October? Really?

The weather this year has certainly been variable! We are in the grip of a real Indian Summer right now, and being on the water feels like the best option for a hot and sunny weekend. Unfortunately Julian has too much to do revising for an exam to spend the whole weekend on Robinetta, so we checked the tides and headed to Mersea on Saturday night, aiming to arrive an hour after low water and launch Worm off the pontoon.

Everything went to plan, and I had another delightful row out to Robinetta. We expected her to to aground when we boarded, but she had just floated off. We went straight to bed, aiming to be up early before she grounded again, but left the cover on to keep the dew off the seats in the cockpit. It was so warm that we kept the hatch and doors wide open over night.

The sound of boat diesels woke me up at 0600, and when I went to look out visibility was really bad. I could see the boat on the closest mooring, but the next one down channel was invisible in the fog. The sun was just coming up, and I was wide awake, so I got the cover off, woke Julian, and we caste off the mooring to head for deeper water where we could sail off at any time. It was eerie, and beautiful, watching the sun rise through the fog; by the time we reached the end of Ray Island the fog had vanished.

We ended up going along side one of the pontoons lying between the piles. The owner had left a helpful note saying they were returning at high water that afternoon, so we tied up properly, had a cup of tea, and went back to sleep.

After a lazy breakfast, and chatting to the owners of the boat opposite us on the pontoon, we decided to go for a sail and caste off the pontoon at 1000 which was low water. We promptly ran aground, and stayed there for an hour and a half. There are worse places to be aground than West Mersea on a bright sunny day. It was shorts and tee shirt weather, and I slapped on the sun cream! We got the main sail up, (since there was no wind to speak of) and Julian did some revision.

When we finally got clear of Mersea we got all the sails up, including the topsail, and headed towards Bradwell. There was very little wind, and we drifted up the Blackwater at 2 knots on what was theoretically a run, but the tide was doing all the work and we barely had steerage way. It was a good thing we were not actually trying to go anywhere....

There were a fair few boats out, taking advantage of the sunshine but most were motoring. There were even water skiers taking advantage of the flat water. Luckily the Blackwater just upriver from Mersea is wide enough that they did not bother us.

The wind got up to F3 just after lunch, and instead of running up the river we were having to beat. Love those windshifts! It was strong enough for us to make against the tide, so we turned back down river, having not even made Thurslet, and had an enjoyable sail back.

The wind rose steadily, and with the tide under us we sailed up the Thornfleet at 5 knots, faster than we ever motor up it! I rolled away the jib as we reached the piles, then Julian sailed us onto the mooring on main and stay sail. He turned very close to the mooring, but the tide was running too fast and we stopped almost immediately, well short of the buoy. Julian had started to drop the main before he realised, so had to put the engine on to make it.

We picked up the buoy at 1520, an hour before high water. I was not really looking forward to the row back this time. The wind would be on the bow, and if we waited for the tide to turn there was enough of it to make for a bit of a chop. In the event it was fine. We went at slack water, and I rowed all the way to the West Mersea Marine dock, scrambling out close to the Oyster Bar, then pulling Worm up over the wooden staging as easily as she would have come up onto the pontoon.

I'd have traded the heat for a bit more wind in the morning, but I'm sure by the end of the month, when I'm shivering in my thermals, I'll look back on today and think the conditions were perfect....