Living the Dream Cruise live update 139

Sat 15.9.12. Poole Harbour. Cobbs Quay.



Poole Quay awakens on a sunny, Saturday morning. Stargazer lies, studying her reflection, waiting for the Town Bridge to lift.



A light breeze ruffles the water affectionately. The sun paints the Quay with bold technicolor strokes.



The old blue bridge raises its stubby arms, and through we go.



We lie off the slender span of the new Twin Sails bridge, until it too opens its arms to us.



We're home. It's the end of the Living the Dream Cruise 2012. All ends are beginnings though...

POST SCRIPT



Thank you for accompanying us on our adventure. Updates won't be daily over the winter. I will keep you posted, though, as our next adventure unfolds - whatever that turns out to be.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Eccles Rd,Poole,United Kingdom

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 138

Fri 14.9.12. Poole Harbour. Goathorn Point.




We've got our F7. From the W and NW for most of the day. Due to go SW and ease tonight.




Planning to go through the bridges and up to our home berth tomorrow.
We left on May 1st after a gale blew itself out; and it looks as if we'll be coming back the same way.




Starting to get marginal on depth in South Deep. Moved to Goathorn Point this morning.




Tranquil pastoral views over the bow (above 2 pics); harbour mouth comings and goings (first 2 pics) over the stern.




Wind and kite surfers revelling in the breeze on all sides.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:W Undercliff Promenade,Poole,United Kingdom

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 137

Thr 13.9.12. Poole Harbour. South Deep.



Stargazer's foredeck bucks under my feet. It's midnight. The wind has gone NE. A steep chop is rolling through Studland Bay. Time to leave.



We slowly approach the blaze of shore lights that is Poole harbour entrance. I'm giving my sleepy eyes time to adjust; picking out the guiding wink of the navigation marks from the shore clutter.


We sound in to Blood Alley. The roar of the wind dies in the lee of Brownsea Island. I anchor Stargazer and tumble into my bunk.



It's a sunny morning when I re awake. I drink in the view. The forecast is giving F5-7 later; anywhere from N to S through W.



I take Stargazer further in behind the Islands to South Deep.



Wading birds warble; and ripples lap onto the beach with a silvery chime.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Ferry Rd,,United Kingdom

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 136

Wed 12.11.12. Studland Bay, Dorset.



It's a sleigh ride home in a building W breeze.


I pole the jib out in a gentle F3-4 off Dartmouth at dawn.



We're off Portland Bill 2 hours early; surfing the wind over tide swell in a F5, gusting 6. Stargazer is making 6 knots over the ground against the tide - which hasn't turned yet.



The seas get bigger as we toboggan past the the cliffs of Lulworth Cove and Worbarrow Bay.


We're on the edge of control. I stow the pole,tuck two reefs in the main, gybe over and put us onto a reach.


The tide is under us now. We cover the 25 miles to Old Harry in under 3 hours.


I tack Stargaze deep into an almost deserted Studland Bay...



...and anchor, under sail, in the lee of Redend Bluff.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Farm Cottages,Poole,United Kingdom

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 135

Tue 11.9.12. Dartmouth. Kingswear.




The barometer is up; and the forecast is good for the Bill tomorrow: NW 4 or 5.




It's a good day to catch the ferry over to Dartmouth. The ferry is a "float," towed by an alongside tug.




Ornate half timbered buildings line the Dart river front.




Former merchants' houses, they are richly decorated.




A maze of streets fans out from the front.




One leads to The Cherub, "the oldest building in Dartmouth." (Thanks Steve!)




Further up the hillside, is the church. Its scale speaks of prosperity through sea trade.




We put to sea at 05.30 tomorrow; aim to be off Portland Bill by 15.00 (when the E bound tide starts to run); and at anchor, in Studland Bay, around 21.00.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:S Embankment,Dartmouth,United Kingdom

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 134

Mon 10.9.12. Dartmouth. Kingswear.




Storm clouds over the Royal Naval College today. The low has come in faster than forecast. It'll be blowing F6 off the Bill for the next 48 hours.




I've been practicing my Franglais with an intrepid French crew. A father and son are cruising the Channel in their flush decked 25 footer. They've come in for shelter overnight.




Fishing goes on, pretty much, whatever the weather. There's a Dartmouth Crab Company lorry, on the quay, waiting to be filled.




This fisherman, landing his catch in the wind and rain, has named his boat aptly.




It looks as if the wind eases on Wednesday. So I may be taking Stargazer E round the Bill in daylight after all. Depending on what the morning forecasts say....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:S Embankment,Dartmouth,United Kingdom

Living the Dream Cruise 2012 live update 133

Sun 9.9.12. Dartmouth. Kingswear.




Evocative whistling and puffing sounds drift down from Kingswear Steam Railway Station. It's just above our mooring.




Every hour or so Hercules the steam locomotive draws into the station....




...disconnects, and goes to the other end of the train.




Going one way he runs in forward; going the other, in reverse. Always at the head of the train.




The breeze is picking up today and the barometer has dropped. May make for Poole tomorrow. It'll mean going overnight, to get a favourable tide off Portland Bill.




At the moment the forecast is SW going NW 5-6. The wind increases on Wed and Thur, when the tides work for a daylight passage, then falls light into the weekend. Mon overnight may be the best compromise. I'll decide when I see tomorrow morning's forecasts.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Fore St,Kingswear,United Kingdom