We wake up early as Jim and Ben should finalize the water maker installation, and Göran needs to get to the train to go home. It is always sad to part when you have had a good time so I think a drink should be in order and so I have my first glass of my own water. Tastes great! Jim and I walk through the installation and maintenance and it feels nice to know that I will always have water aboard. Jim is in a hurry to the airport and I thank him for the installation and a nice company.

Having the first water out of the watermaker

As I have this day on my own before Michael and Susanne arrive – I think that I should pay Portsmouth a visit, as I am curious on this naval town. I also know that going with me to museums is nobody’s idea of having a good time. I can get surprisingly interested in things that I come across, and can stay forever if the display is good.

But nothing should be done without a lunch! As I think it is my last chance – I go to Rocky and Barrie at Quay Fifteen to spoil myself with a really nice lunch – this time a Stone Bass. As I am waiting for the food, I try to learn how to fold the napkins as they do. Finally I get it right. The sad thing is that without practice – I need to learn it all over the next time I will try. Looks cool though.

Learning Rockys napkin fold

I decide to take the train and jump off at the harbor station next to a huge complex of naval museums. There is too much to choose from in too limited time and I decide to visit the Victory – Nelsons flagship from Trafalgar. I have built this ship as a model a number of times when I was a kid and now it is time to see the real thing. They also recommend the harbour tour so I do that first since the last departure is within minutes. The Portsmouth harbour is big and well protected and is a major naval town. Two thirds of the Royal Navy is stationed here.

Portsmouth harbour and the Spinnaker tower

HMS Warrior – the first stell armoured warship

Old Portsmouth

The Victory display is however a disappointment. Not the ship itself which is impressive, well preserved and nice to see as well as the fact that they are now renovating the ship to bring it back to even better shape. These old ships were the most sophisticated technology that the world could produce at the time and the flagship of the Royal Navy at Britains power period had to be something extra, and it is. However, the display gives no new information so I recommend a guided tour if you decide to go there. Still worth to see and I can nearly feel the feeling of the tiny plastic details of the Airfix models when I stroll around at the ship.

HMS Vistory

One of the cannon decks

Navigation table

Nelsons place

The Crew bunks

The museums at the Historic Dockyard are now closing up so I decide to visit the Emirates Spinnaker Tower that stretches 170 meter up in the air. Impressive sight and even though I am too traditional to fancy modern architecture, this building really looks good. The spinnaker shape really fits into the environment.

The Spinnaker Tower

As I come up to the viewing deck, there is a glass bottom floor that you can walk on. It is strange how your mind works. Even if you understands that it is perfectly safe – your mind screams that you should stay off and when you step out on the glass it feels everything else than normal.

This feels very, very wrong

As I am standing enjoying the view out on the Solent, the Americas cup boats line up beneath me. Amazing to see these huge performance catamarans slide through the water. I now must make a decision to go and eat at the restaurant that Rocky recommended or to go and look at the cats first when I know where they are. This difficult dilemma is resolved by a phone call from Michael as they are getting close to Southampton and will be at the boat this evening. I have a couple of hours to get back so I need to rush to be able to clean the boat. Work before play as the rule goes. I jump on the train and take a taxi from the station to Shamrock Quay. The neat thing with Melody is that you can do a good cleaning in an hour so the boat is in nice condition as the new crew arrive. We spend the evening talking on their vacation in Scotland and doing the Channel Crossing planning together.

Stepping out on the glass floow

Old Portsmouth and the Solent

Americas Cup Cats

Today is Görans last day and we decide to take a tour over to Cowes on Isle of Wight – one of the yachting centers of the world. We take the catamaran service that speeds over the Solent in 20 minutes at 40 knots. As we land, we take a stroll out to the Royal Yacht Squadron that hosts races. We get a chock as the starting gun all of a sudden is fired next to us. Continuing out on the beach, we look at the racing yachts and we walk back. Today, we have two urgent tasks – Göran should get new reading glasses and I should get a haircut. The press freaks us out so we decide to complete this before we go for a beer in the sun.

Cowes

Narrow streets in Cowes

Starting cannon goes off again

Yes. Thanks. We know. Now.

Lions overlooking the Solent

More lions

The beach at Cowes

After calming down, we decide to take the chain ferry to east Cowes and visit Osborne – the castle where Queen Victoria lived. It is a steep climb up a hill and we reach the nice park that surrounds the castle after half an hour. The castle was built to feel “cozy” according to the German word “Gemütlichkeit”. It is a beautiful castle overlooking the Solent but I would not call it cozy. Long isles with statues, a ballroom decorated in Indian style, dark bedroom with dark paintings of Jesus on the cross etc.

Aerial photo of Osborne. With a green frame of course

A walk in the park

The ”cozy” castle

Interior

The ballroom

The garden overlooking the Solent

We take the chain ferry back to West Cowes and settle down in the harbour for a seafood dinner before returning to Southampton.

The chain ferry between the East and West Cowes

Relaxing in the harbour after a stressful day

We left the marina for a walk into town to see more of the town. Southampton was heavily bombed during WW2 so not very much of historic buildings are left. Along with the busy harbour, one of the reasons for the heavy bombardment was the Supermarine factory that produced the Spitfire fighter.

We decide to visit the Sky museum on the town’s aeronautical heritage. Supermarine was the main focus and although the company is most famous for the Spitfire, a lot of information was presented on the fast seaplanes that won the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes 1927, 1929 and 1931. There were a number of planes on display – ranging from WW1 early fighters to jet planes and a lot of information on the WW2 era including a display on the life in Southampton during the blitz. There was a map where each bomb that had hit the town was marked and you really can understand why so little is left from before the war. It was also interesting to learn the logistical challenge to still be able to keep up production by dividing the manufacturing out on many small workshop spread over a large area instead of the original large factory.

The seaplane that won Schneider Trophy

The Spitfire and its Merlin engine

A WW1 fighter

All over town there are painted zebras which brings some colour to the city.

A painted Zebra in the city

Then, we took a walk in the city and got a train ticket for Göran who should leave on Thursday. We visited the Dancing man local brewery that was located in one of the few remaining historic buildings. One main attraction in the city was its Sea City museum with an Titanic exhibition. Southampton was also the departure harbour for the Mayflower pilgrims. The fact that the city was a major port for the D-day soldiers that naturally gets its attention. We took the walk back to the marina through the industrial neighborhood that felt like it had seen its best days.

One thing that was still left was the worlds oldest Bowling green

Sign outside Dancing man brewery

Inside Dancing man brewery

My vision of an English pub

A house from the Tudor times. A very rare sight in Southampton

The pilgrim memorial for Mayflower

Memorial for the american D-day soldiers

At the Titanic museum

In the evening, we go to Quay Fifteen and meet up with Rocky and Barrie. Their motto is Fine Dining without the fuzz. We could really testify to that. Outside, the restaurant looks like a normal lunch restaurant with camping chairs but the food was something extraordinary. We ask what we should do after this and Rocky asks if we would like to see the hotel where the first class cruise passengers stayed before embarking the ships to America – including the unfortunate passengers of the Titanic. We thought this was a great idea so Rocky calls his friend “Edi” who is the manager of the restaurant Grand Café. As we come there, she is busy but after an hour, she get the opportunity to show us around. The hotel is now private apartments but we could see the stairs and ballrooms that was very impressive. Naturally, we also had some drinks in the bar so we get to talk more with her on the history of the hotel.

Me, Rocky and Göran at Grand Cafe

At the bar at Grand Cafe

The entrance to the hotel

Inside the hotel

We are leaving Brighton in bright sun but no wind so we steam towards Southampton. It is an undramatic day until we reach the Solent where the heavy traffic requires a sharp lookout. Especially the fast catamaran ferries and hovercrafts needs attention. Coming into the classic Solent waters is exciting in itself where a lot of the RYA examples is from this uneven tidal environment. We see Portsmouth and the forts protecting the harbours.

Bright (on) day. But no wind.

No wind at all

Coming into th busy Solent

You have to look out for these fast hovercraft

As we get closer to Shamrock Quay Marina we call them on the VHF to see if they have diesel. In these seconds of lost attention, we put the keels gently on a sand bank in the middle of the river. Clearly marked so it is a bit embarrassing to sit there and wait for the tide to come back. Apart from the embarrassment and a couple of inactive hours drinking coffee, no harm is done.

Stuck at a tidal bank in the harbour

As we come into the marina, there is a nice guy waiting on the pontoon that we are directed to. It turns out to be Jim Cudd, the guy at Sailfish marine that should install my water maker. This is a long story – I bought a Spectra Cape Horn water maker from him in 2014 and got it shipped. I should install it 2015 but then we found the nacelle damage and it was no point in installing it then. 2016, it should have been installed, but the engineer did not have the time to do so. I thought that everything happens for a reason so I called Jim and asked if he could install it if I come over to him. This way – I have one guy to talk to on this equipment. Jim is a full time specialist on water makers so it feels good to have the machine installed by him and get his advices.

We ask Jim about his plans as he should go on vacation this Thursday. He plan to come early Tuesday morning together with his son Ben and be done by Wednesday. We ask him for a good restaurant and he recommends a Quay Fifteen that actually is in the Marina area. He says that it is one of Southampton’s best restaurants. Sounds strange as we are in the outskirts and Shamrock clearly is a working marina. We go to have a look and find a very modest restaurant that does not look anywhere near the upscale restaurant that Jim recommended. Anyhow – we ask for a table and the nice guy present himself as Rocky and say that they are closed but we could reserve a table for tomorrow. We are a bit puzzled, it does not look like a place that needs a recommendation but to be on the safe side, we reserve a table for Tuesday. Rocky offer us a beer and we start to talk. We asked where to go next and he calls down to Ennios. He tells them that he has two good friends from Sweden that he really would like to bring to him. We are welcome to come right away and as the taxi stops outside the restaurant, we see the staff preparing an extra table. The food is extremely good tasting in a very nice setting. After the dinner, we give Rocky a call and thank him for his ideas and he tells us that he already had talked to Ennio and that he was happy that we enjoyed it. We also visit Oxford Street where there should be some pubs. Obviously, Mondays is a slow night and we go home early.

View from Shamrock Quay

We leave Dover as they open the lock gates. I just love the English polite talk on the VHF that makes it a joy to speak to even the busy Port control in Dover. “Melody, this is Dover Port Control. You are free to leave by the south entrance. Have a nice day sir. “. No wind today except a light westerly breeze so we steam out of the harbor and go west to reach Brighton. The day is very undramatic and we come by beautiful formations of chalk cliffs – the most beautiful named seven sisters.

Göran collects the lines as we leave Dover

DOver castle

Chalk cliffs

Seven sisters

The Brighton marina is Englands largest marina and the breakwater is impressive. We go into a narrow passage into the harbour that makes it very protected but also adding some current to the thrill to come into this marina. Again, we have contacted the marina on VHF and got a polite direction to pontoon A where we moor for the night.

Coming into Brighton Marina

Brighton Marina – largest in UK

Everything goes swift and after just a couple of minutes we have maps in hand and start planning where to go to get something to eat. We had first thought we should go to the famous pier but get recommended another seafood restaurant in town. We go for a walk into town and get a table outside in the sun. Again, the seafood is delicious and we sit around talking for a long time.

Brighton Pier

Chilling

Seafood again!

We start early to make the best of the currents and to be able to reach Dover before the night ends. We sail along the Belgian and French coastlines until we can make a 90-degree crossing of the traffic separation zone. The stream and the wind make it perfect; we come spot-on the Dover Entrance and call Port Control to get directions. The polite Port Control asks us to wait out one of the high-speed ferry and then continue to the south entrance. We come to the marina half an hour before they open the locks to the marina and we can pay and get directions just in time to the opening of the gates. We get a perfect spot – right by the entrance and with beautiful view of the chalk cliffs and the Dover castle.

Leaving Continental Europe – Dover ahead

After Sail

View from Melody

It has been important for me to get a second impression of Dover. Last time we were here was in 2007 when we sailed Melody to Sweden as we dropped off the Lagoon dealer that had sailed with us from Les Sables D’ Olonne. We were on our own now and celebrated that moment by going to the closest pub and that experience was one of my worst food experiences in my life. The port was busy and we had heavy seas going north. In all a very bad experience that is soon to be cleared.

We take a walk into town instead of the closest pub. We have a recommendation for a nice seafood restaurant and after taking a look at the beach; we continue and manage to get a table. This was more like it should be. Very fresh seafood and an interesting historical setting.

Dover Castle

Time for some Seafood at

We wake up early and I walk Birgitta and Sofie to the train station. They are on their way to catch a plane from Brussels and I will have the day on my own. Göran should arrive this evening and after cleaning the boat, I decide to visit the Atlantic wall museum outside Oostende. There should be a tram so I find the station and go. It was really a ambitious museum with information on the wall itself as well as the bunker complex where the museum was located. It was the private property of the Belgian Prince Charles where he lived there until his death. He was opposed to the normal demolition and decided to keep the complex as historic site. There were also an exhibition of Prince Charles house for people that is interested in things like that.

The Germans built the Atlantic Wall during WW2 along the Atlantic coast from Spain to Norway with some 5400 bunker complexes. To see one complex makes you understand the size of this construction undertaking. Along with the bunkers were many other installations like mines and tank obstacles. Not to mention all the equipment that was placed here. As expected – there are some Bofors cannons sitting around. Being a sales guy in the concrete or weapons industry at this time must have been pretty easy. Bring the large order form and a sharp pen.

The bunker complex

Inside the complex

An anti-aircraft gun in the complex

We swedes sold them

Display of everyday life in the bunkers

The beach outside the complex

I go back and have a late lunch and go back to the boat to wait for Göran who show up in the evening. We take a walk on the town and go for a dinner to do some planning of the next week.

New crew – Göran – arrives