Rain, Rain go away...... the fleet spread far and wide spend another day in port, but there is hope for tomorrow
50° 52.223 N 001° 18.591 W
After a night of heavy rain and high wind, the weather is finally relenting. By this afternoon the wind in the Solent had dropped from force 7 down to force 4. The forecast for tomorrow is for more of the same, so that plan at this time is to depart Mercury around midday, and head for Lymington.
Hopefully this will give the rest of the fleet, which are currently spread far and wide, the chance to catch us up. The weather has taken one casualty. The crew of Dreamweaver, a Sealine S34 based in Poole, have had enough. A few days port bound had the owners heading for their laptop and a last minute booking in the sun.
For those boats in Mercury there was an impromptu gathering in the Marina bar, giving crews a chance to get off their boats and mingle with other participants.
For the remaining boats, Lymington would provide a welcome change of scenery for a couple of days while the next weather system, due Wednesday, passes through.
The itinerary has been thrown out of the window and the team have been desperately phoning marinas to advise of the change of plan and make new bookings. All being well, we hope to escape the Solent by Friday and head West to either Poole or Dartmouth.
Photo – Drinks in the bar at Mercury
