Portland to Torquay then Brixham

Saturday 9 May, slipped from the RNSA mooring at 0420 to make the most of the west-bound tidal stream to Torquay. Managed to sail for 6 hours out of the 10 hour passage, which was not bad. It took 8 ¾ hours from Portland Bill to Torquay Marina.

Came across HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH in the murk as we crossed Lyme Bay

Pleasant surprise when we went in to pay. It seems that our other visits to MDL marinas over the years had earned us ‘Otium points’ and so that night’s visit was free (a great word for cruising yachties!)

Met up with an old RN buddy, Steve Morgan and his wife Rachel and we were ‘grippo’d (taken up homers) for BBQ, beer and a good old chinwag. Lovely. Sadly this old fool forgot to take any photos dammitt!

Back onboard at dark, slept like the dead.

Sunday 10 May
1112 decided to slip and proceed across Torbay (3 ½ miles or so) to Brixham to have a look at the replica of Drake’s ‘GOLDEN HIND.
For those wot don’t know, when the wind is in the east and a-blowin, Torbay closely resembles a scale model of the Bay of Biscay, with the seabed ramping up to shallow water from the English Channel and the waves/swell (wind Force 6) are ‘kin ‘uge and on the beam when crossing in a north-south line. It only took just over an hour motor-sailing, but we were quite pleased to arrive in the protection of Brixham Harbour. While quite nicely protected, there is still a bit of a swell even in the marina and we noted that most boats had snubbers in their mooring lines and others showed evidence of mooring lines having been repaired. Nevertheless, it was a lovely stay. The MDL staff in both Torquay and Brixham were excellent and we did manage to visit the GOLDEN HIND, and of course had crab sarnies and a bit too much ale.Read more