coast MARINAS
Aboard his boat Luna, coastal explorer William Thomson continues coast’s sailing tour of classic British harbours, this month exploring the historic harbour town of Weymouth in Dorset
Of all the harbours around the British Isles, I know Weymouth the best. For more than six months during the 20/21 lockdown, I walked around her perimeter every day at 9am after an early morning work session. My limbs were often stiff from the cold (it was winter and Luna is not insulated) so the walk limbered me up and the thawingout process was completed in the EBike café with my daily fix of coffee and a bacon panini. God knows how much I spent doing this, but it was one of the few things that kept me going through that hard time, waking at 04:30am daily to work in peace and quiet before the kids got up. But it was not all pure indulgence; I would sit on the big timber blocks outside the café, planning my next session’s work while watching harbour life, absorbing information like clues for the tide from seaweed on the harbour walls, or signs of the wind from the gulls swooping down. I even made a friend; a one-legged gull would hop over every morning to come and say hi, gently asking for some of my breakfast.
If you want to soak up the hustle and bustle of the harbour, the best time to go is when the lifting bridge opens on the hour. It begins with an alarm, then the barriers come down to stop cars and pedestrians crossing, then the two arms of the bridge rise up, clearing the way for a procession of sailing boats of all shapes and sizes. Some may be off for a leisurely cruise around the bay, others may be heading for the Atlantic Ocean and the far side of the world. But there is one huge obstacle to overcome just a few miles away – the Portland Race. This is one of the most dangerous areas of water on the planet and even on a calm day, if
