I had hoped to have a week sailing around the Solent in the last week of November, but business commitments shortened this to 3 days only, 2 of which overlapped with the holiday of my son, David.

It was a bright but very cold day when I set off for the coast towing my Drascombe Lugger. The sea was almost completely still at Lymington when I launched her at around high tide, and she slipped off the trailer into the water without any trouble. As feared, my Evinrude outboard refused to start and I had to unship this and replace it with my very small and very old Seagull which, as usual, started without any trouble and under which I took her down to the marina where I was berthing. The rest of the afternoon was spent setting-up the boat and taking the Evinrude outboard into Aqua Boats Ltd for servicing.

The next morning, with David, we first collected the outboard from Aqua Boats, who had dealt with it overnight, and then went down to the boat. It was covered with a thick layer of frost and it was again very cold, a slightly hazy day with next to no wind.

Dressed in extra layers of warm clothing we set off for Keyhaven and motored down the Solent and up the estuary to the quay without seeing another boat in motion. Having moored, we went to The Gun public house for lunch. Having ordered a rum each to warm us up, I then tried to explain to the barmaids that they would have to wait until I undressed in order that I could pay them. One of them thought I was not prepared to pay her until she got undressed! This was sorted out and she explained it was the first time she had ever been offered money for undressing! We had a good lunch in The Gun and were surprised by the number of locals who came in for lunch, as we had expected it to be almost empty out of season. Fortunately it was the ‘close’ season for Grockles, which is the local name for holiday makers.

After lunch we set off for Yarmouth, again having to motor the whole way. Yarmouth was completely dead and we only spent a short time there before setting off back to Lymington. Having arrived at the mouth of the river, there was a very light breeze coming up from the south and we hoisted the spinnaker and, very slowly and very quietly under the setting sun and a beautiful sunset, drifted slowly and peacefully up the river imbibing a certain amount of whisky to keep the chill at bay!

The following day there was a little more wind and we decided to sail to Newtown. We were able to sail almost to the entrance before we had to use the motor, and we then cruised into the harbour. Unfortunately David slightly misread the first sign we saw and we went up the wrong branch of the estuary. However, the half hour or so we wasted by this mistake was well worthwhile because Western Haven was absolutely beautiful, with a still sea, masses of land & sea birds, particularly geese, and the last autumn colours on the trees going down to the water. We went right up the creek until it met the road and I would certainly recommend it to anyone else who wants peace and quietness in wintertime.

We then came back to Shalfleet Quay where we moored and walked up, and were then given a lift to the pub. The New Inn gave us an extremely good lunch. Their moules marinières were first class, as was their rabbit pie. As we walked back to the boat after lunch it was getting a little warmer and a thick mist came down. It was fairly late in the afternoon when we reached the boat and drizzling heavily, so we lit our navigation lights and set off under sail for Lymington, steering due north, with an outgoing tide, with the intention of turning left once we hit the north shore of the Solent.

In mid-channel we suddenly noticed that a ship we had thought was anchored was turning down towards us, and at the same time two large tankers appeared out of the mist aiming directly at us. This certainly woke us up. We noticed that the boat ahead of us had some peculiar lights and hoists and decided it must be a dredger as it seemed to be going round in circles. It seemed the best way to avoid the tankers was to sit under the stern of the dredger until the tankers had decided which side of us they were going. This we duly did until matters cleared up — it was a bit like being back in the middle of the English Channel. We then sailed to the north shore, turned left for Lymington, and had a delightful sail close-hauled back to the entrance, where we were able to free our sails and go onto a broad reach up to the marina. The wind was gradually dying and we had to motor for the last 50 yards into our berth because we could not tack against the tide in the very light wind.

All in all a delightful two days’ cruising, with the sea and the harbours almost entirely to ourselves, the pubs empty in comparison with the summer, and we the only sailors in them.