Solent Saturday

[thorper]

Hello

As it was dead calm, and we werent running the great south run, Andy and I went on a quick jaunt round the island. Hardly any waves, and even the chop of St.Catherines point wasnt too bad. Could have gone to France easily. On the way back we stopped off on horse sands fort for some photos. Andy put the boat through its paces while I took the pictures.

Have a look at:
http://www.badviz.com/Galleries/RoundIsland/index.htm

The weather was fantastic - not at all like October. Top day out

Ricky

[MeMe]

Well it looks like you had a great day. Some smashing photos. Considering the forecast you got a good day. I pulled a similar one out of the bag up here on the tip of North Wales, unfortunately mine was somewhat spoiled by having the dragon
along !

[whitingiom]

Must have been Saturday Me Me?

Was pretty wild out yesterday (Sunday)..... I managed to frighten myself at least twice!

Did my safety boat certificate, then went for a play in a 5m Tornado.......those ex RNLI engines really are marinised, as the one I was driving disappeared big style for a couple of seconds....shook itself and started revving again.

Glad I had my drysuit on!

[gingercoastie]

Great photo's.

[Ian]

Typical! The one weekend we aren't over and you get the 'Dragon' out on the rib. Was the 'Little Dragon' out as well? I bet that restricted your 'coffee' consumption.

[Richard B]

Originally posted by gingercoastie
Great photo's.

Yes, excellent. We went round the island the same day - and it was amazing.

We went clockwise and stopped for lunch in Ventnor using the new harbour. We rafted to a RIB similar to yours in Yarmouth...

[MeMe]

Hi Ian, yes had both the dragons aboard. As you can see we tucked ourselves in just aside East St Tudwals. There was a rip just behind us for about 25 minutes as low water approached. 3 Sea Kayaks drifted by followed very closley by a number of large seals who kept splashing them. They were very territorial. Unfortunately the batteries went in my camera so I missed a couple of great shots.
Sorry we missed you. We're not down next weekend as we're taking a quick holiday to warmer climes so I hope to see you the last weekend in October ! This is my last day in the office.....yipeeee.

[thorper]

Richard B - we went round clockwise at lunchtime as well, so must have just missed you. We didnt stop off in Yarmouth, must have been another rib.

What is the harbour like at ventnor? We've passed it a few times but not gone in yet.

Ricky

[Richard B]

Ventnor is great!

Saturday was ideal for a visit - high spring tide at lunchtime. I believe that there's not much depth on the approach at low (almost dry!)

Currently there are only a couple of mooring buoys in the tiny harbour, and a difficult slipway (submerged blocks nearby). The local fisherman is very helpful though, and his son acted as water taxi. From several cables offshore, approach due north towards some yellow poles, then turn left into the entrance which you can't see until you're right there. I'm going to do a recce at low springs one day to see what the channel's really like.