Dover to Eastbourne

We left Dover at 5am to be sure of a favourable tide to and around Dungeness. This was Colin and Bernard of Plum's idea, based on the information from the tidal stream atlas. We didn't have one for the Downs, only for west of Dungeness. Colin's showed that the current in the Downs is much stronger than that in Rye bay. The wind was really strong on the starboard stern quarter and too much for me so we put a reef in the main. After a while I needed a rest and Alison took the helm. Luckily, the wind dropped and it wasn't a problem. The waves meant that we didn't get the kind of speed we got passing Herne Bay, even though the wind was similar. The wind slackened and we shook the reef out and decided that to avoid missing the tidal gate we would motor sail. 

As usual, most of the fleet passed us. 

We dithered a bit in Rye Bay, not sure if we wanted to head directly to Eastbourne or head inland and try to escape the tide. We ended up going well in. We saw a red sailed boat we did not recognise further in. It turned out to be Bonify. Near Hastings we were passed by Crow, motoring. The wind was very light by now and as we passed a small fishing boat I suggested we try the mackerel line. We played with it for a while but got nowhere and as the wind died completely we gave up. 

We motored on, knowing we still had nearly 10 miles to go. Then suddenly the threatened SW started. Before long we were beating, crashing into the waves and needing to reef down again. We went down to fully reefed main, furled staysail and no 1 jib. And engine.

Then on a tack, the starboard sheet came untied. I got the jib furled and we put the staysail up. I went forward and tied the sheet back on, in case we had a problem later with the staysail. I got drenched. 

We then had several hours of struggling against big waves and a strong headwind. Definitely a top end F5, possibly F6. Sometime around 5pm we dropped the main and became a motor boat. The 1GM10 doesn't really seem to be enough for these conditions and at times we were only doing 2kts. 

Eventually we made it into the Sovereign Harbour at 6pm after 13 hours. We were met by several friends and had a fine dinner and an enjoyable get together in the yacht club.