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Tides were the main consideration here and we planned to leave at HW Dover +3˝hrs (0600) at the start of slack water before the tide turned in our favour at which point we would have around 6 hours of push before the tide turned foul. By that time we would be well into the slower flows off Rye Bay. With fairly strong South Westerlies forecast we were expecting a hard beat with the wind against tide giving us an uncomfortable chop.
As it was the first day in August that the sea state had been predicted to be anything less than Rough there was a mass exodus from Dover heading westwards. We were going well with the tide helping us nicely when the wire genoa halyard snapped and the sail started to slide down the track! With some damage to the furling line feeder we were concerned that there might also be damage to the foil so we rigged the hank-on No. 3 on the inner forestay. However this didn't really give us the power we needed when the wind died in the afternoon and the tide turned. We left Dungeness about 1M offshore but by this time the seas were pretty uncomfortable. Going further out helped; but not much. Once well passed Dungeness the seas calmed a bit and the remainder of the passage was fine.
The entry to Sovereign Yacht Harbour is well buoyed and straightforward. There's a 24hr lock which has pontoons on either side. These are around 1¼ meters high so fenders need to be set at rafting height. The marina sits in a residential development and the facilities are great - the showers (voted best of our trip), laundry & toilets are all first class and the diesel berth just next to the lock is very convenient; the facilities almost justified the £26.50 berthing fee (a new record for our trip so far). There are lots of decent restaurants incorporated into the development and there's a 24hr supermarket 10 minutes walk away.