It was time to start thinking about our return journey. Tuesday looked like a good day, with a south-westerly wind, the forecast for Wednesday was for less wind and then we were getting unfavourable wind directions which meant more motoring so Tuesday it was. We would have loved to have stayed longer but we needed to get back by Friday at the latest so we could pack the boat up and start heading home on Saturday. We hate leaving the boat…

I got up at about 5am, and I said to Christine and Catherine, if I wake up early then I’m going to start the engine and get underway. It will just help as it’s likely to be a long day. As it happened we were in thick fog, so I went back to sleep and woke again an hour later. It was starting to lift but still wasn’t all that great. We started to slowly get ready, got the kettle on and then lifted the anchor at about 7am. The tide at this point was starting to take us towards Alderney, we had no wind as the fog had put an end to that so we motored around the island and set a course for Alderney. We could hear the lighthouse on Sark making its beep sound. It’s very ‘digital’ i don’t know if that helps to locate it but it’s no air-powered foghorn. 

A couple of hours later, the main sail was up and we were doing ok, about 4.5-5knots in 8knots of breeze with a good tide. The fog lifted until we got to Alderney at which point we were back on GPS positioning, and motor sailing again. Radar and AIS were clear, we could see two yachts in front who left Sark just before us, one turned and went up the french coast and one went into Alderney leaving just us heading straight across the channel. The fog didn’t really lift from this point on, however, the wind built a little as we passed Alderney which meant the engine could go off again. We hit 10knots through the Alderney race, we were going well!

We had a bit of lunch and then we started to think about the shipping lanes. The sea had built a little although it wasn’t rough and we were now doing about 5-5.5knots still in heavy fog. At the moment our AIS is running on Openplotter and the only way to look at this in the cockpit is via Navionics on my phone. We grabbed the power bank to keep my phone charged and started to look at the stream of traffic going left and right. We passed the first lane without much trouble and we were slightly ahead of a group of ships. The middle section is quite wide, so you can take a moment to plan for the next crossing. Now, this time we could just see groups of ships with little space between them. We slowed down to let the first group pass and then planned to go after that group. As we started to make our way across, we had the engine on at this time, we noticed another group at the top edge of the lane and the boat leading this was a container ship called Colorado Express. We couldn’t see this tanker at all, or hear it, but just behind it were 4 other ships forming a triangle, we quickly worked out that we couldn’t make it in front of these, they were traveling at 15knots and with the group behind our only option was to call them and say we would pass behind. 

Colorado Express, Colorado Express, this is Allegra, Allegra, Over

Letting them know our intentions, we now needed to turn slightly, head up the lane to get round the stern of this vessel and then get across the lane behind the 3 other ships as quickly as we could. We had to gybe, wait for Colorado to pass and then gybe back and get across. We never saw Colorado, we got to within .6nm which was close enough and could hear the fog horn as she passed. We didn’t see the other three ships, but they were at least 1.2miles away. As we passed this group, another yacht came out of the fog going in the opposite direction. It was an interesting time, a little scary having Catherine on board, but I believe we did the right thing.

It wasn’t until we got back home we had a look at the ship, it makes you think about what could have gone wrong here. We had radar on and we can receive AIS. Colorado asked us our position because he couldn’t see us on AIS. I wonder if they were using radar? I think it’s time to start transmitting our position on AIS. I need to look into this.

Within the hour, the fog lifted a little (typical) and we went back to relaxing a little more, autopilot on and a cup of tea. The afternoon turned to early evening, the fog had now cleared, the wind had picked up and we were now watching the sun starting to set behind Portland Bill. The tide was trying to take us to Portland, however, we were still about 20 miles away and it was due to turn as we got closer to the shore. 

We had some food and started to think about our arrival which was going to be in the dark. We’ve not night sailed as a family, but we do know this area and the conditions were good so we felt comfortable enough. There are several beacons on the land, and we were heading for the one west of Anvil Point, the tide was just turning now so we could start to turn more towards Anvil Point / Durlston Head to make our way around to Studland Bay. It was about 9pm now and we were flying, between 6.5 and 7.5 knots with the tide. About 20mins later, the wind was picking up, 17, 19, 21knots and we were surfing down the waves hitting about 9knots. 

We were enjoying the speed but also pushing the boat a little too much and we went down one of the waves, and suddenly she rounded up. It wasn’t all that violent, you could feel that the rudder was losing its grip, the boat didn’t lean over all that much but we tried to let the sails out but we were just too slow to respond. We reduced sail, let the main out a little more and got back on course. Now at Durlston Head the wind was 25knots and a dark cloud was overhead, we hadn’t put enough front sail away and went round again!! Everyone was getting tired, it was time to slow the boat down and just go in on the main. Now at Peveril Ledge, a red buoy, we were out of the main wind, back under control and could see our destination… phew!

We arrived at Studland, anchored at the back of the field and called YatchLine. All checked in, a Whiskey and a cuppa, we settled down for the night.

Lessons from the trip:

Reef earlier – We know this, but we should have slowed the boat down as it started to pick up speed. It was also obvious that the wind was going to get stronger as we got to the shore, especially with the wind directions, however, I do think we also got caught up in that dark cloud as the wind went once we were anchored in Studland.

AIS/Radar – In fog, you want everything, all the toys, all working and we should be transmitting our position. Need to investigate this further.

Still, great trip, we would do it again!