Gosport 29th July 2017

The weather forecasts were spot on. There was a gale overnight and then in the morning the wind switched off. Absolutely amazing. We wanted to leave at 9.30 am so informed our Dutch neighbours who were rafter on to us. They moved forward and another neighbour helped with our ropes as John sprung off. This meant John could then reverse out. The wind was none existent so no sails at all, but the tide was with us so we were going along at 7 knots at less than 2000 revs.

We could spot Cowes long before we got there as it is Cowes week and the sea was full of sails. As we got nearer it could only be described as organised chaos. There were obviously several races going on at once. We had to be very careful as we were motoring and had to give way to everyone and they were coming from every direction.

As soon as we passed Cowes calm was restored. We had spotted a large warship anchored nearer Portsmouth, John checked it on the AIS and it was U.S.S.GEORGE BUSH. As we got near it was looking very impressive, all the aircraft were on deck.

We were in the marina by 12.30 pm. Three hours door to door. Not bad for 19 miles. No sooner had we finished mooring up when the heavens opened again and it rained for the rest of the day. It had stopped by 8 pm so we went to Morrisons. We know how to spend our Saturday nights!

Sunday morning was bright and sunny the choice between a walk and doing the laundry, the walk won as the last few days we haven't done much. So we had a six mile walk down the coast looking at where we'd been yesterday.

They were playing nice with the lifeboat and we watched it being launched with a tractor. Reminded me of Filey lifeboat.

When we returned John commented that he was sure that he'd seen the boat on the berth opposite before. Yes he had, it is usually opposite us at Ipswich!

The weather is looking okay for tomorrow so we've booked into Brighton. Checked the tides, done the passage planning. We need to get round Selsey Bill, it will be great to see everything as when we came here some weeks ago it was thick fog.

Sailing information
Marina as previous
We found the Morrisons, a bit up the road from Aldi.
Distance 17 miles.
Time 3 hours 2 minutes!