Sunday 2nd June
Today was spent packing and planning. Gillian had a more complicated task than myself as she was spending a week on the boat sailing to St Peter Port and then flying back to UK. She would come back out for the start of the RSrnYC Summer Cruise in Mid-July. Whilst I was intending to spend most of June and July aboard the boat although I had kept open the option of either coming back for a week or Gillian coming out.
Planning for the first few days were based upon: Monday down to boat, Tuesday sail to Studland Bay picking up a buoy overnight, Wednesday across to Alderney, Thursday rest day, Friday St Peter Port with Gillian flying back on Monday 10th June.
Tides was looking okay for ‘day sailing’
| Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
| Portsmouth | 1011 – HW | 1101 – HW | ||
| Dover | 1050 – HW 1810 – LW | 1140 – HW | 1230 – HW | |
| St Helier | 1340 – LW 1920 – HW | 1430 – LW 2000 – HW |
Ideal time to leave Hamble on Tuesday is around 1000hrs which will give us a fair tide down through the Needles.
On Wednesday the ideal time to arrive at Braye is HW Dover+5 – around 1600 local. Distance from Studland to Braye is around 55miles – transit time of between 10-11hrs. This gives us a very early start which was one of the reasons for overnighting in Studland rather than at Yarmouth. There will be a few groans when the alarm goes off with a departure time of 0400-0500hrs!
On Friday for the sail to St Peter Port a much more leisurely start with tides turning South around HW Dover. We will probably leave at HW Dover -2hrs and go North about Alderney to avoid the Swinge which was rough last time we went through it. We will be on Springs so should have a very fast tide down through the Alderney Race to St Peter Port – approximtely 25 miles. This is around 4 miles longer than the direct route. As ever much depends on weather, seas state and winds!
Purrfect Tale 