Setting Sails, Solo!
160 nautical miles from the Medway to the Solent around SE England, across Dover Strait and along the Channel
I am learning solo sailing by doing it.
That's why I planned an entire season of sailing in safe waters.
To make all the possible mistakes.
And learn from them.
🐬
My first **solo** experience out at sea was sailing from Rochester on the Medway, to Portsmouth Harbour in 4 days and 2 stopovers. I’m planning to write more extensively about it, but I have written about a single episode in the trip and, as it goes, who knows when I will find the time and inspiration to complete the set!
So here’s a much shorter recount of my first solo experience out at sea.
On 14th July 2022 I left the Medway Sailing Club at noon at the turn of the tide and sailed happily down the river till Sheerness then into the Thames and along the coast till Whitshable Bay where I dropped anchor in the evening. Nothing mayor happened during that day, but during the night I woke up to a fantastic view of Ursa Maior – the Plough – from my berth, in the frame of the companionway.
After my first night out I managed to hit a sandbank (see my other post about it), then had a close encounter with a ship at anchor and finally reached Rochester where I slept in the marina. Pretty an exhausting day at sea!
The following morning the weather was brilliant, with a nice North Easterly that took me around South East England, past the white cliffs of Dover – and its ferries! – till out of Eastbourne where I was planning to make port
.But in the end I decided to keep sailing through the night, with the plan to heave to and power nap 15 minutes every 2 hours.
Which I did and it killed my brain! So much so that the following morning I would fall asleep every 5 minutes while at the helm, with a part of my brain screaming at me to wake up WTF!
During that night I thought I had hallucinations when a row of dozens of red blinking lights appeared all at once on a long stretch of horizon to East. Only after checking charts did I realise it was the huge Rampion Offshore Wind Farm out of Brighton! 🌬️
The last stretch before reaching the Solent, from Rampion to Selsey, was the most annoying part, with a very light Easterly wind and a lot of swell from various directions, which made sailing very uncomfortable. Out of tiredness and frustration I started having all sorts of negative thoughts about my planned expedition around the world… 🤔⛵
At Selsey there’s a narrow gate between low waters, leading into the Solent. As soon as I passed it everything changed, stronger wind, shorter waves and a big surprise! I was in a line with other boats when from afar I saw a white line of foam pointing at me, with a fin jumping out of water. 🐬
It was a dolphin, coming directly towards me, not the boat before me, not the one after me. And when it reached me a full pod of 5 or 6 dolphins started to play with me and my boat. That was a very emotional moment for me after the low morale of just few hours earlier. I felt like the dolphins came to see me and remind me of my purpose and the purpose of my expedition, to inspire millions of people to take action for ocean sustainability. Yes my friends, I will do it, thank you for your support! 🙏
After that all went brilliantly, with a stronger wind that pushed me till Portsmouth harbour entrance, after 160 miles at sea, solo, with no windvane nor autopilot – didn't I tell you this bit?
One more step in my preparation for the big solo sail around the world in 2024-25. Completed! ✅
