...and back home

After an enjoyable Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning socialising with the Old Gaffers it was time to head home. The planned picnic at Kirby Quay got cancelled because of the weather; no one wanted to be out in a small boat in a F5-7, however sheltered the area!

At least the wind direction was right for going home, still NE, but the sunshine went before lunch time.

Our plan was to leave just before the evening low water to catch the last of the ebb out of the Backwaters and then enjoy the flood sweeping down the coast. The cancelled picnic made us think about leaving earlier, and we left Tichmarsh at 1630 and motored down to Stone Point. One look out into the bay made it clear that the wind over tide would make for a very uncomfortable trip, so we decided to stick with our original plan, and picked up a buoy in the Walton Channel to wait.

We ate dinner on the mooring, then stowed everything carefully before listened to the 1910 weather. Wind speed was down to F5-6, and this was when we planned to leave anyway, so we were off the buoy by 1915, and motored out to Pye End (no cutting any corners on a falling spring tide!). We hoisted a reefed main and stay sail in the swell, then sailed off out towards Stone Banks, glad not to be heading straight into the waves any more.

We soon shook out some of the reef, and unfurled the jib to balance it. We had to refurl it after we reached Stone Banks, and turned onto a run. Low water was 2043, and as soon as the tide turned the swell eased. We were past the Holland on Sea radar tower by 2145, having hoisted the full main. We were making 5.5 knots, touching 6 sometimes. Fast for us.

We rigged a preventer, then I had a doze for an hour while Julian helmed, then we swapped after unfurling the jib since we were now on a very broad reach. It was full dark, and the GPS was invaluable for peace of mind even though we could see the navigation lights on the Gunfleet and channel markers.

Using the channel markers as aiming points was excellent for steering, but I nearly put us on the Eagle shoal after I mistook North Eagle for Colne Bar and did not check the GPS at the right scale to confirm my aiming point. The depth was shallowing when I did not expect it too, but luckily Julian woke up and realised what was happening before we touched.

We rounded North Eagle (on the correct side) at 2330, and had a lovely reach up the Blackwater to the Nass Beacon where we dropped the sails just as it began raining.

We picked our way up to our mooring through progressively heavier rain, with horrible visibility. Julian kept us on course, while I kept collision watch in the bows. We've definitely got better at this, since we were never in any danger of touching anything, but it makes a nerve wracking end to a long night sail!

We were on our mooring at 0125, and ashore at 0240, absolutely soaked through.

We had a good weekend of sailing, the only problem being that most of it was in the dark!