We left Weymouth at 8.45 along with ‘flyte’ and ‘selva’. The sea wasn’t that rough and we had a nice 27kt run to the beginning of the firing range, by which time we lost sight of ‘selva’. I’m not sure whether ‘flyte’ didn’t know that the range was firing or just didn’t care but they headed straight through. At this point the waves had started to grow and the thought of going 6 miles of shore wasn’t that appealing so we followed.
Somewhere between Lulworth cove and St. Albans Head, we lost out lighting pole and VHF antenna and were trailing several metres of cable.
After rushing to the back of the boat to survey the damage, we noticed that the engine had died and we couldn’t get it started again. A few minutes of panic ensued until I realised that I had pulled the kill cord.
Although it was a lot rougher on Sunday the ride was more comfortable than Saturday. The waves were much bigger so we were able to ride over them, rather than smashing into them, which is probably why we had more luck than the bigger boats. It was however incredibly wet, the wind was blowing the tops of the waves, and even when stationary we were still getting covered in spray.
We followed ‘flyte’ as far as Studland bay, where we stopped to have a break and made the decision to go on to Christchurch.
After getting back I went to phone Julian, just to let him know where we were and that we wouldn’t be making the lunch in Yarmouth. Instead I found a text message containing Portland coastguards phone number from Mike. I thought I better ring Portland and see what was going on, only to be told that we were missing and that the helicopter was looking for us.
Thanks to everyone for a great weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was nice to put names to faces. Thanks to the coastguard for their quick response and to those who alerted them. I hope we didn't cause too much trouble. I will be attaching the aerial to something more solid next time.
Daniel
