Jolly Old England

 

 

Locking through in Holland.  Hope Maria can hold Savannah Sky!

Typical sailing boat holding the wind up with a sail, traversing the inland waterways in Holland

Brrrr, a bit chilly sailing in the North Sea

Bashing to windward in North Sea waters, headed for the English Channel

Breskens, Netherlands with some colorful creature to greet Maria

Our first sight of land as the fog lifted, crossing the English Channel - the White Cliffs of Dover

Roman castle at the head of Portsmouth Harbour

You can see Savannah Sky, way way in the distance, but also far away from the Isle of Wight too

At the Golden Lion Pub

Ah, pub life is very entertaining at the Golden Lion Pub where Eisenhower, Montgomery, Churchill and so many other famous people strategized for D-Day.

Chris, the OCC Port Officer, showing Maria the view of Portsmouth Harbour

There can be a few days of warmer weather for sailing in Holland, sometimes...

This is where D-Day was born, over a pint or two, during WWII

S/Y Savannah Sky – July 3, 2023 – Log #6

Savannah Sky Position: 50 degrees 47’ N, 001 degrees 06’ W

Gosport, England

 

Jolly Old England

 

Before sailing out into the North Sea, we had to negotiate two locks and two bridges in the Netherlands.  Remember, the Netherlands is below sea level so they have lots of locks to keep the ocean out, and not let it in.

 

Once in Breskens, Netherlands, on the doorstep to the North Sea, we cleared customs and Immigration before leaving our safe harbour in the dark hours of the morning at 2 am.  Geeze.

 

Sailing just over 200 nm across the famous English Channel from the Netherlands in 27 hours was exciting to say the least.

 

As you might imagine, massive ships were everywhere, day and night. 

 

There are traffic separation zones to keep big ships from colliding with one another.  Little sailboats like us take our best guess as to what route we should follow to be safe.

 

Savannah Sky kept outside the normal channels in shallow water, where big ships aren’t supposed to be.  Yea right.

 

Darkness is when things get a bit dicey: lack of sleep and heavy winds with strong contrary currents and uncomfortable seas pummeling Savannah Sky kept Maria and I entertained and awake the whole time.

 

Luckily the sun rises around 4:30 am in this part of the world so we had enough light to enter into the main channel going up to Southampton, England after battling the sea.

 

The enormous cruise ship Britannia, appeared at our stern, just as we made the turn toward Gosport, England and our intended marina.  Woa!

 

Britannia, whose length is measured in nautical miles, lit up the new dawn like a fireball, and managed to avoid running over Savannah Sky as she headed for her home berth at Southampton.

 

We are getting settled in now in this nice marina while still fixing things, which seem easier here since they speak a variation of English, ha ha.

 

Also, the Port Officer for the Ocean Cruising Club, which we are a member, stopped by Savannah Sky and offered to show us some sights, along with searching for boat parts of course. 

 

Chris even gave us a tour of the countryside and we visited a great pub called the Golden Lion where my Dad, during WWII, drove a passenger named Eisenhower to meet with some local friends named Montgomery and Churchill quite a lot!

We had no idea about the pub’s history and thrilled to trace my Dad’s involvement in the war.

 

Wow, that was so nice of Chris to ferry us around.

 

We can’t wait to see so much more of England!

 

Steve and Maria

PS - More pictures can be found at:  https://sysavannah.blogspot.com/

1.     You can follow Savannah Sky’s route here, once we leave the dock: https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SY_SavannahSky/

2.     Or here: https://share.garmin.com/SYSavannahSky