17th August, 2018
Carole was up about 07:30 following another disturbed night’s sleep. Note for next trip: ask marina staff to give us a berth away from the Lock and where we would be less likely to be disturbed by the fishing boat movements.
We had plenty of time for breakfast and showers, etc. before leaving this morning. Chris re-checked the weather forecast and all looked good going east with a SW F4-5. We locked-out on the 10:00 lock with a few others. We were leaving at low water but had plenty of water out of the fairway. Carole stowed all the fenders and ropes and before long the sails were up pushing us eastwards. We could see some other yachts in the distance who left the harbour on the previous lock, as they say, it’s not a race but…… The Lydd firing range was reported as “Active” but we did not hear any transmissions from the Range safety boat “Rotter” despite the yachts in front sailing just on the edge of the range and the vision came into our heads of the men there all sitting together with their feet up, drinking tea and playing cards. so we continued on our heading with no problems.
The sea was becoming a bit lively. We were surfing down the large waves with the water spraying both sides with a 25 knot wind. Our auto helm struggles to react quickly enough in rolling seas so we took it in turns to helm and enjoyed the ride. As we came nearer to Dover we could see the ferries crossing the channel. We decided to press on to Ramsgate as we were slightly ahead of schedule and the tide would be pushing us on. Dover Port Control monitors all vessels around Dover and you are required to call Dover when you are 2 miles away. A Dutch boat who was approaching the western entrance did not call in and Dover Control called them to ask about their intentions and reminded them of their need to make the 2 miles call. The yacht replied that they want to enter the harbour but they hadn’t wanted to radio in until after they had put their sails away nearer the entrance. Dover replied politely, but firmly that when the yacht is in their jurisdiction they must comply. Chris made sure that we marked the 2 mile plot so we could radio in and tell them of our plan of passing by to continue on to Ramsgate. The call was made and we were asked to keep 1 mile off, and as we were already aware, that 2 ferries were due to enter in the next 10 minutes. We advised that we would go astern of these and once past, would return to our original course.
Once past Dover the sea started to calm down a bit and the wind dropped to about 12 knots. We put the engine on and brought the sails in. The tide was now pushing us towards Ramsgate. Chris said he could smell the fish and chips. We approached Ramsgate and obtained permission to enter the harbour. We then called up the marina and were asked to stand by as the harbour master was rushing around looking for larger berths to accommodate a few of us who had entered harbour at the same time. He finally gave us a berth on F pontoon, no. 19, which was a tad small in length and our stern was sticking out a bit. Chris could see two men by our berth with caps on. One of the caps had black and white checks, which led Chris to believe that we were being welcomed by the Border Force. We got onto the pontoon nicely with their help and then discovered that the men were two Dutch sailors who just liked the caps!
Once we had sorted out our lines properly, connected to the power and paid our dues, we had a quick wash and change and walked up the hill to get our supper. We found a pub/restaurant similar in style to Wetherspoons, but an independent, which we had visited on our last trip. It was pretty deserted as there is a new Wetherspoons in Ramsgate now, but we both enjoyed a hot, well cooked meal with a half pint of shandy to wash it down with before strolling back to relax for what was left of the evening. We enjoyed a game of scrabble and a nice cuppa before heading to bed.