needles off the Isle of Wight.