Arrival at Ipswich

Rowed out to the boat from the Orwell Yacht Club and motored in to Ipswich. Arrived in the lock with a huge gin palace at the back of the lock and a sailing boat rafted to it and expecting to take our lines. In the front of the lock was Minstrel and the new Moonstone IX, David and Persephone’s grandchildren having outgrown the sleeping accommodation in Moonstone VIII. In between Moonstone and the gin palace? Two boat lengths of unused pontoon! We squeezed around the outside of the unnecessary raft and tied up to the pontoon.

We were given a great spot in the marina, in between Kajan and Moonstone. There was a bit of wind pushing us in towards the quay-side and we were glad of help on the pontoon to warp us in. Robinetta’s high sides are a weak point under these conditions.

I had another go at fixing the sea toilet and it seems good this time. Then I got the bunting on while Alison legged it back down to Fox’s where we had left the car.

At 4pm we assembled in the Customs House for the Mayoral reception. I dressed up a bit – white shirt, pale linen trousers and an old flannel charcoal suit jacket. The gaffers have never seen me so smart! Mary Blake, the deputy mayor was very honest about how little research she had done about the event, it could have gone badly wrong but she got away with it and we had a great time.

I had a good chat with Jay who runs the Maritime Ipswich events. He is very frustrated because ABP keep blocking his ideas for events on the water due to ‘health and safety’. As this included them preventing the Coast Guard from demonstrating a helicopter rescue, it seems yet another example of HSE inspired craziness. I told him about Mistley Quay where there is a serious dispute between the quay owners, the local residents and boaters and health and safety is being abused as an excuse for behaviour reminiscent of 17th century enclosures.

In the evening we had a fine barbecue at the Last Anchor with a great band and renewed old acquaintances and made new ones. It was great to see many boats I had first seen in Belfast and Loch Melfort arriving in Ipswich, having navigated the Caledonian Canal and the east coasts of Scotland and England, or in the case of Annabel J, having been all the way to Shetland via Orkney.