Sunday 14 July, Freshwater Bay to Mudeford - at last


This morning the weather forecasts for Freshwater Bay and Mudeford looked as if tomorrow morning Sunday14th July will have only light winds.   I’m therefore now back in Freshwater preparing to make a start around 7.15 to 7.30 tomorrow morning.

I will have to row against the last of the incoming tide for the first 4 miles, aiming to reach the Needles at around 9.30, which is the time of high water when the currents should be slack.  I will then continue rowing for another 1.5 miles to get round the southerly tip of the Shingles bank before turning north west, heading back to Christchurch.  Total distance is about 13 miles.
I should arrive back some time around 11.30 to 12.30 and will land on Avon Beach halfway between the two cafes.  I will have to row into the harbour later when the tide is in.

Photo of me leaving Avon Beach at the start.




If anyone is interested in following my progress on this passage, shortly before leaving Freshwater Bay I will post a link on this blog and on facebook, to the RYA/Coastguard tracker app Safetrx, after I have registered my passage on the app.  They then send an online tracking link so that my contacts can see my progress online, without using the app.
Safetrx records my GPS position every 5 minutes until I end the passage plan when I

arrive (unless I forget which I did once).

To see how it works, this is the link to my previous row to Freshwater Bay:


If anyone is walking the dog near Avon Beach tomorrow, I will be delighted to say hello when I land.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I have completed the Rowing Challenge!!

Image
I arrived back in Mudeford just before 12 noon today after an eventful 12.5 mile passage of 4hrs 30 minutes. It has taken me 7 days of rowing in a variety of conditions to circumnavigate the Isle of Wight and was much harder than I expected. Since I abandoned my original plan of rowing in windless conditions with smooth seas and decided to go when the weather seemed reasonably good, I have experienced a good share of wind and waves. Today’s row is a good example. The decisio n that the forecast looked good enough was made at 12.30 yesterday and we were on the 3pm ferry, retrieved the boat at 4.30pm then looked for a B&B for the night. I left Freshwater Bay at 7.20am and rowed under the white cliffs below Tennyson Down towards the Needles, in lovely calm conditions. I stopped to look at three caves in the cliffs, known as Kitchen, Parlour and Cellar, where in the 17thcentury, a Lord Holmes would apparently entertain his guests! The swell surging into Cellar created a very lo
Read more
Image
Why have I decided to (try to) row around the Isle of Wight? Please click 'READ MORE' to see the full post including Charity details - thank you. After completing the challenge of cycling solo and unsupported from Lands End to John O'Groats a couple of years ago, I am now proposing to take on another challenge of rowing around the Isle  of Wight. I am also raising funds for the charity Children On The Edge : https://www.childrenontheedge.org The row is planned to take place some time between the middle of May up early July 2019, starting when a settled spell of fine weather and calm seas appears.  Starting from and finishing in Mudeford, the total distance is about 75-80 miles.  My plan is to row 12-15 miles each day, so it should take me about six days to complete, although this will be subject to tidal flows each day. I have chosen the charity 'Children On The Edge' to benefit from sponsorship of my rowing challenge and have set up a char
Read more

Rowing at Sea

Image
Capsize practice - getting back in the boat Training for the Row   Click 'READ MORE' to see more info.    Before owning this Yole I had never rowed a scull with a sliding seat and oars that have to be feathered (blades leveled on the backstroke).  My rowing technique was mainly learned from Youtube and would probably be criticised by a rowing club coach. However it seems to work for me so since   last November I have been training by rowing up, down and around Christchurch Harbour for 1-2 hours or more, usually covering 4 to 7 miles and up to just over 10 miles.  In the last few weeks I have also been able to get rowing out to sea on about six occasions.   The biggest problem is getting out and back into the Harbour through 'The Run', the narrow channel past Mudeford Quay and extending about a quarter of a mile out to sea.   The entire contents of Christchurch Harbour, plus flow from two rivers, are emptied out to sea and then refilled twice each day, through
Read more