Today's modest three hour passage to Weymouth meant that we could spend the morning catching up on repairs and chart updates before setting off west after lunch. The forecasted weather was variable, light winds, mainly from the south west which was fine, but there was to be moderate visibility with fog patches which sounded more problematical. We were experiencing problems with our windscreen washers and so had to repair the sprung switch by swapping it with the one from the saloon helm. Having recently repaired a windscreen wiper we would have as good a view through the bridge screen as possible. With our radar and active reflector we felt confident to manage the expected fog patches.

We timed the passage to coincide with the minimum tides around Anvil Point and with the slight sea and light breeze, we had nothing more than smooth to slight seas. The problem was that the so called fog patches turned into continuous fog west of the needles until we rounded Anvil Point, and vessels passing only half a mile away according to our radar were invisible by eye. We kept a sharp watch and used our horn to sound the limited visibility sound signal of one long hoot every two minutes.

We had taken care past the Needles buoys having received new chartlets from the Admiralty update service via the internet (www.nmwebsearch.com). These were pasted onto our charts and showed that the channel characteristics in that area had changed. After St Albans Head, the fog cleared and the sun came out for a nice home run toward Weymouth. The arrival into the harbour was without problem and we arrived half an hour before the 1800 bridge lift into the inner harbour.

We called the harbour and bridge on channel 12 and were requested to raft up on the waiting pontoon, port side downstream of the bridge. There wasn't any free space but we pursuaded a sailing boat to allow us alongside. By now it was a pleasant sunny evening and the harbour looked very picturesque with lots of traditional fishing boats. Although we were only three hours from the Solent we felt like we had arrived in the West Country already, with a distinctly nautical feel to the town.

We called Weymouth marina on channel 80 who were very hospitable, allocating us an alongside berth in the visitor's basin, convenient to the marina entrance and town centre. Their charges were modest after our experience in the Solent, and there were plenty of electricity and water points. We made our way over to the old harbour for the evening, opting for one of the traditional restaurants in Hope Cove, which seemed popular and good value. During our walk we saw a large fish and seafood dealer which we pledged to visit the following day. The town and harbour were full of holidaymakers during this half term week, and Bennet's Waterfront Fish and Chips, as featured on ITV's Holidaymaker, was a popular choice. After the sun of the afternoon the evening soon became cool again and mist and fog patches would return overnight.

Cruising Statistics

Distance:44 nm

Total to date: 636 nm

Avg Speed: 14 knots

Duration: 3:10 hours

Diesel: 220 litres (est)

Wind: V 3-4

Mooring: £30/night

Electricity: £3.50/night

Waypoints

Lymington Spit
50 44.00N 01 30.00W

Hurst Narrows
50 42.20N 01 32.50W

Shingles
50 39.70N 01 37.00W

Needles Fairway Buoy
50 38.20N 01 38.90W

St Albans Head
50 30.00N 02 10.000W

Weymouth Harbour leading line
50 36.87N 02 25.770W

Weymouth Harbour entrance
50 36.52N 02 26.710W

Charts

SC 5600

SC 5601