It was a lazy start from Yarmouth. With all the preparations done on Wednesday, it was simply a matter of waiting for the tide to start pushing west. Once the current was on our side we could exit the Needles Channel, on route to Weymouth.

After coming back from a light lunch at the local coffee shop, we started making ready for sea. The tide was clearly on the change, which you could see from the adjusted approach of the ferry.

Within ten minutes we were motoring out of the harbour. Within twenty minutes we had the sails up and were racing towards the Needles Channel in a northerly breeze. The tide picked up once we were abeam of Hurst Spit. Although there was barely enough wind to fill the sails we pointed the bow down the channel moving at four to five knots.

This light wind stayed with us to well past the Shingle Bank, where we were close to being becalmed. However, after about three miles the wind started to build to the forecast force three from the northeast.

The going was good with the wind on our starboard quarter. This gave us a fast reach across the bay towards St Alban’s Head. The only major obstacle to avoid on this passage was the Firing Range at Lulworth. We had checked before leaving Yarmouth the firing times, looking to avoid this period. The hope was, that we would approach the range just after they stopped firing for the evening. However, things were going better than planned and we would need to go slightly offshore to avoid the last hour of firing.

With the wind holding steady, we were due south of St Alban’s Head as the sun was starting to set ahead of us. With darkness came a little more wind as we accelerated parallel to St Alban’s Ledge.

With the wind steady at force four, we rounded up towards Weymouth just after 6pm. The waves had built in the last hour and doing seven knots with the tide the passage was turning wet. It was now simply a matter of a fifteen-mile sail up the bay into Weymouth. The welcoming sight of Portland Bill Lighthouse soon became visible on the port beam with a second light appearing on the bow.

This second light had characteristics of a powerful light but not one that was on our chart! Over the course of the hour we approached Portland harbour and soon the lights of the great breakwaters came into view. It quickly became clear that the unidentified lighthouse was that of “A” Head on Portland Breakwater. This made sense, as it was the only powerful light in the vicinity. [Later inspection revealed that this was a change missed when updating the charts in early July – a slapped wrist!]

By 8pm we were making our final approaches, avoiding one or two fishing boats making to sea. The water was now flattening out in the lee and the wind decreased to a force two. After removing the mainsail we continued on jib while starting the engine. Frustratingly, the engine refused to start the first time. Not a great problem as we still had wind to sail in. Tacking out to sea again gained sea room and time. A quick inspection of the engine revealed no obvious problems. On resting the engine for a few minutes it started first go! We feel it was probably flooded (with fuel) after lying on its side for a few hours. This is its normal position but we had been healing a lot since nightfall. In any case it was decided to change our starting procedure, not include the engine choke unless needed.

After noting the harbour control lights were inactive (therefore there is no traffic) we quickly motored up to the Harbour Masters visitors berth. These are positioned half way up the outer harbour on the starboard side. On route we past the ghostly figures of the three local Sea Cats on what was now a flat calm night. We were rapidly secured alongside and quickly turned our attention to planning the next trip around Portland Bill.