Best laid plans part 2

Weymouth is, as I said in a previous blog, an interesting town. I like it when I find something new on a revisit. This plaque was of great interest to me as it showed where the troops queued to board vessels prior to D-Day. Above the plaque and protected is a wall where many soldiers carved their initials waiting to board their transport across the channel. Not a good photo as the glass reflected things across the road. I found this tiny bit of wall very poignant as many of these men would not return.

The wind has been good for somethings this summer.

Wash day on Rascal

The weather this May has not been the best for sailing, each day there have been red lines on the met office forecast. We tend not to venture out when the lines are red especially for the next bit of our journey as we have to go round Portland Bill and then across to Lyme Bay and on to Brixham. Portland Bill is a rite of passage for many sailors and the inland passage can be slightly scary. Especially as the words of wisdom are 'sail as close as you dare'! It is also important that you get the tides exactly right to do this.

Our friends Ann and Steve from China Girl arrived in Weymouth and over a couple of glasses of wine we discussed (amongst other things) our passage around the Bill of Portland. Ann and Steve were moored in the harbour and we were in the marina. The only downside of the marina was we couldn't leave until the first bridge opening at 8 am. On our way out we went though the bridge, the sides quayside are always full of tourists watching the boats come through. On the way through the harbour we passed China Girl.

The next morning after pouring over the weather forecasts, chats with the exceedingly helpful harbour master and Ann and Steve, we decided we would move to Portland Marina to enable us to have a 0530 start the next morning. This would enable us to be at the end of the Bill by 0700.

Sunrise at Portland Marina

The night at Portland was very windy and we  were up bright and early, however we were not happy with the weather and decided that although the weather for going round the Bill was perfect we didn't feel that we wanted the potential of force 6 going across Lyme Bay. So after lots of discussion we decided to stay put. Within an hour the rain came down and visibility was very poor. We could not see beyond the breakwater of the marina. This was the first day of the trip when we were confined to the boat for the day. By late afternoon we were able to get out for a quick walk. Although we felt we'd made the right choice, China Girl were made of sterner stuff and safely made it to Exmouth.

There is usually a view beyond that wall.

After further perusal of weather reports we decided that Thursday wasn't the day for us either. We did get up to check but were happy in our choice so decided on a day of walking instead. As the day went on the weather improved, but it was not very clear out at sea. We did the coastal walk along Portland Bill. Some beautiful scenery and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We were also lucky enough to be given a tour of the Coast Watch Lookout. It was very interesting to see what they do. While we were there we looked at the log for Wednesday and saw when China Girl went by.

There is a warship in that gloom.

Portland Lighthouse from the land.

 We were all set for our journey on Friday, until John did the engine check and we discovered the raw water pump that cools the engine had been leaking and we had a lot of water in the engine room, We were going no where Friday. Steve at the marina office gave us some names of engineers to ring but we were unable to do that till Friday morning.

Friday was a bit of a down morning as we didn't know what would be happening. The phone calls started at 7.45am and we had the promise of and engineer coming at 3 - 3.30pm. He had a job to do in Southampton first. To pass the time out came the trusty English Heritage cards and off we trotted to Portland Castle. It is a small castle and doesn't look very castle like. It was one of the divise castles built by Henry VIII. We had a very interesting time looking round, despite the fact we time the visit badly and one coach party was just about to leave and another one had just arrived.

Portland is full of history. In the harbour are two sections of mulberry harbours that didn't make it to France. Portland was a very important Naval Base.

Whilst waiting for the engineer to come there was a bit of excitement on our pontoon. As you can see from the first picture, it was empty, it had been reserved for this beast coming in. It had four floors and totally dwarfed Rascal. It was interesting watching her arrive.

You can spot Rascal on the left hand side.

In the end the engineer did not arrive until after 5pm, he'd been doing a job in Southampton and there had been a bad accident on the way back so the road had been closed. Anyhow he arrived and set to work. Basically he stripped down the water pump, resealed all the seals and put the pump back. he left at twenty past six. So we were on again for a move on the Brixham the following day. Normally the boat is prepared for a journey the night before. Kettle for the hob out, journey mugs out, seats put in sailing position, sailing gear out. We had done this twice before to no avail so I couldn't face doing it again.

A question of watch this space.

Sailing Information

A large modern marina which sometimes gets bad press.
A friendly staff.
Lovely washroom facilities, at present joint first on my list.
Shops not brilliant, a premier store is about a ten minute walk away and is very basic. They are building a Lidl just outside the marina so that will be super.
If the wind is blowing over Chesil Beach you will know about it.
'The boat that rocks' is okay to eat in.
This is the venue of the sailing events in the 2012 Olympics