Eastbourne bound

The tides were less civilised, so an 06h00 start was in order..... we got up, and left on time!
Exiting Portsmouth harbour is as easy as entering it.... and soon we were headed off towards the tower at the end of the submarine barrier... Horse sands... visibility was ropy, and by the time we reached the tower, Portsmouth had long faded into the haze..... however, as the sun rose properly, it seemd like it was going to be another really nice day, but with little or no wind, so we headed towards the Looe channel..... easy in that weather..... the two marks showing the way in were easily picked up at quite a long range, and we motored our way gingerly through avoiding the huge quantities of lobster pots.....
As we exited the Looe channel, we set a course for Beachy head, a long way off in the distance.... some 35nm, and set the autopilot.....
It wasn't as warm as we were expecting, and we ended up in full oilies, and on occasions, felt quite cold..... so the long motor across the large bay, past first Littlehampton, then Shorham, and then Brighton....
We stuck the autopilot on, and let it do its work..... it seemed to develop a starnge habit of suddenly drifting off course, usually to starboar, but sometimes to port by about 20 degrees, and only slowly recovering..... we also noted that it seemed slow to react to course change requests.... a thorough discussion and debate on the subject suggested re-calibrating the fluxgate compass with the set up process, and then checking the 'gain setting'.... none of which could be done as we didn't have the manuals on board.... so it'll wait for a later date....
As Beachy head loomed up in the distance, we were all glad.... and rounding quite close, we shot with the tide still under us at 9 kts over the ground into Eastbourne....
The locks at Eastbourne are enormous, and we locked through quickly into the heavily developed harbour area of Sovereign Harbour....
Berthing arrangements were a loose. 'over on B pontoon somewhere... pick a spot', which we did..... and an easy, and accurate arrival... she is so easy to handle under power..... a world of difference.... she may be 7 feet longer than Maggie, but she is a lot easy to fling about.....
Our choice of pontoon proved to be less than perfect, as we found ourselves about as far from the facilities as it was possible to be..... never mind....
We checked in with the marina office.... it may be a bit of a 'heavily built residential/water front development', and not to my taste at all, but th staff win a prize for their helpfullness and politeness.... very efficient, very pleasant indeed.... a similar experience to my last visit to Sovereign....
We wandered out, visited a supermarket for a few forgotten essentials (like salt, parmesan and more bread) and then wandered back.... via a really nice shop... the weather shop, selling nothing but weather realted bits.... I could have spent hours in there!
Chris was jumping ship this evening, and his wife Anne came to collect him, so after Anne had arrived, and before they left, we managed to squeeze into a small Italian restaurant, and enjoyed another grand meal.... huge portions though.... and the now obligatory several bottles of red wine....
Tired, we retired back to the boat by 21h00, and rather than collapse into our berths, we naturally drank two more bottles of red wine.....
Finally, we faded, and went to bed..... tides looked extremely civilised, with a 09h50 departure.... so a good nights kip beckoned....
Still no problems with the boat, other than the slight quirks with the autopilot... grin still ever present.....

Miles logged 58nm
Miles this trip 77nm
Miles this season 77nm
Miles since this blog started 1,871nm