Dover's port entry lights have switched back to red. We were given two greens and a white, and radio permission, to enter. The Channel tide is under us. Stargazer is screaming into the harbour, at eight knots over the ground . Fully committed . On the edge of control. "Stargazer, please acknowledge." repeats the calm voice of Port Control . For the third or fourth time. That's the problem, we were given permission to enter, but now I dare not leave the helm, to reach the vhf, to acknowledge . That's why the lights have been switched, from green back to red.
Now that we are close in, beneath the high curving face, of the South Foreland, the wind has increased and turned both gusty and shifty. We have far too much sail up. The tide is also setting us diagonally across the entrance. This is our saving grace. It allows me to head up , stemming the cross tide. Enough to trust that a wayward gust won't crash gybe us, while I put Stargazer on autopilot, for long enough to radio Port Control, to acknowledge. The lights flick back to green . Stargazer rockets in.
The day started serenely. The remnants of an overnight, southerly, land breeze, brought by the weekend heatwave, barely rippled the surface of the Swale.
Sunrise brought a sudden blanket of sea mist . Stargazer groped her way, slowly out to sea, out of the pall, sails just filled. The ebb helping her along.
A glassy calm fell, off the rabbit eared twin stone towers, at Reculver. Last night's land breeze meets today's sea breeze. There is stalemate, whilst precedence is argued out. We motor for an hour.
A north easterly breeze begins to fill in. Enough, combined with the fair tide, to make progress, once again, under sail. Peace descends.
The breeze builds, as we pass, the familiar, North Foreland light. By the time we leave Ramsgate astern, we are running fast. Riding the accelerated current of the Gull Stream, south, through the Goodwin Sands.
To make our theatrical entrance into Dover. Neatly inserted, by Port Control, between two outbound and two inbound ferries. The harbour back to its busy, bustling self, after our covid quiet visit last year.
The ancient stone walls of the castle stand foursquare on the hill above us. A union jack snapping in the fresh breeze which carried us here
From the dock, we have a grandstand view.
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