Up the coast with the tide

Real life got in the way of sailing after our adventures at Easter, so I only went to Robinetta once in May to check on her. She was fine, but looked a bit shabby with bird droppings, and the same was true when Julian and I got on board on Friday evening. We spent a couple of hours cleaning her up and getting her ready to sail then went to bed; we wanted to catch the early tide window up the coast to Walton.

High water was 0230, and that was when we dropped off our mooring and set out in the pitch black. We had the GPS chart, with our previous track on it so we knew where we were going, but the ticklish bit was picking the way throught the crowded moorings. Julian helmed, and I went to the bows and made sure we did not hit any buoys (the boats were much easier to miss!).

We were in open water and sailing by 0315 and made good progress to reach Clacton by 0545 despite the NE wind. After that we were headed too much by the wind, so it was on with the engine before we reached Holland on Sea and we motor sailed up the coast and round the Naze into a very rolly Rolling Ground littered with scrap plastic crab pot markers that were hard to see in the swell.

We cut across Penny Hole bay to the Backwaters number 2 bouy, keeping a careful eye on the depth gauge. We did not touch, but it was a huge relief to turn into the channel and turn the engine off to run into the Backwaters.

We were moored in Titchmarsh Marina at 1030, ready to drop.