This morning, even the fishing fleet, snug behind Hangman's Rock, roll to the rhythm of the sea's scend. Thirty knots of north west breeze whistles overhead.
Aboard Stargazer, it is a 'hood up' breakfast. As I eat, boats run in for shelter. They anchor, wherever there is a sniff of swinging room to be found.
Owl (foreground, centre left), is one. She is owned by Peter Bruce. His, 'Inshore along the Dorset Coast,' guided Stargazer to many a spectacular anchorage, in her Poole years.
The craft, some on moorings, some on anchor; some power, some sail; some full keeled, some fin, dance and weave around one another. Each reacting differently to wind and tide. Circling warily. By afternoon, I judge most possible combinations of movement to have occurred, without incident. I row ashore, to stretch my legs. (Stargazer top centre- left)
A heavy surf is breaking on the Kettle Reef, so benign and placid only yesterday.
It breaks higher still on Shipman Head. The blue, of the sea, flecked with foaming white horses, as far as the eye can see.
The high hedgerows, of the lanes, still the breeze.
With no water, and in the lee of Timmy's Hill, Green Bay too is calm.
Hunkered down, between the rocks, lies Ken Endean's London Apprentice. Last met in the Vieux Port of La Rochelle, Ken is another pilotage author, beloved of craggy shores, whose work has shaped Stargazer's travels. We are in illustrious company, in our choice of cruising ground.
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