Slow Boat to Torquay

We planned to stay in Yarmouth Tuesday and Wednesday nights - the 2nd and 3rd April. And we did, so in a sense our plan worked.

Except we planned to leave on Thursday 4th April and so, naturally, on that day the heavens opened and the wind it did blow. Plan B then. Leave on Friday 5th April. Well the big weatherman in the sky wasn't having that either, which left Plan C. You've guessed it? Leave on Saturday 6th April. Which we did. So, once again, our plan (ahem!) worked.

Wednesday was a nice day so we went for a walk around the River Yar (for those old enough - but not too old - this has nothing to do with yuppies. OK? Ya?). It's an attractive route and I even managed to get a couple of photos without water in them to (hopefully) satisfy my mother, who has long complained that our pictures are just a bit too blue (and grey and green of course).

Howard Hayles Boatyard, Yarmouth

One for you mum. Colour and no water!

And another one mum...

Yeh, OK. This one has water but it's a river, not the sea!

Whilst Thursday was a wash out, Friday was at least dry so we embarked - or so I thought - on the Fort Victoria Country Park circular walk. Turns out I, er, didn't turn when I should have and led us half way to Ventnor on the Coastal Path before realising my mistake. Still, all those extra miles must be doing wonders for my waistline. Time for a few beers and some fish 'n' chips to celebrate, eh?!

Postman? Soldier? Whatever, he wasn't going to budge up for anyone...

Hurst Castle from the Fort Victoria Country Park Walk's highest point.

So Saturday came and we left (finally!). We completed the 40 odd miles to Weymouth more quickly than anticipated and, as our reward, managed to scrape into the marina (not literally) under the 1800 lifting bridge.

Some Jurassic Cliffs en route to Weymouth (maybe). You get Jurassic everything around here. Even Jurassic electric bikes!

Weymouth is a place of contrasts with an attractive outer harbour, a long sandy beach and a pretty run down town centre. You can get fish 'n' chips and beer at any hour - or so it seemed - and many people did! Alongside its rather tacky seaside town image, it has a certain charm and we were happy to add to that by staying a few nights.

Weymouth outer harbour. Pretty, ain't it?

And again, complete with lifting bridge that allows access to the marina

Weymouth sea front

And again. The sand's up this end. Shingle up t'other.

We got some washing and shopping done - the latter requiring a rather long walk in order to take advantage of a "£10 off a £40 shop at Lidl's" offer in the Sunday Times! I can't quite take to Lidl's. Sure, it's cheap - especially with the £10 off - but it's just so chaotic and disorganised! Aldi's the same though I suppose. Still, every man has his price and this particular one comes cheap! Hand me a voucher and I'll be your loyal customer for the day!

Still, time and tide waits for no man (or woman) and on Wednesday 10th April we set sail for Torquay. This meant passing Portland Bill with its infamous race "in which severe and very dangerous sea states occur".

Even in settled weather this should be avoided by small craft - something I recall putting to the test a few years ago... Well, there was hardly a ripple on the water as I approached the area! A mile or so further on and Cyclone was rolling as if in a washing machine, with green water flowing into the cockpit (water a couple of inches deep flooding over the sides as the decks rolled underwater). 20 or so minutes further on and order was once more restored. Lesson learned...

What causes this unholy sea state is, if I may quote from Reeds Nautical Almanac "...the confluence of two strong tidal streams which at springs run S down each side of the Isle of Portland for almost 10 hrs out of every 12 hrs. These streams meet the main E-W stream of the Channel, producing large eddies on either side of the Portland Bill and a highly confused sea state with heavy overfalls in the Race. The irregular contours of the seabed, which shoals rapidly from depths of about 100m some 2 miles S of the Bill to as little as 10m on Portland Ledge 1 mile further N, greatly contribute to the violence of the Race. Portland Ledge strongly deflects the flow of water upwards...". You get the picture! I tried it once in very calm conditions and got away with it. I'd probably have been fish food if the conditions had been foul (but, then again, I wouldn't have tried it then! There's stupid and then there's really stupid!).

You can avoid the Race by passing to seaward of it, i.e. 3-5 miles south of the Bill, or by using the inshore passage if conditions suit. This is a narrow stretch of water between about 200m and 600m off the Bill and, as we had decent conditions, we headed for it at the prescribed time relative to high water Portland. The picture below shows the result. BORING!!

Portland Bill, with no sign of the scary race (superb planning on the part of the skipper...)

Our trip to Torquay was frustrating, if uneventful. We set off with an inshore forecast, courtesy of the Met Office, of NE F4 or 5, occasionally 6 at first, veering E and decreasing 3 later. Bear in mind that we left at 1200, the forecast was for 24 hours from the same 1200, and later means more than 12 hours after the start time of the forecast.

What wind did we get? Maybe a F4 NE until about 4pm, after which it dwindled to next to nothing - maybe a few knots of W! So it was a case of 20 miles under sail and the remainder either motor sailing or just plain motoring. Booo!!

We'd expected to arrive after dark and weren't disappointed. I don't mind sailing in the dark, but prefer to do this when I'm well away from land and, specifically, pot markers.

Fishermen have to make a living and some do so by catching lobsters and crabs. For the uninitiated, they catch these by dropping baited lobster pots into the sea. Their prey happily clamber into these to take the bait before realising that they can't get out. The fishermen then lift the pot, complete with prisoner, out of the sea and voila, Lobster Thermidor!

The problem is that the fishermen can't lift the pots unless they tie a rope to them and the rope needs to be supported by a float if they're to reach it from their boats. Some fishermen use old plastic oil cans to support these ropes. More sporting ones use brightly coloured balls and some even go to the trouble of attaching a stick with a flag on it to make it more obvious. After all, it's in nobody's interest for a passing boat to run over one of these floats. The passing boat is disabled by the rope wrapping itself around its propeller - possibly even wrenching the shaft out of the boat in the process - and the fisherman potentially loses his expensive fishing gear.

Regrettably, none of the options for marking the fishing gear really work at night. As a result, some areas - including the inshore passage at Portland Bill - are definite no go areas after dark. In other areas, the risks are lower and just have to be taken on the chin.

The sun setting as we approach Torquay. I wish it wouldn't. It makes it far harder to see...

Our plan (yes another one!) was to moor, on arrival at Torquay, just inside Haldon Pier on a "96m long pontoon". The sea was rolling around quite unnecessarily as we approached land - it had been relatively smooth further out - and we looked forward to tying up in the shelter of this welcoming arm.

Yeh, right! First of all the pontoon appeared to have been left out in the rain - it was 20m max - and secondly nobody had told the sea that it was supposed to be calmed by the pier! Jo deftly stepped onto the pontoon only to be wobbled and rattled as it bucked and writhed under her feet, before a rather portly Rob added to her troubles by landing with a thump and catapulting her upwards!

But we were tired after about 9 hours sailing and so there we would stay - with all 8 fenders protecting Cyclone from that animated pontoon! An hour or so later, revitalised by a cuppa, we clung onto our berth trying determinedly to sleep as we endured a ride that could surely rival anything from Alton towers.

This berth was cheap and I'm mean but, at 0900 Thursday morning, we motored into the eye-wateringly expensive MDL Torquay Marina.

The site of our first night. The ramp wasn't there and the pontoon was only half the length it is here!

One of Jo's. Where are we again?!

Today is our first day in Torquay and so far we've only done a little exploring. I'm sure there'll be more in a later post, but here's a taster:

Another one of Jo's photos. Don't laugh. She's not very tall and the grass was long!!

Looking over the Town Dock - from a steep hill towards a steep hill.

A view from Torquay's Coast Path

And another. Glad we missed those coming in in the dark...

Thanks for reading.