Page 22 - Yachter Autumn 2020

22 CRUISING REPORTS
dawns grey and drizzly but soon improves, although hazy for much of the journey.We start with wind, but this soon disappears. Fortunately, we make good distance with the tide and arrive in Portland Marina by early afternoon.
With strong Easterlies forecast for the next three days we stay put in Portland until Saturday when the wind is forecast to swing back round to the South West. During this time we discover ‘The Cove Inn’ located at the Isle of Portland end of Chesil Beach, a delightful spot in the evening sunshine, walk a rather overgrown South West Coast Path to Littlesea along a rather desolate stretch of the Dorset coast, and walk into Weymouth, with a stop at Sandsfoot Castle ruins to take in the views across Portland Harbour.
Finally, the wind calms down on Saturday and we set off back toThe Solent.At first, we have wind blowing from the South West, so we sail for an hour or so. Then the wind dies, so we motor. As today is ‘2019 Round the Island Race’ day we decide to check out
how the boats are doing.It seems they had a great run down the Western Solent but once they came out past Hurst Channel down towards the Needles the wind slackened
off. In fact, it turned out to be one of the slowest Round the Island Races, with boats not finishing until after 10pm. Eventually only 283 boats finished out of 1210.
The last night of our holiday is spent on
a mooring buoy outside ofYarmouth.As it is a late low water on Sunday, we go ashore for Sunday lunch before returning to Ocean Village late afternoon. Despite our engine issues, we have had an enjoyable trip away and are already looking forward to the next one.
Words and photos: Natalie Hamilton