Julian Swindell
Username: Julian_swindell
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 11:33 pm:
Our "epic Cruise" to Yarmouth was quite straight forward. The only disappointment was that the wind was so light we had to motor for much of the way. You have to time it to catch the tides. We left Poole after breakfast and got a flood tide into Christchurch Harbour at lunch time. We spent a couple of hours there waiting so that the tide through the Hurst Point narrows would be in our favour when we got there. Once past Hurst we were in sight of Yarmouth where we got a nice pontoon berth in amongst the RIBs because we were so short. Bigger boats were having a hard time finding space. Each leg, Poole-Christchurch-Yarmouth, took about two and a half hours.
Next day we sailed and motored into Newtown Creek, across the Solent, then round Calshot Point (against the tide, that was really difficult, we were barely moving over the ground) and then up the Hamble to the Elephant Boatyard, which belonged to my crew's cousin, so we got a free berth there and a very good meal at the Ferry Restaurant in Bursledon.
Next day we took my wife and her aunt down the Hamble and back for lunch at the Jolly Sailor, which was the whole purpose of the journey. She, the aunt, had always wanted to arrive at the Jolly Sailor by boat, so we had set out to do just that.
The next day I went through the rigmarol of catching the train to Poole, driving back with the trailer to Bursledon, hauling the boat out on the public hard and then towing her back to Poole and finally driving home to the Cotswolds. The things you do for old favourite Aunts!
