Weymouth to the Solent (Lymington)

Party time! The calculated departure slot for a trip to the Solent allowing us to take advantage of a fair tide was a most civilised 11:30. Andrew and Linda keep their Nordhavn 43 Zephyros in the town marina though, which is the other side of the town bridge. Hence they are governed by the fixed opening times of the bridge and so we left just after the 10am bridge lift.

It was strange to see another Nordhavn underway in Weymouth harbour, they are not that common:

It was a touch grey and gloomy as we left:

but it didn't stop the crew of the tall ship from climbing the rigging (you might spot a couple of them up there).

Another simple route, especially as the Lulworth firing range was not active so we could stay inshore and go through the narrow passage off St Alban's Head then up to the Solent:

Once out to sea, we were surprised by the amount of swell that was left and of course we were heading into it so both boats did a little nodding. The temporary ship's dog was not at all phased by this, she stayed transfixed by the sight of another boat that looked a bit like hers:

St Alban's Head area was pretty calm though (light winds and neap tides) so it was a very gentle trip through an area that can be a bit bumpy. Here is another addition to the lighthouse picture gallery for you:

On the way Andrew was experimenting with his new Furuno navigation gear. He spent many hours over the winter replacing his old Navnet II equipment with the newer 3D equipment and sorting out the cabling and configuration. Now that he is an expert, we know where to go when our stuff needs replacing. Actually, we try not to think about that moment from both effort and cost viewpoints.

The Nordhavn 43 looked impressive:

and of course having another boat travelling with us meant that we got some "boat underway" pictures of our 47 - very rare:

Heading into the Solent we had the "good grief it is busy here" feeling again. Can't wait to escape the masses of weekend boaters and the "down from London and I own the place" folks again. Entering Lymington with the Isle of Wight in the background you can admire our new fenders:

Moored "line astern" on the Dan Bran pontoon, the two Nordhavn boats looked impressive - only ours was way grubbier than Andrew and Linda's and has antique navigation gear on board too.

Maintenance news:

Nothing to report, sorry all you tekkie types. However, the lift out is next week so it will get more interesting for you and mightily tedious for normal people.