INTRODUCTION
Two people were going to sea
’cause the wind in the sails is for free.
And with that thought
a vessel was bought
that would carry them away happily.
Cordelia was the name of the boat
and they stacked her up load by load
until she would heave
so they decided to leave
to keep her and themselves afloat.
And so the adventure began
for that couple: one woman, one man.
Who knows what would happen
as they both were the captain
with a course to steer yet to plan.
Chapter One: THE START
On 4 June 2019 we put the last of our three loads in the people carrier we’d rented and made our way to Port Solent where Cordelia was moored. We’d completed the purchase of our Beneteau Océanis Clipper 393 on 28 May 2019 and were keen to get on board and start sailing.
First, however, there were a couple of things the surveyor had pointed out that needed rectifying. In addition, Peter ordered an AIS (Automatic Identification System), we treated the water tanks, commissioned the en-suite heads, found a place to mount the EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon), stowed the tender and installed the cradle for our life raft and lifted it in (this proved to be quite a challenge and many a strong word emerged from the cockpit), checked the engine and found times for walks around the marina, Portchester Castle, Marine Superstore and various other shops for provisions.
We were reminded that boating is a lot like camping, even more so when it rains. You go to the shower block and by the time you’re back at your domicile you’re potentially just as wet as you were under the shower. We also learnt after mopping up a few times that if you leave the windows in the main heads open it gets flooded. We were supposed to be retired but instead were exhausted every night which made for a sound sleep on our Pullman berth in the forward cabin. Cooking was with gas on two hobs and an oven and whereas one wouldn’t exactly be able to concoct an haute cuisine gourmet meal it did boil the kettle and heat up the pizzas. Eventually we settled in and once we deemed everything we needed in working order we laid course for our first outing.
Chapter Two: WE’RE SETTING SAILS
On 9 June 2019 at 8.00am we went through the lock at Port Solent and followed another boat out to the pierheads at Portsmouth.
We dodged the ferries and managed to hoist the sails and test the autopilot on our way to Osborne Bay. The wind soon dropped, so the engine took us the rest of the way to East Cowes.
That evening we also had the opportunity to test the Eberspächer heater. We had it on for an hour which made it very cosy down below. The rain stopped early next morning, so we went sight-seeing to Osborne House with its Swiss Cottage and its beach. The views were fantastic!
The weather continued to be unsettled but we were determined to enjoy ourselves. We walked to the Old Castle Point (yes, there is indeed a ruin there) on one day and to Egypt Point (no, no Egyptians as far as we could see) on another.
We also had a hike along the Medina River to Newport. This coincided with the Isle of Wight Festival, so we were soon engulfed by droves of lightly-clad youngsters pushing trolleys full of outdoor festival equipment. The way back was along an old (disused) railway line in pouring rain.
The rain continued through the night, but stopped at around 6.00am, so we prepared for departure and left East Cowes at 8.15am. Outside the harbour it was windy and we could see white horses (white crested waves at sea) in the distance. We kept two reefs in the mainsail and only used a slither of the headsail and enjoyed ourselves going back and forth between Cowes and the entrance to the Beaulieu River. By the time we had enough water under the keel to cross the sandbar over the river entrance it was blowing 28 knots, so we decided to call it a day and made our way to Bucklers Hard where we moored up at the fuel pontoon. We’d had our first experience of testing Cordelia’s sailing ability and absolutely loved it!
Chapter Three: RAINY SOLENT
Rain was forecast for the afternoon, so we decided to give Beaulieu Village a look in the morning and check out their local store. The village was pretty, but the shop was of the “I saw you coming” variety and we left empty-handed. When we got back to Cordelia it had started to spit. It rained in the night, it rained in the morning whilst we were in the shower and it rained whilst we were having breakfast. And guess who had opened the window in the main heads and didn’t tell anyone? AGAIN!!! And guess who cleared it up?
The rain eventually let off, so Peter inflated our tender and we ventured further up the river.
We were rewarded with some lovely scenery despite the grey sky. And then the sun came out the next day and transformed the place. We used the improved conditions for a pleasant walk to the Beaulieu Motor Museum, the Palace and Abbey. We also rode the monorail which gave a bird’s eye perspective, then watched the Top Gear show.
The sun disappeared again the next morning, but the thought of an empty fridge and wine cellar was scary enough to make us slip our mooring at 10.00am, bound for Lymington, and yes, it was raining again by then. We were lucky to be able to sail in the dry and as we had the tide with us were doing up to 5 knots in a light easterly wind. By the time we had made fast it was raining again. We replenished our supplies and left Lymington the next day in drizzle, catching the tide through the Needles.
Chapter Four: BEST LAID PLANS
There wasn’t a lot of wind, but the weather had improved since we’d left the Solent and we were able to set sails to Studland Bay. We dropped the hook and had our first anchorage accompanied by the obligatory anchor beer with a little bit of sunshine and we even had a decent sunset.
When we woke up the next day the sun was shining through our hatches, so we left as planned at around 12.00pm. Three hours later we were back. The wind direction had not been favourable and Peter had calculated that at best we’d make it to Portland by 11.00pm, not something that we’d relish. The wind was also gusting up to 25 knots, so we agreed to sit it out and try another day. This turned out to be the next day and a good decision.
We had an hour and a half of sailing, changed course and switched the engine on, and once past St Albans Ledge changed course again which made for a fantastic passage to Portland.
Chapter Five: IT’S WINDY
We spent eight nights in Portland and used the time to clean Cordelia, make minor repairs, use the laundry facilities, shop at the Coop on the top of the hill, schlep provisions back from Weymouth, meet up with our windsurfing buddy Mike and enjoy long walks along Chesil Beach, to Portland Bill, Easton and along the coast path to Weymouth.
The weather was mixed, but it was the wind that delayed our planned and also revised departure. It was absolutely howling, no matter whether day or night. Eventually it eased off and on 29 June we got away at 5.30am. We had a lovely downwind run after we’d turned round Portland Bill and made good progress until we lost the wind and had to motor the last stint to Brixham. It had been a sunny and warm day and when we sat in the cockpit in shorts and T-shirts we were reminded of our flotilla holidays in Greece.
Chapter Six: DARTING AROUND
We had a nice time in Brixham with walks to Berry Head and Fishcombe Cove before we caught the tide towards Dartmouth. As the boat was fully provisioned we decided to divert to Dittisham up the River Dart. We found a mooring buoy midstream and used our tender to ferry to shore and upriver to explore the surroundings.
We had three nights there and relished the walks and our time on board with blue sky, sunshine and a gentle breeze that cooled us off sufficiently to spend lazy afternoons on deck watching the world go by.
We left this little paradise and motored downriver to Darthaven Marina in Dartmouth.
We took the ferry to the other side for a touristy stroll, then restocked at the M&S Foodhall. The next day we picked up the coast path from Kingswear for a lovely 5 miles walk in the morning and visited Dartmouth Castle in the afternoon.
We thought we’d done the place justice and after some last provisioning departed for Salcombe.
Chapter Seven: HEADING WEST
We watched the Merlin series dinghy race from our mooring buoy in Salcombe and also walked to Snapes Point and Bolt Head where we had excellent views over the creeks and estuary.
We made it safely back out over the bar with ample water under the keel on our way to Plymouth. We had little wind and Peter thought it a good idea to try out the gennaker sail. We were pleasantly surprised how well it worked. We did about 2 knots with the tide against us, but as we were not in any hurry we kept it up for two hours. Peter had bought some feathers for the handline but despite now having two rods out during our trip, all he caught was weed. We did see dolphins and lots of giant jellyfish but we weren’t after either of those.
The sails came down outside Plymouth harbour entrance and we moored up at the marina in time for beer and nibbles, a shower, some washing and dinner on deck. It had been another warm and sunny day. We had a walk on the South West Path to Bovisand with great views of Drake’s Island toward the Tamar River and the entrance to Plymouth Sound and were off again after two nights.
We started on the engine as the wind was on the nose, but as soon as we changed course sailed close-hauled under canvas alone all the way to Fowey.
Chapter Eight: CORNWALL
We walked around Fowey, passed Readymore Cove and St Catherine’s Castle and bought Cornish pasties for lunch. We had intended to take the tender upriver to Golant, but had to abandon halfway up when the wind and waves hit us – literally, we got soaked! The weather soon improved, so we motored our tender to Polruan from where we followed the coast path along the cliffs to Lantic Bay. The views once again were fantastic.
We slipped our mooring on a cloudless and windless day. Slowly the wind increased and by the time we’d turned the corner and headed for Falmouth we had enough to raise the mainsail and gennaker. Swell on the beam did flog both sails occasionally but we made good progress. We got a place on the pontoon, visited Pendennis Castle and Trago Mills Store where we found some useful items.
We took our rucksacks and bags and marched to Lidl, stuffed them and carried them back fully laden. We filled up the fuel can we’d purchased from Trago Mills for that purpose, popped into Tesco Metro for some last bits and bobs and prepared to leave for the Helford River the next morning.
Chapter Nine: NIGHT SAILING
We motored all the way to our mooring buoy in the Helford River. We prepared the tender and took off to Frenchman’s Creek and Peter rowed us in as far as we dared to go. It was a very peaceful place and was nicely shielded from the wind.
The next days were spent with trips to Dennis Head, Durgan, Port Navas and around Helford Passage. When the rain came Peter installed the AIS in preparation for our voyage back to Portland.
After four nights we left the next morning at around 10.00am and set sails as soon as we lost the protection of the land. It blew a lovely Force 3 to 4 (on the Beaufort scale) from abeam and we had a wonderful journey. Peter was prompted to put out the rods when we saw dolphins, but, alas, the fish still weren’t interested.
Near Salcombe we altered course, trimmed the sails and prepared for the night. We had a nice sunset whilst we put the preventer on and poled out the genoa. It soon got dark and that’s when the AIS came into its own. It clearly showed us where any other boats were and whether we were on collision course and our closest point of contact. We still had to watch out for boats without AIS, but the device made a huge improvement to our night vision. Just before 2.00am we furled away the headsail and put two reefs in the main as we were doing 7 knots with the sea following us and pushing us on. The sailing was great, but at this rate we’d be rounding Portland Bill long before slack water at 9.30am.
At around 9.15am we were ready to approach Portland Bill Lighthouse. We did cut the corner of the overfalls a bit and were met by rather enraged waves. We got through them and headed for the passage between the headland and the Shambles when Peter spotted something resembling shore break in the distance. Neither of us could distinguish what it actually was, but we decided we didn’t want to find out. Lacking the local knowledge, we thought it best to give it a wide berth and take the long way round the Shambles. This, as it turned out, didn’t take too long, mainly because our detour was greatly assisted by the tide. As an additional bonus, we had a fantastic home run to just outside the harbour entrance.
We had been underway for 26 hours for the 125 nautical miles and we arrived at the visitors’ pontoon tired and in need of a shower. A nap followed the shower and coffee and cake were back on the menu soon afterwards.
Chapter Ten: PORTLAND AGAIN
Having spent over a week in Portland in June we knew our way around. We, our clothes and Cordelia all needed a good wash and Portland had it all: showers, laundry, chandlery and shops, albeit the latter at quite a distance as the new Lidl close to the marina wouldn’t open until later that year. Supplies were low, so a trip up the hill and another one to Aldi in Weymouth was in order. We also bought reclining chair cushions from B&Q to use in the cockpit. On this occasion we took the bus back from Weymouth and soon tested the cushions as to their snoozeability. They performed rather well and both of us dozed off for a while.
The days were filled with swimming, long walks to the Olympic Rings or to Moonfleet Manor House, catching up on the Internet and visits from our friends Chris and Karen and Peter’s sister Carol and brother-in-law Mike. We also did some maintenance and boat work and prepared ourselves and Cordelia for another overnight passage. Portland proved to be windy again, so it was a fortnight after our arrival before we set off to foreign lands.
Chapter Eleven: FRANCE
We started our journey at 7.00pm and sailed out of the Portland channel with a reef in the mainsail.
At 1.00am the wind decreased, so we shook out the reef but quickly de-powered the main and reduced the headsail when it came back with a vengeance. We had expected the tide to turn and push us the other way at around 2.00am, but the pushing didn’t happen and we had to adjust our course accordingly at around 5.00am. The sailing got bouncier and Cordelia heeled as we changed direction and by 6.00am we had two reefs in the main. Squalls hit us at around 8.00am and the tide worked against us, so we enlisted the engine and a couple of hours later arrived in Cherbourg.
We caught some Zs, registered at the marina office and raided the nearest Carrefour for pizza and wine. The supermarket got a few more visits during the week we were in Cherbourg.
We also took in the sights, walked up the Montagne du Roule and looked at the Musée de Liberation, went to the Cité de la Mer and admired the nuclear submarine and other maritime exhibits, and walked along the beach in both directions. After one last shopping for essentials, i.e. wine and XO cognac, we were ready to continue our travels.
Chapter Twelve: THE BAILIWICK OF GUERNSEY
It was raining when we left Cherbourg and followed the coastline to make use of the inner tidal stream. We reached Cap de la Hague at the allotted time, gave it a wide berth and had no issues with any potential overfalls. Then the Alderney Race pulled us to our destination in Guernsey with Cordelia speeding at over 7 knots.
The wind increased to a Force 5 and we were well heeled over on a close reach. The weather had at last improved after the Cap and we reached St Peter Port in glorious sunshine.
This, however, did not last and during our first week there the conditions were mixed. Still, we managed to explore the town with its Cotils, Candie Gardens, Priaulx Library and many more sights.
We had fantastic walks along the coast to Jerbourg Point and in the other direction to Fort Doyle. We saw beaches, cliffs, dolmens and of course the famous Guernsey cows. We also took the bus to Fort Grey, visited the shipwreck museum, crossed the causeway to Lihou and admired the beautiful landscape. We loved the rugged coast with rocks sticking out everywhere and waves crashing against them. It was jaw-droppingly stunning!
The weather had steadily improved during our second week, so we ventured further afield and took the ferry to Herm where beside dunes, cliffs and a pine forest we found the wonderful Shell Beach.
We also had a two-day excursion to Sark where we walked over La Coupée to Little Sark on our first day. We spent the night in our tent at the La Vallette campsite and used our second day to go as far north as we could to look at the rest of Sark. Again, we were taken aback by how picturesque this island was.
Back on Cordelia Peter laid in a course for Alderney, carefully planning around the tidal currents. We had an uneventful sail in a Force 3 to 4 and picked up a mooring buoy in the harbour.
The next day we took the water taxi to shore, then the coastal path which led to Saye and Corblets Bay, via numerous batteries to Longis Bay, then towards the Southern Cliffs and through St Anne’s back to Braye Bay. We’d planned to continue our tour the following day, but found ourselves engulfed in dense fog. Instead, we read the newspaper, did the crossword, fished from the boat without catching and sounded our foghorn every so often to alert other boats of our presence.
The fog cleared during the night and we were able to carry on with our sight-seeing. We retraced our steps to St Anne’s, then followed the coastal path to the airport (Lager Sylt), Telegraph Bay and the Gannet Colony, the latter viewed from a distance as it’s on a separate island.
We “offroaded” through prickly undergrowth in the Valée des Trois Vaux and walked the causeway to Fort Clonque. We admired the Swinge from the safety of our path and got back to Braye Bay via Fort Tourgis and Fort Doyle. Alderney was less touristy than its neighbouring islands and had more of an authentic feel. We really liked it there!
Chapter Thirteen: BACK IN BLIGHTY
We slipped our mooring at Alderney at 6.00am and were anchored in Studland Bay twelve hours later.
On the way there we encountered wildlife in the form of birds, dolphins and a lonely seal, but no fish, at least not at the end of our rods. We had a good night’s sleep and continued with the recovery from our exertions in the morning and through the day on deck in the sunshine.
After another night we set off at 4.00am via the North Channel to Cowes. The stars were out, the night was mild and the lights of Poole reflected off the water and lit the way in lieu of the missing moon. We set our headsail and had a smooth ride with the tide, averaging just over 5 knots. Around the east marker near Hurst Castle the sea started to look angry and it was quite choppy in the Hurst Narrows. The tide whizzed us along at over 8 knots and we soon reached the smooth waters of the Solent and East Cowes marina.
We had unfinished business there, so this time did the Medina Estuary Walk in sunshine.
We used the local facilities for cleaning and provisioning and spent one rather unpleasantly swelly night on anchor in Osborne Bay, courtesy of some cruise ships’ wake, before we set course for Brighton.
Chapter Fourteen: BRIGHTON
We motored through the Solent, crossed the traffic separation scheme and carried on east. We sailed through the Looe Channel and enjoyed our passage in a Force 3 to 4 wind along the way. As soon as we were near Brighton the wind increased to 25 knots, making it very awkward to steer through the narrow marina entrance. Waves were breaking over the breakwater and re-bounced off the harbour wall, but Peter surfed Cordelia safely through to the other side (the log showed a maximum of 14 knots!) and was then tested on his mooring abilities. We were blown onto the pontoon and used all of our eight fenders to stop us from ending up on top of it!
We battened down the hatches, locked the world with all its nasty wind and rain outside and hunkered down below. Cordelia was cosy and when the weather allowed it we went out shopping and walked along the beach promenade via Brighton Pier to Hove. At this point we were joined by one of Peter’s old school friends. Mickey was to accompany us for the rest of the cruise.
Chapter Fifteen: HOMEWARD BOUND
We set off from Brighton just after midday. There was not much wind and the sea was calm, so we motored, sailed, then motored, then sailed, motor-sailed and sailed again to the marina at Eastbourne. The next day we had a blustery walk along the seafront and a trip to Asda and prepared for an early start for our onward journey to Dover.
We made it through the lock at 6.30am and soon hoisted the sails. We had the wind on the beam and had a great ride all the way to Dungeness.
Unfortunately the change of course from thereon meant the wind was now on the nose. Tacking or pinching the rest of the way would have slowed us down too much, so we motor-sailed despite the wind gusting to 29 knots. Getting the sails down outside the harbour entrance was a bit of a struggle in these condition, but Peter moored us up safely on our pontoon in Granville Dock.
As soon as we left the protection of the harbour the next morning we were faced with swell. When we turned north we headed directly into a 20 knot wind and accompanying swell and chop which made for an exhilarating passage. After what felt like a lifetime but was only five hours we reached the sanctuary of Ramsgate.
We’d arrived in sunshine, but it rained the next morning and we spent the time down below doing cryptic crosswords which we were quite ineffective at and which was only solved with a lot of help from Mickey.
The conditions eventually improved and when we left at 4.00pm it was dry. There was not much wind, but we managed two hours of slow sailing before it died off completely. We furled the genoa away and motored the rest of the way to Lowestoft. It was another mild night, the sea was calm and the sky was clear enough to see some shooting stars. We had to dodge a few vessels near the Thames Estuary but otherwise had a relaxed passage.
It got light when we’d passed Southwold and we entered Lowestoft Harbour at 8.30am. We sat on the waiting pontoon with a bacon bap and a cuppa until we were called to go through the lifting bridge at 9.45am. It did not take long from there to reach our final destination at Lowestoft Haven Marina.
Mickey left us a couple of days later, Cordelia got a deep clean inside and out, we serviced the electrics, emptied and treated the water tanks, removed the sails, put all the soft furnishings in Peter’s mum’s loft and winterised Cordelia as best as we could. Cordelia would spend the winter in Lowestoft, being looked after by Peter’s sister Carol and her husband Mike, ready for another season. But that’s an altogether other story for another time!
