Leg 2 Lymington to Poole Harbour

Date:- 27.12.10 Name: Morgen Crew: RD (Richard Dempster), Nick Binder From: Lymington To: Poole Harbour Comments:Pick Nick Binder up for second and third leg.

Wind Strength / direction: Easterly force 4 Sea State: slight to moderate Distance: 24.7nm Time Taken: 6.5 hours

Nick has the dubious honour of being the first friend to do a leg of the journey with me. He met us first thing in the morning after leaving home at 5:30am after celebrating his brothers birthday the night before. No easy thing to do! I gave him a quick briefing on the whereabouts of various pieces of equipment as he has never been on a yacht before. Fran made us a couple of bacon sandwiches for breakfast and then said her goodbyes in order to drive around the coast and meet us at the next destination.

It was difficult getting out of the berth as the wind kept catching us broadside and we were just swept along. I managed just to get the stern of Morgen through the wind and we managed to reverse out of Lymington Yacht haven. Through the needles channel with just the jib out and Nick as helsman meant that I could sit and chat to him. Its amazing how much easier it is with two on board. The wind picked up a bit and we put the main up with two reefs in it and we were flying along.

Although the pictures make the seas look relatively smooth they really don’t paint the whole picture. The seas were very choppy and when the wind picked up sometimes to a force 5 Morgen would dig in to the wave and suddenly accelerate which was at times quite difficult to handle. But as you can see from the photos we were both enjoying the event. There were times when I would say something like a “little more to port” and then say “a little more to the left” and then say “the other left Nick” Next time I’m going to paint L and R on his hands one in green and one in red!

‘It’s a small world’ How often do we hear this. But it truly is a small world. As we pulled in to our berth in Poole harbour marina I found that we had neighbours. A lovely couple who were just away for a few days to relax. After a short time I got talking to them and was able to explain that I was trying to raise money for AICR and explained so far what I had done. They then informed me that in actual fact they were waiting for a phone call explaining that they had a relative with cancer at the moment and even though they tried to relax you could tell they were extremely worried. They said that he would love to read the blog from his sick bed and so I gave them a card which I had printed with the blog address on so that he could follow the venture whilst he still could. My over riding feeling was what a nice couple. Since then I have found out that they have sponsored me and given £50:00 to AICR. What a nice gesture at what is undoubtedly a very distressing time.

But if Nick is reading this blog I want him to admit that I didn’t shout at him once. Or twice for that matter.

After a very good sail in to Poole harbour which I think would have put a few newbies off sailing I was very pleased to find Nick had really enjoyed himself. We moored up very nicely in Poole quay Yacht harbour and then put the kettle on and waited for Nick’s uncle who happens to be the Poole quay Harbour manager. Fran met us as well and we had a laugh about the days events and then headed off for a very nice Italian meal at Da Vincis.

Leg 2 finished.