Poole Cruise in Company - A fine Start to the Cruising Season

Departure and return of this first WSC Cruise in Company of the 2024 season was brought forward a day knowing that the planned return on Monday 13th May would have been under foul weather conditions. What a great decision it turned out to be, thanks to the idea from Simon Kershaw. So it was David and Gill on Nutcracker, Simon and Mairi on Carpe Diem and Ray and Annie on Crystella that set off late Friday afternoon in near perfect sailing conditions heading for Worbarrow Bay to anchor for the night. The anchorage was idyllic, calm and peaceful under a clear starry sky, however, being anchored below the cliffs of the bay we were unable to observe the spectacle of the Northern Lights as others close to home were doing!

The next morning we awoke to glorious weather and we were soon joined off Worbarrow by Double Vision with David, Jackie and Colin on board. With a moderate Easterly blowing we chose the offshore route to pass St Albans Head clipping the tail end of St Albans Ledge where we had a short choppy sea for five minutes or so. Tacking a mile or two after passing the DZ Range buoys we shaped a course to clear Durlston Head, or so three of the fleet thought, they needed to put another couple of tacks in whilst Nutcracker stood on a bit more and made it in one! Off Swanage Bay the wind virtually died so with motors on we headed up the Swash Channel into Poole Harbour and on to Poole Quay Boat Haven where they lightened our wallets by a considerable sum! You have been warned! Crystella hosted a mid-afternoon drinks and nibbles cockpit party where many a seafaring yarn was told.

After a wash and scrub up it was all off to the Portsmouth Hoy pub on the quayside for a group meal and drinks. Once we had worked out which menu starters were mains and which mains were starters (confused? Yes, we were too!!) we then had to work out who's food was who's when it arrived, except Gill that is, who just claimed the first dish out, she was hungry!! After the punch-up had subsided ............. only joking, it all added to the joviality of the evening, a good time was had by all.

On the way back to the boats, as the night was still "fairly" young, Ray and Annie couldn't help being drawn to the sound of a live rock band playing in the Lord Nelson pub. An hour and a couple of pints later, it was with ears ringing they headed back to Crystella.

We all decided to return to Weymouth on the Sunday. Leaving Poole Harbour late morning the fleet headed for Studland Bay where we moored on the new Eco-Mooring buoys for a few hours while we waited for the tide to turn in our favour westwards. Nutcracker and Carpe Diem rafted up to provide a platform for us all, whilst David T and Ray did the rowing. Food and drinks were pooled and David L worked his magic on his on-board BBQ, a fine lunch in amazing surroundings was had by all.

We left the anchorage late afternoon with a decent South Easterly wind meaning a beat down towards Durlston Head, as we rounded we managed to free off a little towards St Albans Head but the wind followed us round from the South and then it virtually died. There followed a period of calm with a mirror sea and there was an eery haze in the air, it was time to motor on and make ground slightly to seaward as we waited for the expected South Westerly to fill in, which it did after an hour or so, and enabled a wonderful fetch all the way into Weymouth Bay. Another fine weekends cruise in company, in fine company.

Last updated 17:26 on 20 August 2024