Sailing Aphrodite

Lowestoft to Dover

0115 hrs
Awake and the kettle is on for mugs of coffee before heading across the Thames Estuary.

0130 hrs
I called up Lowestoft Control, they were awake and answered in about 10 seconds! Requested permission to put to sea, duly granted as nobody else was a wake. Slipped out lines and departed Lowestoft after a pleasant stay.

We left the pier heads into a two metre swell and the next half an hour was a 'bumpy' ride out to deeper water as there is a sand bank that we should have had enough water to safely pass over, but on several occasions I read depth under the keel as 0.00 metres! Fingers crossed a trough would not dump us on the seabed!

Thankfully, after taking our 'shortcut' we were in the buoyed channel and unfurled the genoa as the wind was still with us. I looked out for the comforting flash of Southwold light and let Morris take the watch 0300 to 0600 watch.

0730 hrs
On a rather grey morning I looked behind us to see a huge container ship about two miles behind us on the port side. I activated the ship on the chart plotter AIS screen to find it was the One Manhattan, a 153453 tonne container ship making her way towards one of the London Ports. As we were in quite a narrow channel and I was the stand on vessel I kept my course and speed. On AIS I could see that she had made a 2° turn to port and quietly passed us before resuming her old course.

The rest of the day was quite uneventful. A few changes of course as we weaved our way across the Thames Estuary. It felt a lot less daunting that the trip north.

Entering Dover was something that I had dreaded, there are significant numbers of ferry movements and other craft that buzz about the port so had studied the pilotage information carefully.

1730 hrs
On arriving 2nm off Dover Harbour I called Port Control as instructed in the pilot books. After a cheery hello I informed them that I'd not been into Dover before. The response from them was fantastic. Clear instructions and a smooth entry into the east entrance, behind one of the cross channel ferries, then follow the breakwater round to the western entrance where I should see another vessel coming in and follow that into the marina.

We called the marina and asked for a berth for the night and were directed to a pontoon through a maze of large concrete basins. After tying up I popped up to the very new and modern marina office. Asked where there was a decent pub for a quick meal and a beer.

Walking back to the boat if became apparent that all modernisation had stopped as European Funding had been withdrawn, the irony of the reality of leaving the European Union.

Finding the boat, Morris and I headed off to the pub and were less than impressed with the beer, the meal and the service, but it refueled us and we had an early night before the next short hop to Brighton.

Crew: Sandy Garrity, Morris Abbot

Trip Stats: Distance: 91 nm, Under way: 16 h 20 m, Avg speed: 6.00 knots, Max speed: 8.00 knots.

Weather: Inshore waters forecast to 12 miles offshore 01:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 2 Sep 2021 to 01:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 3 Sep 2021

Gibraltar Point to North Foreland

24 hour forecast: Northerly or northeasterly 4 or 5, becoming variable 2 to 4 in north. Slight or moderate, becoming slight. Mainly fair. Good.

North Foreland to Selsey Bill - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Easterly or northeasterly 4 to 6. Slight. Mainly fair. Good.

Lowestoft

As we had decided that a rest day had been well earnt a lazy day in port fill up with fuel, grab some essentials at a supermarket and trip to a local chandeliers for an end for our electrical cable was all we needed to do.

The morning started well as we had looked up a chandelier on the internet the night before and had called them to see if they had the part, yes they had and thought no more about it. I looked them up on Google Maps and as it was only a couple of miles we decided to walk. Arriving at a house in the middle of an estate realised that this was not the place and after a few phone calls finally worked out where we should have been. A few more miles and we finally got to the right place and discovered a fantastic wee cafe that served devine sausage sandwiches.

The part in hand we jumped onto a bus and headed back to the marina.

A quiet afternoon was had followed by dinner in the sailing club and an early night as we needed to depart very, very early in the morning.

Scarborough to Lowestoft

30/08/2021

0730 hrs
After a quiet night tied up against the tug the alarm went off and we got the boat ready for the long trip across the Wash to Lowestoft. Having done this passage on the way up I knew it would be a long haul with lots of interesting pots, windfarms and ships to look out for!

We called up Lowestoft Control and requested permission to depart, cast off and headed out of the shelter of the harbour into a dank misty morning.

1030 hrs
About 3 nm east of Flamborough Head showers and bright spells, with lots of pots, but thankfully not the rate of tide that I had on the northward journey.

Off Flamborough Head

This was more the life! Both Morris and I settled down to a long passage and the watch system. Our usual three on three off.

2300 hrs
I was on watch in a choppy sea and a gusty wind when a banging started at port side of the transom! The fuel tank was loose and with the chop was banging in its mounts. With the boat sloshing about in the dark there was little I could do on my own until Morris came up to relieve me at 0000 hrs. As soon as he did I looked to make repairs but it was not easy. I stuffed a few towels down between the tank and its mounting to try and quieten things down a bit. Not sure if it made any difference! After half an hour I retreated to my bunk as I had the 0300 - 0600 hours watch which is never easy.

31/08/2021

0300 hrs
Coming up on deck we did our usual handover and as Morris headed down below I checked the chartplotter as usual. That's odd its telling me the tide is against us when clearly it is with us. I checked the screen that shows the GPS information only do discover that the chartplotter thought it was 01/01/2002! At least it knew where we were in space if not time.

0500 hrs
While in the channel just off Great Yarmouth doing about six knots I spotted a vessel in the channel about a mile ahead of us going south at about one and a half knots and was postiting the boat to the starboard side of the channel in order to over take the vessel she turned and started coming towards us! Not what I was expecting and confusing my pilotage down the channel even more! I came to the conclusion that she was waiting for enough water to get into Great Yarmouth.

With the light slowly dawning Morris came up on deck to get ready for going into Lowestoft.

0630 hrs
We called up Lowestoft Control and asked permission to enter the port, slipped quietly between the pier heads and found a berth at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club visitor pontoon, at least it was light when we made our entrance then got our head down for a few hours.

At about 0930 hrs the berth master came round and said hello, and that he was surprised to see me back and with crew.

1200 hrs
The clubhouse was open and we popped in to pay for our stay, the bar was open and they had some very tempting sandwiches so we treated ourselves and mulled over the options.

Given the mileage we had done since Peterhead it was decided that a rest day was needed and that would would depart in another 36 hours.

Crew: Sandy Garrity, Morris Abbot

Trip Stats: Distance: 148 nm, Under way: 23 h 00 m, Ave speed: 6.46 knots, Max speed: 8.50 knots.

Weather: Inshore waters forecast to 12 miles offshore 01:00 (UTC+1) on Mon 30 Aug 2021 to 01:00 (UTC+1) on Tue 31 Aug 2021

Whitby to Gibraltar Point

24 hour forecast: North or northeast 4 or 5. Moderate, occasionally slight at first. Occasional drizzle or showers. Good, occasionally moderate.

Outlook for the following 24 hours: North or northeast 4 or 5. Moderate. Occasional drizzle or showers. Good, occasionally moderate.

Blyth to Scarborough

0615 hrs
Cast off the lines and set off southward again. The wind was still from the north and sails were set.

A cracking day sail followed, in ideal running conditions. A lovely F4 over the transom, the sun shining, but cool. Even on a day sail we ran a watch system to keep fresh.

1700 hrs
Called up Scarborough Harbour control to arrange a berth for the night and informed that once the regatta fleet was back in we could come into the harbour and tie up against a tug, they will always find somewhere to fit you in. It was only then it dawned it was a Bank Holiday Weekend.

1800 hrs
Tied up beside the tug Falmouth. In both visits here the harbour team have been extremely helpful, but this is the first time I've tied up alongside a tug.

While sorting out the boat Morris discovered that he had left the forehatch open a crack and the bedding was wet! We got the wet stuff together and headed off to the laundrette and then to find a decent fish and chip shop for a quick meal. Followed by a swift half in the nearest pub while the tumble drier did its work.

We returned to the laundrette to find all bedding was now dry and headed back to the boat.

Crew: Sandy Garrity, Morris Abbott

Trip Stats: Distance: 66 nm, Under way: 11 h 45 m, Avg speed: 5.60 knots, Max speed: 8.00 knots.

Weather: Inshore waters forecast to 12 miles offshore 01:00 (UTC+1) on Sun 29 Aug 2021 to 01:00 (UTC+1) on Mon 30 Aug 2021

Berwick upon Tweed to Whitby

24 hour forecast: North or northeast 2, increasing 3 or 4. Slight. Fair then drizzle at times. Good occasionally poor.

Whitby to Gibraltar Point

24 hour forecast: North or northeast 2 or 3, increasing 4 or 5. Slight, occasionally moderate later. Fair. Good, occasionally moderate later.

Peterhead to Blyth

Friday 27^th August 2021

With an early start and a gray cool morning Morris and I set off on our voyage back to Plymouth.

0730 hrs

After calling Peterhead Control we slipped the berth at the marina, headed out into the main harbour and past the two breakwaters. While it was a flat calm in the harbour there was a four meter swell running just outside the breakwater and I could see the colour drain from Morris's face! Clearly he was not very comfortable, but we had to make our way east for about 1 nm in order to clear 'The Skerries' to the south of the harbour it was going to be a bit of a roller coaster for next 20 minutes as we rode up the face of the waves and over the crest.

As soon as we could we turned south the swell was now behind us and a lot more comfortable, set the genoa, turned off the engine and enjoyed being on the water again even though it was a cold grey morning. Ahead of us lay 150 nm run down to Blyth.

To the south of Peterhead there is Buchan Ness Lighthouse which quickly disappeared from view and Peterhead Power Station which did not! It felt a bit like Dodman Point in Cornwall, all ways there.

With two people onboard again the routine of the boat changed, three hours on watch and three off meaning we could drive the boat very efficiently. With the passage it became apparent that the tide travels from north to south down the North Sea and we had eight hours of tide with us and four against, this really helped keep our average speed up.

28/08/2021

0915 hrs
Tied up at Royal Northumberland Yacht Club stretched our legs on the pontoon and chatted to the other crews who were about then made our way up to their amazing clubhouse, well not a clubhouse but an old lightship, House Yacht H Y Tyne III was previously Light Vessel No. 50. It is the oldest floating timber light vessel remaining in Great Britain and only one of three still identifiable as a light vessel, but we were to early and returned back to Aphrodite to catch up on some sleep.

Royal Northumberland Yacht Club Clubhouse

1200 hrs
With the clubhouse open we went in and said hello, paid for a berth for the night and as the bar was open and lunch being served tucked into a superb gammon steak and a couple of pints. Pub grub at its best. Then toddled back to the boat to catch up on some sleep.

1900 hrs
Considering the great lunch we enjoyed we headed back to the clubhouse for dinner. Perhaps one of the finest steaks that I've eaten in the last few years and couple more beers before heading back to the boat to sleep. To be honest it would have been extremely easy to sit and talk most of the night as the members were incredibly warm in their welcome.

Crew: Sandy Garrity, Morris Abbott

Trip Stats: Distance: 135 nm, Avg speed: 6.00 knots, Max speed: 9.00 knots, Under way: 23 h 30 m

Weather: Inshore waters forecast to 12 miles offshore 01:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 27 Aug 2021 to 01:00 (UTC+1) on Sat 28 Aug 2021

Rattray Head to Berwick upon Tweed

24 hour forecast: North or northeast 3 or 4, becoming variable 3 or less later. Slight or moderate, becoming slight later. Fair. Good.

Outlook for the following 24 hours: Variable 3 or less. Slight. Fair. Good.