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Dover Delivery Trip - 13th/14th July
Sadly the proposed East Channel Cruise had to be cancelled as there were no takers. Instead LADOS volunteered to deliver Lady Emma to Dover where she lies for a week before being sailed back to Southampton the following week by one of her owners and his guests.
So Jeremy, Richard, Keith and Patrick boarded at 1800 hours on the Friday and consumed one of Salli's exceptionally fine meals (moussaka and salad) before slipping the moorings at 2200 hours. With only four crew (albeit all experienced) watch keeping meant two hours on and two hours off.
By 0100 hours we were just past the forts guarding the eastern Solent. The weather was warm, rain showers and clear visibility. The predicted F3/4 SW dropping to F2 SW was just right. Passing the anchored ships near the Nab was a remarkable site - it looked like the Clacketts Lane of the English Channel. There must have been 10 or more large vessels, all at anchor with every available deck light turned on (as the regulations require). Passing close to one merchant vessel, it seemed almost daylight!
Keith the navigator wanted us to be off The Owers by 0400 at the latest in order to catch the escalator. Due to a peculiarity of the English Channel, if you time the arrival at The Owers carefully, and manage to average 7 knots over the ground, you will take a flood tide all the way up the English side of the Channel as far as Dungeness.
Some time during the night the wind increased to SW F5 and so one reef was taken in the main (not that easy at night) but the No 1 genoa was left flying. On a broad reach Lady Emma creamed along at 6 to 7 knots. Magic sailing.
As the day progressed we passed Brighton, Beachy Head, Eastbourne, Hastings and Rye. Then Dungeness hove in site. The wind had maintained its strength but we needed to alter the sails. During the day we had altered course gradually so we were on nearly a dead run. After having the genoa flapping and banging about, we had poled it out to starboard and this had worked perfectly. But after eight hours of running, we needed to gybe onto the port tack as we heeded 030 towards Dover.
Getting the pole down proved to be quite an event. With Richard on the helm, Patrick in the cockpit and Jeremy and Keith on the foredeck, we attempted to release a full genoa from the restraints of the pole, with a F5 behind us. The next time we try this, we will definitely blanket the genoa by gybing the main!! We took this as a learning event. Sadly, we managed to rip the foot of the genoa but it could still be used. So after lowering the pole, we gybed and headed up to Dover on a broad reach.
After complying with all the radio formalities that are insisted on in Dover, we eventually moored at the marina at 1700 hours.
Total time on passage: 19 hours. Distance logged: 110 miles. Number of hours sleep: 3!!
Thanks to Salli McLaughlin for driving the crew to Southampton and collecting them from Dover. Thanks also to Patrick and Keith for getting back home under their own steam!
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 "(Click to enlarge)")