On a still, single sweater (no coat) morning, the sun gently steams beads of dew, from Stargazer's deck.
I live by the sea, maybe live for the sea, on an island in the tidal River Medway. Just downstream of the historic Chatham Naval Dockyard - where Nelson's Victory was built. For me the sea is about freedom and exploration - both personal and geographical. Stargazer is a 31' Hallberg-Rassy sloop; and companion on my journey
On a still, single sweater (no coat) morning, the sun gently steams beads of dew, from Stargazer's deck.
Daryl and Shirley (Stargazer’s former Chatham berth-neighbours) WhatsApp, from Granada. As Shirley puts the finishing touches, to Dream Catcher’s spring refit, Daryl films a guided tour, of the upgrades. Both are itching to cast off, for a summer in the Balearics. After overwintering in Gibraltar.
Stargazer has her hood up, her skipper swaddled in two sweaters, enjoying less balmy conditions. On her favoured berth, behind the Eastbourne Lifeboat. Our post relaunch ‘shakedown' successfully completed, we are itching to cross to French shores. Forecasts remain subject to short notice change, whilst the British spring struggles to find its rhthym. An early morning alarm is set, should opportunity offer.
Stargazer lopes effortlessly down Channel. Lifting to the swell. The dawn sun at her back, twelve knots of northerly breeze on her beam.
In the distance, off the starboard bow, a blocky mirage shimmers. Buildings seemingly rise from the sea. Like the re-emergence of a brutalist, concrete, Atlantis.
Ten miles later, the shingle spit, on which the Dungeness nuclear power stations are built, reveals itself. Glowing tawny brown.
A full moon lit Stargazer's way out of Dover. Speeding her toward the shimmering lights of Folkestone, with a sluicing spring tide.
The first rays, of daybreak, glint off the Folkestone waterfront, as Stargazer sweeps west.
Whilst the South Foreland, with Dover at its foot, dwindles astern.
Away to port, the loom of the French shore: Cap Gris Nez. Three 'red eye' passenger ferries in the offing.
Dungeness rounded, Stargazer comes up on the wind. Throwing a foaming bow wave. Scenting that the freedom, of open Atlantic waters, lies not far ahead
We thread the labyrynth, of crab pots, laid in the shoals of the Hastings shore. As the tide begins to turn against us. Cheating the full force of its flow.
My 02.00 alarm call sounds. The forecast looks manageable: northerly twenty four knots, dropping to seventeen later. A fair tide awaits. I open the hatch. Bullets, of horizontal rain, ambush me from the darkness. As a squall sends Stargazer reeling, on her berth.
Out in the Channel, freighters and ferries duck and weave. As they hurry about their business.
I picnic on the wooded slopes, beneath the castle. Warmed by the sun. Wondering what passage-making possibilities tomorrow may bring.
It circles in a patch of blue sky. Torn through the racing grey cumulo-cumulus clouds. Which boil above Dover Castle, like the smoke from a rolling naval broadside. Swept to seaward on the north wind.
The depth, of those dark clouds, creates fierce gusts. Fickle forecasts change at each bulletin. Although a consensus is building, around a lull midweek. Meanwhile, our dependable friend, the moon, guarantees fair tides over the coming seven days. Stargazer's next passage-making window may be forming. . . . .
A sun, as sharp as the north wind is keen, lights lowering black skies. Beneath them, Saturday morning sailors re-colonise the Wellington Dock. Which had been cleared of its boats, and pontoons, for an over-winter dredge.
Today, the wind whistles once more. But Stargazer lies sheltered, beneath the battlements of Dover Castle.
Last night she anchored, cradled in the serpentine twists of Sharfleet Creek. The water still, as the gusts, of a passing front, rattled her rigging.
Dawn breaks, crisp and clear. The wind down to eighteen knots. Geese honking exuberantly, as they take wing.
Stargazer slips silenty into the river, under full sail. Hard on the wind, her new jib drawing to perfection. Making five knots over the flood. Eager to make the most of this 'sailor's breeze.' For a new blow is forecast to be upon us, by evening.
Clear of the Medway, Stargazer eases sheets onto a fetch. Thundering east, down the London River. Into the dawn. Toward the Channel.
A shaft of sunlight lances through Stargazer's forehatch. Waking me, in my bunk below. Silence bathes the marina. The wind roar gone, folks yet to stir.
I check the (ever evolving) forecast. There may be a brief window, in which to leave the Kent shore and head down Channel. Certainly breezes are northerly, thus favourable. Less assured is their strength. But at least, once around the North Foreland, they should be from astern.
Stargazer hoists full sail. Coming to life after her long hibernation. Helm tugging communicatively in my hand, as gusts roll down river. I ease the mainsheet. Her helm steadies. Seaward we sweep, the tide beneath us. The rush of water, and trill of birdsong, filling my ears.
A powerful spring sun warms my upturned face. As I steer, tucked down behind Stargazer's windscreen. Checking tide times, on the iPad, as I go. By mid ebb we are nearing the confluence of the Medway and the London River. Too late, to carry a fair tide around the Foreland, today.
But well placed to sound in among the sheltering shoals of Sharfleet Creek. To await tomorrow's down Channel tide; and the new day’s forecast.
Out in the river, forty knots of breeze sends moored boats bucking and pitching. The waters churned white, as tide fights wind. Atop the castle keep, the Union Jack strains upward, reaching for the scampering clouds.
Within the granite walls and tall lock gates, of the (former) naval dockyard, in which Nelson's Victory was built, Stargazer lies sheltered. Astern, on the Chatham Heritage Berth, the famous Lively Lady rests.
On July 16th 1967 Alec Rose, a retired greengrocer, set out to circumnavigate the globe aboard her. Singlehanded. He returned triumphant, to Portsmouth, on July 4th 1968. Launching a national celebration. A flotilla of wellwishers escorted him past The Forts. Whilst a crowd of 250,000 cheered his homecoming, from the quaysides. A week later, the Queen knighted him.
The diminutive, thirty six foot, cutter was built in Calcutta, in 1948. Stoutly, of old growth, forest teak baulks. Intended as railway sleepers for the Assam Bengal Railway. Now, Lively Lady has been lovingly restored, by the volunteers of the Around & Around charity.
To provide life skills and sail training, for disadvantaged young adults. And joy and inspiration, for her young-at-heart custodians.