Afloat again - at last!

Some of you may have been following Follyfin and her crew since they began their adventures in 2012, namely the circumnavigation of the UK. Having gained our confidence together, we determined to set our sails for more adventure by crossing the English Channel to France (we cut our teeth on this by sailing to the Channel Islands in September 2011). Our proposed embarkation date of 1 May from the UK was put back by adverse weather. Instead we set sail from Hull on 6 May only to find that the VHF radio was malfunctioning. Luckily we had not gone beyond Spurn Point at the mouth of the Humber. So instead of heading out for a night sail in calm weather to Lowestoft, we retraced our track 20 miles back up the river to Hull hoping to get the radio repaired there. No luck!

Now we are relying on the hand-held VHF radio until we can get the whole set replaced by the manufacturer on the South coast. Set off again evening of 8 May. Had excellent sail south towards Lowestoft. Only the last few miles, when wind freshened and tide turned against us, did we encounter difficulty and slow progress. Eventually moored up inside Lowestoft Yacht Haven 22 hours after setting out - quite a marathon for us. And berthing was quite a drama too - the subject of my next post - so we were relieved to be safely tied up before the worst of the weather came in.

After a day recovering in Lowestoft, we left early aiming to get to Ramsgate on the Kent coast in one hop (having decided to leave London out because of time pressure). We sailed straight across the Thames Estuary, right outside all the wind farms but having to tack all the way because of wind direction. This meant we arrived at Ramsgate at 11 p.m. Saturday evening, absolutely exhausted! Quiet day yesterday, Sunday, then off again early this morning heading round South Foreland close under the White Cliffs of Dover. Although intending to head to Eastbourne today, the weather forecast at 0600 is for gales, so decided to put into Dover rather than brave worsening conditions. We will sit it out today and see what tomorrow brings. Rather nice here actually, sitting here in the Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club, right on the front Promenade looking out towards France, only 20 miles away.

Since last year we have had AIS fitted to Follyfin so now anyone can track us on the internet. Go to marinetraffic.com and you can search on our yacht name Follyfin. Of course seeing us depends on us having the AIS system switched on, which it always is when on passage and will be during the day in port as a general rule.