Hard Slog to Brixham

We left Brighton on Monday afternoon the engine having been sorted by Kevin the engineer, as distinct from Kevin - what we call our auto pilot!   The one loss so far was that of Buzz Lightyear our figurehead who disappeared somewhere over the Goodwin Sands.
At first there was little wind and we motored offshore towards the south west. It wasn't long before we could see the Isle of Wight in the distance. To begin with we had the tide with us so made good time however as night fell our progress slowed. We have two ways of seeing our speed. The GPS (global positioning system) gives speed over the ground  and the boat's own speedo gives us speed through the water.  It is somewhat  disconcerting when we are slicing through the water at a good speed of six knots and then finding that we are only doing one knot over the ground. When it is the other way round then it is  most satisfying.  
We seemed to spend ages looking at the light off St Catherine's point on the Isle of Wight and going virtually nowhere.  As dawn came we got the tide under us again and the speed shot up again. The next point to go round was Portland Bill and it took many hours going virtually nowhere with the tide against us. The wind was getting up as was the sea and it was becoming a very bumpy ride. Going below and moving round the boat was quite an exercise and effort.   The next tide took us into Lyme Bay and then we battled for hours in the dark making slow progress against high seas and the current. We decided to go to Brixham as it was nearer than the Dart and had an entrance  which would be straightforward in the prevailing conditions. We arrived in Brixham around 7 am and after speaking to the marina staff  we put our heads down for some sleep. All night we had sailed with a scrap of genoa sail and some auxiliary engine. The engine on its own could not get us forward against wind and tide. It was good to tie up at Brixham after probably the bumpiest spell so far. It is always harder sailing against head winds as the boat bashes into the waves which can stop her and make movement on board quite difficult.
On the Wednesday evening we had dinner at Stoke Gabriel with Liz and Charles - David's in laws - and enjoyed  a walk round this quaint  English village near overlooking the Dart river with fabulous views.
Thursday brings us back to preparing the boat - doing minor repairs to the furling system and re roping the fenders. We set off aroung 3 pm for Penzance expecting to beat into the wind most of the time but at least there are no gale warnings in place.  This next leg is around 60 miles - as the crow flies - but however long if we have to tack back and forwards. There will be adverse tides but we will make best use of when they are with us.