Eastbourne
Alarm went off at 04:00 so we could slip out of Dover at 04:30, before the lock closed. Carole had made sandwiches the night before as this would save one of us (Carole) making them on passage. We left on time out of the Western entrance and motor sailed for the first hour waiting for the wind to pick up. Soon the sails were filling with a F3/F4 North Easterly, and the sky was brightening. Sailing was very good on a beam reach averaging 7 -8 knots. The depth alarm sounded several times warning that we had more the 30 metres depth. (East coast sailors regard 5 metres as very deep) I need to change the settings!
We rounded Dungeness ahead of time and had a fair tide pushing us towards Sovereign Harbour, our destination. As we were approaching Sovereign Harbour we had to find the Safe Water Buoy which should be our start point for the approach. We had a gps fix for the buoy but still could not see it until we were 100 metres from it. This led us safely into the locked harbour, where we settled in for the night.
