Southampton boat show 14th - 22nd September

Here she is at the show. It seems to have gone well and we had an opportunity to speak to suppliers of equipment and make plans for next year.  She is now, hopefully, back in Haslar Marina, Portsmouth. Broadblue want to use her for a few demonstration sails. In exchange they will pack her up for the winter. We'll go down this week and remove anything that needs to be off the boat until spring.

Southampton

We welcomed Kennan and Melanie for what was probablty our last sail of the season. In blustery conditions we tacked up the Solent to Cowes and then motored up to the Foley Inn for lunch. It was an opportunity for our visitors to have fish and chips. After lunch we headed up Soutampton water to leave our boat with Broadblue for the boat show.

Back in Portsmouth

We survived the night at anchor in Chichester Harbour. I was looking forward to idling round the harbour in the sunshine, perhaps a walk to a pub for lunch. As it was the day was grey, the wind was howling, the sky was laden with rain. So we upped anchor and bounced our way over the Chichester bar and headed for home where we knew there was a good shower and plug in power. It was also a good opportunity to clean the boat. We now sit amongst a gaggle of Broadblues - including us there are 2 385s, 3 435s and a solitary 345.

Chichester Harbour

We finally got off the mud at 4pm and made our way out into the Solent. We only had to go 10 nm to the Chichester bar at the entrance to this massive natural harbour. The wind was blowing at 20 knts and we had a downwind sail achieving 7 to 8 knts. We've anchored yet again. A little bit trickier but we seem to be OK at the moment. Let's hope we'll have a comfortable night.

Bembridge

This morning we took the dinghy ashore and walked to the pub for a drink. After a sandwich on the boat we left an increasingly crowded anchorage and sailed and then motored to Bembridge on the North East coast of the Isle of Wight. We can only get in here near high tide. We're happily berthed in a few centimetres of water and will sink into the mud as the tide goes out. It does mean we can only leave near high tide tomorrow, either at 5 am or 5 pm.

Newtown River

For once we're having glorious weather although no wind. We stayed in anchor in Poole yesterday for a second night. We took the dinghy ashore to Brownsea Island, had lunch and a long walk. Today we left at 8am bouncing along the bottom until we got into the channel. We motored towards the Sent stopping at Yarmouth to do some shopping before getting into the Newtown River for lunch. This is a peaceful, although somewhat crowded anchorage. We'll stay here tonight.

Poole harbour

We're peacefully anchored in a backwater of Poole Harbour. It was another early start and a long day beating into a choppy sea and a cold wind. Something always goes wrong on a boat. Today it was the mainsail out haul that broke. At least we're within sight of the Solent so, baring disasters, we can be sure of getting to Southampton for the boat show.

Teignmouth

We woke up to thick fog so back to bed. An hour later it had cleared so we motored the 10 miles round to Teignmouth. They have 2 small visitors pontoons and we took up a side if one. We took the dinghy across the river for lunch and are now having a cup if tea before going ashore in Teignmouth.

Brixham

We're back on the boat again. We celebrated Lucinda's birthday over the weekend and took the train to Plymouth yesterday afternoon. The train was packed with unpleasant children and uncouth youth. Plymouth was grey, wet and miserable. It was a bit brighter when we got up at 6am this morning. There was no wind and as we motored east the sky brightened and it started to feel a bit warmer. We're now in Brixham having lunch in the harbour side cafe. It actually feels like summer and people are wearing shorts. It's starting to feel nice to be back.