2022 - Fifth Leg & Conclusion - Gosport to Ramsgate
Around Britain – Year 3 – Portishead to Ramsgate – 2022.
After a two night stay in Gosport and a ferry crossing to Portsmouth and Southsea it was time for ‘Plan A’. This was the relatively long passage of 42 miles to Brighton, or just over eight hours for us. The route through the Looe Channel, on the East of the Solent approaches to save going right out to sea to navigate past the Boulder Bank, requires passage through the two buoys with the tide as it can reach over three knots and can be very ‘lumpy’. This would mean an early start of 06:00 at the latest to make sure of this. We were ready to go and duly left our mooring at 05:35. It was a gorgeous morning with light airs from the North which would steadily increase during the day and gave us a lovely day’s sailing.
We had just got past Shoreham when things started
to go wrong. Julia phoned Brighton and
we were told that there was NO room for visitors as the pontoons had been removed for dredging. This is the first time ever that I have been
refused entry to a Port. So, ‘Plan B’,
Julia phoned Newhaven, about two hours away and was told that they did have one
berth but could not guarantee that it would still be available when we got
there. Great! This would have meant that ‘Plan C’ would be to carry on to
Eastbourne in the hope that we could get in there. This really wasn’t a good option as we were
both quite tired by this stage of our days journey and so ‘Plan D’ was to call up
Shoreham and I turned and headed for the Port whilst Julia phoned them. With luck, they had room for us and, as we
were only 40 minutes away managed to make their lock into the Marina (lock outs
are on the hour and ins are on the half hour).
Be very careful if you ever come here and use the small lock – it is
automatically controlled and results in a violent gushing of the water coming
into the lock as the gate opens – tie on tight with strong ropes and wait until
the water settles down before you move off.
We had been lucky for once today. This wasn’t to last and at the entry into the Port the engine spluttered and I manged to save it by reducing the revs. I suspected that the engine filter would to be the problem and renewed it once we were safely tied up. It had been a long, challenging day and we glad to be at rest once again. The whole trip had taken us over nine hours.
Day 44 – 14th July – Shoreham to Eastbourne – 26 miles
Shoreham
had been quite surprising and a far cry from the
last time we were there, when I waited for an hour outside the lock for the
call for it to open and was told that they had done the final opening of that particular
tide and resulted in us loosing time with a favourable tidal flow and a longer
trip to Gosport. I was not happy and vowed
that I would never grace Shoreham with my presence again. That was about 12 years ago, and needs
must. I was very pleasantly surprised. The facilities have been improved, the Marina
Staff are friendly, generally it is a nice place to drop off and there is a pub serving delicious food right outside the Marina gate. It would now be my choice in the future.
We needed to try to leave at 08:00 to ensure that we had a favourable tide around Beachy Head. The problem we had leaving at that time was that we were given the big lock to lock out as there wasn't enough depth of water to clear the sill in the small one for us. This is meant for big ships and consequently there are only large bollards to tie up to once you are in. This are about 1.5 metres from the edge and very difficult to put a rope around. Also, the sides of the lock are not very small boat friendly and unfortunately, Lunar Sea suffered a 'war wound' – a long superficial, scratch down the Port side. Our second ‘trophy’ of the trip this year. Also, as we were the first boat into the lock and once safely tied up, two other boats rafted to us as it was easier for them to secure themselves to us rather than the bollards – I also suspect that they didn’t have long enough ropes! The drop of the water level that morning caused one of my long lines to be snagged and I had to leave it behind. I radioed the Port Control about it, and he very helpfully said he would retrieve it and drop down to the boat for me. So helpful, and a far cry from what we had experienced 12 years before.
We would eventually have a lovely sail in the
Northerly winds until they changed direction just before Beachy Head. Our only other drama during the passage was that
changing only the engine filter had not cured our fuel starvation problem and
again the engine started to splutter just past Beachy Head. Changing over fuel tanks gave the same
problems – fuel starvation at high engine loads. I quickly readied the anchor and at reduced
revs headed inshore just off Eastbourne with a view to anchor and change the
tanks in-line fuel filters, or at least one of them. The engine was starting to behave itself again
at lower revs and I decided that we should risk the 4 miles to Eastbourne’s, Sovereign
Harbour, all the time expecting to anchor and change a filter. Luckily, we made it to the open lock and were
given a nice safe berth – what a relief.
Tomorrow would be another day and I had a job to sort out in a much cooler engine room space.
Sovereign Harbour entrance from the West
I changed both in-line fuel filters and even treated my usually wonderful engine to a new air filter. Well tied up I ran the engine on full load alongside. I could not get full load without it spluttering with a reduction of revs. The problem now could only be that the Low Pressure (engine driven) fuel pump was not delivering enough fuel to the High-Pressure pump, hence the starvation of fuel under high load conditions. Only Lunar Sea would have a replacement LP pump and I duly renewed it, rerun the engine again under full load conditions and for now it appears to be okay.
Day 47 – 17th July – Eastbourne to Dover – 45 miles
We spent 3 nights in Eastbourne to meet up with friends and my daughter, Joanne joined us for the final legs to Ramsgate. She had travelled with us on our very first leg from Ramsgate to Harwich, and then on to Ipswich in 2017, so it was only fitting she did the final legs with.
Timing was again important to have a favourable tide with us at Dungeness, with hopefully wind in the same direction. This would mean us trying to leave as soon after low water as possible. Eastbourne had been a drying entrance in the past, but I was assured that it had now been dredged to 2.4m. I had a look at the entrance at low water and still thought it to be prudent to leave a couple of hours after. So, we managed to lock out at 10:30 and yet still had only 0.5m under us at one point, otherwise it was as predicted. This would give us about 5 hours of favourable tide which was enough to get to Dungeness and past with it. The forecasted winds didn’t materialise, so we would be a motoring for most of the journey. Dungeness was our point of our last possible rough sea conditions and Julia was anxious about it, having had a bad experience the last time we were there, with 30 knot Westerly winds blowing us down a very large sea swell. We were very fortunate that we had none of that this time and the point was as calm as I had ever seen it.
We contacted Dover for a berth for the night and were told that it was not open to visitors as the Wellington dock was being dredged and all the boats that were in there were now being temporarily berthed in the New Marina which wasn’t yet being used by visiting yachtsman. I had said that my daughter was ‘not well’ and they manged to find me a berth in the Tidal marina as the Granville dock would have been closed before our arrival, which suited me as I wanted to leave Dover before the Granville dock was open. Joanne made a miraculous recovery as soon as we got in!!
Day 48 – 18th July – Dover to Ramsgate – 17 miles
My daughter Joanne had stayed with us and we were
joined by my Grandchildren, Jordan and Owen for our final leg of our
adventure.
As soon as we had 0.7m under us I got ready to
leave the Tidal basin. It was 11:30 and 4 hours before High Water.
Dover's New Wick Channel - leaving Granville and Tidal Marinas
I knew that
I would have a lot of tide against us for the first few hours but wanted to
arrive at Ramsgate in good time to catch some of the Ramsgate Week boats out
racing and to arrive at a reasonable time in the afternoon. I had spoken to Roy and Mary Fomison who were going
to meet up with us on Fair Westering at the East Brake buoy. What a welcome with Roy, Mary, Alistair and
Sharon out there to give us a lovely, if not noisy welcome with bells and hooters. Thank you all very much for that. It was beginning to dawn on us what we had
achieved and which was almost at an end.
I had spoken to Ramsgate Port Control, the Harbour
Office and the Dock Master before we left Dover and although it was busy I
should be able to get a berth in the inner harbour when we arrived. All I had to do was call up on arrival and a
berth would have been found for us by then.
As it turned out there was a bit of a misunderstanding and I was told to
find a berth in the outer harbour until an inner one could be found. This actually suited us, as we could be
amongst all the Ramsgate Week boats and could meet up with all our old sailing
friends, and family and friends on the boat for a celebratory get together –
led by a bottle of Bollinger that we had taken all the way around Britain with
us.
Arrival Ramsgate (Chris Barnett)
We had scuppered some arrangements when we arrived in Ramsgate, firstly as we were supposed to arrive into the inner marina and there was a welcoming party on the balcony of the RTYC for us. Secondly, we decided that we should keep the magic going for one last night and stay on Lunar Sea for a further night in Ramsgate. Our family had set up a surprise for us at our home thinking that we would go there for the night and a party.
I am so sorry to everyone who was there to welcome us that couldn’t make it down to the boat and also thank everyone else that did to make it such a wonderful welcome.
Day 49 – 19th July – Ramsgate
Ramsgate Week Tuesday morning - glad to be home?
Our surprise welcome home
We finally got home after over 7 weeks away to see the welcome that we were supposed to see on arrival.
A temporary berth had been found for us in the inner marina and Owen and I transferred the boat onto our new mooring. We will declutter and tidy Lunar Sea up gradually whilst she is there.
Conclusions
This adventure of sailing around Britain had been in the planning for well over 10 years. It had taken us over 5 years to actually complete because of Covid restrictions and also wanting to spend a season sailing around the Clyde Locks and Islands. We left Ramsgate on 1st May 2017 in verry windy wet and rough conditions for an originally planned 2 year trip around Britain and arrived back in Ramsgate 18th July, 2022 in glorious sunshine.
For Julia and me it has been a 'Trip in Lifetime' and one we will also remember forever. We have been to a multitude of new places and old, and have a very fresh idea of what this Country has to offer. We have just, literally, touched the edges and plan to revisit many of them again but mostly on wheels next time.
Since we have been back many have asked;
What was the best place you've been to? - There are so many lovely places we have visited and lovely for different reasons. Either the facilities are fabulous, or the people are so friendly, or the place is stunning, or the general 'vibe' of the place feels great. We could not possibly have a top spot, but we could probably have a top 10 or more.
What was the worst place you've been to? - Again there were quite a few that were less than desirable regarding the facilities. For Julia it is probably Eyemouth with its long vertical ladder to get off our rafted boat. For me it was probably Southwold. Not because of the facilities which were rather sparse, but because of the trip to get there in windy and rough conditions, when we lost the anchor and chain and our engine fuel/air problems began, plus the dropping low water on arrival in the dark. Only to raft to another boat that was leaving at 5am!!.
Would you do it again? - There was a brief thought as we were leaving Dover to turn Right instead of Left, until reality kicked in. As for doing the whole trip again - definitely not, but to revisit some of the places - defiantly yes, especially the South West Coast again.
What will be your next adventure? - Who knows? Atlantic? Azores? Mediterranean? Baltic? The boat could safely do any of these, but perhaps we are not now physically or mentally able to take on such a challenge. Lets wait and see until our tiredness and the salt air leaves us and we have the urge again for a further top up.
The Adventure in Numbers
Furthest North 14th June 2017 - 57* 45'.0 N, 003* 20'.0 E.
Furthest South 13th July 2022 - 49* 56'.4 N, 005* 14'.0 W.
Further East 9th May 2017 - 52* 38'.6 N, 001* 45'.5 E.
Further West 7th June 2022 - 50* 01'.1 N, 005* 40'.4 E.
Days Lunar Sea was away 1905
Days sailing or resting on boat! 267
Total Mileage travelled 2134
Total Engine Hours run 511
Total Fuel Used 1551 litres
Total Water Used 4920 litres
Numbers of Places Visited 86
Total cost of moorings for the 5 years not including long term fees £6095
Friends and Family on board Lunar Sea during the trip 60
Breakdowns, repairs and losses as they happened
Major 240v Problem - was immersion heater element blown and earthing.
Loss of Anchor and 50m chain - worked loose in rough seas
Engine - air in fuel - replaced all connections and rubber hoses (was engine fitted pipe)
Replaced Domestic batteries twice - one pair in Scotland, then second in Dartmouth
Replaced sink drain pump and tank
Autohelm - planetary gearing replaced
Autohelm - will probably need to replace electric motor - caused by overload? Buoy!
Engine sea water exhaust outlet pipe blew out and flooded bilges
Bilge pumps electrics rewired after damage to connections, plus new pump cut in float
Numerous new engine Fuel filter fitted, plus oil and air filters
New dinghy purchased
Two lift outs - one to clear mussels, one routine clean off
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