Having observed the unfavourable weather conditions forecast for the next few days, it was decided to make the short 23 nautical mile hop to Brighton Marina. This Marina is on a massive scale, with lots of shops, cafes, bars, restaurants etc on the complex, quite a good place to be weather bound for a few days.
Day 6-9. Brighton Marina
We spent the next 4 days weather bound and taking a severe beating from the wind on the reception pontoon at Brighton Marina. More like winter gales, the wind was that bad on our first evening here we had to secure Moonshine with additional ropes.
The wind continued in its strength and did not abate until late Thursday evening (day 9).
We have, over the last 12 months, been toying with the idea of replacing our XM Quickfit life jackets. Whilst weather bound at Brighton and having plenty of time to kill, we decide to not put this off any longer and have invested at £70 each in the Seago Active 190 life jacket. An additional re-arming kit was also purchased to keep in stock. These new life jackets feel a bit lighter in weight around the neck area and have twin crutch straps. These will be put to the test on the return trip home. Incidentally, upon checking the older lifejackets it appears that the CO2 cylinder in my old life jacket has worked loose again, this only goes to show how wise it is to check each time it is worn.
Also on Thursday evening calamity struck at 21.00 hours. A 37ft Dutch yacht was attempting to leave the berth immediately in front of us, with the prevailing wind blowing it back onto the pontoon. After several attempts at departing, said yacht heavily collided with our bow with such force that it bent the bow roller to port, bent the anchor and damaged fibreglass where the bow roller had been forced into the toe rail as well as some hull scratches. The Dutch yacht snapped two stanchions clean off and bent all his push pit rail in (it was this that inflicted most damage to us). As per Premier Marinas rules Peter reported the incident to the Marina staff, who have logged this and taken photos. A phone call will be made tomorrow (Friday day 10) to our insurance company.
The wind had shown no sign of abating until Thursday evening. All week whilst holed up at Brighton Marina we had been itching to take on more fuel, but thought it unwise due to the strength of the wind. The decison to leave this until the wind died down has obviously been compounded with the events from the previous evening. After ensuring Moonshine was anchor ready for going to sea on Friday morning we awoke early and ventured around to the self service fuel berth to take on bunkers in anticipation to start our return journey home. We had following seas to Beachy Head after the previous few days blow from the south west, but it was lovely and calm once we turned the corner into Pevensey Bay logging 21.5 nautical miles.
Once in the Marina at Eastborne we called the insurance company who took a statement and requested two estimates for repair to include any moorings/fuel costs etc. Since the incident happened in a marina we have no excess to pay in this instance. Whilst at Sovereign Harbour we enquired at a local marine engineer/fibreglass specialist for an estimate. We have been advised that we need a new anchor winch, anchor, retaining pin, bow roller, fibreglass repairs, polishing to the port light surround and new ships name to port and starboard bow to match, also the rubbing strake has been damaged. We were further advised that we have been extremely lucky as the deck rails have not been damaged, as these are very costly and time consuming and very difficult to get the contours right if damaged!
We met up with a yachtsman who is based in Newhaven at Sovereign Harbour whom we had previously met at Brighton Marina. He remembered us as Peter had assisted him departing Brighton Marina on our pontoon with the prevailing wind blowing him back on, and was grateful for the help. In conversation we told him what had happened to us after he had departed, he was fuming as he stated that the marina is now becoming a wind tunnel due to the high rise flats at the western end of the Marina, so much so that throughout this past week at checking wind speeds on the internet you could possibly have added another 10mph onto those values, as they bore no resemblance to the actual wind speeds within the marina.
Day 11. Eastbourne to Ramsgate
We departed Sovereign Harbour for the 10am pen half an hour ahead of our planned schedule. Entry to and from the marina is via twin locks that operate on the hour and half hour, and vessels can be safely moored on the floating pontoons either side. Pevensey Bay was lovely and calm, however off Dungeness the fresh SW breeze had got up, and due to the fact that we were running ahead of our planned schedule it was wind over tide which made the seas very choppy. We made Ramsgate in 2 hours 50 minutes after logging 61.7 nautical miles.
A bit closer to home, we plan on staying here for 2 nights as the wind has yet again been forecast to get up strong tomorrow.
Day 12. Ramsgate
Spent a day in Ramsgate today as the wind was blowing fresh from the SW, which wouldn't make it a pleasant experience crossing the Thames Estuary as we will be well out to sea. Got some bbq food from the shops and had our first bbq this holiday on the Weber.
Not sure if we will leave tomorrow at this stage but in reality we only need 2 good days at sea to get back to Grimsby, but hopefully it will calm down enough for an enjoyable trip back next week.
Can't believe how unlucky you have been with the weather. Hope it gets better for you soon.
ReplyDeleteI know, should have had the same 2 weeks of as you xx
DeleteEveryone has said the same. We are usually very lucky with the weather for our summer break.
DeleteFingers crossed for next year for our Scottish trip!