V51-13 Poole to Portland

Another glorious day for our passage to Portland. We arrived by the end of the afternoon, and we will wait here until the tide and weather are both good for Lyme Bay.

25 June 2024

Jo took the train back to Bristol to take our cat from the cattery to the vet for her monthly arthritis injection. I stayed to do boat jobs. We were treated to a glorious Portland sunrise and sunset today.

See our gallery of Molia sunrise and sunsets here.

26 June 2024

We walked to the end of Portland Bill.

V51-11 Lymington to Gosport

We left Lymington mid-morning as there is no way of avoiding the tide-against in the Solent today. It does not really matter; it is a short leg to Gosport where we will moor in the Haslar Marina for a few days (this is a sister boatfolk marina to our home port – Portishead).

Molia tied up in Haslar Marina. Good facilities and a short walk to the Portsmouth ferry.

We will stay here to see the sights.

21 June 2024

We got the Portsmouth ferry and went to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to see some warships.

Starting with HMS Warrior (1860).

Jo loads the forward gun on the ‘monitor’ HMS M.33 (1915)

We had a look at what is left of the Mary Rose (1510) and the vast collection of contemporary artifacts retrieved from in and around it.

22 June 2024

Today is submarine museum day. This part of the historic dockyard is located in Gosport.

In the nearly two days we have been here, we really had not noticed the huge post-war submarine immediately behind the marina!

Can you spot it?

HMS Alliance (1945) was built at the end of WWII but did not serve until after. It is complete.

HMS Holland 1 (1901) was the first ever submarine built by the Royal Navy and was recovered from the seabed.

Would you go to sea in either of these?

V51-10 Poole to Lymington

Next stop on our eastwards voyage is Lymington. We have not been here before either; just to catch the car ferry to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.

The channel into Lymington is well marked, and we stop in the first marina: Lymington Yacht Haven. This is a small distance out of town, but it has good facilities including an on-site chandlery that also sells beer, bread and milk.

V51-09 Portland to Poole

After some wet and windy days in Portland, sailing weather has been restored, and we are off on an exploration eastwards to the Solent. First stop is Poole – we have not been here by boat before.

We had to skirt the army firing range (just east of Lulworth Cove) with a small diversion south to 50 degrees 34 minutes. They were using the smaller northern part of the D026 range (see your chart).

Jo is a big fan of Old Harry’s Rocks off Studland. She spent childhood holidays in Swanage nearby.

The narrow entrance to Poole harbour has a strong current at peak tide flow and comes complete with a chain ferry to dodge! However it is by no means as fierce as it sounds; and the channel is excellently marked.

Molia tied up in Poole Quay Boat Haven which is located right on the town quay in Poole.

The Custom House restaurant (slightly west of the marina) is highly recommended.

v51-8 Dartmouth to Portland

Good tide at Portland Bill not until around 2100 – so we are not in a hurry to start (0930). However a very good sailing wind delivers us to within 5 miles of the Bill at around 1800. The boat speed is very fast, and the up-tide race has dissipated, so we take a route between the shore and the Shambles bank. Its a bit rough for about 500m but after that we reach the breakwater at 2000 and are moored up by 2030. Despite the tide against that is an average speed of 5.48 knots (57.4 NM in 11 hours).

We saw dolphins on the way.

We are waiting here for the poor weather to clear.

Niv and Steve have gone home as we will not be sailing again until next week.

V51-5 Newlyn to Mylor

A great sail into Mylor. Unfortunately, the engine suffered a broken exhaust elbow just yards from the pontoon. We managed to tie the boat up – but it will be a job for the engineer tomorrow.

21:33 Mylor sunset
6 June 2024

Staying in Mylor to get the engine fixed.

We are very grateful to Nick Smith, independent marine engineer in Falmouth, for working so hard to get us on our way again. Also to Mitch at Advance Marine back in Portishead for his remote consultations, and to Gerry at Falmouth Yacht Brokers for stocking the parts we needed.

Absolutely top work! – we will be able to leave for Plymouth tomorrow.

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