HOME WATERS
36 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com NOVEMBER 2015
didn’t stop us sleeping. At 0730 I weighed
anchor and called port control. I wanted
to leave by the same harbour exit as
the ferries, partly because it offered the
shortest route, but mainly just because
I wanted to say I’d done it.’
‘Port control advised we should head
to the south breakwater and proceed to
the Knuckle Light, then call them again.
I understood, but had grave concern, as
before my call I’d heard them instruct P&O
ferry Port of Calais to enter at the east and
hold at the Knuckle Light.
‘Five minutes later she was bearing
down on us and her captain was querying
port control as to what we were doing. We
hovered close to the breakwater by the
lighthouse awaiting instructions. Moments
later another P&O ferry slipped her lines
and started to leave by the east. We were
instructed to follow her out.’Misery in the Thames Estuary
Heading for London in deteriorating
weather, Jeff and Rose sought sanctuary
in the River Medway. They turned into
Stangate Creek and then into Sharfleet
Creek. On one side, Burntwick Island, on
the other Greenborough Marshes. It should
have been a safe haven even though it has a
history of sightings of ghosts.
‘The weather was awful, the place
even worse,’ Jeff says. ‘An uninhabited
landscape of flat mud islands, turned
monochrome by lack of light and centuries
of silt, stretching to infinity in every
direction. It was blowing 35 knots and we’d
run out of supplies. The back of the boatChurston Cove near Brixham is one of many anchorages near Jeff and Rose’s new home mooring
Taking the inside passage around Portland Bill was a nerve-wracking experience for first-timers
Lunar, always confident on boats large and small, smells the air as Rose helms past the Needles