Putting things right

An awful lot of things had gone wrong yesterday, and while we could have gone off on the early tide like Cormorant and Kajan it made much more sense to fix them in Maldon with easy access to the chandler. Besides, there was the promise of a cooked breakfast and company in the Little Ships club....

We headed there after showering, and had a great time as usual. The sun was shining, the food was plentiful, the company was good.... Then it was time to head back to Robinetta and begin work. Only we bumped into Geoff and Kit from Swallowtail and had a natter and a cup of tea first...

Julian undid the tensioning ropes for the port side forward shroud, and that let him free the halyard block and lower the jib fully. He then re-tensioned the shrouds, and wound the roller furler so it worked properly. We bought a new block for the stay sail sheet and rigged that, so both foresails were back in commission.

A long time ago, the first season we had Robinetta, we had attached the jib sheet blocks to the cabin roof on metal plates. The port side one had pulled free not long after and we had returned to the method Mike used, which meant tying the block on to the grab rails. It worked well and we had not bothered to restore the metal ring, but when we looked at it this morning the thick whipping twine we used to tie on the block had cut between the grab rail and the cabin roof. It was time to sort it out.

The battery in the electric drill had not held its charge (it was a very cheap drill), but Julian had always meant to rig it to work from Robinetta's battery, and did so. After that it was very simple to screw and bolt the plate back in position and shackle the jib sheet to it.

We had a cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch, and raised sail while waiting for Robinetta to float off. We had hoped to sail off the pontoon, but the wind was too light to do anything but dry the sails. Robinetta floated before 1500, but we were still held by the mud fore and aft until 1515 when we managed to power through it on engine and leave.

We motor sailed until Hilly Pool Point, then turned the engine off and tried sailing along Mill Beach. The tide was still against us, but we managed nearly 2 knots; not fast enough to get us home to our mooring at a sensible time but a nice change for a while. The engine had to go back on before we got to Osea though as the wind dropped away again.

The tide turned in our favour just by Osea pier and by the time we reached Thurslet there was enough wind to sail again. I made a cup of tea and washed up while Julian helmed. We had a lovely peaceful half hour in bright sun shine, but we could see rain ahead at Brightlingsea, and the rainbow over West Mersea looked spectacular.



I cut across the Nass Spit to the Mersea Quarters cardinal keeping a close eye on the depth while Julian stowed the stay sail and jib, then Julian helmed while I put the cover on the main while we headed up Thorn Fleet. It began to spit with rain while I packed up the cabin, but it had stopped again by the time we reached our mooring.

It felt odd to be so organised. We had Robinetta cleared and locked and everything loaded into Worm only ten minutes after picking up the mooring. Then the row to the pontoon at sunset was just as easy and peaceful as Friday night's row out to Robinetta...

The contrast between the strong winds on Saturday morning and the calm of Friday and Sunday was extreme and the bright sunshine and heavy showers throughout the weekend added more uncertainly. You never know what the weather will do when planning sailing event, and being in September the Maldon regatta is always challenging. That, and the friendliness of the Old Gaffers, make it an event not to be missed.