Last evening over thirty Old Gaffers got together at the Fambridge Marina Bistro, a short walk from the Yacht Club, and had a good dinner and chat. The rain was still just drizzle, and walking back in the dark not too difficult. Even on an overcast night in the middle of the country the lights of Southend lit up the sky enough to see by.
Just after we got to bed it started pouring down, and hardly stopped all night. I already knew that Robinetta’s cabin roof is not water tight, but by ten the next morning a lot of new drips were making themselves known. It was also bitterly cold, with a northerly wind blowing 10-26 knots. Just like the forecast. The main event for the day was supposed to be a sail up to Battlesbridge; it was too shallow for Robinetta, but Deirdre draws a foot less and had offered to take us. In the end only one boat, Mike McCarthy's Emma Hamilton, a shallow draft motor boat, actually headed up river, and the rest of us travelled by car. The barbeque turned into an inside event at Toad Hall, lasagne or shepherd’s pie in front of a roaring log fire, with music from the gaffers band.... Not a bad way to spend a freezing afternoon!
After we got back to Fambridge most of us followed the plan and dropped down river to Burnham to moor for the night, with drinks and food at the Royal Burnham Yacht Club. It was an hour of very cold motoring to get there, but shortening the next day’s journey seemed like a good idea. The forecast was bad, northerly 5-7, occasionally 8 in south, with rain, and neither Julian nor I were sure that taking Robinetta out in that was a good idea. We decided to leave the decision until hearing the 07:10 forecast in the morning, and going straight away if it had eased at all.
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Off to Fambridge
The weather looked a little dodgy for the May Day weekend, but we decided to go to the Fambridge rally anyway, as it would be our first sailing event with the gaffers this year. It was also our first trip out from West Mersea, so I was a little worried about how we would load Robinetta up with food and bedding, and the other bits and pieces we needed for a three night stay on her.
Julian took the Friday off, and we worked on the wooden dingy together for most of the day, before heading to West Mersea at six. The car seemed quite full, so we were expecting to need two trips to get everything across. Julian filled up the inflatable dingy and headed out with most of the luggage, while I took the car round to West Mersea Marine where we would leave it for the weekend. Finding a space to park was not easy, and in the end I parked near a caravan (which I must not do again, because I accidentally blocked someone in despite being careful). I then headed back to the pontoon to wait for Julian. Unfortunately I had asked him to bring the big box of paint/varnish back from Robinetta, which meant that I should not have taken the car away when I did.... After a walk back to the car with the paint box I got in the dingy with the rest of the luggage, and Julian and I headed out for our boat. We got there just before it got totally dark at nine o’clock, and I heated up some bean stew and bread for dinner. After that we planned the passage, and decided to try to leave at 06:30 next morning.
I slept awkwardly, and ended up with a stiff shoulder, and consequent headache, which did not lift until the afternoon, but that was not going to stop us, so we cast off the mooring at 0650, and Julian took us down the channel. It was two hours before low water, so there was very little water, and a lot of boats sitting in it. West Mersea is a crowded place! Because of leaving so early we did all our sailing prep while under way, so we were not really sailing until 08:00, having eaten breakfast and put all the bedding away while moving. We knew the winds would vanish in the afternoon so we made the most of what we had, with full sail including the topsail. We were in the Spitway by 09:30, being very careful to keep in the centre of the channel as it was low water. Last night I had written out a list of buoys to look for, and after we left the Spitway I expected us to head for Whitaker 6. Julian did some panning around on the GPS chart and started heading straight for the Whitaker beacon. That felt wrong to me, so we had a look at the paper chart, and compared the depths on that, the GPS chart, and Robinetta’s depth gauge. The GPS chart has some serious issues with its depths, so Julian soon changed course to the one we’d decided on last night!
I helmed for some of the time, but the head-ache would not go away, and once we were well into the Whitaker channel inside Foulness sand Julian suggested I should have a lie down, and try to sleep it off. That felt like a plan to me, so I went down and shut my eyes while Julian helmed in the increasingly light winds.
A while later I heard Julian laugh, so I went on deck to see why. We were getting near a buoy we needed to honour, so he had tacked, and discovered that even with all sails up the only reason we were moving was the tide. After tacking we were supposedly heading in a different direction, but the GPS reported that nothing had changed in our vector; we had cleared the buoy but we were drifting sideways down the channel at a knot and a half! That ended our sailing for the day, and we furled away the jib and put the engine on to give us steering way. I took the helm while Julian made himself a sandwich, but I did not feel like eating, and after Julian finished I lay down in the cockpit to soak up the sun while Julian helmed again.
Once we got to Cliff Reach, where the river runs NW, we did try sailing again, but there was not enough wind to steer us, so we motored the rest of the way to Fambridge in bright sunshine, eventually tying up alongside Toby's and Hugo's new boat Janner on the yacht club pontoon at about 15:00. It had been a totally pleasant day up to that point, but rain was forecast, and by 1600 it began to drizzle. I should have thought about putting on the cockpit cover, but getting on and off Robinetta with her cover up is a pain, even though Janner is a good boat to more alongside height wise for us.
Julian took the Friday off, and we worked on the wooden dingy together for most of the day, before heading to West Mersea at six. The car seemed quite full, so we were expecting to need two trips to get everything across. Julian filled up the inflatable dingy and headed out with most of the luggage, while I took the car round to West Mersea Marine where we would leave it for the weekend. Finding a space to park was not easy, and in the end I parked near a caravan (which I must not do again, because I accidentally blocked someone in despite being careful). I then headed back to the pontoon to wait for Julian. Unfortunately I had asked him to bring the big box of paint/varnish back from Robinetta, which meant that I should not have taken the car away when I did.... After a walk back to the car with the paint box I got in the dingy with the rest of the luggage, and Julian and I headed out for our boat. We got there just before it got totally dark at nine o’clock, and I heated up some bean stew and bread for dinner. After that we planned the passage, and decided to try to leave at 06:30 next morning.
I slept awkwardly, and ended up with a stiff shoulder, and consequent headache, which did not lift until the afternoon, but that was not going to stop us, so we cast off the mooring at 0650, and Julian took us down the channel. It was two hours before low water, so there was very little water, and a lot of boats sitting in it. West Mersea is a crowded place! Because of leaving so early we did all our sailing prep while under way, so we were not really sailing until 08:00, having eaten breakfast and put all the bedding away while moving. We knew the winds would vanish in the afternoon so we made the most of what we had, with full sail including the topsail. We were in the Spitway by 09:30, being very careful to keep in the centre of the channel as it was low water. Last night I had written out a list of buoys to look for, and after we left the Spitway I expected us to head for Whitaker 6. Julian did some panning around on the GPS chart and started heading straight for the Whitaker beacon. That felt wrong to me, so we had a look at the paper chart, and compared the depths on that, the GPS chart, and Robinetta’s depth gauge. The GPS chart has some serious issues with its depths, so Julian soon changed course to the one we’d decided on last night!
I helmed for some of the time, but the head-ache would not go away, and once we were well into the Whitaker channel inside Foulness sand Julian suggested I should have a lie down, and try to sleep it off. That felt like a plan to me, so I went down and shut my eyes while Julian helmed in the increasingly light winds.
A while later I heard Julian laugh, so I went on deck to see why. We were getting near a buoy we needed to honour, so he had tacked, and discovered that even with all sails up the only reason we were moving was the tide. After tacking we were supposedly heading in a different direction, but the GPS reported that nothing had changed in our vector; we had cleared the buoy but we were drifting sideways down the channel at a knot and a half! That ended our sailing for the day, and we furled away the jib and put the engine on to give us steering way. I took the helm while Julian made himself a sandwich, but I did not feel like eating, and after Julian finished I lay down in the cockpit to soak up the sun while Julian helmed again.
Once we got to Cliff Reach, where the river runs NW, we did try sailing again, but there was not enough wind to steer us, so we motored the rest of the way to Fambridge in bright sunshine, eventually tying up alongside Toby's and Hugo's new boat Janner on the yacht club pontoon at about 15:00. It had been a totally pleasant day up to that point, but rain was forecast, and by 1600 it began to drizzle. I should have thought about putting on the cockpit cover, but getting on and off Robinetta with her cover up is a pain, even though Janner is a good boat to more alongside height wise for us.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Maintenance
Julian was supposed to be working abroad for a few days, so I decided I would stay on Robinetta for three days and do some painting and varnishing while he was away. Then a volcano in Iceland began erupting, and his flight out was cancelled, so I changed my live aboard plans to day trips.
Since I was going alone I took the small dingy that we got with Robinetta rather than our new larger one. It is a lot quicker to pump up, and the outboard engine fits on it more simply. It is just about big enough for me and the painting equipment and I've grown quite fond of it now we've got the outboard. Starting the motor is still an adventure though, and I broke my left thumb nail on my second pull of the starter cord. Luckily a couple in an inflatable dingy with an identical engine came past as I was cursing my stupidity, and the very nice gentleman started it for me and I headed for Robinetta.
Once on the boat I had a look round and decided on my tasks. Some of the varnish on the foredeck cap rails had been rubbed, so I touched that up before starting on my main redecorating task for this season which is to strip the Saddolin off the cockpit and replace it with Varnol. I got one of the cockpit cap rails done before calling it a day and getting into the dingy to head back to the pontoon.
I got the motor started, but forgot to warm it up properly (we are still running it in) and it died when I put it in gear. It would not start again, so I sat there for a while, waiting to recover my strength for pulling the cord. At that moment the West Mersea Marine launch came by to put a motor yacht on the buoy next to Robinetta. They very nicely gave me a lift back to the pontoon. I must get my outboard engine skills up!
Since I was going alone I took the small dingy that we got with Robinetta rather than our new larger one. It is a lot quicker to pump up, and the outboard engine fits on it more simply. It is just about big enough for me and the painting equipment and I've grown quite fond of it now we've got the outboard. Starting the motor is still an adventure though, and I broke my left thumb nail on my second pull of the starter cord. Luckily a couple in an inflatable dingy with an identical engine came past as I was cursing my stupidity, and the very nice gentleman started it for me and I headed for Robinetta.
Once on the boat I had a look round and decided on my tasks. Some of the varnish on the foredeck cap rails had been rubbed, so I touched that up before starting on my main redecorating task for this season which is to strip the Saddolin off the cockpit and replace it with Varnol. I got one of the cockpit cap rails done before calling it a day and getting into the dingy to head back to the pontoon.
I got the motor started, but forgot to warm it up properly (we are still running it in) and it died when I put it in gear. It would not start again, so I sat there for a while, waiting to recover my strength for pulling the cord. At that moment the West Mersea Marine launch came by to put a motor yacht on the buoy next to Robinetta. They very nicely gave me a lift back to the pontoon. I must get my outboard engine skills up!
Sunday, 4 April 2010
The Big Move - part 2
The morning started hazy but with the wind as forecast. By 8 am it was clearing nicely and we fuelled and locked out as planned, leaving Alison at the lock.
I hadn't given much thought to a safety briefing for Alex - the forecast was good and I decided Alex needed to know what to do if I were to be injured or taken ill. I got him to fit a life jacket and to make sure he knew our course and destination and how to use the VHF to call for help.
Alex helmed as I raised sail. Robinetta's sails are really easy for one person to raise. It doesn't work quite so well if you forget, as I did, to tie the foot of the stay sail down! Before long we had turned off the engine and were running out past Harwich breakwater pushed by both wind and ebb and under a perfectly blue sky.
We headed straight for the Pye End buoy. It was now slack water but the wind was picking up. Alex was having trouble steering and I realised that there would be even more wind once we reached the Wallet so we put her head to wind and reefed the main. Things now became much easier as we headed for Walton pier.
As we neared the Naze a little bump made me aware that I should have been paying more attention to the depth! I quickly put the engine on and turned out to sea and we bumped gently two or three more times and then made it into deep water and got back on course and turned the engine off. In the bright sunshine I couldn't really
see the echo sounder and I had the chart plotter zoomed out too far.
The wind freshened even more as we passed Walton pier and we were doing well over 6 knots over the ground - the flood had now started - we had got the tides just right.
As we had the tide in our favour I decided to play safe with the wind and stopped to reef some more. This time I didn't even ask Alex to helm and just kept the tiller centred by standing in front of it as I furled the jib, dropped the peak and the gaff together and then hauled in on the reefing line. The 70 year old reefing gear works as well now as it did for Rayner in '37 and '38. I tightened up the throat and then the peak and got straight back on course. The whole process took perhaps one minute.
I was glad I had as the gusts kept getting stronger and we were still doing 5-6 knots over the ground (we don't have a log so I don't know what the water speed was).
With the north westerly wind coming straight off the land there was no fetch for the waves to build up and the sea state was very comfortable. The sun was still shining and it was very pleasant.
Before long we were being slowly overhauled by another gaffer. I think it was Avola. They passed us around Clacton pier and then another gaffer also passed us. This was good as it gave me a line to steer to clear the Colne bar.
It did cloud over, but stayed dry and there were still pockets of blue.
I got a bit confused at this point as the paper charts made me think I should already be able to see the North Eagle (and I thought I could) but it was nowhere to be seen on the chart plotter. I followed the other boats and eventually the buoys came up on the plotter. This is one of the bad things about small-screen chart plotters - it just isn't possible to set them up for the right level of detail at different zoom levels. In some waters they will be too cluttered and in others you need to zoom in to see any detail.
As soon as we got to the vicinity of the North Eagle the sea state got much worse. The fetch was now all the way across the Virley Channel and kept knocking us back.
It was quite uncomfortable, but quite safe. It didn't help that now we were turning towards the Blackwater the wind was coming ahead of us.
In the end I got irritated by the lack of progress and the effort of steering and put the engine on. This helped to move the apparent wind aft again and made it feel like we were motor sailing. Ideally we should now have started beating up the Blackwater but I was tiring and it was clear that the sea state would not make cooking lunch pleasurable so we punched through it with the motor. I left the sails up as going head to wind would have been uncomfortable and we were in the shallow channel between the Colne Bar and the Gunfleet Sands and I didn't feel we had much sea-room.
The first gaffer had disappeared by now and the second one headed up the Brightlingsea Reach towards the Colne. We headed up the Virley Channel with Bradwell Power Station as our main navigation mark.
We picked up the Nass Beacon and checked the route in on the paper chart. The plotter was useless - there are bugs in the overlap between captured charts on the Garmin here. We dropped sails by the Nass and continued into Mersea Quarters. Eventually, zooming well in on the plotter have us a good indication of the channel and we threaded our way through the moorings past Packing Shed Island and into the Thorn Fleet.
Alex made a really good job of picking up the temporary mooring we had been allocated and we tied up and pumped the dinghy up. Alison then turned up in the water taxi which took Alex ashore and Alison and I got the outboard set-up and headed off for a well deserved late lunch.
I hadn't given much thought to a safety briefing for Alex - the forecast was good and I decided Alex needed to know what to do if I were to be injured or taken ill. I got him to fit a life jacket and to make sure he knew our course and destination and how to use the VHF to call for help.
Alex helmed as I raised sail. Robinetta's sails are really easy for one person to raise. It doesn't work quite so well if you forget, as I did, to tie the foot of the stay sail down! Before long we had turned off the engine and were running out past Harwich breakwater pushed by both wind and ebb and under a perfectly blue sky.
We headed straight for the Pye End buoy. It was now slack water but the wind was picking up. Alex was having trouble steering and I realised that there would be even more wind once we reached the Wallet so we put her head to wind and reefed the main. Things now became much easier as we headed for Walton pier.
As we neared the Naze a little bump made me aware that I should have been paying more attention to the depth! I quickly put the engine on and turned out to sea and we bumped gently two or three more times and then made it into deep water and got back on course and turned the engine off. In the bright sunshine I couldn't really
see the echo sounder and I had the chart plotter zoomed out too far.
The wind freshened even more as we passed Walton pier and we were doing well over 6 knots over the ground - the flood had now started - we had got the tides just right.
As we had the tide in our favour I decided to play safe with the wind and stopped to reef some more. This time I didn't even ask Alex to helm and just kept the tiller centred by standing in front of it as I furled the jib, dropped the peak and the gaff together and then hauled in on the reefing line. The 70 year old reefing gear works as well now as it did for Rayner in '37 and '38. I tightened up the throat and then the peak and got straight back on course. The whole process took perhaps one minute.
I was glad I had as the gusts kept getting stronger and we were still doing 5-6 knots over the ground (we don't have a log so I don't know what the water speed was).
With the north westerly wind coming straight off the land there was no fetch for the waves to build up and the sea state was very comfortable. The sun was still shining and it was very pleasant.
Before long we were being slowly overhauled by another gaffer. I think it was Avola. They passed us around Clacton pier and then another gaffer also passed us. This was good as it gave me a line to steer to clear the Colne bar.
It did cloud over, but stayed dry and there were still pockets of blue.
I got a bit confused at this point as the paper charts made me think I should already be able to see the North Eagle (and I thought I could) but it was nowhere to be seen on the chart plotter. I followed the other boats and eventually the buoys came up on the plotter. This is one of the bad things about small-screen chart plotters - it just isn't possible to set them up for the right level of detail at different zoom levels. In some waters they will be too cluttered and in others you need to zoom in to see any detail.
As soon as we got to the vicinity of the North Eagle the sea state got much worse. The fetch was now all the way across the Virley Channel and kept knocking us back.
It was quite uncomfortable, but quite safe. It didn't help that now we were turning towards the Blackwater the wind was coming ahead of us.
In the end I got irritated by the lack of progress and the effort of steering and put the engine on. This helped to move the apparent wind aft again and made it feel like we were motor sailing. Ideally we should now have started beating up the Blackwater but I was tiring and it was clear that the sea state would not make cooking lunch pleasurable so we punched through it with the motor. I left the sails up as going head to wind would have been uncomfortable and we were in the shallow channel between the Colne Bar and the Gunfleet Sands and I didn't feel we had much sea-room.
The first gaffer had disappeared by now and the second one headed up the Brightlingsea Reach towards the Colne. We headed up the Virley Channel with Bradwell Power Station as our main navigation mark.
We picked up the Nass Beacon and checked the route in on the paper chart. The plotter was useless - there are bugs in the overlap between captured charts on the Garmin here. We dropped sails by the Nass and continued into Mersea Quarters. Eventually, zooming well in on the plotter have us a good indication of the channel and we threaded our way through the moorings past Packing Shed Island and into the Thorn Fleet.
Alex made a really good job of picking up the temporary mooring we had been allocated and we tied up and pumped the dinghy up. Alison then turned up in the water taxi which took Alex ashore and Alison and I got the outboard set-up and headed off for a well deserved late lunch.
Saturday, 3 April 2010
The Big Move - part 1
We decided last year that a change of scene would be a good plan. Shotley is a great base, but expensive and we tend to repeat ourselves a lot on day sails. Also, the Old Gaffers have lots of events in the Stour and the Orwell and we miss out on the passages to them. We'd also like to venture across and up the Thames, so a more westerly base seemed to have a lot going for it. We'd looked around and decided on West Mersea. It's nearer home than Shotley but takes about the same amount of time as the roads are not so good.
So the plan was hatched to move on Easter Monday after the OGA Easter Rally at Shotley. By Good Friday it was clear that the weather window was on Sunday and the Saturday weather made us want to stay at home so we went up for the meal on Saturday afternoon.
Our new mooring is quite a way from the jetty at West Mersea so we have invested in an outboard motor. A hard dinghy is under construction but more on that another time. We spent Saturday afternoon at Shotley working out how to fit it to our unusual flubber and running it in.
It we had a fine dinner and a nice chat and a good send off from the local Shotley gaffers and not too bad a night on the boat - just a little chilly.
The forecast was holding for Sunday, WNW 3-5 most of the day. Good for a reach down past Clacton.
The plan for the day was for me to take the boat to West Mersea while Alison took the car. I had our younger son Alex with me as crew and Alison would fetch our other son Ben and his fiancé so we could all have afternoon tea at West Mersea.
We had worked out the tides and low water was 09:30 at Harwich so we planned to lock out around 8 to catch the ebb out to Pye End and then pick up the flood all the way to West Mersea.
Less predictable was the wind.
So the plan was hatched to move on Easter Monday after the OGA Easter Rally at Shotley. By Good Friday it was clear that the weather window was on Sunday and the Saturday weather made us want to stay at home so we went up for the meal on Saturday afternoon.
Our new mooring is quite a way from the jetty at West Mersea so we have invested in an outboard motor. A hard dinghy is under construction but more on that another time. We spent Saturday afternoon at Shotley working out how to fit it to our unusual flubber and running it in.
It we had a fine dinner and a nice chat and a good send off from the local Shotley gaffers and not too bad a night on the boat - just a little chilly.
The forecast was holding for Sunday, WNW 3-5 most of the day. Good for a reach down past Clacton.
The plan for the day was for me to take the boat to West Mersea while Alison took the car. I had our younger son Alex with me as crew and Alison would fetch our other son Ben and his fiancé so we could all have afternoon tea at West Mersea.
We had worked out the tides and low water was 09:30 at Harwich so we planned to lock out around 8 to catch the ebb out to Pye End and then pick up the flood all the way to West Mersea.
Less predictable was the wind.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Spring Equinox
I spent three days last week cleaning painting and varnishing, so I was quite desperate to actually sail this weekend. Luckily the weather on Sunday looked promising, so Julian and I headed to Shotley with a car full of things that came off Robinetta in the Autumn. We sail through the year, but it's been too cold to sleep on board, so we emptied her out.
We got to Shotley by ten, and our pontoon was already really busy. I don't know about the rest of the marina, but it felt like everyone who had a boat in the water was there today! It was warm, and sunny, and although not much wind was forecast it seemed like a waste not to go out. We did the normal "whose skipper ?" and decided it was my turn.
We had Robinetta ready by eleven (it took longer than normal because of getting the crockery etc., on board), and headed out for the Walton Backwaters. We'd missed the last of the ebb and the wind was really light at first so we only just stemmed the tide even with the top sail up, so we motor sailed until we were well past the Harwich breakwater. Luckily the wind picked up a bit then, and we had a good sail out to Pye End. At that point I asked Julian to put the GPS on. We've only been to Walton once before, and as skipper I should have reviewed the pilot (but hadn't...). Last time we were here is was really busy, with lots of yachts anchored at Stone Point, but today we had the place nearly to ourselves with no one to follow.. I was helming, and feeling a little stressed at having to tack in the narrow channel, but Julian navigated well and we made it into the Walton Channel.
The wind had picked up nicely, and we were doing over three knots, with our destination (Stone Point) in view, when Julian suddenly asked if we should get the top sail down. I had forgotten all about it (I was not a good skipper today!), but luckily we were on starboard, so down it came, and we continued up Walton Channel, past Stone Point, until we got all the sails away.
It was nearly high water when we dropped the anchor, and with no other boats to guide us we anchored a little too close in. Julian cooked us a nice lunch, but we had to eat it quickly, and get the anchor up sharply in order to avoid going aground. We managed it though, and will know better next time.
We had a nice fast run out of the Backwaters, with main and stay sail goose-winged, and the tide with us to Pye End. After that we were stemming the tide again and our speed halved, but the wind stayed constant and it was a lovely sail back to Shotley with Julian on the helm. We got the jib out once we turned onto the broadest of broad reaches, and felt no need for the top sail. Our speed over the ground hardly topped two and a half knots, but it felt much faster through the water and we were in no hurry to get home. Today is the equinox, and there was still some light in the sky at half six, when Robinetta was tucked up in the berth.
I've still got more painting and varnishing to do, and the ensign mount needs mounting, but days like today Robinetta repays all the labour, and gives us a great day out.
We got to Shotley by ten, and our pontoon was already really busy. I don't know about the rest of the marina, but it felt like everyone who had a boat in the water was there today! It was warm, and sunny, and although not much wind was forecast it seemed like a waste not to go out. We did the normal "whose skipper ?" and decided it was my turn.
We had Robinetta ready by eleven (it took longer than normal because of getting the crockery etc., on board), and headed out for the Walton Backwaters. We'd missed the last of the ebb and the wind was really light at first so we only just stemmed the tide even with the top sail up, so we motor sailed until we were well past the Harwich breakwater. Luckily the wind picked up a bit then, and we had a good sail out to Pye End. At that point I asked Julian to put the GPS on. We've only been to Walton once before, and as skipper I should have reviewed the pilot (but hadn't...). Last time we were here is was really busy, with lots of yachts anchored at Stone Point, but today we had the place nearly to ourselves with no one to follow.. I was helming, and feeling a little stressed at having to tack in the narrow channel, but Julian navigated well and we made it into the Walton Channel.
The wind had picked up nicely, and we were doing over three knots, with our destination (Stone Point) in view, when Julian suddenly asked if we should get the top sail down. I had forgotten all about it (I was not a good skipper today!), but luckily we were on starboard, so down it came, and we continued up Walton Channel, past Stone Point, until we got all the sails away.
It was nearly high water when we dropped the anchor, and with no other boats to guide us we anchored a little too close in. Julian cooked us a nice lunch, but we had to eat it quickly, and get the anchor up sharply in order to avoid going aground. We managed it though, and will know better next time.
We had a nice fast run out of the Backwaters, with main and stay sail goose-winged, and the tide with us to Pye End. After that we were stemming the tide again and our speed halved, but the wind stayed constant and it was a lovely sail back to Shotley with Julian on the helm. We got the jib out once we turned onto the broadest of broad reaches, and felt no need for the top sail. Our speed over the ground hardly topped two and a half knots, but it felt much faster through the water and we were in no hurry to get home. Today is the equinox, and there was still some light in the sky at half six, when Robinetta was tucked up in the berth.
I've still got more painting and varnishing to do, and the ensign mount needs mounting, but days like today Robinetta repays all the labour, and gives us a great day out.
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Window of Opportunity
Had a really busy time at work recently, and without kids at school, no half-term to punctuate the season. Back end of this week was a welcome lull in the schedule and had hoped to take a day or two to work on the pram dingy I'm building in the garage but we took a peek at the weather last night and it seemed like a sailing day.
Finally got around to fitting the new stay-sail and the new furling line we bought at the boat show. Low water was at about 2:15 and the wind was due to be southerly backing easterly. So we really should have gone out into the bay with the ebb and come back with the flood. We'd have had to beat out but had either a run or a reach back in. Visibility wasn't very good when we got there and we felt it would have been a bit ghostly out there so we decided on the Stour instead.
Decided to use the low water to get to know the upper reaches a bit better. Took her as far as the no.7 buoy and chickened out. I'm sure we would have got most of the way to Mistley but it was just as well we turned back because by the time we were down river of the Holbrook cardinal the promised rain had come and it was starting to get unpleasant. The flood was quite strong for the day after neaps and the wind was backing round and weakening and we found ourselves going backwards. It really wasn't nice enough to linger and beat our way out so we turned the engine on and motor sailed back to Shotley.
We got home tired and happy.
Decided to use the low water to get to know the upper reaches a bit better. Took her as far as the no.7 buoy and chickened out. I'm sure we would have got most of the way to Mistley but it was just as well we turned back because by the time we were down river of the Holbrook cardinal the promised rain had come and it was starting to get unpleasant. The flood was quite strong for the day after neaps and the wind was backing round and weakening and we found ourselves going backwards. It really wasn't nice enough to linger and beat our way out so we turned the engine on and motor sailed back to Shotley.
We got home tired and happy.
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