Ramsgate bound

After some debate about the weather forecast, a decision was made to wait until Thursday to leave Dunkerque for Ramsgate. The weather was much of a muchness, but we figured that one extra day of lighter winds would allow the sea to settle slightly. And then, we debated again, and decided to leave Wednesday, along with Sirenia.So at 06h00 BST, we slipped Dunkerque into a clear, albeit slightly cloudy morning, and headed off west down the inshore passage through towards the Rade de Calais, where we would be able to turn north towards the UK.With the wind across the port beam, and at 15kts, we flew down the coast, with a sea state perhaps touching moderate on occasions, but certainly nothing to worry about, and only took 2 hours to reach the RCE marker where we would turn north, amking a comfortable 10kts over the ground. The sun had poked out on occasions, but it remained very cold, with hats and gloves the order of the day, a bit sad really considering its June in a couple of days time.As we turned North, the wind was a little behind us, making the course a little rolly, but not too bad. We couldn't quite safely hold the course to cross the TSS at right angles, but near enough. However, a little too much westing in our course helped as it put us nicely on track to round South Goodwin as the tide turned East.The TSS was very busy. As busy as i've seen it, but remarkably, our course just took us through the middle of everything, with no need to alter speed or direction. Pretty amazing when at one point I could see at least 8 ships in the East bound lane.We slipped equally unobstructed through the west bound lane, and soon could see the South Goodwin buoy, which we rounded comfortably. It did set our course then to be pretty much dead downwind, and with the wind having built to around 20kts, a bit rolly polly, so we headed up a little, and put in towards the coast line, and planned a gybe to head back out on then opposite tack. As we approached the coast, we prepared to gybe, and then it happened!.... something that C has been patiently waiting for (and sometimes not so patiently), for just over 2 years....... a dolphin appeared on our stern.... squeals of delight, and a grin that the cheshire cat would have been proud of!!!!!We gybed and the course looked good for the whole of the rest of the journey. With a load of east going tide, we were set towards the Gull channel, straight where we wanted to be.... as we got closer to the end of the Gull Channel, we had to furl the genny away... the course had got even deeper, and the wind had been steadily building.... Morgana was starting to feel a bit pressed, and I looked down to see 28kts registering on the instruments, and holding at that speed... we were grabbing waves from behind, and surfing upto pretty quick speeds, reaching 13.3kts at one point.With the genny furled, things felt altogether more under control, although the boat wasn't overly comfortable with just the main, she was sailable, and with only 2nm to go, it wasn't worth rounding up to furl the main and unfurl some genny, so we plodded on...Soon enough we headed up on the channel into Ramsgate, back across the wind, and with the 28kts, it was a little more lively.... the shallowing water off Ramsgate had made the sea very short and choppy, and so we bounced our way in.... with white streaks in evidence, we were touching a F7, and with regular ferry movements, and little room for maneouvre, we decided to furl the main outside rather than inside the outer harbour.... so the last 1/4nm was very rolly indeed, but OK. and soon enough we were inside into more sheltered water, and round into the marina area....With such a strong breeze, getting onto a berth was going to be a challenge, so from afar, I picked one where we were being blown off from the bow, and port side too, and threaded my way in. Which was scary enough. The aisle was very narrow and with the wind dead behind and only 2 feet either side of us, it was a nervous moment getting into the aisle in which our berth was located, but with a bit of teeth clenching, we were in..... the sign as we tied up said 'private berth'... arghh.... so we wandered over to the office, and he was OK for us to stop... which was good, as we didn't fancy moving in this wind.... so here we are... back in the UK.

Miles logged 45nm
Miles this trip 174nm
Miles this season 447nm
Miles since this blog started 2,241nm