Onto the isle of Wight

We left Poole after a couple of nights and with a forecast of light winds were thankful that we had cleaned Ti Gitu's bottom. Well the forecast was wrong. We had a 'fast n frilling' creaming along at an average of 7 knots to the needles but once in the channel the seas calmed and we headed for the Newtown River.

This is a very tight anchorage and we decided to pick up a mooring for the night. The area is a nature reserve run by The national Trust. A few decades ago many yachtsmen helped the National Trust to purchase the area when a power station was threatened.

Now the National Trust charged us £21.50 for a night on a mooring. Obviously we scarpered to Yarmouth where we could lay alongside a pontoon for £16.50 a night but a bit more on Friday and Saturday nights.

Will I be supporting the National Trust in the future???

Yarmouth has been great. We met up with an old Fire Brigade friend - Martin - who now supplies fire engines for the film industry - http://www.cinifiretech.co.uk/  - Martin and wife Sue took us on a wonderful tour of the island for which we thank them profusely.

Ti Gitu will be heading for Chichester very soon although the tides are slightly wrong for an easy sail being against us until 2pm in the afternoon but we should be able to reach Chichester if we leave about 1pm on Tuesday. We'll plug the tide for the first hour and then hope things work out OK with the wind for a reasonable passage to arrive before it gets dark.