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The Next Eight Weeks (or so) - 50°47' 28" N 00°19' 34" E

By Kate and Sean -
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We keep being asked what's next and where will we be on (insert date).   We also have had the disappointment of, " We didn't know you were here, we were just down the road!"   So in an effort to keep our social life thriving, we will now post our plans each month during the summer. Sunday (3 May), we are leaving Eastbourne (UK) and sailing to Den Helder in The Netherlands.  This 200nm passage will take us through the Strait of Dover on spring tides (they run up to 3 knots) and into the North Sea. From Den Helder, we will wiggle our way across the shallow Waddensee before heading back out into the North Sea and along the West Frisian Islands to Cuxhaven at the mouth of the Elbe River. Our plan for the next eight weeks... We will zip through the Kiel Canal, into the Baltic Sea and work our way north up the east coast of Sweden into the Gulf of Bothnia.  Our turn-around point is dictated by Chinook's insurance limits, so we can go no further than 64°N!  We wil...
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Cherbourg - 49° 38' 43" N 01° 37' 13" W

By Kate and Sean -
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We left the lock in Eastbourne at 05:00 (that's 'am' for you non-nautical types), thinking we would be alone ... only to find we were one of four boats heading out. It's always a good indication that we have correctly read the tides and the weather. The breeze was light so we popped open the Code Zero - it's an awesome sail!  Our speed increased until the wind died and the sails were then up for display purposes only.  We furled the Code Zero and continued on using the iron sail.   The Prime Meridian We crossed the Prime Meridian and suddenly we are back in the Western Hemisphere! A little research and we discovered that the Prime Meridian is no longer the Greenwich Meridian. It was superseded in 1984 and The Prime Meridian is now managed by the very official sounding International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service (IERS).  The new Prime Meridian, or the IERS Reference Meridian (IRM), is about 100m east of the old meridian.   The main...
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Closing the loop - 49° 38' 43" N 01° 37' 13" W

By Kate and Sean -
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  And here we are, back where it all began in Cherbourg!   We have closed the loop - does this count as a circumnavigation of Great Britain?? 
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Eastbourne - 50° 47' 28" N 00° 19' 34" E

By Kate and Sean -
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Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne After a gloriously sunny downwind sail from Dover, we nipped through the lock and into the marina at Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne.  It was even warm enough for sundowners in the cockpit.  Just magic.  With the forecast for warm weather over the next few days, we abandoned our plans to continue onto Portsmouth, content to explore around Eastbourne. Some wild weather hits this coast.   We rode into Eastbourne proper and explored the seafront and the town.  Quite the fancy resort back in the day, Victorian hotels line the seafront and, like any good resort town, boasts a pier and a bandstand. The pebbly beach stretches for over six kilometres and the erosion protection gives a hint of the type of weather that is experienced at times. Very typical English seaside resort At the marina office, we saw a notice advertising a talk by the RNLI on 'How to be towed by the RNLI'.  This is something we hope never to require ...
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Dover - 51° 07' 10" N 01° 18' 52" E

By Kate and Sean -
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Leaving Amsterdam, we had a two hour motor along the North Sea Canal before arriving at the sea lock and out into the North Sea we went.  Our route from the marina to The North Sea through the Noordzeekanaal Chinook has a maximum hull speed of 8.6 knots but look at that SOG (Speed Over Ground)!  Having 1.5 knots of current pushing you along helps ... along with two top-notch sail trimmers! You can see the pink markings on the chart plotter showing the TSS (Traffic Separation Scheme) which dictates some order to the many, many ships that squeeze through this 21-mile-wide pinch point between Dover and Calais. Wind farms, ships from EVERY imaginable direction, Traffic Separation Schemes (there is an actual ship round-about off the Thames Estuary!!) and shallow bits all needed to be avoided.  We managed to sail a lot of the way and, after eighteen hours and aided by the current, the White Cliffs finally loomed into view!  An easy passage just about done w...
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