Nancy Blackett has finally returned home following her epic Summer voyage along the south coast of England. Along the way she revisited her birthplace, Hillyards of Littlehampton, for the first time, participated in the International Fleet Review, and received many visitors at the International Festival of the Sea.

Although she was unable to reach her ultimate destination of Falmouth due to delays caused by unfavourable weather conditions off the Dorset coast, she did make it as far as Plymouth in August, before turning round to commence her return journey.

Below is an extract from the Ship’s Diary, written by Able-seaman Mark Jacobson, about the return leg from Plymouth to Lymington:

SeaBritain from the Sea
Plymouth to Lymington (August 12th – 18th)

With Nancy Blackett at Plymouth, our crew was to move her to Lymington, starting her journey back to Woolverstone. The first evening seemed to be just spent in sorting – sorting stowage of the shopping the Skipper brought with him, sorting out the gear and rigging to acquire some familiarity of it all (there seem to be ropes everywhere at first) and sorting out personal gear! Although there is plenty of stowage aboard Nancy, much of this is used for the boat and the Trust’s provision for visitors. Kit has to be kept in bags on the forward bunks when not sleeping! Advice for newcomers is to arrive with as little as possible, all kept packed away tidily when not in use.

To begin with, the boat moves continually, and some of us felt queasy whilst in the cabin. Within a few days this reverses: the boat is solid and the land moves up and down!

Nancy is blessed with a powerful engine which (in ‘We Didn’t Mean to Go To Sea’) is a delight to Roger, while John, as a purist, preferred the quiet of sailing without the noise of the engine. There is no doubt, however, that the use of the engine makes leaving harbour much easier, particularly while still unfamiliar with all the running rigging. So we motored through Plymouth harbour as far as the Citadel, from where we turned southwards as were able to hoist the sails before heading out to sea.

What perfect weather we had! Gentle cruising, disturbed only by “man overboard” drills, which taught us the sense of not falling overboard in the first place, brought us to Salcombe. After crossing the bar, we ran up to Egremont (right), a former Liverpool Ferry, now used as a sailing base by the Island Cruising Club, a training school, alongside which we moored for the night.

Next day started cloudy and made for pleasant sailing until the wind strengthened. Motor on, we turned head to wind to put in another reef; by the time this was done, the squall had immersed us in rain. Turning back onto our original heading for Berry Head, all around was grey – visibility having been reduced to the length of the boat! It helps to keep track of where you are and where you are going! ‘Susan’ later read to us the struggle John had in reefing Goblin during their voyage, which put our reefing into perspective.

Brixham (left) became a two-day stopover as the next day’s forecast was for a force 6 wind. This gave us the opportunity to visit the town and market. I am sure there is a spelling mistake in the sign advertising ‘Mackerel Fishing – book early to secure your place’. At the heritage pier we had been alongside Provident, Golden Vanity and Regard and were later joined by the Trust’s webmaster, whom we rewarded with a superbly cooked (if rather mangled) sole for supper.

Leaving a day later than intended put the starting time an hour later, so we only had to cast off at 5am, which gave us a night sail of about one hour, into the dawn and sunrise. The main hazard this day lay in rounding Portland Bill (below).

Being a benign day for weather, the race extending from here was relatively calm so we were easily able to take the inside passage. It had been a splendid landfall after having crossed the bay almost out of sight of land, owing to the haze hiding it.

Once at Weymouth, a small ferry rowed us across to the Ivy Coffee House for a special: a real Dorset Cream Tea – thank you Skipper for that treat!

Weymouth to Poole started at the later time of 7am and began with lessons in turning within the harbour for all, before heading out to sea again. In the bay a more successful “man overboard” drill followed, then there were such lovely views of the Jurassic Coast as we sailed eastwards, with a small deviation into Lulworth Cove before rounding St Albans Head, again with little of its feared race showing. Poole Harbour is entered via a long, convoluted and very busy channel, which took more than an hour to motor through, an instance where Roger would prove the superiority of engine over sail!

Poole to Yarmouth: the bay crossing here to the North Buoy near Hurst Castle was made on one tack, sailing ‘best to windward’ all the way! Along the way the Skipper set up a trailing fishing line, regaling us with tales of fantastic catches in the past: our one small mackerel served for a mackerel tea prior to going ashore at Yarmouth! At Yarmouth we took an outside mooring, the harbour being rather too small for Nancy to be manoeuvred in, and the last evening used for a meal out. Next morning it was over to Lymington for a handover to a day booking, and sadness that our voyage had ended.

PHOTO CREDITS: M Richards, I Jacobson, M Richards, M Jacobson.