Seeing Old Harry and his wife at close quarters is one of the great treats of sailing and arguably the most attractive bit of coastline in England. We of course, frequented this fabulous Dorset area of Studlands, a world heritage site no less. Anchoring for the night was always fun. Seeing fluessence in the sea, an abundance of wild life, night time parachutists, firework displays, high power speed boats, super speed ‘cross channel ferries’ and a nudist beach; this area has it all. Sadly, the last time we were there it was very busy with people, jet skis, fast motor boats towing noisy kids on toys and plastic rubbish in abundance. I wonder how the sea grass is coping now?
For all of that it was a magic place. Only in the height of the summer season could I really complain. As a dog owner I had to go ashore on the Yards near Old Harry himself when we anchored. This was not easy and probably frowned upon for disturbing sea birds but Juno was too keen to keep her feet dry to be much of a threat to the odd wader and the rocky shore was not very conducive to dog walking so our trips were short.
If you have read my first post on the subject of tenders you would know that I had a new girl in my life after three years on my own. Now Juno and I had crew! We became four plus two medium sized dogs.
In the summer of 2012 we explored the Purbeck coast line, visiting Chapmans Pool, Mupe Bay, Tynham and from a distance Man of War Bay and Lulworth. We watched the Coast Guard Agency ship hiding behind the rocks on security duty, a backup to the Olympics in Weymouth and Portland. It was a great summer full of flat seas, light winds and beautiful sunshine. Dorset was at its best.
The new girl persuaded me to move Juliet Jay back to Brixham in 2013 and so together we sailed her there one March day. Yes, this time it really was chilly. The weather was good and we got past Portland without incident. I noticed that at one point we were doing 9.7 knots across the ground just south of the Portland race. We then cut in to take the foul tide closer to shore and so made very good time. However not everything was anxious free! We watched squalls approaching us from all sides. They seemed to follow us, then change direction and spin round to attack us from a different direction. They were dark areas of heavy blustery wind and heavy rain, cold looking showers which we could see from a long way away. Only once did one actually catch us and that fortunately was short lived. It was the smacking of the sea with our hull which was alarming together with the noise of the rain on the sea which was amazing.
As night fell the cold started to really get in. Juliet Jay did not have any heating so we had to rely on the number of layers of clothing we had. It was still bitter and got worse as we ploughed on. The lights at sea and ashore were as extraordinary as ever. Strange lines of big bright blue lights were the most spectacular off Torquay, And it got even colder. We arrived in Brixham at 1.30am and as we crawled in looking for our mooring we heard a very strange rhythmic sound. Heave two three four, heave two three four etc. A lady’s rowing crew were practicing in the Harbour- yes you’ve got it, at that unearthly hour and it got even colder. We did, amazingly, find our mooring quite easily and managed to settle into sleeping bags. It was annoying to discover the loos at the yacht club were closed as it was a Sunday and we had to use the fisherman’s facilities on the quay.
