Anyone for Duck

Breakfast in the cockpit, the backdrop Poole Harbour and clear blue sky....it was going to be a good day on the water. Though at breakfast we witnessed a massacre as a gull made off with a baby duckling...mother nature can be so cruel. We had a fair wind as made our way to the needles...the wind kept us on our toes dying one minute then gusting 20 knots. Everytime we tacked it interrupted Mags doing her puzzle book... much harrumphing from Mags (cant get the crew these days).We cruised through Portsmouth Harbour and back home. Found a great new chinese restaurant ... though I did see the irony of eating duck given the "gull masacre"

An eventful day

It was a foggy day for the Brassey crews....and not because of the weather. As expected the wind was against us but with scorching sun we left portland and tacked back to Poole. The glorious sail was accompanied by a phone call from Oz, a photo shoot with Elle Dehors and a diplomatic incident with a US Warship which denied setting off a DSC alarm but the line of questioning would suggest the coastguard were somewhat sceptical....not a boring sail. Anchored for the night in Poole Harbour next to Elle D who were promptly surrounded by the SBS.

Murphy's Law of Sailing

We started the day well ...breakfast in the cockpit and left at a leisurely 11am....our destination Lulworth Cove for lunch.But this popular anchorage is just like the january sales...you need to arrive before sunrise to get the spot in the queue...so it was busy and we had to console ourself with the stunning warbarrow bay. Quick bite to eat then we upped anchor following elle dehors and big cheese back to Portland. Now there is a well known law of sailing ....murphy's law..the wind is always against you. we tacked out in the morning and expected to sail back with the cruising chute flying....but no the wind changed 180 degrees and we tacked back.... but it was lovely and sunny. Portland marina wins the prize for best marina showers ever.... even including proper hair dryers instead of those stupid tube hairdryers that blow out warm air and could only have been designed by a folically challenged man. had both 3 boats crews on for pre dinner drinks then off to restaurant for Brassey Dinner. Back to Elle Dehors to celebrate Kevin's birthday. Sang Happy B to him whilst recording it on Pat's voice mail.... i am sure the singing was distorted by the call to Oz....we were all in tune (not)
Great day

Drippy nose weather in weymouth

The day started with the pitter patter of rain, and little wind .... the kind of sailing day i call drippy nose sailing. it didnt really stop til mid day....but before then let me recount the start of our day. we dragged ourselves out of a deep sleep because matey on a boat next to us said he was leaving at 8am...but we got up to discover he had changed had mind...and was going later. not very considerate. After that we decided bacon butties were the order of the day. We have had a couple of visitors on board today: Bridget, Ali and Phoebe. The rest of the day has been doing some maint jobs...mags up the mast, kevin connecting the new stereo and sam servicing winches.... we did manage the odd ice cream and washed our shoes after our tsunami in the dinghy.

Old fossils contd

some more pictures from today:

Old Fossils

Anyone who is used to sailing in Britain knows that the tides are anti social....which means early starts. Well not this time, we had a leisurely breakfast at 9am in the shadow of Old Harry Rocks. We raised the anchor at 11am and pottered round the Jurassic coast, with its spectacular folds of land and outbursts of brillant white limestone. We spent a lazy afternoon in Warbarrow Bay...which I can only describe as a remote but stunning hidden gem. The afternoon activity was learning how to inflate our brand new dinghy.....which was much easier after the instructions had been read. We then had an explore ashore. Kevin and i had sussed out that we needed to take our shoes and socks off to get onto land. So we were already. The dinghy crunched on the pebbled beach..we were about to jump ashore and in came a 1ft tsumani wave drenching us and the carefully stowed shoes and socks. Invigorating walk ashore which was rewarded by spectacular views. We raised the anchor about 5pm and poottled to Weymouth. Moored next to our friends: Mr G, Francis, Steve and Sue and had pre dinner drinks whilst Mags conducted tours of the new cooker. Tasty meal followed... life is tough.

Cracking good sail grommit

We wimped out on sat. Too much wind and rain.... perhaps we have turned into fair weather sailors. Sunday looked far more promising and there was even blue sky. We set off and had a great sail up the solent....note to self must do more fitness i forgot it was hard work... Kevin our new salty sea dog. who has joined us for the week had a cracking good sail out past the needles. slight drama with the engine coming into our anchor, but mechanic mags got it sorted. so now we are lying peaceful at anchor in studland bay.

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog. We are off on a cruise soon ....cruising to Weymouth and back for a week. Not far you might think. True but we always speed past this beautiful part of our coastline so this time we will take time to investigate as many anchorages en route.