Heybridge and Maldon

The lock keepers at Heybridge didn't have a list of boats planning to come in, so it was a bit of a free-for-all once there was enough water to get in. Still it all worked OK, and the lock was able to go to free-flow which helped a lot. We ended up rafted outside Romelda, one of the boats I had researched for Alison as part of preparing the East Coast Race programme.She is interesting, having been built in Guernsey in the 19^th century.

Trevor Rawlinson, skipper of Aussie II, was the driver of our double decker bus round to Maldon. I think this was an instance of the gaffers taking DIY to extremes as Trevor then had to miss the dinner as he didn't have anywhere to leave the bus and, of course, couldn't drink. Trevor - we missed you and would gladly have paid for a driver so you could join us!

The barges always make a fine back-drop to an evening at the Little Ship Club. The catering was simple and effective, the beer excellent and the company outstanding. After the meal was over we vied with each other over who could do more washing up. Many hands make light work and I only dropped one plate. The only thing marring the proceedings was that Lena Reekie was taken ill and spent most of the evening in the ambulance being monitored by paramedics. We all hope it is nothing serious.

Ladies Helm

We always feel a bit of a cheat doing a ladies helm race, as Alison is our main racing master anyway. If we can enter, I think Hugo and Toby should be able to as well.

Not for the first time this week, Alison misjudged the tide at the start, and the winds were so light that neither of us really knew what they were doing. So we were slow over the line, but still better than many, and got a good line to the first turning mark, over on the Bradwell shore.

It all went pear-shaped on the next one though. I had put all the buoys into the chart plotter and slipped an extra zero after the decimal point on one. This wouldn't have mattered if there wasn't a buoy of roughly the right aspect where the plotter suggested we needed to go, and if Simon, Sharon and Matilda on Cygnet of London hadn't seemed to be going for the same mark.

We did better after that and it was a self-timed finish at Osea so, unlike the Maldon Regatta, we didn't have to worry about being abandoned by the finish boat.

A little frustrating, but still a beautiful day, a beautiful river and the sort of sailing experience one just doesn't get any other way.

West Mersea

After the passage race we motored to our mooring up the Ray channel and put the boat to bed then Alison rowed us back to the Packing Shed for lunch. We were a bit late but still had a great time. Mike Mitchell took some wonderful pictures earlier in the afternoon when the tide was at it's highest and I can't resist sharing one of them here, although we were not there to see it. From left to right, Jenny Wraith and John Banton (Tab Nab), Robert Burke, Maisie and Lena Reekie (Crow) and Nick Holman (Lettie May).

Alison and I then got two busses and a train to Ipswich. It was horribly, temper frayingly hot. We fetched the car back down to the Victory boat yard and joined the party at the West Mersea Yacht Club.

Seaways Passage Race

This race is usually from Wrabness/Harwich to the Deben but for the Jubilee Cruise it is from Walton No 2 to the Nass beacon, with a Packing Shed seafood lunch to follow. The wind was unpredictable and with a latest finish of 2 pm and 20 nm to go at Robinetta speeds we needed a good 7 hours in hand for the passage. Starting at 5 am would give us an hour of ebb to get out of Hamford Water and round the Naze to pick up the flood down the Wallet.

But this also meant coming out of Walton at low water, and Pennyhole Bay almost dries, and we were coming up to a super spring tide.

If we sailed all the way out to Pye End before turning we would be safe. We would also be travelling an extra two miles compared to turning at the No 2 buoy. According to the chart, we would be aground if we did that. I programmed a turn into the chart plotter about a third of the way between the No 2 buoy and Pye End and then out to the Pennyhole race mark. That should have seen us clear.

We left right behind Witch and Bona. Both have Titchmarsh as their home port and both draw more than us. Witch draws 8’ and did, indeed head for Pye End. Bona draws less and turned straight for the Wallet. I hung on for a little and then followed Bona out.

Alison kept watch on the depth and whenever it dropped below 2’ we turned to port a bit. It worked a treat and we got out past Walton Pier without difficulty.

For a while it looked like we would be able to reach down the Wallet but the wind veered a little and it turned into a long beat. The lift we got from the tide made each tack really long. The first one took us past Holland on Sea before we got close to the Gunfleet and the second one got us past Clacton.

Another two took us into the Blackwater. There, we tried keeping in the river to get the most lift from the tide, which made the tacks shorter. We got to the Nass beacon at 1:45pm, with 15 minutes to spare, so we were last, but our judgement of how long we needed to allow was pretty good.

We headed in to West Mersea and motored up to our own buoy. It was a little annoying to pass the Packing Shed where people were already eating.

Jib-booms and bobstays! Secret Water galoots

The alarm went off at 4:30 as set. I wasn't as rested as I'd hoped. The water around us was much more crowded than when we had anchored - most of the boats who had gone to Stone Point had moved over to escape the difficult Walton Channel.

I got the anchor up and ended up with my hands covered in mud. Alison motored us round towards the outbound channel and offered me a bucket to wash my hands. She lifted the cockpit hatch to get the bucket out and the folding seat she had been using flew overboard.

It floated and she did a 360° turn to catch it. I said “you are miles away from it” and she said “the tide will take it down”, which of course, it didn’t as the tide was taking us down equally quickly. Something we should have taken more note of at the time.

Alison went round again and missed it again.

The third time, I gave explicit instructions and Alison followed them to the letter and we brought up with the seat by the cockpit and I lifted it in.

And we heard a clunk and a scratching sound.

The tide had taken us down onto Transcur’s bow, and we had both been so intent watching the seat that we hadn’t been looking to port at all. The sound we had heard was her bowsprit running gently along the cabin roof and the hatch.

The bobstay was fending us off her bow.

Pete was up in a moment, followed by Claire. Inanda was rafted on Transcur’s starboard beam and Pete got Claire to drop her back out of the way while he reefed the bowsprit, freeing us up and letting us drop round to where Inanda had been where we could motor off again.

It was all over in about 2 minutes and no real damage done to either boat, but we both felt really stupid. I was the day’s skipper and Alison was helm, so we shared the blame for not keeping lookout pretty equally. As Nancy would have said, galoots, both of us.

We headed out of the channel and I washed my hands in the bucket and we got the sails up. We turned the motor off as we passed the No 2 buoy and were officially racing.

You call this racing?

From the weather forecast I was expecting a re-run of the last time we started a race down the Stour from Wrabness. Then we had drifted across the start line and had to give up an hour later before we got to the Erwarton cardinal as the tide had turned. This time it was a little better. All the boats got moving OK but we missed our customary good start because Drum of Drake got to windward of us and acted like a skyscraper, leaving a huge wind hole. The boats like Reverie, with light wind sails, screamed off down river, leaving us to tussle with Otter, who matches our speed quite closely, despite being a much lighter, very early Cornish Crabber (no 44).

Reverie and her Mark Butler 'special' multi-purpose sail

 Then, near the buoy called Ramsay, the wind went lighter and we were only just stemming the tide. I put this frustrating picture on Facebook.

 It wasn't long before we decided to give up and put the motor on. When we got a little further down river we discovered that the wind had dropped there too, catching My Quest, Rely, Drum of Drake and many other little ships in the tide by Felixstowe. Then we saw Charm heading in to Suffollk Yacht Harbour and worked out she must have finished the course and be heading home, rather than to Walton. We found out later that Robert and Lorna are going to Lil Edwards funeral tomorrow. I'm glad someone from the gaffers is going, I will miss Lil and feel very sorry for Barry, having to manage without her.

We motored out past Harwich breakwater and then the wind filled in again and we had a nice sail into Hamford Water where we anchored again. Lots of crews went over to Stone Point for a drink on the beach but we cooked some dinner and had another quiet evening. We worked out that we needed to get up at 4:30 am to have any chance of getting to West Mersea for the packing shed lunch so we tried to get an early night.

Paradise, almost

I try to keep work and sailing separate, and this is the boat's log, not my blog, but I thought for once I would put in something a little more personal. The weather is perfect, the river is beautiful and today's cruise was idyllic. So why am I depressed and unsociable?

I was forwarded an email today from a friend who works in the department I applied for a job in. The manager announced on Friday that the other candidate would be joining in August. Apart from being about the 26th internal job I've failed to get, this is the second one recently where the hiring manager has not had the courtesy to tell me I was not successful before announcing the outcome in public.

I'm also not happy with the boat. The new sails are setting well and I seem to have reduced the problem with the gaff saddle to a managable level. I think we are sailing her competently. We are still the slowest boat by a large margin. The new larger sails do help. Instead of losing sight of the fleet, we drop slowly behind until we are at the back.

Part of the problem with the boat is the perfect weather. Stronger winds would help. They would also make me work harder and contemplate less.