GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND
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.
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.
At Hurst Point, I noticed there were two other yachts appearing to head the same direction. As any sensible sailor would, I immediately declared it a race (unbeknown to the other participants), Roxy and I wasted no time in sheeting in for a close-hauled port tack down the North Channel. One of the other yachts, slightly smaller than Sonder, started on the same tack as us to clear the Shingles Bank. The other, a larger boat with more crew, took the starboard tack down towards the Needles.
The sun fought hard against the clouds and cold spring breeze coming off the North Atlantic. As the tide turned, a distinct line
