A day sail!

This morning saw the decision made. We would leave Robinetta in Grimsby. More expensive than South Ferriby, but easier access to the sea when we got back to the boat. We paid for a fortnight's mooring, then wandered back to Robinetta for breakfast. 

We chatted with a couple who were waiting for the lock to go to free flow. Turns out that the spring tide was too high to open the lock without over filling the marina, so the lock keepers had closed the flood gates. If we had decided on South Ferriby we would have been fighting the tide the whole way.

It seemed like ages since we had just headed out for a sail, so we went out for a day's drift on the Humber at 0840. We had bright sunshine, but very little wind, and with the tide against us we motored up the river inside the Burcum Sand at about 0.8knots. Julian bent on the no 1 jib and raised the main and when the occasional breeze picked up we made an additional ½ knot. The wind died away completely as we reached the top of the Burcum sand and after we got tired of motoring up river very slowly we crossed the channel and turned the engine off to let the tide take us down river at 3-4 knots.

We had to turn the engine back on quite soon, as the tide was sweeping us back into the channel and we needed steerage way to avoid buoys that looked as though they were motoring towards us. There were ripples on the water though, and soon we had enough wind to sail. The next hour was lovely as we beat down to Spurn head, mostly on one tack, then a short tack back to the channel before we got too close to the drying sand on the Yorkshire side.

We reached Spurn Head and turned in towards the anchorage. We furled away the jib, then dropped the main, and anchored under stay sail. Julian put the engine on just in case, but hardly used it in the event. There were two other boats there, a GRP and a wooden bermudan.

We set the chart plotter up for an anchor watch, and realised before the kettle boiled, that the anchor was not holding us. The engine went back on, in reverse, to pull the chain out tight and dig the anchor in, and after that we stayed put.

Julian got his pastels out for, the first time in a couple of years, while I practised the mandolin and read the paper. A lovely way to spend a relaxed afternoon. We decided we should stay there until 1630, then sail slowly back to Grimsby to do through the Fish Dock Island lock at free flow. The modern bermudan upped anchor first, then the classic, but it was only 1615... They were local boats though, so we decided to follow suite.

We got the anchor up without any problems although I had to get Julian to motor towards it a bit. We then got the sail up and headed for Grimsby, by pointing at Bull Sand Fort.... We could only sail at about 2 knots in the light wind, and the tide was taking us up river at 4!

We got to the lock early, and hung around outside, with at least 6 wind farm boats, 1 trawler, a sport fishing boat, and the classic bermudan. We got the main and jib away, and managed to maintain steerage way on the stay sail alone, but we were being swept down past the lock by the time it opened. 

Back on the pontoon by 1845, after our first sail where we returned to the same place we left since the Jubilee race at Cowes!