Then we went back on board Robinetta and got her ready to sail thought the bridge when it lifted at noon. Thanks to Pete and Lindsey for the great photo.
There were three other yachts leaving on that lift, and we all set off together. There were pipers by the bridge and they piped us though.Two were local Moody's heading back to Blyth, and Sally of Hamble also decided to go there. We were hoping to make Amble.
Coming down the Tyne, on Long Reach, I noticed that the port backstay
was loose. When I reached over to tension it a bit of wood hit me on
the hand. The block at the bottom of the backstay had shattered.
There was no sign of the bronze sheave but we found another quarter
of the wood on the foredeck that evening.
I've no idea what
happened to break the block, and I can't see any signs of the
starboard one splitting. We used our last new block as a replacement,
so fingers crossed that we don't loose any more. If we do we'll have
to take the one we have rigged at the end of the bowsprit for the
reaching sail and use that until we can buy a replacement.
We kept the engine on all the way to Tynemouth, but it was in idle half the time as we broad reached and ran down. There was a rain shower, but mostly the sun shone. When we got to the harbour mouth the wind seemed to be getting stronger, so we put a reef in, before we turned the engine off, but we shook it out as soon as we were out of the harbour.The wind went very light as we tried to sail towards Amble. Julian rigged the reaching sail, but it did not want to fly, and the wind was too light for the main to stay in place with the rolling sea. We ended up heading to Blyth rather than flogging ourselves trying to get to Amble.
We headed for Blyth and tied up by 1630. The showers were calling, so we headed up to the the club house in an old wooden light ship. The Royal Northumbrian Sailing Club were very welcoming, and the showers and bar were great.
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