Dartmouth
South Island
John and Elspeth Perryman
Fri 3 Jul 2015 09:08
We are now in Darthaven marina after a very eventful sail from Portland. The forecast was for light winds from the SW which was the way we were going so we expected to motor most of the way. They were light to start with so we motor sailed at first. The wind picked up a bit so we were sailing with all sails up. Then with no warning we were hit by a squall with winds from the west and force 7/8. We had to reef in a hurry and by the time we had 2 reefs in the main, the staysail down and the yankee half furled we flew along. The wind then changed to N6/7 which was a perfect direction and we got here really quickly. Eventually it died down again and the reefs came back out.
Darthaven marina is lovely - it's the one with the little steam train next to it which goes to Painton. We will catch the ferry over to Dartmouth later to do some shopping. Probably here till Monday to let our sore muscles recover!