Linda's Back.

Yesterday I dropped Sandra off at town Quay in a "touch and go" manoeuvre. The harbour master allowed my to drop Sandra off on town quay during the day between ferries docking. Touch and go means I drive the boat right to the dock and for about 1 second Sandra will simply step off (no time for hugs) and then I drive the boat away. I continued on to Torquay to await Linda's return. Linda was in a panic because her train was delayed and she thought she was going to miss her connection but hooray for Great Western rail because they held the connection so everything was fin in the end.

This morning we left early probably about 7am and set off for Portland. I had called ahead the night before for a berth and was told to just come. At this time I didn't know the politics but it seems the day staff were trying to turn boats away whilst the night watch has a different opinion. Well Portland is a port of refuge so they are not allowed to turn boats away so by just turning up they have to find space for you but if you ask they will tell you to look elsewhere.

When we arrived the skies when completely dark with a squall and we suddenly had 25 knots of wind to dock in. We came in and as we had not been there before we didn't know what to expect and I didn't know how much turning room there would be in the conditions so we put fenders on the starboard side which unfortunately meant that the stern of the boat was going to face into the prevailing wind (Not Ideal as you get huge slap in the master cabin when you want to sleep)

We saw Magic leave from Dartmouth about an hour after we left Torquay and they shadowed us all the way across Lyme Bay. Unfortunately for them they arrived in a full downpour which you can see photographed below.