50:36.68N 02:27.47W Friday, I woke up just before the 0400 alarm and lay marvelling at the sound of silence.  After the high winds of the last couple of days the absence of boat sounds, frapping lines (not ours!), straining mooring warps and squeaky fenders is deafening – Juniper lies still.  Even if there’s not enough wind to sail, at least we can be on our way again, and we slip just after 5 o’clock.  We make sure we leave quietly when we have an early start and the only sound is the gentle put-put of the engine as we make our way down the Lymington river and back out into the West Solent.  I’m disappointed we haven’t been able to round the Isle of Wight, (I wanted to pass St Catherine’s Point!) but we can already see the Needles as we motor down the channel and very impressive they look in the early morning sun.  We have a great tidal stream and I’ve phoned ‘range control’ and had confirmation that there is no firing activity today, so we’re clear to round St Albans Head and make for Weymouth past Lulworth firing range without becoming a practice target.  We soon have sails up and a sparkling close reach past a spectacular coastline reminds us why we’re doing this trip.  As we approach Weymouth the sea is literally full of white sails and we discover that we have sailed into the Skandia regatta olympic trials.  There are four huge clusters of boats and it’s impossible to make out the course we should take but a safety RIB zooms up and we detour round Portland harbour and into Weymouth.  We were hoping to use the town pontoons but they’re all full so we have to go through the lifting bridge into the marina, so it’s tie-up time on the waiting pontoon and kettle on til the next bridge opening.

Photos: Early morning in Lymington river, Hurst Point guarding the entrance to the Solent, A lonely east cardinal buoy, The Needles