30th June
We woke up to sunshine today which made a change from the bad weather we have been having. We prepared the boat for sailing and after breakfast and a shower we slipped our lines and left Southampton Quay. Once Carole had tidied the lines and put the fenders away, we put the sails up and headed for the Solent. We were making about 5 knots with a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 6.5 knots. When we approached the Bramble Bank, we decided to motor sail around the hazard. Once past the West Bramble we turned the engine off and headed west, tacking towards Yarmouth (see our AIS Track below).
We had booked a pontoon mooring at Yarmouth by phone the night before, as we were worried that visitor moorings were going to be in short supply as the “Around the Island Race” is taking place at the weekend with about 1,700 sailing boats racing around the Isle of Wight. As we approached Yarmouth, Chris radioed in and was told that a Berthing Master would meet us and take us to our berth for the night. We were duly met and were not only directed to our berth, but also had our lines taken and helped tie up, which makes such a difference and we consider to be a first class service.
We were berthed very close to two large RNLI lifeboats, one of which left its berth to assist a rowing boat that had got into trouble in the Solent. Fortunately, on this occasion, all was well. The second lifeboat also left its berth, but just to move to another berth. Its engines were very loud and powerful and as the wind strengthened during the evening, we hoped they would not be called out to assist on a rescue tonight.
