Yesterday we finally left ugly Gosport Premier Marina (Portsmouth) and sailed along the north coast of the Isle of Wight to Lymington (NW of the Isle of Wight).
The weather was fantastic and with one reef in the main sail we sailed with decent speed towards our destination.
Lymington is a much nicer marina than the ones in Portsmouth we were before but it’s approach is very narrow and can be a problem in rough weather conditions. It’s easy to enter in calm wether though since the ferries that connect the main land with the Isle of Wight (Lymington-Yarmouth) require some minimum depth so the only thing you have to be aware of is to stay inside the channel and to keep an eye of the tide streams that go across the channel entrance.
The ferries manoeuvre through the very narrow entrance channel and between the moored yachts and the marina entrances and the ferries only some few metres are left. Great to watch when they approach the car terminals.
For at least today we are stuck in Lymington due to very strong winds up to force 8.
It is nice to sit in the comfortable cabin, enjoying some tea or coffee, read a good book and listen to the wind making the hundreds of masts his instruments.
We just observed two huge and posh power yachts coming into the marina having obvious problems to enter their berths even with their high-tech side-power-steering systems.
The first Pan Pan radio call has also been sent (engine not under control) and we expect some more irresponsible yachtsman (that left in the morning with the boat full of family members) calling for help today since the wind is expected to increase to force 8 plus gusts.
Stay tuned!