Four club members took Speedbird west at the end of June 2023 and brought her home a week later, having sailed 282 nautical miles by way of Portland, Salcombe, Brixham and Poole. The first leg set the tone: thirteen hours from the Hamble to Portland, arriving at seven in the evening. There was an early start the next morning and another long day to Salcombe, which was reached in time for a drink and some nibbles aboard before everyone went ashore to find supper. Salcombe is the kind of place that repays the effort of getting there. From the water the town rises above a harbour full of moorings, and the entrance, with its wooded headland and bar, is one of the better pieces of pilotage on the south coast. The passage back came up through Brixham in sunshine and wind, with lunch eaten on the go, then on to Poole and home to the Hamble. Somewhere in Lyme Bay on the way out the crew saw dolphins jumping, which did not wait to be photographed. A week is longer than most club trips, and it is the kind of thing a member can sign up for without owning a boat, finding a crew or committing to anything beyond the daily sailing fee.
Jane Wiggins
Jane WigginsMore photos
