Yacht Pantaleon

 

We have have retrospectively added details of our journey "Brightlingsea to the West" below.

Overall Details & Stats.

Departed - Sunday 14/07/2024

Returned - Sunday 15/09/2024

Total days away on board - 63 (Inc. 3 day trip home)

Total distance traveled - 702 nautical miles (801 Statute Miles)

Total hours at sea - 124 (5 days 16 hrs) Average speed 5.7 kts.

Longest individual journey distance - 60 nautical miles (69 miles) - Dartmouth to Weymouth & Weymouth to Portsmouth.

Longest Journey Time - 11 hrs - Weymouth to Dartmouth.

Nights at anchor or on buoy - 1 - at Osborne Bay I.o.W.  - not what we had planned but there were very limited options for this with an 8 year old boy on board and when the weather was very windy and changeable and we needed to rest & sleep in the knowledge that we were not going to wake up somewhere else!! (some authorities actually charge you to anchor in river type locations - Dartmouth, Salcombe & Fowey being good examples.)

    

Brightlingsea to Ramsgate.

Departed - 04.10  14/07/24    Duration - 7hrs 20mins     Distance - 48 Nautical miles    Average speed - 6.6kts

14th July 2027 - Yes, we have finally set off!!!  An early Sunday morning start for Chas, Christina & a fast asleep Oscar, if he only knew what he was missing. The small Proseco bottles with county names for each of the counties visited were a pre-start present from Jemma and proved a very nice & delightful touch!

                 

 Dawn departure from Brightlingsea                              Arrival in Ramsgate, Kent

Ramsgate to Dover.

Departed - 11.00  15/07/24       Duration - 2Hrs  45mins     Distance - 16 Nautical miles     Average Speed - 5.8 Kts

A good sunny day with pleasant winds to get us away from the Goodwin Sands and round the corner to Dover where we found the entry procedures a lot more relaxed than previously when they were not very yacht friendly. The new Curve marina had plenty of space but long walks to/from the marina office, etc.

Dover to Eastbourne.

Departed - 09.00  17/07/24        Duration - 7Hrs 50mins       Distance - 41 Nautical miles     Average Speed - 5.25 Kts

Not our favorite place by far but serves as a good stopover rather than going straight to Brighton.

Back in the day, Eastbourne was not an option as what I believe was a war time concrete floored outer harbour area and sometime gravel extraction workings, had not then been fully extended into the locked inner harbour with all its facilitates as it is today. It has made a very useful reduction in the journey time from Dover to Brighton. I can recall a very good friend Jim Penson who very sadly is no longer with us, telling a story of a time he had tried to anchor in the outer harbour area one night before everything was fully completed, only to find he could not get his anchor to hold on what was a flat concrete bottom!!!!

Eastbourne to Brighton

Departed - 09.40  18/07/24          Duration - 2Hrs 50mins      Distance - 20 Nautical miles    Average Speed - 7.1 Kts

Brighton to Osborne Bay & The Solent.

Departed - 09.00  20/07/24         Duration - 7 Hours     Distance - 46 Nautical miles    Average Speed - 6.57 Kts

This journey saw us arrive at the Osborne Bay anchorage on the North side of the I.O.W, which on previous visits to the Solent had looked a very peaceful and tempting overnight anchorage, but weather, time & tides had not allowed a stop-over. I was very hopeful that this time it would happen and thankfully it didn't disappoint. 

       

      No Mans Land Solent Fort.               These were passing day & night  and                                                                                                                          making a huge amount of wash.          Below: Osborne House in                                                                                                                                      early morning sun. 

                                                                                                                                                             

Osborne Bay to Yarmouth I.o.W.

Departed - 10.40  21/07/24        Duration - 2 Hrs 40mins     Distance - 12 Nautical miles     Average Speed - 4.4 Kts

Yarmouth I.o.W. to Weymouth.

Departed - 12.00  24/07/24       Duration - 5 Hrs 30mins     Distance - 40 Nautical miles    Average Speed - 7.27 Kts

Weymouth to Dartmouth.

Departed - 04.00 29/07/24        Duration - 11Hours           Distance - 59 Nautical miles        Average Speed - 5.4 Kts

Dartmouth to Brixham.

Departed - 12.45  01/08/24          Duration - 2 Hours        Distance - 7 Nautical miles           Average Speed - 3.5 Kts

Our first visit to Brixham which I was pleasantly surprised with, there did however seem to be a very laissez-faire approach to any attempt to manage boat and fishing vessel movements in the very busy harbour areas. 

Jemma with Ella and Aiden arrived from Fleet to accompany us for the week, managing to find a parking space with no charges. 

Brixham to Dartmouth.

Departed - 10.25 08/08/24         Duration - 3 Hrs 15mins      Distance - 13 Nautical miles     Average Speed - 4.3 Kts

Dartmouth to Salcombe.

Departed - 05.15  17/08/24         Duration - 4 Hours         Distance - 19 Nautical miles       Average Speed - 4.75 Kts

A very uncomfortable end to this journey with 20knt winds whistling around Bolt Head to the West before entering the calm waters of the entrance.

Our first visit to Salcombe which lived up to all the hype. We were given a mooring buoy on arrival, slap in the middle of the harbour which was alive with large RIB's, yachts, numerous small sail boats and dinghy's on the last day of their regatta with racing stil in progress - and it then started raining. Chaos seemed to reign but miraculously there were no incidents. The firework display set for that night had to be cancelled due to the heavy rain but they managed to move it on 24 hrs and we had a perfect view from the fore deck together with the added sound effects as the noised bounced around the harbour with its high sided cliffs etc. a great way to start the visit. I had never seen so many RIB's in one place, so many that the harbour team had constructed a floating mooring raft for them adjacent to the main pontoons and as it was not attached to the other pontoons, a fast, frequent and efficient water taxi service exclusively for the RIB owners was in operation. We said goodbye to Jemma, Ella and Aiden.

Salcombe to Plymouth.

Departed - 09.35  11/08/24         Duration - 5 Hours          Distance - 21 Nautical miles        Average Speed - 4.2 Kts

_{We had wanted to leave Salcombe the previous day but there was very thick mist throughout the harbour, entrance and the route to Plymouth so we had to wait till the next day. It was still fairly thick but started to slowly lift a little so after an hours delayed start we cast off - the mist thickened as we left the entrance and soon we could not see the high cliffs and occasionally the 3 or 4 other yachts that left at the same time. The radar earned its keep that morning. as we approached the breakwater at the Plymouth Sound entrance the visibility had improved to about a mile and the wind piped up to 20 knots or so as we quickly reduced sail. It transpired that the berth reservation I thought I had at QAB hadn't been confirmed and they rather unconcernedly told us they had no space at all - leaving us with a bit of a problem. we tried called Mayflower marina who were also full due the weather stopping boats from moving out, they did however suggest a few others we could try and thankfully that proved successful with a berth thankfully being offered at Plymouth Yacht Haven, which was well serviced but very exposed to the strong winds cutting through it and wash from passing ships and tugs, etc..} 

Plymouth to Fowey.

Departed - 08.25  26/08/24          Duration - 5 Hours         Distance - 23 Nautical miles        Average Speed - 4.6 Kts

Clare, Scott, Theo & Freddy joined us for the final leg before we had to head bock home, strong winds from the SW held us up a few days in Plymouth and later preventing us moving on to Falmouth. Our first visit to Fowey which lived up to expectations and was an all round favorite. Very laid back, friendly and picturesque.

The return journey....

Fowey to Plymouth.

Departed - 09.20  30/08/24          Duration -  4 Hrs 40mins       Distance - 36 Nautical miles       Average Speed - 5.1 Kts

The first Dolphins of this journey. Back in Plymouth we said goodbye to Clare, Scott, Theo & Freddy.

Plymouth to Dartmouth.

Departed - 06.20  01/09/24        Duration - 6 Hrs 40mins    Distance - 36 Nautical miles       Average Speed - 5.4 Kts

Thick fog for the final 10 miles into Dartmouth.

Dartmouth to Weymouth.

Departed - 07.20  02/09/24       Duration - 9 Hrs 40mins      Distance - 60 Nautical miles      Average Speed - 6.2 Kts

Plenty of Dolphins along the way.

Weymouth to Gun Wharf Portsmouth.

Departed - 06.45  06/09/24         Duration - 7 Hrs 45mins    Distance - 60 Nautical miles      Average Speed - 7.5 Kts

Portsmouth to Brighton.

Departed - 06.30   08/09/24         Duration - 7 Hrs 30mins    Distance - 58 Nautical miles     Average Speed - 7.7 Kts

Brighton to Eastbourne.

Departed - 13.30  12/09/2          Duration - 4 Hours            Distance - 20 Nautical miles      Average Speed - 5.0 Kts

Eastbourne to Dover.

Departed - 08.00  13/09/24        Duration - 8 Hrs 30mins      Distance - 45 Nautical miles     Average Speed - 5.3 Kts

Dover to Ramsgate.

Departed - 10.20  14/09/24      Duration - 2 Hrs 45mins       Distance - 16 Nautical miles      Average Speed - 6.5 Kts

Ramsgate to Brightlingsea.

Departed - 07.50  15/09/24     Duration - 6hrs 20mins        Distance - 48 Nautical miles        Average speed - 7.3kts

Mission accomplished - Safely back home with no damages or significant gear failures after our 702 nautical miles (801 Statute Miles) journey.