 | 23 rd to 24 th of June 2014 - Back to the UK |
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| Crew : | Helen and Andy | |
| Destinations : | English Channel and Eastbourne. | |
| Distance : | 106 miles |
Monday 23 rd to Tuesday 24 th June
By Monday morning there were two rafts of four boats each on the visitor's pontoon. We were on the inside of one raft and had told all of our neighbours that we wanted to take the 0730 bridge opening, the boat one out in the other raft also wanted to leave at the same time so the harbour was filled with boats as everyone untied and milled about while we made our exit.
By 0745 we'd locked out and where one our way, intending to cross back to the UK. The north-easterly wind forced us to motor sail to start with but by mid morning we were sailing our best course to windward, with our final destination somewhere on the UK south coast depending on what the wind angle would allow.
As evening fell the wind dropped so we returned to motor sailing. Our course had put us close to the western end of the Dover Straits TSS, which made the commercial traffic a little harder to read as we manoeuvred to keep clear of the shipping. Once clear we decided to make for Eastbourne, staying out near the edge of the TSS to try to avoid fishing pot buoys that we expected to find closer in shore and which would be difficult to spot in the dark.
We locked in to Sovereign Marina and tied up at 0445.
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