Sail 7: Rounding the Bill, Weymouth to Bridport

This is going to be our most dangerous passage to date, the pilot book describes Portland Bill as the most treacherous piece of water in the English Channel. It's infamous for sinking the Spanish Armada and it gives everyone the willies. This bit of boiling water stretches 8 NM out to sea and shifts around depending on tide and the wind direction. There are two ways to go around it, sail 8 miles out through some pretty wild eddies and whirlpools, or come in as close as you dare to the cliff, dodging the lobster pots which get dragged under by the 7-knot tide. The pilot book recommends avoiding it at all costs, it'd be better to go to France instead. We really had the fear for this one and we were going to head out the 8 miles and go around the long way until we had a chat with the lovely harbourmaster in Weymouth. He said, "Ah you've been reading the pilot book, it's not that bad, there's barely a lobster pot round there, just get the tide right and don't go round if it's too windy". We were also rafted up to a flotilla who were making the passage the same day so we decided to go with them. Once around the Bill, it's a fairly long 20ish-mile stretch across Lyme Bay to the nearest port of Bridport. Below are a few pictures of Weymouth before the trek.

Passage plan

Need to round the bill at approximately 4 hours after high tide at 13:00

Wind Forecast:

AROME 14-17 Knots South Easterly at 13:00 moving to SSE by 15:00

- Leave Weymouth Harbour at 10:00 to avoid the race on East side of the Bill.

- Get to Portland Bill at 12:50, keep calm, admire cliffs and chuck a biscuit to the shore, Remember it'll only spit you out the other side. Hug coastline, wind will be flukey, use stay and main only.

- After rounding the Bill, aim for East Fleet on bearing 340°, gybe towards Lyme Regis if any wind. Tide going westward up to 1.8 knots.

Passage log

Left Weymouth harbour at 10:00, we were the outer boat in a raft of five, so we got untied first from our new flotilla friends, Panda, Nanut, Footloose and Pearl. The sea state is a bit choppy, some wind all sails are up doing 3.5 knots under sail alone.

Called up the coast watch station at Portland Bill to get the weather and see if the inner passage was working today. "Wind as predicted force 4, the sea state in the race is moderate, inner passage passable". Passable isn't the most reassuring word.

Approaching God Nore, doing 5 knots with motor aiming to pass the Bill between 12:00 to 12:30. We'll slow down if we're early once past the race near God Nore. The sea state is slight and the wind is lower than predicted 5-10 knots.

Rounded the Bill a bit early, around 11:30ish. The sea state was flat calm in the inner passage, with a few pots but easy to avoid. As we rounded the bill the wind picked up, we're now heading towards Lyme Regis.

Our flotilla friends sent us some photos of us, we left them as they headed for Dartmouth.

Swell has picked up around 0.5m on the beam, wind is 15-20 knots so we're motor sailing with the stay only. Changed course to go with waves for now. We can cut into Bridport early or Lyme Regis further along.

Sea state less than before but still rolly, we have the main. mizzen and head sail running. 6-7 knots of wind. Stay sail is shadowing the head sail so we took it down. Doing 4.4 knots. The wind is almost behind us.

Heading into West Bay, 10 knots of wind so we are sailing gloriously downwind. Nearly caught a fish, but lost it off the hook. Doing 4.5 knots with 1.5 knots of tide behind us.

Saw a gannet, was massive, so big we first thought it was an albatross.

Arrived in Bridport Harbour, Busy as F**K, lots of manoeuvring to get in. Pontoons are floating walkways, one was sinking as we came in. They are rolling about like we are at sea. It's like walking on top of a Mexican wave. Hopefully, wind changes to NE as predictions forecast.

Passage reality

This passage conquered a big fear for us. We feel relaxed knowing that even on a Spring tide with a force 4 blowing the Bill isn't that bad on the inside passage. Definitely needs some respect but not quite the armada sinking experience we prepared for. It's amazing coming in that close to a headland, seeing the cliffs and the people waving as you go by. There's some choppy confused water for sure but if you get your timing right, you're good to go. It's so helpful and reassuring to have up-to-date info from the National Coastwatch stations. Passable turns out to be a more positive description than we thought.

We're getting used to changing course depending on the sea state, sometimes you've got to go with what works best for the boat, this isn't like driving. We had some amazing sailing as we approached Bridport, it was definitely worth cutting in towards land more to get a better angle on the wind.

Distance: 24.7 NM

Time: 6 hours 5 minutes

Average Speed: 4.1 Knots

Max Speed: 7.2 Knots

We're moored up in bumpy Bridport for the night before making the next hop across Lyme Bay tomorrow.