Perfect weather

Got to West Mersea nice and early, just before high water, so launched Worm off the hard.

We rowed out to Robinetta in bright sunshine, not much wind, but since we wanted to get the sails bent on that was a good thing. She was in a bit of a state when we got on board; two weeks without the covers on up a quiet creek had turned her into a prime relaxation spot for gulls. Julian got on with sluicing down and scrubbing the necks while I went below and un-packed, then got on with finishing off the sink drainage.

I'd bought a plastic pipe connector from our local plumbing shop (much cheaper than a chandlers) and once I'd trimmed it to fit I connected it to the bronze thru-hull and it was done! No leaks! I'll keep an eye on it, because with a none marine rubber washer I can't be sure the seal will last, but hopefully it should do a couple of seasons.

We now have a fully functioning galley.

We had the sails bent on by twelve, so we hoisted the main on the mooring. Julian had moved the gaff span forward on Murray's advice to stop the saddle slipping round, but it made it very difficult to hoist, as the centre of power was too close to the mast. I had to go forward to hold the throat down so Julian could pull the peak up, not a problem we'd ever had before.

The wind had got up a bit, and Robinetta obviously wanted to sail, so we decided we'd head for Brightlingsea. I'd had the engine on to keep us head to wind while we got the sails up, and used it to help us clear the mooring buoy, but with the staysail up too we had enough power to sail though the moorings. I kept the engine on though, and had to use it a couple of times. We were quite close hauled, and the boats were lying all over the place in the Thorn Fleet. There is not a lot of spare water at half tide!

We were head to wind once we reached the end of Packing Shed Island and heading for the Nass beacon, so the engine got used again. Once we were close to the Beacon it went off though, and we sailed off towards Bradwell to begin the beat to Brightlingsea while Julian got the no 1. jib up.

We were finally a proper sailing boat!.