Eastbourne!

Vagabond now lies secured (I hope) to a pontoon in the Sovereign Marina at Eastbourne. We arrived there at last on Sunday night after an 11 hour motor/sail from Dover. But let's go back a bit. The loyal reader will last of heard of us in Ramsgate, where we stayed in harbour all last week as a variety of strong Westerlies took over the Eastern part of the English channel. I went home and cut the grass and collected even more items to put in the boat. The forecast looked propitious for the weekend and I went back to Ramsgate on Thursday, having arranged with the Flautist to join me on Saturday for the next leg of the trip - to Dover.

Friday dawned fair but as I was waiting for a crew on Saturday, I did the sort of things you usually do on a boat in harbour, cleaning, fiddling, checking, thinking what enhancements you'd like to see and chatting to bystanders. In the evening the architectural side of the family visited and we had a convivial evening on board and continued at a local hostelry.

Saturday was another fair morning and the Flautist arrived early too, so we sought permission from the port authority and left to catch the tide to Dover. The wind was on our port quarter, the tide was under our keel and we flew down to Dover in less than four hours, pontoon to pontoon.

 

We played at gybing a few times and the boom came out of the socket on the mast. The retaining pin had clearly not been locked properly when I had put the mast up in Burnham. Leaving the Flautist at the tiller (she had, after all competed at National level in dinghies at some time) I clipped on and rushed onto the cabin roof to fiddle the boom back in place and then pinched the stop pin from the bottom of the mast track (I felt it wouldn't be needed until  the sail was lowered so was not that important at the moment).


We  rounded the S Foreland with no further incident only to be told by Dover control to wait about a bit as a couple of Ferries beat us to the East entrance. Eventually they let us into the outer harbour and we motored slowly across and then down the canyon of the entrance to the marina (the tide was low and the dock walls seemed higher than our mast) to find a berth.  We watched a replica bronze age boat get lowered into the water (and promptly fill up), had lunch and then the Flautist went home having enjoyed the morning. I set out to find a new pin and plan the next stage of the journey. It looked like an early start was needed to make sure that we were passed the big shingle spit at Dungeness before the tide turned against us. A quick consultation with the Skipper confirmed my analysis.

Saturday was bright and sunny too, even at 06:00 hrs as I struggled to get ready. Lines were let go at seven, and after a bit a poor start (because I had forgotten to lower the centreboard) we were on our way to the port entrance. Permission was given for us to proceed, the traffic lights changed to green and at 07:30 we were off under the motor, west towards Dungeness. More in hope than expectation I hoisted the main and made a few desultory tacks (the wind had gone round the the South West over night) gave up on the idea of sailing (we were making 2 kn towards our destination and that was 44 miles way) so on came the outboard again. We motor sailed on and slowly the ground speed increased as the tide became favourable. Clouds built up ashore and I wondered if there was the chance of a sea breeze later on...If so, we might get some more sailing in. 

I wasn't cold, really



The sea was smooth and Dungeness was rushing towards us at more than 6 knots. There was time for a self portrait. If the wind stayed in this direction, we should be able to lay Eastbourne on a tack.

We passed Dungeness ahead of schedule and then the weather and the water conditions changed. The waves at Dungeness became steeper and confused. White horses appeared in the distance ahead of us. 'Wind over tide' I thought, 'Anyway, we  can't go back'. We changed course to head for Eastbourne and even sailed for a bit. The wind freshened and veered such that it came right on the nose. We could tack in towards land or out to sea or press on as we were. We pressed on.  The wind gained more strength(18 kn true) so I prudently took in a reef (there's a first!) and we carried on motor sailing, albeit a little more slowly. I changed petrol cans. The wave patterns changed - there were definitely white horses and the waves were coming to us against our port bow. We'd climb the wave (after all, Vagabond is quite little) and slide down the far side, sometimes landing with a thump that slowed us down. Steering up the lee side of the wave at an angle helped but it drove us down wind so I had to use each opportunity of a lull in the waves to drag us back to the weather side of our course. Several times we took spray over the bows (I managed to duck sometimes) and once or twice a wave seemed intent on joining me in the cockpit but changed it's mind at the last moment.

Seven hours later we were still at it. At last the we were able to close the land near Eastbourne. By now the sun was lowish to the West of us and it took me some time to find the entrance. It didn't help that I first mistook the entrance marker buoy as yet another fisherman's pot buoy! Eventually we were slipping between the entrance breakwaters and then moored in the lock. I was so tired I forgot what pontoon I was allocated and had to request it by radio again. We found it (downwind of a fishing boat) and tied up. The engine was turned off after eleven hours of use and I went below to face the shambles that I knew would be there after any voyage into a head wind and sea.

The trip so far has shown up a few defects in the boat and also has given me some ideas on improvements that I would like to have done to her. So, after consultation with Matt he has generously offered to collect Vagabond this coming weekend and take her back to Wales to make the changes. The snag is the weather on Thursday looks just right for going round Beachy Head and on to Shoreham by Sea.........