An English Summer 16

 

A fine gauze of sea mist, filters a silver sun, above Redend Point, in Studland Bay. Mutes the vibrant colours. Stargazer rests, in her favourite spot, of old, on this peacefully still morning. The only sound, to break the silence, is the 'popping' of shrimps, beneath our keel. The sound of craggy Breton and West Country anchorages.

Stargazer sailed, from Newtown Creek, yesterday lunch time. Blondie, the seal, watching us weigh anchor. bidding us farewell.

The west bound tide is beginning to make, and the sea breeze is filling in, as we beat through, a sunny Solent, in long tacks. Up past Yarmouth.

The tide gathers pace beneath us. We make a deep tack, inside the Keyhaven spit. Then, out again, into the current, by now sluicing through the Hurst narrows, and out to sea.

One long board, along the North Channel, skimming the shoals, at its western end. Then another, south, level with the Needles.

Before putting the helm up, for a long elliptical tack, lifted by the Poole ebb, and the shearing effect of the Purbeck Hills, toward a skyline, which we know so well. Our home of fourteen years.

The grey, formless silhouette, on the horizon, resolves itself into the green sward, of Ballard Down. Capping the white chalk of Handfast Point . With Old Harry, standing, in its shadow, as a seaward sentinel.

Stargazer races on, into the Studland Bay anchorage . I round up to furl the jib. Pause to salute Old Harry, now standing proud, spotlit by the evening sun. We reach on, deep into the bay, under main only. Bringing to, beneath Redend Point. 

Overnight the breeze is forecast to rise, from the north west . We plan to be off Anvil Point, at zero four hundred hours, to catch the first of the westbound tide, and to make the most of the shift in the wind. The favourable tide should see us past the Bill of Portland. Stargazer will then plan to tuck into Lyme Bay, out of the strongest east bound flow, before climbing back south, toward the river Dart.

PS Stargazer will be on passage tomorrow (Thursday). I will therefore next post on Friday. We will be searching out an anchorage, or vacant mooring, well upstream, near Dittisham. The high wooded banks should provide good shelter, in the thunderstorms, forecast for the weekend. However they can block phone signal, as effectively as they block the wind. Please bear with me!