Single Handed Back to Devon

Unusually, Victoria Marina provides a good WiFi internet connection. So, over the next few days, I spent a lot of time studying weather sites on the web. One of the best ones that I have found is: http://www.passageweather.com/ which supplies predictions of the likely wind and waves to expect during the following few days. It indicated that Friday morning should give me a suitable weather window to get back to Devon. However, to get the tides right through Little Russel, I would have to leave at 6:00 am. The sill at Victoria Marina was only open around midday so I left the comfort of the marina on Thursday ready for an early start on Friday. Handling Jomima on my own (38 feet long and 10 tons) required a lot of planning to make sure that, in particular, I could safely leave a mooring and then arrive at the new pontoon with fenders, ropes etc ready for mooring up as required. I again checked the weather, before turning in for the night, and it seemed as though it should be ok.

I got up at 05:00, cast off at 06:00, and before I left the harbour stowed all of the ropes and fenders. Little Russel was quiet and a one metre swell made its presence felt as I headed across the Channel. Fortunately the autopilot was able to keep to the course that I had programmed in advance, despite the swell. I passed the mid Channel light Vessel and crossed the two large shipping lanes without too many problems. The swell then began to subside as the tide changed and I began to relax and enjoy the 75 mile journey. The conditions allowed me to average 15-16 knots and the English coast appeared as a smudge on the horizon at 09:30. At 11:00 I entered Brixham harbour and, using the VHF radio, asked them for a mooring and checked which side I would have to place the fenders. I then put the engines into neutral and drifted while I set up ropes and fenders. Fortunately the mooring was quite narrow, and there was little wind, so that once I had got Jomima into the mooring she did not drift away while I attached ropes to the pontoon. It was a great relief to get back safely before the weather changed that afternoon.

Flying Home

Early on Saturday morning we attempted to cruise Jomima back to Devon. As we headed up towards the English Channel, between Herm and Guernsey, we entered a passage between the islands known as Little Russel. The charts do not give any indication of potential problems but, afterwards, I found that the sea bed slopes upwards at this point. Unfortunately, when this was combined with an incoming spring tide, the sea was very rough. Green water came over the bow and we were thrown about so violently that many items jumped out of place and onto the floor of the boat. I therefore waited for a gap between the waves and turned Jomima back to St. Peter Port.

Later I checked the weather and could see no let up in the steady flow of depressions coming across the Atlantic. Ann therefore chose to fly home while I remained with the boat in St Peter Port’s Victoria Marina.