Day 36 Poole to Lymington

The Needles on the Isle of Wight as seen from Lunar Sea

Dear Readers, those of you who are eagle eyed will see that day 35 is missing, but it was in fact covered in my last blog as the afternoon that my sister and I spent on Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbour. On the way out of Poole in the morning of day 36 (6th July) we passed Brownsea Island again and I got a good picture of the castle, now a hotel for John Lewis Partnership employees, lucky them!

The Castle, Brownsea Island

Yesterday evening a superyacht, Rahal, came in, which blended in with the other boats in our marina, which reflects the wealth around Poole and the Sandbanks area, purportedly the most expensive real estate in the world? In contrast, two Tall Ships Youth Trust also came in, Challenger 1 and 2. I know which I would rather be on, how about you?


Superyacht Rahal in Poole

 



Challenger 1 and 2 in Poole Quay Boat Haven Marina. 

With sister Deidre (Dee) at the helm most of the way on our 24 mile trip to Lymington, we managed to sail nearly all of the way in a nice steady breeze of around 18 to 22 knots. Dee has never sailed on a yacht before and loved it, even the rough overfalls around Hurst Point. 

Hurst Point lighthouse

Hurst Castle, built by Henry VIII to protect the Solent

We did the trip to Lymington in just under 4 hours and averaged 6 knots, very good for Lunar Sea. 
We passed Bournemouth and Christchurch, our home towns, and Hengistbury Head and the Mudeford beach huts, all of which looked different from the sea but just as lovely. Then past the Needles and around Hurst Point, the narrowest distance between the mainland and the island. The other side of Hurst spit is Keyhaven, where I very first sailed in a clinker built Enterprise dinghy! 

Mudeford beach huts

It was bit hairy entering Lymington as the river is quite shallow in parts and we had to negotiate it carefully to avoid the Isle of Wight ferry! We weren't going to argue with that!! We were very lucky because we manged to get a berth for two nights at Lymington quay, so we can enjoy Lymington. It is a really lovely little town with lots of maritime history, cobbled streets and old pubs, well worth a visit if you have never been here. There is also a lido, which I hope to visit during our stay.

My sister helming with Josh on lookout duty! I was galley slave for the day! It was a hot and sunny sail, our first one this trip.

 All in all a very pleasant sail, despite the bilge problems , which I am sure Josh will go into in detail in his blog. I will leave that bit up to him! So we will be spending several days here in delightful Lymington, then next stop Southampton. 




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