The Ladies Race...

We woke to bright sunshine and light winds, such a contrast to yesterday! After a relaxed morning we tied Worm to the buoy, took Janner’s dingy off them and tied it on too, then headed down to Levington to start the Ladies/Young helm race. A third class quickly formed from boats that had no ladies or young people on board, and that was run as the Pennyhole Bay race which should have happened on Tuesday.

We got a bad start as we did not reach the line in time (12:30) and beating out of the Orwell was a disheartening experience as all the other boats disappeared into the harbour. The staysail kept sagging, as though the halyard was slipping, and the third time it happened, by the Dovercourt Breakwater, Julian went forward to see why.

The staysail downhaul ties off on a metal hoop that also holds the furling line blocks. The hoop forms the head of a spike which should screw down into the stem post, only it was waving loose. We immediately got the staysail in and decided to retire. The sun was long gone, and the idea of trying to beat out into Pennyhole Bay without the staysail made no sense; turning onto a run back up the Orwell was a huge relief.

Julian called up Suffolk Yacht Harbour as we went past and booked a berth, then we headed back to Pin Mill to collect Worm. The wind was very light by now, and we were making less than a knot sailing against the tide. Julian put the engine on as it began to drizzle and I got my oilskin trousers and sea boots on as well as my jacket before taking down the sails.

It began to rain in earnest as we picked up Worm, not so easy with two dinghies on the buoy, then we headed back to Levington, very glad we had reserved a berth! Unfortunately it did not really help, as the berth holder came back before we got into it, and we ended up rafted against Quintet.

We had thought of eating out at the pub a mile down the road, but by the time we had the covers on and had a cup of tea the thought of leaving Robinetta to go out into the down pour did not appeal and we ate on board.

Gales and what not.

Weather looked a little better, but too windy for racing, so the fleet set off for Walton Backwaters, not racing. Being at the inside end of the pontoon we were near the back of the group, and needed a lot of boats to move before we could. That meant we were not at the lock out of Ipswich dock until free flow started at 1200; not a problem!

With gusts forecast of up to force 6 we decided to reef more than we ever had before, and untied the sail from the first hoop and reefed all the way down to the second. With that and the stay sail we had more than enough sail up to make over 6 knots down river with the tide, but in the calmer airs we only made 3.

Once past Pin Mill the wind steadied, and we were broad reaching on a lovely point of sail, but by the time we were at Levington we were very glad of the small sail area. We spotted Nancy Blackett heading back up river and shouted over as to why, and were told it was very rough and windy in the bay. She was not the only one returning, and after we saw several other boats turn back we decided to abort our trip to Walton too.

We were just by Fagbury when we turned for shelter, and Bernard from Molly Cobbler said he recorded 37 knots of wind there. I think we had something similar. Pete on Transcur used a hand held anemometer on the deck out in the harbour, and measured 43 knots. Only one boat, Rely, a 20 tonner made it to Walton. Everyone else turned back after experiencing the seas near the Dovercourt breakwater and took shelter.

Beating up the river against the wind and tide was no fun, and once we were mostly headed we got the sails down. We had just done that when we were hit by a rain squall that felt more like hail and reduced visibility to almost nothing. That left us making very slow progress up river on the engine, so we got the stay sail back up, and crawled back up to Pin Mill where we dropped the anchor close to five other gaffers at 1520 and had a cup of tea.

The anchor dragged once in a really strong gust, so we reset it, then cooked the dinner we had planned for Walton. The wind had eased considerably, and the anchorage was sheltered so it felt comfortable. By the time we had tidied up it was nearly low water, and we wanted to wait to see how Robinetta swung on her anchor. After she had swung round, clearing the closest moored boat by a good ten foot, we got into Worm and headed ashore. The plan was to beach the dingy then walk to the Butt and Oyster pub at Pin Mill.

Worm rowed as beautifully as always and we easily reached the rather muddy shore, then pushed her anchor into the muddy sand well up the “beach” near to a marker bucket left by one of the other gaffer’s tenders. Apart from not finding the best way up onto the short path, so getting a bit muddy going round the seaward side of the houseboats everything went to plan and we joined a pub full of gaffers full of their stories of the day’s rather hectic sailing.

We were back on board Robinetta by 2230, and I put on the GPS to do a final check of her position since the triangulation marks I had picked for my anchor drag checks were day marks only. The position looked a little odd, as though she had skipped a couple of meters while the GPS was switched off, but Julian watched it for a while and thought it was just acquisition error. I went down to brush my teeth, and suddenly Julian called me to come see. We were very close to the moored boat we cleared easily before rowing ashore.

We had a lot of chain out to cope with the windy conditions, but we were obviously not securely anchored, so Julian pulled up the chain and found out why we were dragging as he did. A loop of chain had wrapped round one of the anchor flukes and pulled it out. Given how late it was we motored off and found an empty mooring to pick up instead of re-anchoring.

The first set back

We were supposed to be doing a pursuit race to the Walton Backwaters, but the weather report of force 6-7 meant the fleet stayed put. Ben headed home by train and we had a lazy day in Ipswich, with a bring your own meat barbecue in the evening at the yacht club, followed by an Old Gaffers quiz in the upstairs bar at Issac’s, a “Coffee tavern” on the other side of the dock. We won the quiz, together with The Quiz and Quiet Days.

Regatta day

The classics regatta is great fun, but Robinetta only moved from one side of Ipswich Dock to the other and back. Being small we were on the outside of the rafts and had to move first, before anyone else, then we hung around idling on the motor until there was another boat big enough moored up on the quay for us to raft against.

We moved Robinetta back after the fun and found ourselves right inside near Avola and Transcur. Much easier to get to the pontoon!

Alison had a go at the downwind flubber sailing,

While Ben and Julian and Banjo's grandson fought valiantly in the football

There are more silly photos on Facebook.

There was a pay bar and barbecue for us at the yacht club. Highly organised as they fed 100 people in an hour.

Passage Race

0710 Saturday morning we got the weather forecast, South Westerly four to five, perfect for heading up to Harwich, but a very stiff row back to the pontoon to get the rest of our things and move the car! High water was at 1040, so we did some essential maintenance, then moved Robinetta instead, to pick up a mooring just opposite the pontoon. Ben stayed on board in case the owner of the mooring wanted us t move, while I rowed Julian ashore.

After a trip to the chandlers for a new cleat so we could use the jib we got the inflatable dingy from the car, and Julian loaded it into Worm while I took the car round to West Mersea Marine where it would stay for the week. On our way back to Robinetta we were passed by Rob on Maid of Tesa on his way out.

We cast off at high water exactly, and headed out through the moorings, getting ready to get under sail as we went. Ben had the helm through the moorings, but once we got up the reefed main and stay sail I took over while he put the kettle on then helped Julian bolt on the new cleat. Julian needed to re-serve the soft shackle on the jib sheet too, so we were not ready to begin sailing properly until just before the Bench Head buoy. We began our passage race there, at 1206, sailing on a broad reach in rolling seas with a noticeable amount of weather helm.

Once we rounded Colne bar and passed North Eagle we eased the sheets still more to head on a very broad reach. Half way up the coast we were practically running, with the jib doing nothing, so we furled it away, and ran all the way up past Walton pier where we gybed round to head into Harwich. A lovely sail!

We called up Harwich VTS and asked for a wind speed check on Landguard. They told up 18-21 knots SW, and it certainly felt like the 21 knot end of things! Robinetta was getting hard to hold and there was no way to get another reef in while holding our course; there was just too much power in the sail, so I put her head to wind, and Julian and Ben did it in no time! Soon after that another boat asked for a wind check, and got told 21-23 knots.

The wind decreased up the Orwell, so we got the jib out, but left in the reefs. Then it decreased still more as we got into the shelter just before Pin Mill and we had to start tacking, in light winds, to pass the finish line at the end of Pin Mill hard. Janner and Elfrida appeared to this point, then disappeared past us as we carried on under sail until we reached the Ipswich dock lock gates.

We locked through at 1845, then rafted up on Maid of Tesa at Ipswich Haven Marina.

A late start

It seemed like a long time since we had sailed Robinetta when we set off for the August Classics week. Ben came with us for the first weekend, so we put the repaired Worm on the roof, and set off on Friday night with a full car.

We got to West Mersea at about 2200, just forty minutes before high water, and got Worm in the water, but the outboard engine would not start. That meant we had to row, in the dark. There was about eighty percent cloud cover, but with the Colchester street lights reflecting off the clouds, and the occasional glimpse of moon we could see enough to miss the moored boats. Ben and Julian rowed out first with most of the essential bags, then Julian came back for me, and the rest of the things we needed for overnight. It was half one in the morning before we were ready for bed.

The Worm that turned

We thought about spending Saturday night on the boat but left it too late. We got away nice and early this morning and were at West Mersea by 9am. We couldn't find a trolley to borrow so we made yokes and walked the Worm to the pontoon and motored to Robinetta. It was heading towards low water so we wasted no time dropping off the mooring and promptly went aground turning round. The Ray channel is very narrow.

I managed to reverse off and we had another go and did the same thing again and then finally motored off towards the Blackwater. The forecast was westerly backing south west, so we decided to head up the Blackwater. That way we'd have only an hour of foul tide before it turned to help us up river against the wind and then the wind would help us back to West Mersea. "Towards Osea" was duly entered in the log.

The wind seemed much stronger than we expected so we started with one reef and the staysail. It was plenty, so although we got the jib out after about an hour under sail we soon decided to furl it away. We beat happily up the river in gorgeous sunshine with occasional gusts that needed careful handling.

There are two anchorages at Osea Island, one at the west end where we had lunch on the Maldon Regatta a couple of years ago and one east of the old pier. I decided there might be some shelter on this one so we dropped the hook. The plan was to take the Worm ashore and barbecue some bacon on the beach for a late lunch.

The wind was so strong at the anchorage that we decided not to bother going ashore and I made BLT's. We rested up for a bit and then hauled up the anchor and began to run home.

The wind was still very strong so we reefed a little more and had a nice sail. Elfreda passed us heading up river under motor, and gave us a wave as we passed the Marconi sailing club buoy.

As we neared Mersea Quarters we spotted two canoeists and then saw one on them capsize. We headed towards them and they asked for help so we put Robinetta head to wind, started the engine and dropped the sails. We threw out our new safety line and after a bit of faffing the guy who had capsized made it into the Worm. The other canoeist caught the capsized canoe and tied it and his own to the throwing line but he then capsized too. We managed to get him on board Robinetta and then the Worm was turned over by a big wave so we got the other canoeist into Robinetta too. Another yacht had stood by us until everyone was safe.

Towing two swamped canoes and an upside-down dinghy was too much for the engine, but with the staysail up we managed to make progress. We tried to right the Worm but couldn't manage it, then it happened all by itself and we made it back to West Mersea. We dropped Jed and Neil and their canoes at the pontoon - so now we know we can get Robinetta to the pontoon at high water. They helped us bail the Worm and we rushed off before the falling tide stranded us.

We didn't make a very good job of this rescue, but we managed it and learned a lot, as well as helping out.