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Bull Bay - IOM
Having been stopped by the British weather on the 6th, myself in my 5.4 Searider, and Pete Jenks in his 5.5m Sparrowhawk (Echo 1), both with a passenger, had a go on Sat 20th. The crossing from Bull Bay to Port St Mary was about 45mls, wind was westerly 4-5 with a bit of a NW swell.
Having safely crossed the busy S/lanes bout 10mls out, the rest of the trip was a walk in the park sort of speak, apart from the odd head wave that we hit a bit too fast and ended up chasing seagulls, then the inevitable hard landing, giving my mate what we thought at the time was a disslocated knee, shoulder and broken little finger! all on seperate occasions! We stopped for a quick photo shoot bout 20mls from Pt St Mary, then ran into some mist, but it soon cleared.
Having moored up for an hr in Pt St Mary outer harbour, we made our way to Douglas. Port Control asked if we wanted to moor in the inner wet harbour, but discovered it was £10-12 per boat per night, so we stayed at the visitors pontoon instead.
Having found a Shell station about a mile away on the Peel road to top-up, we settled back down in the harbour to await day light for the return trip. It was debated whether we went back in the dark, but as Pete had a close encounter with a shoal of loading pallets in the s/lanes, we were glad we didn't.
We cruised at about 22kts there, and about 18kts back. Pete with his 60 Evinrude using about 45lts there & 40lts back. Mine (75 Merc) using about 53ltr / 48ltr. 2stroke increased alot when cruising at 22kts, had to refill oil tank on way back, (wandered what that little beeping was)!
Allowing for messing about, both legs (no, not three!) only took about 2 1/2 hrs.
All in all, a great destination to go to, making it a great trip out. I think were all still smiling even now.
What next? Peel, Dublin (shares in BP)!!!
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The editor was keen to get more stories of future adventures - or even to tag along and he would write it - so worth bearing in mind for anyone planning an epic.
