16/07/2023 Attempting to get to Cowes but stormbound

On Wednesday 12th July we stocked up the boat and spent the night aboard on a visitors mooring at AYC, ready for a 4am departure to complete the long slog to Cowes, Isle of White. Aboard was Peter, Harry, Noah and Ollie Bennet (who had been on Maud'd maiden voyage since she was restored by Peter. The boat has many more 'mod cons' since then, including two new engines!). It was an uncomfortable start, very roly poly and we were planning to go through the 'Black Deep" however after entering we were called on the VHF and advised that we are no longer allowed to do this, so had to do a 3 hour detour around it. The only advantage of this detour is that it meant we were in a much more comfortable direction to the sea state, and bacon could be cooked! By the late afternoon the weather was building and before we knew it we were confronted with huge 4m waves. We made the decision to head towards Dover to seek shelter as this was by far the hairiest conditions we have ever found ourselves in on Maud. Noah did a good job of getting us to Dover without us being broadsided by a wave leading to a capsize - the waves really were that big and Maud is not designed for those conditions at all. We ate in Dover at a pub local to the marina and then went to bed with the aim of leaving at 4am in the morning for the rest of the trip to the Isle of White. We left as planned and were going along reasonably comfortably however despite the comfort the forecast was horrendous with incoming Force 8/9 coming towards us with 45mph gusts. The temptation to carry on was immense, but after the finding ourselves a little anxious, or in Wilson's case 'scared' the day before we thought the responsible decision would be to divert to Eastbourne Sovereign Marina, where we knew we were likely to be stuck until at least today given the forecast. There is little to do as the marina is quite a way outside of Eastbourne and the what is here is pretty limited in terms of quality. James Looker, who had also been on Maud's maiden voyage with Ollie in 2016 joined with the intention on hitching a lift with us to Cowes, however it became clear that leaving today was very hit and miss. In the end Ollie and James left yesterday concerned they may end up getting stuck here for a while. So last night it was just Peter, Noah and me and we got a takeaway delivered from a local Thai restaurant which was a welcome change from the marina's Harvester restaurant. We woke up at 6am this morning and sadly it is still very rough and windy, too much so to leave the safety of Eastbourne. Having checked on the AIS we can see that no other pleasure craft are out at sea in the area at the moment, so we don't want to start the trend!We are hoping conditions improve enough at least to hop along the coast to either Brighton or Shoreham with the aim of getting to Cowes on Monday now. All very frustrating and a bit bored now, but nothing we can do about it. The biggest shame is that we will miss the Royal Yacht Squadron drinks party tonight.. Let's hope we get out of here around lunchtime today - fingers crossed.