Model boats and mishaps

Looked round Woodbridge for a bit, then came back to Robinetta to make a model boat out of scrap plastic (milk cartoon) to sail it in a “race” on the Woodbridge boating lake. Unfortunately the fresh water pipe leading to the sink came off the tap, so Julian had to spend some time fixing it first.

The scrap boat race was great fun even though our "boat" capsized and sank every time we tried launching it.

We left the Marina at 1400, an hour before high water, and motored down river towards Ramsholt. We did not risk the short cut this time, but followed the other Old Gaffers who stayed in the main river channel round by Waldringfield. I noticed white smoke coming out of the exhaust of the boat ahead of us, Jacinta, and the next thing we knew she was drifting without power. Graham, her skipper, managed to grab onto a mooring buoy before she collided with anything, and then we took her in tow down to Ramsholt. We'd never towed anything before, and broke our ensign pole with the tow rope, but luckily Graham rescued it before it floated away.

We left Jacinta on a vacant buoy at Ramsholt and picked up another one for ourselves. Dinner that evening was a communal meal at the Ramsholt Arms pub, right on the river. We got a lift over to their jetty on Spare Rib, who is acting as a general tender to the Old Gaffer’s fleet for the rally. They had a marque set up for us, and a choice of three main courses, all of which were tasty.