Sail 8: Bridport to Torbay

We got recognised by two different people in Bridport, the first was a couple of kids who had seen Fathom in Bembridge. We felt famous but quite awkward as they only knew us because their grandma crashed into us while we were berthed. The second person recognised us from Gunwharf Quay where we regularly commute with Fathom for work. He was from the Tall Ship Youth Trust. We can only hope he hadn't seen us nearly crash into a super yacht when we left Gunwharf the other day.

Bridport is an unusual harbour, in that it offers very little shelter at all and one section is reserved for the water polo team, see photo below. It was a bumpy night but we can highly recommend the Katsu curry at the Rise restaurant. It was better than Wagamama if that's even possible. On barely any sleep we got up and headed off across Lyme Bay.

Passage plan

Nice and simple passage plan today.

Tide against us until HW Dover at 13:37.

Wind predicted to be variable (little to no wind)

- Leave Bridport, take a bearing of 240° towards Torquay. Stay on this bearing for 33NM, 6.6 Hours.

- At Ore Stone (big rock) turn to 292° and make approach to Torquay Harbour 2.5NM

Total Distance 35.5NM

Passage Time 7.1 Hours

Passage Log

Headed for Torquay under motor as no wind. It's 35.5NM away, the sun is blazing, the sea is smooth and we're sailing in our undies.

Coming up to Beer Head all four sails are up and we're motor sailing at 5 knots. Tide should be with us soon. We've done 8NM of 35.5NM. Sea is still calm but ripply with the wind. Saw another Gannet. The boat is easier to steer with sails up, autopilot Brian likes it better anyway.

Time is passing slowly, Andy is raking out the deck where it leaks, Ruby is keeping watch listening to a podcast at the front of the boat. We're communicating by walkie-talkie to spice things up, "bit left, over", "bit right, over", "do you want a biscuit? Over" It's got colder now so we're in our pjs. Video below summarises the whole journey.

Some interest on the horizon, we spot the mussel farm a long way away. We celebrate that we're nearly two-thirds of the way there by swapping watch duties. Ruby takes a nap on deck in a pillow/rope fort.

Land is appearing slowly on the horizon, 5 knots feels very slow. If you keep looking at it, it doesn't get any larger. Even Brian the autopilot has started to get bored, keeps weaving back and forth, very annoying.

We see some unusual small birds that float on the surface, they dive down really deep as you approach. Maybe baby gannets? No internet to look it up, but later we find out they could be Common Scoters a type of sea duck. The Common Scoter is not so common, they are a red-listed species with only 52 breeding pairs. We saw two groups of around 8 females/juveniles, very exciting!

Finally! Ore Stone appears, it's a big old rock with loads of birds on it. Looks very impressive and we're so excited to be close to land and take over from Brian's long auto pilot shift.

Called Torquay, no room at the inn so we're off to Brixham instead, both of us feeling a bit rough, not from the motion of the ocean, coming down with colds.

Passage Reality

Oh, this was a boring one, I wish we'd downloaded more podcasts as there was limited signal out at sea. But a big shoutout to Wolf & Owl, Ruby listened to one episode on repeat and it was still funny a second time round.

We made good time and for once we were nearly bang-on with our planning. A flat calm Life of Pi style sea really does make a difference, didn't see any floating zoo animals or resort to cannibalism though you'll be glad to hear.

Distance: 37.2 NM

Time: 7 hours 19 minutes

Average Speed: 5.1 Knots

Max Speed: 7.3 Knots

Andy was pleased to finally rake out the deck, he had a great time thumbing linseed putty into all the gaps he'd just cleaned out. What we've learnt about wooden boat ownership is that most of the boat is held together with linseed putty, like a giant leaky window frame that you need to water with seawater daily. It's like keeping a salty plant alive, more of an organism than an object. If you forget to water it you get a lot of cracks and more water coming inside when you get out to sea.

Brixham is lovely but very busy. We're staying here for a couple of days as we're feeling pretty knackered and ropey.