Newhaven towards Dover

We wanted to get from Newhaven to Dover, but this is 58nm, a long trip to do in a day. Luckily we had the weather, gentle (f2-3) winds with good weather. I had been watching the weather all week and it seemed pretty settled. Unfortunately the wind direction was not so good, south easterly, which would mean a fine reach if we were lucky, or on the nose if we weren’t. At any rate we could expect to use the engine the whole time.

I phoned Newhaven port control on Friday evening once we were on board Robinetta, and checked if there were any expected ship movements at 07:00 in the morning, when we were hoping to leave. The boat loading scrap metal opposite the marina was not planning to leave then, and the ferry was due out at 08:30, so we would be fine.

We were given the OK to leave when I radioed at 06:55, and we headed out of Newhaven on a bright and sunny morning. We were not alone in our choice of timing; two wind farm boats and a small pot fishing boat came out at the same time, but they all turned to go west, while Robinetta was heading east. There was some quite short and uncomfortable swell once we were out from the shelter of the breakwater, but nothing to stop us.

The wind was gentle, but seemed usable so we turned head to wind and got the main sail up once we were in flatter water away from the harbour. Unfortunately once we were back on course the wind seemed to be on the nose so we did not try to fly the jib until 08:50, when the wind strengthened and came round a little to the south.

The cliffs east of Newhaven looked lovely, shining white in the sun and sculpted into scalloped fringes for the golden green of the pastures above.

We had the tide against us on the way to Beachy Head ( an inevitable result of our plan to pass it at slack water and have the tide with us for the rest of our trip) so approached it at under 3 knots. Seeing a projected arrival time at Dover of 4 am was rather annoying even if we did not believe it for a moment! Once the tide slackened we soon picked up speed and we were past the light house by 09:30, just when we expected the tide to turn in our favour. We were soon doing over 5 knots, motor sailing with the no 1 jib up and drawing well.

We were not the only people taking advantage of the light SE winds. A group of paragliders were launching off the cliffs, and we could see 10 in the air at once.

This coast should be familiar to us. This is our third trip along it, our second in this direction, but while the place names evoke memories the sea itself is so different from our previous voyages that nothing feels the same. Beachy Head’s tide rips, that felt so uncomfortable heading west five years ago that we gave then a wide berth heading back east the first time, gave us no worries on this occasion. We had timed them properly for slack water, and the wind was very light, but our ease was undoubtedly due to our being a much more experienced crew as much as the weather.

At about 10 am a rather frantic call came over the radio. “Mayday. Mayday. I’m sinking!”

The coastguard response was immediate, but we started to look round for a boat in trouble. We have heard the coastguard side of a mayday quite often, but this as the first time I could remember hearing the initial call for help.

The stricken vessel managed to give a Lat/Long position, but it was a bit too garbled for us to make out all the details. Julian checked the position as much as he could, and it was about 11nm away, too far for us to be of help. A coastguard request for a general area rather than a Lat/Long got the response “3 miles south of Hastings, I need a fucking pump!”

There were 3 people on board, and no life raft, then we heard no more from the sinking boat itself, just a relay from a yacht closer to them who reported the crew were in the water. The Hastings lifeboat launched to the rescue. Listening live it seemed to take a long time before they called in to the coastguard as ready then moved to channel 0, but it can not have been any more than 20 minutes after we heard the first call for help.

By 10:45 the excitement was over as the coastguard reported all 3 people rescued. They also broadcast a maritime safety bulletin for the area, warning of debris, and a submerged 27’ fishing boat as a hazard to navigation.

Twenty minutes later we had passed the Royal Sovereign red buoy, and settled down onto the longest leg of the trip. 22nm to Dungness. The sea was quite calm (although not flat) but when Julian came on duty he decided to hand the helm to George, who coped without problems. We were making steady progress, keeping above 5 knots, but there was no chance to turn the engine off; we needed to make that speed to keep our favourable tide to Dungness then on towards Dover.

With George on the helm and the tide in our favour there was little to do but watch for crab pots and enjoy the weather. (Although Julian did refill the stern gland greaser). The perfect visibility let us see a procession of ships heading west down the channel, and Dungeness Power station was obvious on the horizon from 16nm away.

The rest of the trip passed without incident, we made Dungness just after high water so kept the good tide for 10 hours, reaching Dover at 18:45.



We got the main sail down just outside the harbour, when we were asked to slow down to let a ferry exit through the western entrance, then entered harbour and had green lights all the way to the marina.

After mooring up and paying we headed for the Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club for a drink and supper. Very nice, and friendly, which made a good end to a long and lovely day.