Green and Pleasant Land

An early summer cruise along England's south coast proved an unexpected treat for Phil Johnson

- By Phil Johnson

It was around the moment that we both huddled over the vent of our diesel air heater for warmth, droplets of condensation forming on the hatches overhead, the smell of mildew filling cabinets and closets, that we started to ask ourselves: why? Why did we, two American sailors, leave the balmy Caribbean to sail some 4,000 miles across the North Atlantic, only to spend the winter stuck in a marina on the south coast of England during a long lockdown?

It was really only by chance that myself and Roxy, my wife and Sonder’s co-skipper, ended up staying in England after travel restrictions delayed our planned sail south to the Mediterranean. But what started as a disruption turned to serendipity in early May, when restrictions lifted and we departed our Solent winter berth on the Hamble River for a cruise along the South Coast.

Sailing across Studland Bay towards Poole

A ONE - SIDED RACE

Our first planned stop after leaving the Solent would be Studland Bay, 20 miles of upwind sailing west from the Isle of Wight. It was early morning and the tide, near slack, would soon turn against us. Light westerlies were forecast to build steadily later that day.