Gafferteering

Today's activity was new to us, although it had been part of the East Coast Summer Cruise for a few years. We were supplied with a start line and finish point, and given five hours to make our way from one to the other. We did not have to start at any particular time so could make the best use of the tide to get between the two via any route. On the way we needed to plot a course past a selection list of buoys/ navigation marks, each of which had a value between 10 and 50 points. Those with low values were close to the direct route, while the more distant or difficult to reach ones gave more points. The draw back was that each minute taken over the 5 hours lost a point.

There was another prize for the best "selfie" taken as we passed a mark.

Julian and I opted for a very conservative course, crossing the start line at Bateman's Tower to broad reach up river to the Colne no.17 buoy, then beating back down again and into the Blackwater, past Colne no.8 buoy, then across the Mersea Flats. We were aiming for the Nass beacon, but the wind went very light, and there were several dinghy races going on in the area under the control of the West Mersea Yacht Club. We were asked to keep clear, and Julian reluctantly put the engine on for a couple of minutes. We were racing too!

It took an agonising 20 minutes to get close enough (2 boat lengths) to the Nass beacon to get our points. We took a photo, then sailed slowly against the tide up river to Osea Island. We reached the finish mark ten minutes late, so our 30 accumulated points went down to 20. Faster boats had an advantage (although I was told there was a handicap correction), but the most important factor was working the tides to collect the high value points in the least possible time. It was great fun, and it scattered the boats all over the rivers and estuary. I heard one boat collected 60 points, then was 50 minutes late at the end mark, while another collected the same and was 50 minutes early (no points were added for early finishing)!

We dropped the anchor at 16:25, very close to low water, in 3.7m, feeling we were as close to the shore as it was sensible to be. A couple of the boats that had arrived earlier had rigged their tenders to sail, and younger members of their crews were racing each other through the anchorage. This was the first time we had regretted not having our own tender with us.

The beach at Osea is mostly shingle and gravel, but below the half tide mark this is covered in a layer of mud and weed, so we waited on Robinetta until we saw people beginning to land, then phoned and asked for a lift ashore. Twilight, a new smack boat had just landed her mother ship's crew ashore, and was dispatched to collect us.

Nearly the whole fleet of 27 were at anchor off Osea during the barbecue, but as the party died down and people returned to their boats many moved. High winds were forecast, and the anchorage was a lee shore, so some took moorings down river at the Marconi sailing club, while others moved to the other side of the bay. We decided to stay put, having confidence in our anchor and a feeling that the winds were not going to be as strong or as early as expected. A select group of 7 or 8 of the smaller boats stayed put too, and spent a quiet night.