Beyond the Solent

Beyond the Solent Fizzgig's delivery to Milford Haven The day eventually came when it was time to set off for Chichester Marina to board Fizzgig and start our journey to Milford Haven - I had been looking forward to this week's cruise for so long.

Chris and I joined Mike Weaver and Andrew Kazimirski, and John of course, and headed for Yarmouth on our first day. We had a good sail, a very pleasant journey finishing with a meal on board and a fairly early night as we were slipping our berth just after first light the next morning.

On the Sunday we set off for Weymouth - from now on this was new territory for me, another good day on the water: so peaceful. We reached Weymouth about fifteen minutes before the town bridge was due to open: it was busy as a lot of boats were coming back to their home port after the weekend so we had to hang around for a while but eventually the bridge opened and we found our berth. We had a wander round Weymouth, then back to Fizzgig for dinner.

Monday we headed off round Portland Bill and across Lyme Bay, towards Dartmouth - the bay seemed to go on forever. We entered the river Dart - it was so pretty, I just couldn't stop taking photos. I could have easily spent a week there, but we had to go on. So Tuesday we were on our way to Plymouth: we got in late, tidied the boat up, had a meal and off to bed, tired but content.

Wednesday we had a rough day with huge waves and we were being battered about quite a bit. It was very exciting for the first couple of hours but after that it got a bit tedious but eventually the seas did Cairn down. I saw my first wild dolphin that day - there was a lot of noise coming from the sea but the dolphin managed to make itself heard above all the noise and came up about two feet away from us. We were heeled right over so she was very close. She played around for a few minutes and off she went; it was a wonderful experience. When we got into Falmouth harbour there was a fireboat going round in circles with lots of children on the back with their hands in the water. When we looked closer they were playing with a dolphin! We found our berth, tidied up once more and relaxed for a while with a bottle of wine and chatted about the eventful day ( well it was for me) then we went to the yacht Cub for a meal. On the way back we saw three grown men in the water fully clothed and wondered what they were up to - then we saw the dolphin. Apparently she wouldn't go away, she just wanted human Company

The next day, Thursday, as we left Falmouth, the weather was lovely, I sat on deck in the sunshine and was brought coffee and biscuits by John - I was really being spoilt!! But the weather soon turned and down came the mist and drizzle; this was going to be a long journey as we were going all the way to Milford Haven in one go. The weather got worse and the fog came down: we could just about make out Land's End. Evening came and we were on two-hour watches. "Get some sleep," everybody said but I was too excited and it was far too noisy for me. I did my watches and it was an experience I shall never forget: my first full night sail - and in fog! I actually heard a fog horn from another vessel! I thought it was amazing that there were no other ships out there all night (apart from the one with the fog horn). we had to get John up at one point, the fog was so thick we couldn't see anything. Eventually it cleared, daylight came and Milford Haven was a lot closer.

The journey up to Neyland Marina in Milford Haven harbour was a long one and we were glad when we were safely on our berth after 29 hours. Sadly though this was the end of the journey for Chris, Mike and me. A new crew were joining on Saturday to take Fizzgig over to Ireland.

Thank you John for a wonderful and very enjoyable experience.

Kath Rayner