Day 44 Shoreham to Eastbourne Sovereign Harbour

The Seven Sisters approaching Beachy Head



Dear Readers, we left Shoreham on the 8am lock out, in the big ship lock. That was interesting, as there was no where handy to tie up to and we scraped against the concrete walls leaving a scratch along the hull! We also had to leave behind a very long line, but the kind harbour master retrieved it for us and dropped it off as we left the harbour. (We did go aground slightly in the process though!)

However, by using the big ship lock we were able to get on our way with tide with us for the 26 miles to Eastbourne, which should take us 5 hours. We had the wind and tide with us and were sailing at over 6 knots, which was lovely and meant we were making good time, as we base our timings on an average of 5 knots. 

We passed the 000 degrees point at Peacehaven, so we are now East of the meridian for the first time this trip, having been West up to this point. We also saw a lone porpoise passing us in the other direction, which is always an exciting thing to see.

We are now East of the meridian, yay!

The wind dropped as we were passing the iconic Seven Sisters approaching Beachy Head, and then the engine began to splutter. Oh dear! We limped along past Beachy Head and turned into the shore ready to anchor if need be. However the engine began to behave again and we had a pleasant chug into the lock at Sovereign harbour in sunshine. It did mean our trip took us 7 hours in the end, but never mind, with sailing nothing is ever certain!



Beachy Head Lighthouse

We know Sovereign Harbour and it was nice to be in a familiar marina. We had lots of visitors planned during our three night stay, which was something to look forward to. For this evening we met up with my friend and ex-colleague Barbara, who lives in the harbour, and she kindly offered to cook dinner for us this evening, an offer we readily accepted.


So we had a very pleasant evening sitting in her flat overlooking the lock and the marina, and enjoyed our first home cooked meal this trip. It was delicious, so thank you Barbara, you made our day!







 a view not usually seen from the sea!

Cormorant in the marina stretching it's wings.




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