summary of the year

This will be my last blog of 2005, so thought i'd take the time to summarise the year... We bought Maggie in April, and after the usual round of hassle to get her ready for launch, exacerbated by being 4 hrs drive from the boat, we launched her at the very end of the month.... A delivery trip planned for a 4 day weekend, starting from The Hamble ended up prematurely at Ramsgate after we suffered terminal power loss.... the following weekend, I did the final leg from Ramsgate to Ipswich with fellow forumite, Yanita.... The battery problem was finally diagnosed as a failed diode in the excitor circuit, but we also replaced all 3 batteries anyway... Fitting shore power also helped in keeping everything fully charged... We enjoyed a VERY hot June and July with various trips around the locality, venturing as far as Burnham on Crouch, but our main destination, and favourite was Stone Point in the Walton Backwaters, where we spent several nights at anchor, and the kids enjoyed the beach... The purchase of a tender and outboard improved matters somewhat for us.... All throughout this, our boat handling steadily improved, and now arrival and departure is not a big issue.... In the run up to August, I spent more hours than I care to imagine building berths in the forepeak, and fitting a fridge... August saw us venture farther afield, with a trip across to Boulogne and Calais, again lucky enough to have fantastic weather.... Besides this, we also visited Brightlingsea, another favourite.... and enjoyed a drink or two along the way... ;-) Expecting things to slow down as we approached September, we were lucky in having superb weather right through to late October, and spent most weekends crusing around the area... Seem to have spent a fortune in the autumn on Radar, Navtex and various bits and bobs, as well as starting the process of recovering all the cushions... Other highlights includes dragging anchor, smacking my head on the boom, flying the spinnaker for the first time, and daughter C, seeming to miraculously cure seasickness...... So.... a grand first year for a family... they've gone from novices to absolute addicts in one season, and while they still have a huge amount to learn, are competent crew, and are willing and keen to venture farther afield.... So to boil it down to three words to summarise it all...... BONDING - HAPPY - EXPENSIVE Happy new year and best wishes to all!

Rope ladder

I've spent the afternoon (and various parts of the day making myself a rope ladder..... Cost a fiver for the rope from ebay, and a couple of quid for two cheap broom handles...... already had some varnish.... a drill, a saw and a sander, bit of varnishing and waiting for drying, and then 2 hours of knot work and I produced the following...

Rather pleased with myself, as it looks great... As its made from Poly rope it'll float so no prop fouling issues. The wood doesn't actually do anything other than hold the sides apart, and the ladder will work even if teh wood breaks.... It'll let us swim off the boat, and also aid MOB god forbid....

Christmas again

Another year vanished before my eyes! Not a lot boaty going on at the moment.... plenty of planning work for boat jobs, but not able to get down to Maggie to get anything done..... Hopefully we'll have an early start to spring with a mild March! We are still working on the itinery for our May trip to Oostende... looks like we'll go north to Vlissingen, through the Middelburg canal, into the Oosterchelde and then out into the Nth sea via the Roompotsluis..... Did make a rope ladder this week from Polypropolene rope and heavily varnished broom handles (wrapped in the rope to keep the sides apart)... looks good.... Must get on with the cushions and the sprayhood! In the mean time, all that is left for me to say is.... Happy Christmas all, and a great New Year

new berth

Should add that it looks increasingly unlikely that we'll get into the new marina that I previously mentioned...... A friend phoned me today to say that another of his friends can't get in, and I know that they were on the waiting list before me..... and their boat is a similar size..... must phone them tommorrow to find out the score.....

cushions again

Finished the first cushion...... rest being left until after Christmas.... Struggling to work out how to repair patch in sprayhood..... standard domestic sewing machine isn't upto the job...... after much time deciding how to sew it by hand, parents let slip that they have a sailmakers sewing machine in the loft.... humhhhh Spray hood got damaged after the boom rubbed across the top of the rear supporting bar, and just wore through in a couple of places.... got some spare material, so a simple patch will fix it..... obviously not a new probelm, as the same area on the boom/sail cover has a repair patch..... New 2006 almanac turned up.... so now we can start dreaming about our plans for next summer...... Initial planned trip is a week in May... a run across to Oostende, and then a week crusing in the area.... rerally not sure where to got yet.... need to look at the Almanac, but either North into Holland, or perhaps south via Dunkerque..... we did Calais and Boulogne last year, so perhaps prefer a north run..... perhaps just a day or two going north from Oostende, and then a trip across to Lowestoft (another of last years plans that never happened), and then back to Ipswich via Southwold (before its closed to yachts!) and the Deben (another of last years plans that never happened).... any suggestions for a short run North of Oostende for a 1.6m Fin Keeler?

cutting holes in your boat!

Spent the day down on Maggie today, getting a few jobs done.... On the starboard bulkhead by the companionway, there is (was) a Stowe wind direction indicator that had its mast head unit removed, so didn't work...... I removed it today, and have fitted the Plastimo compass in the hole left.... only had to make some minor alterations to the hole shape, so that helped..... I did need to put a plywood backing plate on the compass, otherwise, I couldn't get suitable location for the compass mounting bolts.... its a piece of 10mm untreated ply... so it'll need to come off in the spring to be replaced with a neater piece that is varnished to make it weather proof... Did manage to re-use the switch that previously turned the wind indicator on/off as a switch for the compass light.... after 1/2 hour of tracking down where the wire ran, and how it was wired up.... Also, spent 2 hours cutting apart the shelves and drawers by the chart table to make room for the Radar unit... got there... unit fits perfectly, and is now nicely located at the left hand side of the chart table, near the back... good viewing location, protected from spray and yet visible from the companionway...... Removed the dodgers an stowed them below..... Don't sound like much, but took me 5 hours to do all this..... Still, thats two more jobs crossed off the list..... just 68 to go.....

cushions

Spent 3 hours last night picking apart the old berth cushion covers, cutting new ones (from a roll of material we bought on eBay!), and then sewing them together with SWMBO's sewing machine..... 3/4 of the way through the first one..... only 6 & 1/4 more to go...... I'm really pleased with the results, and SWMBO is not sure whether to be impressed or pissed off......! Also, bought a Navtex on eBay...... now think I'm electronically about there...... and financially nowhere close......

winterising

Went down to Maggie today to start winterising her.... We may want to sail her ocassionally, so winterising is limited to things that can be reversed quickly... So, we took the sails off, removed all the cushions to take home, taped up various air entry points, and repositioned the dehumidifier.... the boat seems very dry, so its been making a huge difference.... We had the heater plugged into the same extension lead, and when I turned the heater up from its frostguard setting to warm her up, I popped the fuse on the extension lead.... never mind, just plugged the dehumidifier in directly into the socket... just hope it doesn't get too cold this week... We've drained down the water, and opened every locker... I'm down both days next weekend getting some of the long list of jobs started.... want to start repositioning the winches, perhaps mount the radar unit below, and take a few measurements such as where to fix the rope clutches, the forepeak cushions, the forepeak walls (for carpet lining)... and mount the compass in the saloon bulkhead.... one step at a time eh!

scrap the radar pole

Humh..... decided that the pole would look odd in the cockpit, so back to plan A.... on the mast..... now what shall I spend that Paypal money on...... perhaps a Navtex.....

radar pole

Going down to the boat on Sunday to check that all is OK, and that the dehumdifier is working as required..... While I'm there, i'll bring back a load more cushions, so that we can begin covering them.... Saw an interesting article in this months PBO about making drawers... another thing to add to the list! We are intending to move the liferaft from its current home below the chart table to one of the cockpit lockers.... that'll free up the space under the chart table to turn into storage space... thought a few draws would be good... plus some draws in the currently wasted space below the galley lockers.... Will need to box in the second locker so that I can relocate the fenders to it, but will also need to make the floor removable, as this is the only access point to the back of the engine, the shaft seal, the rudder post and the exhaust..... Last, but not least, I am looking at buying a radar pole.... the 24" raydome I have is a bit too large to go on the mast... I've found a secondhand one, but not sure what its worth.....or what the seller wants for it..... will need to relocate the GPS aerial to the same pole, otherwise I'll be growing a forest in the cockpit with the GPS, radar and wind gen all on their own poles!

Autumn Sunset

The Family enjoying a late autumn cruise in the sunshine late in the afternoon...

location location location...

We're happy in the Marina that we are in..... but it does have a couple of downsides.... firstly being right on the waterfront in Ipswich, next to all the waterside pubs, and a convenient thoroughfare, so can get a bit noisy on warm summer weekend nights, secondly, there isn't much in the way of facilities, just a showerblock, albeit a nice one, and last but not least, we can only have 4 weeks out of the water maximum unless we pay another yard to have the boat ashore... We have stayed there, partly because we have a 12 month contract, and partly because we have made good friends with a fellow pontoon user.... However, they have been across at a neighbouring marina ashore, having an engine replacement, and have decided to stay over there.... They have thought much the same as us, that this neighbouring marina is much better facilities wise... there is a chandlery, a pub/restaurant, grassed area ashore and it is just far enough away from the quay to be much quieter.... and ultimately, it just seems a little bit friendlier... Furthermore, we have several other friends across at this other marina, including a couple of other ybw forumites..... We've had our name down at this marina speculatively for some time, and it looks like we'll get a space in the new year... Only downside is that we'll have to take the space from January... which means that for 3 months we'll be paying two marina..... ouch.... not sure how we'll afford that.... Only other news is that my handheld GPS bought off eBay turned up, and works a treat... not bad for £15!!!!

just rambling

... still.... as some of you might comment... Bought a handheld GPS off eBay over the weekend.... another expense... just wish I could stop spending money on things that aren't even on my winter 'to-do' list! Nipped down to the boat Sunday afternoon to put a dehumidifier on board, and also a greenhouse frost guard heater.... removed companion way steps, so hopefully that'll keep the engine compartment protected as well.... plus drained down the water system... I taped up all the air vents.... but looking at the garage hatch cover over the companionway, that isn't very airtight, so I need to look at how I seal that a bit more effectively.... also realised when I got home that I've left the anchor chain locker wide open, and the hawse pipe will be letting in fresh air... so I'm, albeit not too badly, dehumidifying Ipswich at the moment.... Apart from that, all i've done is added another 10 or so jobs to the winter 'to-do' list..... sigh.....

November and still warm!

Went down to Maggie Friday evening to find the rain set it over Ipswich, and just getting harder and harder.... We retired to bed at about 21h30, afet making sure that the heater was well and truly plugged into shore power.... we thus had a lovely warm night... the kids however had to make a brief return to the pilot berths.... a combination of a very cold night, plenty of rain, and no wall linings meant that there was condesation so heavy that it was dripping off the ceiling, and running down the walls.... their sleeping bags would have been saturated..... must get a dehumidifier for the boat.... We awoke to a clear blue skies, and not a breath of wind.... perfect reflections of Maggie in the water..... Sod it, we were going anyway, so after a decent breakfast of bacon and egg butties, and a suitable quantity of coffee, we cast off.... As the outer lock gates opened, we faced a lovely 6 kts of wind, and staright over the beam..... a reach in the sunshine... lovely.... As we progressed seawards, the wind steadily built to reach 10kts.... we were having such a good time that we just carried on.... out past Harwich, and on towards Walton..... as we closed Walton, we turned around and headed back.... shame, as the sun was still shining... As we sailed towards Levington, we bumped into John on his boat Stargazer... first time we've seen them out on the water, and they looked like they were having a great deal of fun! By about 14h30, we had made ity back to Pin Mill, and decided to grab a buoy for a couple of hours, firstly to get some food, secondly to let M chuck his newly acquired fishing tackle over the back, and last but not least, to give everyone a chance to sail the last half of the river in the dark... We sat on a morring at Pin Mill for a couple of hours, and it was like a spring day.... incredibly warm for this late in the year... M sat valiently and patiently with his fishing gear... never caught anything, but he didn't seem to care! All good things have to come to and end, and as the sun dipped behind the tree line, the lateness in the year showed its face, and the temperature plumetted... on came the coats, on came the nav lights, and off we slipped.... The Orwell is just so peaceful in dusk that it seemed a shame to start the engine, but the wind had gone, and so we motored at half our normal revs back towards Ipswich... We locked through in the dark, and were soon alongside our berth.... what a great day.... Our friends across in Haven had called to say they were on board, so we wandered over at about 18h30 with a bottle of wine.... perfect... they also had company on board, so we settled in, caught the last 3 minutes of the England-Argentina game (what a 3 minutes!), and drank several bottles with them.... At 20h00, we returned to Maggie, and knocked up a quick Sphagetti Bolognaise... yum yum... Eventually we got the kids to bed, sat and read for an hour, and then lights out... For a change, the kids decided to let us have a lay in... and awoke us at 08h00..... I stuck my heads through the companion way to see a foggy morning, and yet again, no sign of any wind.... So we settled in, and had another great breakfast... the full monty this time... a complete fry up... my arteries are going to suffer with this sailing lark! I called David at 09h45, and they had just got up.... buggers!.... suspect they had quite a hangover.... he wanted to sail, so I listened to the forecast... F3 to F4,,, visibility good. sea state smooth.... ah..... fog seemed to have lifted... still no wind... so I guess 2 out of 3 aint bad...... We nipped over to the fuel berth.... didn't really need too much fuel, but wanted to keep the tank full at this time of the year to avoid the dreaded condensation in the tank... By 11h00, we had locked out. remarkable for this tme of the year, we were rafted 3 deep in the lock... lots of people talkign about their last sail of the year.... outside the lock, the wind was now about 8kts, and dead behind us... so we hoiked the sails immediately outside the lock, and sailing goosewinged, passed under the Orwell bridge... another first! As the river turned north, we gybed over the main onto a reach, and the wind started to fill..... within a mile we had 15kts and reaching at speed..... sun was still out... warm.... brilliant! As we approached Harwich, the wind had picked up a fraction more, and not wanting to be late home, we set to tack round..... having been off the wind, we had carried full sails, but being a salty old sea dog, I guessed that they would be a bit much upwind , partially as it was by now a steady 18kts, but also because it was quite gusty.. so we sat head too, turned a few rolls on the genny, and dropped a single reef in the main.... Good call.... as soon as we set course back up the river, we were hard over, and a full sail would have seen her quite pressed..... David hadn't reefed, and was right on his nose..... within a mile he had broached 3 times, and had then dropped in a reef! We laughed, and carried on.... As we sailed, some what blissfully up the river, holding a decent 5kts over the water, I watched a black cloud ahead of us.... I saw the line of wind coming across the water, and was ready for it... I just eased the main slightly.. with hindsight, I needn't have as it only lifted 2 or 3 knots... so I cranked it back on... Whoops... 30 seconds later, just as I had relaxed again, we got hit by a big squall... boat right over on her side... water along the side decks, all the way upto the windows, and we screwed round up into the wind... a huge broach... I could see David just behind us laughing.... SWMBO had white knuckles, C was in the pilot berth saying "what on earth just happened"... M, a 6 yr old boy yelling.... "YEAH.... do it again Dad!" We were only a mile from the Orwell bridge, so we stayed head to wind, furled the genny, dropped the main, and started the motor... David passed us, still under sail, somehow completely having avoided the squall, and had his crew yelling "9 out of 10"... cheeky bugger!... at least we only did it once! just 15mins later, we locked in, the wind having already moderated under the far side of the cloud to 10kts, and entered the marina.... soon alongside, and engine off.... We took a bit longer than normal to pack her away.... we unloaded a lot of gear to take home for the winter.... and I also took off the spray hood, which needs some minor repairs.... no small feat getting it off the frame.... Maggie looked sad and forlorn without her spray hood.... still she'll have it back soon.... So... another great weekend.... and another bonus warm sail, without needing thermals and gloves!

miles logged this weekend - 24nm
miles logged this season - 781nm

task list

Even though Maggie is staying in the water, except for a short while to get her antifouled etc, there still seems to be a long list of jobs to do.... We didn't sail this weekend, primarily as it was bloody windy, and absolutely chucking it down!.... we did however spend a while writing a list of jobs that need doing.... Finish forepeak wood trimMake forepeak cushionsCarpet forpeak wallsMake forepeak overhead storage unitsCut last 4 stowage holes in new forepeak berthsMake hanging stowage bags in forepeakrecover other berth cushionsmake backrest for main cabin seatsrelocate 6 winchesservice all winchesfit clutches and organisers to deckfit 2 part reefing linesfit coaming 'water stopper'repair autopilot mountfit strap for spare gas bottlefit new rope tidiesfiddle book shelffit steering compass permanentlyrepair sprayhoodmake cover for galley stowagereplace curtainsmake cover for anchor lockerfit radarrepair battery gaugerepair bottom companionway stepfit gas tap in main cabinfit hatch stayreplace broken sole board lifting catchrefix trim on sole boardsadd spinnaker uphaul and downhaul gearrepair stbd saolar panel mountmake hanging 'tidies' for headsremove cooker and clean behind it, plus replace flexible hosemove cooker gimbals forward 1"replace engine bilge pump pipeidentify and fix minor oil and water leak behind engineunbung cockpit drainvarnish teak rubbing strip on sternremove old self steering mountsfit MOB recover ladderchange oil and filtercheck gearbox oilantifoulreplace anodesclean and polish topsidescover mooring warps with hose pipeprint out radio and mayday details for above chart tablefit new jammers onto travellerfix squeaky sole boardrefix trim material on quarter berthfit new stern lightservice all seacocksservice sea toiletreplace teak trim ring round mast entry into cabinfix leaking wash basin plug/drainWell thats all we could think of....!Guess it'll be a busy winter.... I'll be checking them off one by one....

plans

Nipped down to Maggie this weekend to check that she was OK.... all fine.... Have the advantage of a very nice couple living aboard just 3 boats up, who keep an eye on everything for us.... Now.... we've been umming and arring for a while about what to do with a new boat, and have come to a decision.... we are going to stick with Maggie for 2 more seasons, and use it as a chance to save a bigger deposit..... we decided that we would probably be stretching ourselves a bit too much financially.... so thats the plan (unless circumstances change!) Given that... I went out on Saturday, and collected a radar that I have bought on ebay... so we are now even more battery dependent! a Raytheon 20XX with a 4Kw raydome and MARPA.... looks really good... only concern is that the Raydome is HUGE.... looking at Maggie, i'll need to mount it above the babystay, as its too big to go below it, unless I mount it very low.... also means it'll have to go up a further 2 feet to clear the pole uphaul... that dictates that it'll be about 5 foot above the spreaders.... not sure about mounting it that high....need to have a think about it.... I guess the ideal solution would be a pole off the stern, but I can't believe how expensive they are! We've also been thinking about going back to our original plans to relocate winches, and its agreed... also need to recover the cushions over the winter, make the cushions for the newly fitted forepeak berths, add single line reefing, clutches for all the control lines and jammers for the traveller, fiddle the bookshelves, and a long long list of other things....

autumn pottering

Went down to Maggie on Friday evening not really sure what to expect..... there was slight rain falling, with occasional heavier bursts, it was pretty cold, and the wind was blowing about 35kts.... ah... unlikely to be any sailing if it stays like this.... still, the forecast was for the wind to moderate significantly overnight, and for it to stop raining, although remaining cloudy... We had taken down a small heater with us, and were grateful for it... retired to bed at about 21h30, knackered after a long week at work! Could I sleep?... could I 'eckers like!.... SWMBO was just as wide awake....wind was making enough noise to wake the dead.... everything was banging, twanging and knocking.... eventually at about 01h30, I drifted off..... kids however, managed to get to sleep no problem..... the following morning, the wind had not only moderated, it had vanished....so we bit the bullet, and decided to poke our nose out of the lock, and see what was happening in the river, thinking that the worst case was a short motor down to grab a buoy at Pin Mill, and maybe lunch at the Butt and Oyster.. So, it was a pleasant suprise to find 10kts of wind in the river, and even better when the sun popped out to say hello! Now, I'm not complaining you understand, but just what is going on with this weather?.... we found ourselves sailing down the river in late October in T-Shirts, saoking up a lovely warm morning, with full sails up, sailing pretty deep, and having a very relaxing time. As is often the case for this late in the season, there were very few boats about, and so we had a marvellous sail, very much enjoying ourselves. We were enjoying ourselves so much that we sailed past Pin Mill, and carried on out past Harwich, and out to sea. By about 13h30, we decided to turn around and head back. As we started back into the wind, the temperature felt somewhat lower, and this also coincided with clouds appearing to cover the sun, so on came the oilies, and we sailed close hauled back towards Harwich. C took the helm, and then proceeded to sail Maggie the whole way back, including sailing right on the wind having to pinch slightly to avoid tacking in some parts of the river. For me, one of the highlights of the season has been how C has taken to helming. I don't have to keep anywhere near as close an eye on her as I did at the start of the season, and she is definitely starting to 'feel' the boat. She is going to make a good helmswomen I am sure. I have promised her that if she keeps trying, then we'll let her have a go a taking the boat alongside the holding pontoon outside the marina next summer.... she's not far off ready to have a go... So, back in the lock by 16h00, and in our marina berth by 16h15... C then helped her mum prepare a massive Spaghetti Bolognaise... yum yum! Another heater assisted nights sleep, much better this time as the noise had vanished, and on Sunday morning, we decided to just kick back, and waste time. We wandered over to Haven marina, and browsed for 20mins in the chandlery, and then tidied up Maggie comprehensively.... took the tender and engine below for the first time this season, and locked her up and departed by 12h30.... On the way out in the car, we dropped again into Haven, to see if Beancounter was about.... and indeed he was... so had a quick coffee with him, and then off home.... So... a great autumn weekend... a lovely sail, that everyone admitted to really enjoying... great to be still getting such a nice weekend this late in the season...

miles this trip:16nm
miles this season: 757nm

planning tweaks

Been thinking about a few tweaks to make Maggie a bit easier to sail shorthanded, and with an inexperenced crew.... Firstly, going to modify the current traditional slab reefing by making it two line reefing, eg a line to the tack and a line to the clew, and then run both lines together through a clutch to enable the equivalent of single line reefing without having to resort to additional pulleys etc.... a second pair of lines will complete the 2nd reef, and then manual swap over for reef 3 Secondly, I am going to add a couple of seats into the cockpit, nothing flash, just a shaped piece of timber with supports fitted to the existing cockpit sides, and removable.... given her background as a racer, there aren't cockpit seats in the traditional sense, rather very wide decks that extend all the way back.... so a couple of seats are easily added.... there is room..... Thirdly, I am going to bolt a shaped piece of timber onto the end of the coachroof to deflect waves that run back along the side decks and make the cockpit a bit drier. Last but not least, I am going to re-locate two of the winches, so that there is more seating room generally..... I still haven't quite finished the forepeak, having trim to fit still in order to hide a couple of rough edges, and cushions to make for them. At the same time, I will re-cover all the cushions... Good list of winter tasks me thinks! Some will happen while Maggie is still in the water, as we are only planning 4 weeks ashore to get a few jobs like renewing anodes, antifouling and having a good poke around the shaft seal....

Moody maneouvres!

Helped Beancounter (John) move his new boat, a Moody 31 called Stargazer this weekend, from Tollesbury to Ipswich. Tollesbury, I hadn't been to before, Ipswich, well... enough.... I met John, and his wife Ruth, down at the Marina at about 10h30 Saturday morning, and after lugging my tender and outboard over to his car (for emergency propulsion, plus shore leave in Brightlingsea), we set off down to Tollesbury. We arrived at Tollesbury, and had loaded the boat up by midday, and proceeded to chill out for a while. Tollesbury has a cill, and so we couldn't slip out until a couple of hours either side of high water, which meant about 15h00 departure... By 14h30, John and I had wondered over to the tide guage over the cill, and had decided that there was enough, so we fired her up, and set off.... Tollesbury is quite tight on water, so we motored gently out of the marina.... This is John's first boat, and so he seemed understandably nervous (weren't we all the first time!)... not helped by a geezeer in a small rigid tender motoring right across his bows in the tightly spaced marina.... a rapid burst of astern solved the problem, but was a bit naughty of the tender driver. We crossed gingerly over the cill, and set off up the river into the Blackwater... channel markers soon showed up, and before we knew it, we were out into the Nass Quarters, with deeper water, and much more room to maneouvre. We set a course for the Bench Head buoy, showing the entrance to the Colne, and with about 18kts of wind over the beam, made rapid progress.... eventually Ruth won out, and decided that we should reef..... not unreasonable given that she was trying to work at the galley making hot drinks.... John had a grin from ear to ear.... another satisfied boat owner! Upon reaching Bench Head, we hardened up, and headed up the Colne, rapidly reaching the transits into Brightlingsea..... I called up on the VHF, and no reply.... after several attempts, I began to wonder if the VHF was transmitting OK.... it was certainly receiving well... we were picking up transmissions from fairly long distances away.... I grabbed my handheld from my bag, and immediately got a response..... harbour master was just departing for the evening.... and told us to take a berth... which we duly set off to do.... The tide was ripping out of Brighlingsea, so John sensibly opted to go alongside into the tide, although we did round once first as we had overshot the suggested berth by the time we had spotted it..... John however then executed a good maneouvre, and we settled comfortably alongside. A great evening meal was prepared and delivered by Ruth, and a decision was made to stay on board, and not bother blowing up the tender for a shore trip. I have to say, I do really like Brighlingsea. Its nice and easy to get into, and very pretty once you are there. We had a lovely evening, except it started raining at about 20h30. So we battened down the hatches and retired to bed by 21h30! Arising at 06h00, we were greeted to a bitterly cold morning, which was somehow completely tempered by the glorious blue sky, and the pretty red sunrise, which as ever, is straight over the anchorages, and so always looks fantastic.... We had a hearty breakfast, and cast off by 07h30, and made our way out past the bouys that we had followed in the previous evening.... By 08h30, we had rounded Knoll, and set a course towards Medusa buoy, just off Walton headland.... the wind had pretty much gone, so we motor sailed... there was enough wind to hold both sails, but only just...... the slightly earlier than originally planned start had allowed us to benefit from more fair tide, and so we made great progress, passing first Clacton, and then Frinton. By 11h00, we had rounded Walton, and set off into Harwich. A fairly uneventful trip back up the river with no more traffic than usual saw us at the lock by 14h00, and again John executed a good maneouvre, and put us nicely alongside on the Pontoon in the lock.... We locked through, and were soon on the berth.... it was OK to get into, and John did a good enough job... a bit of practice with his own boat, and the ensuing raised confidence, and he'll be fine.... Unloaded, and various bits of sailing kit back on Maggie, I was away by 15h30. John and Ruth very kindly gave me some vouchers for the chandlery for helping out. They needn't have, as I really enjoyed myself, and they were great company, especially Ruth ready supply of great food! So, again, tired and happy, and yet another superb autumn sail...... thanks Ruth and John, a marvellous weekend.

Miles logged this trip 34nm
Miles logged this season 741nm

next weekend... another delivery trip...

Should have added.... full weekend sailing next weekend, but minus the family again.... (good job they are easy going!) John (Beancounter) has finally bought himself a new boat, and needs to deliver it back from Tollesbury to Ipswich.... and I volunteered to help... its a Moody 31, and we'll break the trip at Brightlingsea.... should be fun... but very dependent upon the weather forecast....

autumn is here!

Didn't sail on Saturday... We were intending to... but a Friday night drink when a few friends came over caused a somewhat thicker head than planned on Saturday morning.... so we chilled, and planned a day sail on Sunday.... We set off nice and early Sunday morning, recruiting my father-in-law along the way as additional crew, and chief child entertainment officer...... We got down to the boat by 09h15 Sunday, and after the usual routine, were off the pontoon by 10h00.... It was a beautiful autumn day.... blue skies, and a good stiff breeze blowing, with the temperature struggling to nudge past 10 degrees... We set off down the river, and unfurled about 2/3 of the genny, and proceeded on a dead run... the wind was at about 15kts, and as we ran down the river, and got closer to Harwich, it built to 20kts, with gusts up to 25kts..... great autumn sailing conditions, but as we were dead downwind, we stayed under genny alone. We stuck our nose out past Languard point for about 2nm, and then turned round, and headed back up wind.... it was pretty gysty, and going into the wind, it was pretty cold, so we furled the genny, and motored back towards Ipswich.... strainght into the wind, and the ebb out of the river, so we were only making 3 to 4 knots over the ground.... a long slow slog back up the river, saw us tied up by 15h00. I don't know about anyone else, but those Autumn sails in cold weather are for me some of the best sails of the year.... very few boats about... and the ones that are seem to know what they are doing much more generally, and the rules of the road seem to be understood more readily, so less confusion! We all got a bit chilly, but nothing that hot coffee and soup couldn't deal with, and the first sail of the year in gloves and hats....

Miles logged this trip 21nm
Miles logged this season 707nm

The Cherbourg trip

I arrived bright and early at Stugeron Steve’s house after collecting Paul ‘Webbo’ Webster on the way, to find a breakfast of fresh coffee and warmed croissants on the table… a good start. 3 hours later we were at Steve’s boat on the beautiful Beaulieu river, and set about prepping her for sea…. James (jhr) arrived at 15h00 as promised, and after just a few minutes, we cast off, Cherbourg bound…. As we motored up the river, Steve suggested a full sail…. This seemed a bit much to me, and suggested maybe a single reef?….. as we past the Raymarine buoy which marks the outer end of the Beaulieu river, we found a good solid F6, right on the nose, and within a few minutes a second reef was dropped in….. I also discovered the joy of single line reefing…. I want it! 2 hours of really nice beating to wind, and we passed Hurst Spit, and out into the Needles channel. This lived up to its reputation, and threw a steep short sea at us…. We bounced around for a few minutes, but soon passed through. I wasn’t relishing the idea of a 70nm passge to windward, and to my pleasure we saw the wind swing to the east as we passed the needles, and soon enjoyed a beam reach in about 20kts of wind…. Great speed… making about 7kts over the water…..2 hours later, it was definitely getting dark, and sadly the wind veered towards a northerly, and eased to about 12kts. The lows in the Atlantic were throwing quite a swell down the channel, and with a course to steer of 180Deg, we had a dead run, with a quartering sea. Paul started to suffer, and within the hour had succumbed to mal de mer…. A bottle of water, a warm blanket, and he sat in the cockpit looking thoroughly miserable, until at about 01h00 he fell asleep, and we rocked our away along accompanied by his gentle snoring! Navigation proved challenging for two reasons. Firstly, there was a unbelievable amount of traffic. I have never seen so much shipping mid channel, including many many fishing vessels without the correct lights, yet obviously fishing…. And secondly, as the boats motion made anything longer than 30 second stints at the chart table extremely tough on the stomach….. Steve and I took turns in dashing below, logging a position, and if we had the stomach strength, placing a plot on the chart. By 4h00, we had Cherbourg on visual… or at least the huge mass of sodium street lights, at a long range of about 17nm. We were all pretty exhausted by this stage, with helming being a real feat of concentration. The sea state, and wind direction meaning that there was a constant gybe danger, and so we had to really focus on what we were doing. The 30min shifts on the helm had dropped to 10min shifts, and all 3 of the remaining upright crew admitted to nearly falling asleep at the helm, with a resultant 3 crash gybes in total…. As we approached a little closer to Cherbourg, it became very apparent that the two entrances to the Grand Rade were going to be very difficult to pick out against the street light backdrop, and we made a real effort to get plots on the chart to assess our actual course over the ground. It was somewhat eased by being under the Lee of Cap de la Hague, and the sea easing a bit. However, after an hour of plotting Steve claimed complete confusion that despite seemingly good log speed, we didn’t seem to be making much progress…. So I took over Navigation. I plotted for nearly an hour, and became concerned that our course was too far west of the western entrance… in fact, pointing more towards Alderney than Cherbourg! The plotter just plain didn’t agree with us, and showed us passing just east of the eastern entrance…. Confusion reigned!… Steve and I even discussed standing off until daylight as the only safe option….. A deep breath, a spray of salt water, and a self delivered slap in the face demonstrated the danger of being too tired. I went below and realised that Steve had been plotting minutes rather than seconds, and thus the reason why we didn’t show any progress, and I, being used to working on Eastern Longtitudes, had picked 30 Secs and worked east to 34….whereas, we were on the west of the meridian, so instead of plotting on 34, was plotting on 26….. doh! In fact quite scary….. it could have all gone so horribly wrong…. Problem solved, we re-entered plots, and lo and behold, the plotter was bang on…. We corrected our course slightly, and as we approached within 2nm of the Grand Rade breakwater, the entrance showed itself to us. We passed through the breakwater just as dawn broke, a matter of luck rather than judgement, and soon motored through the Petite Rade, and into the marina…. In the 2 hours we had watched the busy entrance, no ferries emerged, and sods law… as soon as we passed the entrance, the first appeared… would have been great if he’d been an hour earlier to show us the way! Tied up by 07h30,l we did a very little sorting out…. Grabbed a cup of tea, said hello to a few people, and stuck our heads down…. We got a much needed 2 hours of kip, before arising again to get showered….bliss…. The much anticipated Scuttlebutt evening party followed, with plenty of wine, and much partying…. Including several memorable (and several unmemorable!) speeches…. After much partying, we mooched back to the boat at about 01h00, and partook of Horlicks, with a wee dram added! We arose Sunday morning, relatively clear headed, and refreshed for a good few hours sleep, and gently cast off at 08h45…. Quite a bit later than many brave crews who had elected to leave at 05h00…. Mind you, many of them had not sailed through the night the previous day…. What faced us, was a truly spectacular sail… one that will stick in my mind for many years to come…. We encountered a beam reach in 15kts… that gradually built up to 22kts…. We held full sail with ease, and the large sea still remained, but this time was assisting us to surf, rather than wallow…. We held up great boat speed, with constant worst case 7kts on the log, and often dipping into 8kts+…. As we cleared the headlands, the sea built even more, and before long we had hit 9kts, then 9.8, and then Steve beat and held the record with a 10.4Kt log reading….. and all this with just white sails…. marvellous stuff! Our passage time was clearly going to be much better than anticipated, and we soon had the cliffs of the Isle of Wight in view….. we altered our course again slightly, to allow for the fact that we had not sailed through an entire west going tide, and by 17h00, passed the SW shingles buoy…. We dropped through the north passage into the solent, not being brave enough (or probably more accurately, too sensible) to attempt the Needles channel…. And by 19h00 were tied up in Yarmouth… One of the best cross channel passages I have ever done…. Truly brilliant sailing, and unlike the outbound trip, people were reluctant to hand over the helm… just thoroughly enjoying themselves…. We dropped ashore in Yarmouth, grabbed a shower again, and then nipped over to the kings head for a pint and a meal…. Lovely grub, and we all looked at one another and realised that we were dog tired…. Falling asleep in our drinks, so we went back to the boat, opened and enjoyed a lovely single malt, and retired to bed with no alarm set! We slipped the following morning at about 09h30, and sailed under genny alone back to Beaulieu…. A lovely 2 hour run, and we were soon tied alongside… back home… We spent a good three hours cleaning, removed the sails for a bit of sailmaker attention, and disappeared of back to the midlands…. I Was home, exhausted by 20h15…. But very very happy!

Miles logged this trip 161nm
Miles logged this season 686nm

Cherbourg bound!

Wahay!.... Off to Cherbourg in the morning with the boys...... 35 boats, 120 (mainly) blokes... should be good fun! Going with fellow forumites, Stugeron Steve and jhr on Steve's boat, a Beneteau Oceanis 331... Forecast 16 to 18kts West or South-West, so a broad reach/run across... looking forward to it..... Coming back Sunday/Monday via Bray on Alderney, and wind is forecast to swing West or North-West at about 10kts, so yet again, downhill all the way!

Boat Show

Good show this year... Weather was kind... about 20degrees and no rain... It took us about 3 hrs to drive down, and much anticipation on teh way... So when we got there, we charged over and in a matter of 2 hours had viewed the 4 boats that we had eventually targetted..... just a quickish peek around each of them, and then we sat down, had some lunch and discussed, and agreed which two to view a bit more carefully.... So our initial reactions? Well.... we were looking for somethign very much a cruiser, and with a few features...- We want 3 cabins... with two kids that will be teenagers and young adults in the time that we intend to own this boat, and one of each gender, we really need 3 cabins...- Second, while we want 3 cabins, we don't want to be overly penalised in the cockpit locker space- Its got to be light and airy... with plenty of space..- Lots of locker space... you just can't have enough of it!- Decent height coamings.... too many boats we have been on have daft 6 to 8 inch high coamings that do OK keeping the water out, but offer no back support when seated- A large enough wheel that the kids can stand on the helm or side seats and still steer... if they don't stand on the seats, then they can't see over the coachroof- Good engine access- A fridge the SWMBO can reach the bottom of. She's not that tal, and on some boats (Maggie included) struggles to reach things right in the bottom of the compartment- Decent sized chart table - with space for sufficient instrumentsSo we looked at the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 35, the Beneteau Oceanis Clipper 343, the Hanse 342 and the Bavaria 37.... all of a similar price... Over lunch we discussed, and quite frankly, there was one stand out boat.... it was the Bavaria. The Beneteau was very drak below in our opinion, but that is being fixed with a much lighter wood option. We had a peek at the 373 on display, which had the lighter wood, and it was much better. I think that if we were looking at a 2 cabin boat, then this would be a serious contender, but the layout in our opinion didn't work well for 3 cabins with the heads at the rear. They become VERYsmall, and the lockers are tiny.... shame as the 2 cabin version is a very nice boat The Jeanneau was the most expensive of the 4 boats, and was also very nice, but again, the 3 cabin layout felt like a bit of an afterthought.... its biggest failing against our list was the lack of storage space in the 3 cabin version... one of the largest lockers below vanished in the 3 cabin version... The Hanse was very appealling to me for its performance, and also the ease of sailing that comes with a self tacking jib.... Our immediate reactino was of suprise. While it was a very nice boata again, it felt quite a bit smaller than the Beneteau, and unsuprisingly, a lot smaller than the 3 foot longer Bavaria. The quality of the interior woodwork was excellent, but it s very dark colour was too much of a contrast with the white bulkheads for our taste. We also loved the HUGE cockpit locker, but this disappeared with the 3 cabin version, leaving two very small lockers. The Bavaria stood out for a number of reasons. Its layout made it feel simply enormous down below with massive headroom. The 3 cabin version still retained 2 decent sized cockpit lockers. There was storage everywhere, and this was the 3 cabin version on display. The engine access was superb. besides the nowadays seemingly standard lifting companionway steps, there were large removable panels on both sides, meanin near 360 deg access to the whole engine. It had an enormous cockpit with high coamings meaning a safe and comfortable environment, with a generous cockpit table. The wheel was big, so good for the kids to use. There were a few things we didn't like... the lockers in the cabins have a silly little plastic strap to prevent them openeing too far.... can't see them lasting 5 minutes, but they would be easily replaced with a bit of cord. Silly, but the shower in the heads didn't have a wall fixing, so needed to be held by hand... again easily fixed with a small pipe clip... but seems a bit daft... So.... it looks like we are going to get a bit more serious about the Bavaria.... we'll contact the local agent after the boat show to arrange a test sail.... and then... well.... assuming two things...1] that we get enough of a deposit together, 2], they'll either part-ex Maggie, or we can sell her quickly.... looks like we'll be buying a new boat! Anyone want to buy a much loved Carter 3/4 tonner? plenty of work done on her.... just read the blog!

crap weather

Change of plan saw us down to the boat Saturday morning, rather than Sunday, and as we arrived at about 10h00, it was chucking it down...... the wind was blowing all of 1kt and less, and we decided to just sit on the boat for a while instead of going out sailing.... no fun to be had in thrashing rain and no wind! Wandered over to the chandlers, and bought a replacement ensign staff for the princely sum of a tenner..... While there we wandered over to a friends boat, to find him with some other friends who have just bought a Bavaria 34..... they have very little sailing experience... in fact pretty much zero sailing experience.... should be interesting in the lock! So.... didn't get the MOB practice done.... and left by 15h00 after getting a few much delayed jobs done.... No sailing next weekend... its Southampton Boat Show, and we are going new boat shopping!

MOB practice

This coming weekends a bit restricted... The inlaws are away on their hols, and they normally have the dog while we go sailing. We would take the dog with us, but she's rather elderly, less than 100% stable on her feet, and has rapidly deteriorating eye sight and hearing, and in our opinion, it wouldn't be fair on her to take her on the boat. Long range forecast for Saturday is dire anyway... wet, cold and windy, so we are going to just day sail Sunday. We've been threatening for several months to do more MOB drills, so thats what we are doing.... one poor victim fender is really going to get it in the neck this weekend, along with his partner in crime, bucket.

No sailing!

Yet again, for the third time this season, I've had to miss a weekends sailing (guess thats not too bad really!).... We got given tickets to take the kids to the zoo yesterday, and then to a open-air McFly concert, with the kids going backstage beforehand to meet the band in person (only 10 kids went, and they had 40 minutes with the band!)...geat pictures for the family album.... and would have been mean to say no!.... With a bit of teeth gritting, I have to admit that they really were quite good.... nice to see a 'manufactured' band that can actually play their instruments......an especially good rendition of 'pinball wizard'...that got all the mums and dads going! SWMBO has taken the kids to see her parents for a hour or so, and I am sitting here, with easy listening on the stereo, relaxing pretty effectively, looking out of the patio doors, seeing a beautiful hot day with a lovely breeze, and feeling very sorry for myself.....! Still sailing again next weekend....

Fun and games in Burnham

Managed to escape from Work at a sensible time Tuesday afternoon, and was down at Burnham by 18h30..... I hadn't actually met Jim before, but after a couple of years of swapping messages with him, it was another of those strange ybw led meetings, where you feel that you already half know the person! As per the image I had built up, Jim, and his partner Lynne were incredibly welcoming, and as I walked up the pontoon to which they were tied, Jim was lighting the barbeque, and handing me a beer! We had a very pleasant meal, introductions all round to the various crew, and we departed for a tour of the various establishments offering Burnham Week hospitality.... several (ahem) drinks later, we retired back to the boat for a night cap and bed... On the subject of the boat, Jim has a lovely new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey, with a lifting keel... and very nice it is too.... Jim has obviously lavished much time and hard earned cash on it, and she's really looking the part. I awoke early, and took the chance, while the others still slept to take a walk along the Burnham harbour front.... There was an early morning mist, and with the sun just having poked its head over the horizon, it was glorious. I returned to the boat to find signs of life, and coffee was consumed in suitable quantities... We set about getting the boat ready (we'll actually, we wasted a load of time just chatting as the boat was already ready!) as we had a nice civilised start time of 10h50, and the start was at Burnham Sailing Club, just a very short distance up the river. While we waited, we watched the various bits of race kit disappear down the river towards open water.... About 10h00, Lynne served up an excellent breakfast... the full works... just what you need for a good days racing! At about 10h20, we slipped, and set of along the river.... then followed the start sequence... nothing too dramatic... it was a cruiser/family class we were entered in after all, and then the gun, and we were off..... The wind wasn't overly obliging, just giving us a measly 5 to 6 kts, fortunately we were with the tide, but even so the first beat was a slow and tactical affair, with various amounts of mooring dodging, and tactical decisions to sit in deep or shallow water.... We rounded the first mark last on the water, but that was expected given the handicap, and so it didn't look too bad... we were quite close to two other boats, a Dehler34 and a pretty little Hunter Horizon.... The wind did gradually fill as we wound our way around a complex course, finally ending with 15kts as we completed the last beat, and crossed the line...3 hours after the start... Throughout we had been gradually getting better at the tacking routine, and also had spent quite a bit of time tuning up the sails, and squeezed quite a bit more speed out of her... We stopped for lunch, by grabbing Jims mooring buoy, and Lynne produced pre-prepared sandwiches from below.... Yum! It was a short lunch break, as the first race had taken quite a while, so we sere soon away again.... This time, we had a better start, and tacked off the line.... just 300 yards up the first leg, and Jim yells, "DUMP THE MAIN".... we are on port tack, and a starboard tacker is on a collision course... no one is near the main sheet, so it takes a second or two...Jim is struggling to bear away with the sails pinned in, but eventually she goes... straight onto the top of a mooring buoy, which promptly tangles itself around the rudder... bugger... we promptly dropped all the sails, following the rules, retire, and managed to disentangle ourselves without too much trouble.... When Jim first called for the main to be dumped, I was over the winch by the cockpit, and in my mad scramble to dump the main, managed to smack my shin on the toe rail..... ouch.... a small puncture type cut.... nothing serious, but bleeding profusely.... Lynne immediately went into Nurse mode, and I was treated to first class NHS style treatement! We motored back to the mooring, and tidied up a bit, then made our way over to Royal Corinthians for a quick drink.... sitting on the balcony, in the sun, watching the remainder of the days proceedings.... it had been seriously hot all day, probably reaching nearly 30 degrees, and this was the perfect end to an excellent day.... I set off home at about 16h30, and was home by 19h30 after a bit of a traffic jam.... Still, a great day sail... Jim and Lynne are very good company, and two nicer people would be hard to find and I enjoyed it all enormously... so all thats left to say is "thanks Lynne and Jim"... much appreciated...

Burnham week

Off this evening down to Burnham to crew for Jim tommorrow on his Jeanneau SO35 for a day in class 7... a white sails only family class..... Forecast is 7mph and 30 degrees.... did remember to pack my suncream....! Jim is having me along for cockpit entertainment... I'm really not sure what he is talking about!

3 days of fun....

We managed to get away at a sensible time on Friday night, and after stopping for food on the way, and then a visit to Tesco's for provisions, we got down to the boat by about 20h00, and with a concerted effort, were unpacked and settled by 21h30.... We enjoyed a quiet evening, no rush, knowing that we didn't have to leave until 10h30 the following morning...... So after a decent nights sleep, we awoke to a mild, but somewhat grey day. Great. Just what we didn't want for the last 3 day weekend of the summer. We pottered around, did a few jobs, and eventually cast off for the fuel pontoon at about 09h30. we managed, by carefully filling her to the top, to get £10 of diesel in, and while we were at it, decided to swap the spare gas bottle (which was empty!) for a full one. We then moved over to the next pontoon to allow another boat to fuel up, and sat and waited for a while. We had agreed to meet with David and Helen again near the lock at 10h30. Sure enough at 10h25, we slipped, and met David on the way to the lock..... A good lock out (no incidents!), and we were off up the river. The wind, as forecast was a south westerly, and blowing at about 15kts. We therefore decided to motor quite a way up the river, in fact all the way to Pin Mill, where we hoisted the sails, although left the engine running. It was very pleasant, just enough to have good boat speed, but not enough to be overpowered at all. Just a shame about the grey gloomy skies. Soon enough we were past Harwich, and off went the engine. The wind had built in open water to about 18kts, and we were hard on the wind beating up to Walton headland...... this for me, is what sailing is all about.... full sails, the toe rail in the water, spray over the bow... perfect... we were being treated to near perfect conditions for sialing 'to weather'... the sea was as flat as a pancake, and we wer flying up wind..... SWMBO was nervous for 15 mins or so, having never really sailed in this kind of breeze hard up on the wind, but once she settled down a bit, and realised that Maggie was enjoying it as much as we were, and was looking after us, she began to enjoy it too..... David and Helen wimped out, and we saw their Genny disappear, and suddenly they were 'sailing' straight into the wind..... ahem.... We laboured on, and were rewarded for our persistance... the wind shifted slightly, and while still hard on the wind, we managed to lay the Knoll buoy, marking the outer limit of the bar just north of the Colne in a single tack (all bar one little leg of about 5 minutes)..... perfect.... making 7kts, and revelling in it... One other great bit of news.... the Mal de Mer tablets that we bought for C while in Bouologne a few weeks back seemed to have completely cured her of any sign of sea sicknesse. Not sure if its psychological, or physiological.. but hey, who cares.. it works.... So we rounded off after the Knoll buoy, sailed on a reach down to the Colne buoy, and then dropped the sails after working over 20nm to windward..... we had to put our coats on for a few minutes around midday, but otherwise a very very nice sail..... We motored up past the channel markers into the Colne, and then turned to starboard on the transit into Brightlingsea.... I spoke to david on the mobile, and he told me that it was very busy, but he had managed to get a pontoon, and had asked for the space rafted alongside him to be kept for us.... judging by the amount of VHF traffic requesting berths, his advice wasn't far off! We motored upto the northerly cardinal, and called in, explaining that we had a berth waiting, and much to muted annoyance of quite a few other boats, were waived right through, while they all waited for the harbour master in his rib to find them a berth! A few minutes later, we were tied up alongside them, and engine back off again... We sat and relaxed for a while, drank a beer or two, and eventually, blew the tender up, and set off ashore for food..... This proved more difficult than expected.... the recommended Chinese didn't have any space.... and unbelievably, not a single pub in Brightlingsea serves food in the evening...... bugger. We wandered around for an hour, admiring what is a very pretty little Essex town, and eventually found ourselves at the Colne Yacht Club.... at last.. somewhere that served food in the evening..... by now it was 20h00, so we ordered quickly, and settled down to a beer/wine..... And we waited....(and drank a beer)... and we waited...(and drank another beer)... and we waited (got it by now?)..... eventually, the food arrived at 21h30... by which time the kids were tired, and on the verge of starving....... Still, it was worth the wait... the food was quite good..... only problem was that we were a little pissed by now..... We ate, and then decided to return to the boats for a night cap..... At this stage, I realised that we should really have brought a torch with us.... found the tender OK at the end of the pontoon, but couldn't see bugger all with respect to getting back to the boat..... we'd arrived at HW, and now at LW, the river looked completely different!... so we (complete with lifejackets for the safety conscious amongst you), climbed into the tenders..... David was high and dry...and didn't realise until he sat in his tender.... I couldn't start mine for laughing at David sat in his tender on the mud.... but he soon got his own back, as we shot across the river... or at least he did.... I managed to steer straight into a sandbar in the middle, and stalled the engine.....argghhhhh...... After much hilarity, we got back to the boats.... especially amusing watching everyone wobble off the tenders back onto the boats... but we did it..... We finally retired to bed, planning an 08h30 departure the folowing morning..... Which we managed..... first thing. David went ashore to meet Helens brother, who, along with his partner was joining them for the sail back... but at 08h30, we slipped and set off North again..... The wind had kindly remained a South Westerly, so it was a run the whole way back.... it had moderated slightly to about 10kts... and the sun was showing us some of its power..... bliss...... 4 hours of charging downhill, in glorious sunshine ahead... and thats just what we got... About two hours in, we decided to try flying the spinnaker.... now this isn't new to me, having done so many many times, but its all ne to SWMBO..... to her credit, it was her encouraging me to give it a go rather the more normal reverse.... I got all the gear out, and was suprised to find, inspecting the pole for the first time, that there was no downhaul.... now I should have known better, but I thought that while what I really needed was a snatch block and line to rig a downhaul, I'd give it a go without one.... Up went the kite, no problem... bang, it set... no problem... brought the pole back, all ok.... and working.... but the pole kept trying to sky, and only deft work with the sheet and guy prevented it..... sadly, we dropped it all very safely, and even kept it dry, but we now know that we could easily fly it with a downhaul.... i'll get that sorted..... Other major event while charging downhill was that C helmed for an hour.... she definately has 'the feel''... held it beautifully, and was very happy... I can comfortably leave her to helm without worrying about it in anything less than 15kts.... M also helmed for 1/2 an hour, but at only 6 years old, needs a bit more supervision... but he's getting there..... Soon, we rounded the Walton headland, and flew down to Pye end, and followed the channel into Walton Backwaters.... Wow was it busy......! We had to go further down the river than ever before... but found a spot, and dropped the hook.... no problems... it set and held first time... no drama.... David appeared and rafted alongside us for a while.... after an hour he decided to go drop his own anchor, but struggled, and eventually muttered under his breath, and cleared off to Titchmarsh marina....... we sniggered for a few minutes.... and then agreed about how much we preffered anchoring to a marina.... with a wind generator, and two solar panels along with large water tanks, we are pretty self sufficient..... We enjoyed a nice meal... took the kids for a lovely walk along the beach, and the settled down to an evening of playing games with the kids...... M taught me a few lessons about how to cheat at card games.... not bad for a 6 year old..... eventually, teh sun dipped, and we were treated to a fantastic sunset over the bird sanctuary, and put the kids to bed..... I set the anchor light, and then the stars came out...... It doesn't matter how many times you see it... the night sky, away from civilisation, and at a totally silent anchorage is enough to take your breath away... we opened a really good bottle of wine, and sat, for a long while in complete silence, and enjoyed a truly lovely evening of peace....... I was awoken rudely at 02h00 by the low water alarm... not a problem.. we had just bounced 0.1m below the 2m threshold I had set.... I reset it for 1.5m and then retired back to bed.... definitely the best nights sleep I've had at anchor.... We awoke to another glorious sunny day, and set ashore for the beach after a full English breakfast, and lay in the sun for a few hours... The plan was to BBQ for lunch, and then escape on the rising tide back to Ipswich.... but the wind had come back a bit... and while it was by now, really quite hot, we decided that it wasn't going to be fun eating a BBQ with added sand... so we set off an hour early, and headed back towards Harwich.... It was pretty much dead downwind... we weren't ina hurry, so I left the main tied up, and just unfurled the genny.... its only about 3nm to Harwich, so I just couldn't be bothered with the hassle of watching a main to prevent an accidental gybe.... As we passed Harwich, the wind was starting to die again, and our SOG had driopped to about 3kts.... I was umming and arring about whether to motor the rest of the way, when I noticed a boat just off our port side waving like mad..... I started teh engine, and furled the genny and motored over..... as we approached they yelled... "we're in trouble....can you help?... our engine won't start"..... they had been sailing back up the river, but the dying wind was causing them all sorts of problems.... so quickly, I offered a tow..... I rigged abridle on my stern cleats, and then ran a tight line from each cleat around the largest winches and onto another set of cleats to help share the load, and they passed me a line from their bow.... I slipped a bowline around my bridle and took up the slack..... Only major mistake so far was that I has got too close as they passed the bow line, and their anchor had side swiped my wooden ensign staff, and snapped it off at the base..... fortunately I had tied it on as well, so didn't lose it, and it is a simple 5 minutes job to turn down another 3 inches to fit into the mount.. so not realyl an issue..... They live on a mooring at Pin Mill... so about 4 miles up the river... not too bad, as thats on out route home anyway.... As the line tightened, Maggie strained..... Christ I thought... this is hard work.... I looked back, and saw that in the heat of the moment, I hadn't paid enough attention to her.... not only was it about 40foot, but she was a Ferro..... darned thing probably weighed 15 tons! despite this, once we had momemntum up, we were OK, and we made slow, but steady progress to Pin Mill...... it was occassionally hairy as the traffic was heavy, but we managed...... Upon reaching Pin Mill, we worked out where their mooring was through a series of shouts, sign language and daft arm waving... and we motored past it, rounded up so make the approach easier, and darned if I didn't drop her right on the buoy... or at least close enough for his boathook to do its job......! I slipped their tow line, and after a quick chat... went on our way... so thats my good deed for the day done... seriously, I don't mind offering that kind of help, as, with an older boat, it could well be me one day that needs the tow! We motored the remaing 4nm at a far more respectable 5kts, and soon approached the lock.... it was very busy, but we were waived in by the lockmaster.... He wanted us to slip between a cat and Bav 50...... humhh I thought.... well he knows what he' doing, so I proceeded.... the closer we got the less confident I got.... finally about 30 feet short, I decided that there was no way that Maggie would fir in through that gap... so I stuck her in reverse and tried to back out..... no way she was having that... we gracefully swung round, and bump, the stern corner touched the wall..... oh how embarrassing..... we then went forward and rafted alongside another boat with significant effort and warp pulling...... no serious harm done.... just a little scratch in the paint........ fortunately it wasn't enough to spoil a great weekend.... We motored into the marina, arrived at out berth no problem, and after1/32 hour of tidying, closing,. opening, and generally settling her to bed departed.... Home by 20h00.... excellent weekend....!

scrap Lowestoft!

Just looked at the tides.... Don't fancy an 01h00 start both ends..... its not that I don't mind a bit of a night sail, its just that I also like my sleep! So.... We are going to head south towards Brightlingsea instead on Saturday morning, and then a gentle potter back towards Walton on Sunday, where we will anchor up at Stone Point, and then a BBQ on Monday..... the forecast looks quite good at this long range... but its still 6 days away, so not getting my hopes up too high..... Given that Maggie has proved a real family hit, and to say that everyone is enjoying the sailing is an understatement, we are keen to accelerate our plans to look at a newer boat..... We spent an hour or two last night listing out all the 'must haves' and 'would likes' in a new boat..... using this, we trawled the spec sheets, and created a short list of boats that may well be in our price range..... narrowed it down to 8 'possibles' for us to look at when we visit Southampton Boat Show....Hanse 342Bavaria 37Legend 36 and 38Jeanneau SO 32 and 35Beneteau Oceanis Clipper 343Dufour 365This list is only based on features....it doesn't yet take into account build quality, or sailing performance, and is based a bit upon guess work regarding the price.... we'll assess the build quality with a looksy, ask the prices, and then ask for test sails on the (heavily revised?) list... Don't know why we are getting so excited, as we won't have the deposit until the spring at the earliest, and may not even feel like we can afford it then.... No harm in being prepared... we might win the lottery!

enjoying a family breakfast in the sunshine

fresh fruit, baguettes and pastries make a nice breakfast in the sun in Boulogne!

Sun in Boulogne

Maggie sitting in the sunshine in Boulogne.. Despite all the warnings to the contrary, Boulogne didn't smell of fish from the very close by fishing fleet, and we really quite liked the place... much more than Calais...

blasting across to Ramsgate

On the trip out to Ramsgate, David and Helen had a good offwind leg!

plans

We're going to have a weekend off this coming weekend.... after a week on board, we really need to get a few jobs done at home...... The following weekend is the bank holiday weekend, and we are hoping that, weather permitting, we'll head towards Lowestoft.... we've been threatening to do it all summer, so this could be our last chance, as its a bit too far for a normal 2 day weekend.... Then I think we've got one more weekend sail, and then we are into various other activities....all sailing related naturally! Mid week i'm crewing for Jim for a day at Burnham Week on his SO35.... later in September its the Scuttlebutt Cherbourg trip that I'm doing with Steve on his Oceanis 331.... We've promised my 9 years old neice a trip to Stone Point for a Barbeque one weekend... shes a keen Oppy sailor, and is DESPERATE to come out with us on Maggie! A few more weekend trips, and before we know it, the boat will be out of the water... we've still got to decide when to do that yet...... thinking about perhaps just bringing her out for January....the marina gives us a month free, so need to assess the charges before I make any serious decisions... In the middle of September of course is the Southampton Boat Show.... it'll be interesting this year for a number of reasons... firstly it'll be our first visit as boat owners, so i'm sure we'll approach it differently.. secondly, our plans to buy a brand new boat are formulating... we intended to keep Maggie for 3 years all along, but with a fair wind, we may be able to afford to make the move next Autumn.. a year and a half earlier than planned.... as its only just over a year away, we may spend a bit of time looking at a few new boats a bit more seriously.... it'll be the normal range of Ben/Jen/Bavs on the list, something around 35 to 37 feet... as they'll give us the most for our money, and after all, we want a cruiser, not an ocean passage maker.... so no comments about... "ooh... you'd be better off with a xxxxxxxx"...!

Ramsgate to Ipswich

The alarm woke us unkindly at 04h00, and we arose to a clear night sky, and perhaps about 8kts of wind..... After a quick coffee, I ran through the usual list of jobs neccessary to the safe departure of a boat, I fired up the GPS, tested the instruments, disconnected the shore power, turned down the fridge a little, and then fired up the engine..... After checking the water was flowing out of the exhaust, we quietly slipped out of the marina at 04h30, to a quiet and beautiful late night/early morning... it was still pitch black, so full lights, and follow the reds on the Ramsgate channel. This was very easy as there was no backlight of any kind, and the sk was clear.... We motored out of the channel, and at a suitable distance offshore to clear the shallows, we turned East. The tide was flowing easterly by this time.... contrary to normal wisdom about stemming the last of the tide round North Foreland, we had decided that an 01h30 start wasn't on the cards..... so we had a fast passage under engine to near Nth Foreland, where we were lucky enough to experience one of those beautiful morning sunrises that you only get at sea... with the sun peeking through clouds on the horizon, and sharing its warmth to create a real sense of happiness and fullfilment. So, as we rounded north foreland and freed off a bit, we hoisted the sails, and switched off the engine. The wind had built to about 12kts, and we, defying the wind directions of the rest of the trip, had a fabulous reach down to the Long Sands Outer mark, showing the entrance to Foulgers Gat. This passage was made, with the assistance of the tide at between 7 and 9kts over the ground, in bright warm early morning sunshine. We had the motor sail thr 3 miles through Foulgers Gat, simply to maintain the course.. it would have been sailable in a slack tide, but the strong easterly set was forcing us to sail just a few degrees too high. However, once we were through the gat, we freed off again, and had a further 8 miles of 8kt reaching through Black Deep. Ironic really, as this was the same bit of water that we had enjoyed fast reaching conditions on the way outbound!. There was little or no traffic, so we had a free hand to set a course that suited Maggie, and she was enjoying herself! Upon reaching Long Sands Head buoy, we headed up a bit, and sailed hard on the wind across the tide, still making 5 kts over the ground.... we were going to need to tack to clear the inside of Cork Sands, but we were enjoying the sail so much that we decided to free right off instead, and sail the longer route down teh other side of Cork Sands to the Cork Sands Yacht Beacon, and then face the beat up to Harwich as the tide turned. We practically flew halfway down to Cork Sands YB, and then teh wind died to about 6kts, and with the tide starting to go slack, we wallowed..... We were determined to sail, so stuck with it, and after an hour were rewarded with a building 12kts again... eventually we reached it, probably 75% of the passage completed ny 11h30.... we however then rounded the beacon just as the wind decided to pick up to 25kts... we found ourselves hard on the wind with full sails up... Maggie was hard pressed, but to her credit, held up, and we rounded up after a few minutes and dropped a good few furls in the genny. I was worried about how she would be balanced with a heavily reefed genny, and full main, but she coped admirably. We ploughed upwind at 7kts over the ground, and before we knew it had reached Harwich. We freed off to follow the port side of the channel, the preferred yacht track, and upon finding ojurselves very overcanvassed, then rounded up again to drop the main..... I took a few turns out of the genny at the same time, and we then sailed pretty much dead downwind into Harwich estuary. As we passed the mouth of the Stour, we decided to furl the genny and motor. After 35nm of passage, an 04h00 start, and into a busy river, we were just too plain tired for the regular gybing required.... We motored the final 7nm up the Orwell into Ipswich, and locked through pretty much immediately, and straight onto our berth. Both the lock and the berth were challenging with a strong wind blowing down the throat of the lock, and blowing us off the pontoon. Our 3 months of owning and sailing Maggie showed their reward however, in that we coped admirably. Much better than the last time we faced similar conditions. We were on our berth by 15h00, and undertook a rapid clear up, and scrub down.. packing and loading, and were ready to leave by 16h00..... (SWMBO had packed the bags as we motored the last 2nm, so we had a headstart!).... So what can I say about the trip?... marvellous?... brilliant?..... well.. only a boat owner will truly understand the sense of satisfaction of making a foreign landfall, and then returning safely home under your own steam, and in your own boat... enjoy!
Miles logged today 39.8
So far this trip 182.5
So far this season 470

Calais to Ramsgate

Friday dawned bright and early with an alarm call at 06:15. The weather was noticeably on the turn. Despite it being still lovely and warm, the clouds were somewhat different, the high cirrus disappeared, and replaced by a cloud I didn't recognise.... The wind was blowing in the marina at about 12kts, so nothing too serious.... I was a little nervous as the Metoffice forecast had suggested Force 3 to 4, with possibility of 5 or 6.... but Meteo France was definitely in the Force 6 camp. So a blow was a distinct possibility. We were forced into a departure a bit earlier than ideal for the tides by the need to lock out of Calais on the last bridge opening at 06h49, and we motored out of the Bassin de l'Ouest along with about 15 other boats into the Arriere Port area to see a sedt of reds on the IPTS. Everyone waited as expected, except one British boat, flying a blue ensign, who seemed to ignore the traffic lights completely, and motored merrily into the main harbour. he received a very blunt command from the harbour master for his ignorance. We waited about 10 minutes before being given green white green, accompanide by a broadcast on the VHF with permission to leave, and a gaggle of boats shot out of the harbour entrance and scattered in different directions. We'd previously had a look at the tidal heights, and decided that we could sail straight over the top of the sand bar outside Calais, which has only 1.9m over it at LAT, but with the tide near high water, and not too rough a sea, it looked pretty safe.... which it turned out to be... no problem... went to 5m under the keel, but not too lumpy, so safe enough..... It was tight on the wind, with 20kts, so Maggie was well heeled over, and SWMBO, with her limited experience, was looking decidedly nervous.... me however, with a bit of sail tweaking to balance her up, was revelling in it..... she was flying.... as we got about 2 miles off shore, the swell was starting to build, yet the sun was still out, so we had classic upwind deep sea roller conditions.... marvellous stuff...... We had to pinch a little to clear the bow of a large crude carrier anchored just outside the shipping channel, otherwise it was a tack, or a large freeing off to pass under her stern....but we cleared her, and entered the shipping channel..... We needed to steer 316 degrees to cross the channel at right angles, and this was dead into the wind (seems to have been the story of this week!).... so we were forced to motor sail across the TSS. The wind had been steadily building, now reaching 25kts, gusting 30kts, or F6 gusting 7!.... SWMBO was definitely looking a little nervous.... but the kids were loving it!..... We'd found some sea sickness tablets a few days back at a pharmacy in Boulogne, and they seemed to do wonders for C..... a few days agao, she'd been sick in a F3 and gentle swell... yet today she was fine in a much larger sea, right on the nose, and a strong wind. The TSS was quite busy, with several ships passing close by. We didn't have to alter course, but has 2 or 3 containers make minor changes at long distance to avoid us... good stuff... and no real concerns.... The bigger story was how Maggie was handling 30kts of wind.... with just the main up, and motor sailing, she was great... I'd only stuck a single reef in, and every time I freed off and the main filled properly she was right on her rails, so if we'd been across the wind, I'd have needed at least one more reef, and possibly going to reef 3.... but I didn't..... the sea state made motor sailing a slow affair, and it was gone midday by the time wed popped out into the inshore waters zone on the UK side, having dodged all sorts of ferries, container ships, and crude carriers..... We'd had a pretty wet passage... Maggie is a classic IOR design, with very flat decks, and no coamings.... so every time she'd stuck her nose into a wave, the entire lot had sluiced back along the decks.... and besides that, we had a fair bit of spray over the spray hood.... I was a little bit salted up.. with crystals in my eyebrows.... it was about now that I remembered that I had left a sail bag 'trapped' inside the foredeck hatch to cut the light out for the kids at night... I ran down to have a look below, and sure enough, the forepeak was dripping wet.... no harm done, but the kids sleeping bags could have been wrung out.... bugger. I had been looking forward to reaching the UK side, as it was a chance to tack over, and get onto a reach through the Goodwin sands and onto Ramsgate..... As we approached within a couple of miles of the white cliffs, the sea state had flattened considerably under the lee shore, so a reach was going to be a ball.... especially important as the tide was going to be against us... enforced by the need to lock early out of Calais..... But our darned luck.... the wind shifted, and yet again, we were almost dead into the wind.... With the engine being pushed a bit harder than ideal, and a strong foul tide, we made a miserable 2 kts over the ground... a lot more when I freed off a bit, but poor VMG... and with the kids on board, beating into 30kts was decidedly off the menu......... So yet again, we motor sailed... this time I could keep the main filled, so that helped... I tried unfurling a bit of genny a few times... and it would be OK for a few minutes, and then the slightest shift, and it was flogging or backed.... with the passage through the Goodwin sands being reasonably tight, and with a crew not really ready for regular tacking in 30kts, it was too much to beat with both sails, so we kept motor sailing. Against the tide, it was painfully slow, and we made poor progress, creeping past SW Goodwin, then Goodwin Fork followed by Brake, and finally, as the tide started to turn, in towards the channel into Ramsgate harbour at about 15h00. We dropped the sails... dead easy with the autpilot in charge of the steering, and motored the last quarter of a mile into the harbour, and then marina.... no delays, 3 greens all the way in.... we called the marina, and got permission to find a berth. This proved easier said than done..... Maggie is 11' 10" wide, and several attempts had to be aborted due to insufficient space... we've found before in Ramsgate that the berths are quite narrow. Finally, we find a spot, and slip in and tie up, and at last, cut the engine.... thank god... peace and quiet.... Ramsgate is pretty busy... its Sail East regatta this weekend, followed by Ramsgate week... so the marina is full of various bits of exotic equipment, many many X Yachts, and various other less common vessels, along with a wide selection of heavily tanned 20 something males, all polishing, tuning, and to our eternal amusement, in one case, donning a dry suit and mask, and under water scrubbing.... Its a very early start tommorrow..... 04h30 for the tide, heading back to Ipswich..... so off to bed now, at 21h00....
Miles logged today 22.7
So far this trip 142.7
So far this season 430

Boulogne to Calais

We awoke to a beautiful bright sunny morning, with hardly a cloud in the sky..... at 08h00 it was already very warm... the wind was showing itself at about 9 knots in the marina, so we were being threatened with a near perfect sail across to Calais..... Our departure time of midday allowed us to start the day by putting up the cockpit table, and enjoying a lovely breakfast in the morning sun with freshly squeezed orange juice, croissants, and french stick fresh from the bakery with Brie and fresh tomatoes.... yum.... We had another quick wander into town, visiting the french farmers market.... it always depresses me a little to see the range and quality of fresh food on offer in France compared to the UK.... A quick 'cafe creme' in a pretty little street cafe, and we then returned to the boat and decided to slip off 1/2 an hour early... it was such a nice day that it seemed a shame to sit it out in the marina.... So we motored out of Boulogne, and upon clearing the harbour walls, raised the sails, and turned off the engine......bliss..... 11kts of wind...... We knew that we would have the tide against us for the first hour, but hadn't bargained on the wind being a North Easterly... this meant that we were dead into the wind.... it didn't however stop us... we beat to windward for an hour, with a poor VMG of just 1.3kts.... Eventually we had to accept that we would miss the lock at Calais if we didn't motor, so we furled the genny and motor sailed.... this instantly increased our VMG to 7.1kts as the tide was now starting to turn, and before we knew it we had rounded Cap Gris Nez, and Cap Blanc Nez came into sight..... this was truly the weather for cruising... we stuck the autopilot on, and taking it in turns to keep an eye on other traffic, we slept in the sun....... As we passed about half way between the two Caps, we saw a british flagged MOBO making little or no way, and just drifting in towards the shore... we wandered over close to see if they were OK..... it was a cross channel swimmer, and his support boat.... mad bugger! Nothing else exciting happened, except a bit of rapid maneouvering to avoid a floating pallet..... the autohelm wasn't impressed, as I spoiled his perfect straight wake! Too soon, we had rounded Cap Blanc Nez, and Calais had come into sight.... we followed the channel towards the harbour.... as we approached the start of the channel, just past the headland we encountered a decent set of overfalls..... SWMBO was a little concerned, but in this weather they were pretty harmless.... just a set of much larger than average waves... and a little steeper.... we did watch the little 23 footer that we had been following at a distance get pushed around a little, but we just powered through them, shipping a little over the bow in one particularly large wave..... By 16h00, we were motoring down the Calais entrance passage avoiding the shallower waters of the Ridens de la Rade shoal, although in this weather, and at this state of the tide we could have just as easily passed straight over it... some habits are hard to break! SWMBO was a little freaked at the close proximity of the ferries... the volume of them going into and out of Calais is unbelievable... its like a constant stream..... We had green green white on the IPTS so dropped the main and motored as fast as we could towards the harbour entrance... as we got within 500m or so, the lights went red.... so wed circled under the Western pier..... David obviously strayed a little too close for the Harbour Masters happiness, and was curtly asked to move away from the entrance via a tannoy on the end of the pier.. much to the amusement of the all the tourists loitering on the pier itself...! We had to wait for 20 minutes... frustrating as we would have been through and tied up by the time that the ferry arrived at the entrance, but I guess that safety is the primary concern here.... So as they went green green white again, we set off.... while we had waited outside for the SeaFrance ferry to come out, a seacat had joined us waiting outside..... David radioed him on 16 to advise him that we would wait.... as usual, no response......bit rude really.... We entered the harbour, and proceeded towards the Bassin de l'Ouest when I spotted another set of IPTS signals on the port side....... they were showing green white green, ands so I radioed the port for permission to proceed on VHF12 as per the pilot, and the alamanc.... I was rewarded for my dilligence by a very curt, 'proceed to a mooring immediately'.... 'and you should be using channel 17'..... very rude.... I was later told by another boat that they are moving to 17... and a couple of weeks back were refusing to acknowledge any communications on 12.... well they should let people know this information... every source I have still says 12. We motored through to the lock, and picked up a mooring bouy just outside the lock... I radioed the lock control, and was informed that the wait would be 50 minutes... make that 17 minutes... no... 51 minutes.... perhaps 17 minutes..... we just smiled, recognised the Frenchness of it all and waited!... After about 35 minutes, we were admitted, with the road bridge being lifted, and motored through, and then rafted up, just the 3rd boat out, alongside a couple of German boats..... A swift, cold G&T with David and Helen, and we paid the Capitanerie... the strange amount of 43 Euro and 4 Cents for two nights...... Shore power was out, as not only was a lead debateable in its reach, but all the sockets were full... after 3 hours of motoring we weren't concerned about the batteries... so just turned the fridge down a little to reduce its duty cycle, and then wandered into town..... A pleasant meal in another street cafe, and we were back on board for another sensibly early night (Yes... I do know that we are very sad!).... The German boat on the inside informed us that he was leaving at 06h00 for the last lock, so we set alarms and retired for the night..... The next morning we arose to drop off the outside of the raft, and let the inside boat out.... We executed a perfect slip away from the outside, I engaged gear, and then ...... bloody 'ell... I'd forgotten to unlash the tiller.... back into neutral, and I managed to untie it quick enough for it not to be a problem!... phew.... So back alongside.. this time,no raft, and we connected to shore power..... The Capitanerie has asked us to move to a pontoon later.... we'll need fuel anyway, and that also means no raft!..... perfect!
Miles logged today 17.4
So far this trip 102
So far this season 407

A day of rest

Today has been a day of rest. We've wandered around Boulogne, taken a taxi to the hypermarche, and generally wasted time.... David and Helen very kindly took the kids for ice creams for an hour, so we were able to really relax for a while.... The afternoon was a pleasant combination of a light lunch, a couple of really good bottles of wine, and a long afternoon nap (2 hours!) on the foredeck in the glorious sunshine (temp reached 26deg).... I could really take to the crusing life! This evening, we wandered back into town over the bridge, and followed the all important tradition by eating out on Moules et Frites.... lovely..... Back to the boat by 21h00.... completely knackered..... We've decided to head for Calais tommorrow..... its a nice easy passage, plus makes the return leg back to Ramsgate much easier.... so its a very nice civilised start tommorrow of about midday to catch the easterly tide, and then about 4 hours down to Calais in time for high water..... It doesn't look like there will be a lot of wind, so it might be a bit less than 4 hours if we end up motoring with a supporting tide... could be as little as 2 and a 1/2.... One concern... the pilot refers to the lock being open between 1 1/2 to 2 hours before HW, and 1/2 to 1 hour after, so we need to time it right.......otherwise its a long haul of a further 20nm onto Dunkerque

Ramsgate to Boulogne

I'd laid in bed all the previous night listening to the wind whistling through the rigging, and feeling the boat move up and down in response to the swells working their way in Ramsgate Marina, and couldn't help but think that the morning might be a decision time.... The forecast had suggested a N or N/W 3 or 4 max, but what I was hearing outside wasn't a 4.... We'd had the previous day in Ramsgate, had a wander around town, taken the kids onto the beach and general relaxed.... we'd then culminated the day with a barbecue on David and Helen's boat. They have this very clever BBQ that is Camping Gaz powered, and holds a bowl of water that captures all the fat......This was a particular pleasant evening given that it was both warm, and that David and SWMBO produced a chilled bottle of champagne, and two chilled bottles of wine..... ahhhhhh. So when I arose at 06h30, and wandered on decek to find a blue sky, and something around 15kts, it was a bit of nice suprise.... So after the usual morning ablutions, we cast off at 07h45, and set off inside the Goodwin sands.... wow... again we had about 20kts of wind, this time a northerly, and with a tide assist, shot down the inside of the sands at between 8 and 10kts..... 1 reef in the main, and a few furls on the genny..... marvellous grin inducing stuff! We eventually had to reluctantly abandon our reach and head south towards the TSS, and yet still managed about 6kts downwind...... as we approached the TSS it was pretty much dead downwind, and with a cross/quarter sea not easy to hold a course with out accidentally gybing, so we furled the genny, and turned on the engine, and motored across.... The traffic was very light in the TSS, with just one vessel on the nearer West bound track, and two on the East bound... neither of which were particularly close, so all in all, a pretty easy crossing.... As we passed out of the TSS, then we freed right off, and hoisted a full set of sails in the rapidly reducing breeze.... the tide was starting to turn against us a bit, so this was not good news.... As we passed Cap Gris Nez, the last of the tide disappeared, and we found ourselves making just a meager 1kts over the ground.... we held on valiantly, as we watched David and Helen disappear over the horizon, but eventually succumbed 2 hours later, and motor sailed the remaining 5 miles into Boulogne.... We entered the outer harbour, and were pleased to see the IPTS (traffic signals) showing unrestricted access, but just as we closed on the inner harbour entrance, they went red, and we had to wait a further 15 minutes for access... but eventually, we were admitted and motored up the river to the marina.... I always find entering France strange... its only a few miles away, in fact, you can even see it from Ramsgate, but the architecture is different, and it 'feels' foreign..... any yacht owner who sails across the channel will know what I mean...... The marina was filling quickly, but David and Helen had been carefully guarding us a space alongside them, moored bow too..... we slipped in at 16h15.... tired and yet happy... A quick trip to the Capitaniere, saw us releaved of 40 Euros for 2 nights stay, and we then went back to Maggie to tidy her up, and to connect shore power, etc etc.... We enjoyed a quick sandwich, and then watched with amusement the large boats opposite on the end of the finger...... now rafted 5 deep, on such a short pontoon that no shore lines were really possible... and all over 45 feet..... the guy on the inside kept wandering back, and looking with concern at his cleats..... I hope he doesn't want to slip early in the morning! We'll be off into town soon to see what the local hostelries are like.... more soon!
Miles logged today 37.9
So far this trip 84.6
So far this season 390

Ipswich to Ramsgate

Day one of the summer trip.... We had already decided to head for Ramsgate on Saturday, the first day, and the tides suggested an early start was in order.... optimum was 04h45, so we agreed to aim for 05h00..... David and Helen in their new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 32, who are in a different marina, albeit just 200 yds away, agreed to meet us at 05h00 inbetween the two marinas..... We set alarms and retired to bed earlyish (I was a bit later as I wanted to put a load of waypoints into the GPS, and plot them on the charts..... forecast was for light winds around 8kts from the West or perhaps North West... We arose at 04h40, and after getting dressed, contacting the lock for an 05h00 lock out and switching on all the instruments, we went on deck to see a pretty ordinary day... a bit grey, but not too much, and the threat of a sunrise worth seeing... it was still dusky, so after turning the fridge down (I'd had it on full whack all night while on shore power in order to get it really cold), unplugging shore power, turning on the nav lights and getting the engine running, we cast off. The kids remained in bed, both very pleased with their new forepeak berths, already being claimed as 'home'! Sure enough David was waiting for us, and we locked out uneventfully apart from the absence of a pontoon meaning that we had to secure to chains... but even that was OK..... The one thing not going completely according to plan was the complete absence of wind...not a breath.... glass like water. We had the last 2 hours of ebb to help us up the river, and so by 06h30 we had motored past Harwich. Fortunately, the wind had filled in with the break of day and the trip out to open water, and we had a lovely 8 to 10kts just as forecast, nicely from the North West, promising a downwind trip the whole way to Ramsgate.... so up went the sails, and off went the engine... The wind however, decided that we needed a treat, and swung slightly more to the North West, and filled in... and filled in a bit more.... before we new it, we had 18kts of wind.... we reefed up the genny by a few turns, but left the full main, and she was revelling in the conditions..... we shot off down past Medusa off Walton-on-the-Naze, and freed off a bit towards Sunk Head tower.... in fact we ended up running pretty much downwind to Sunk Head, and had to gybe a few times to stay reasonably on course, thus avoiding the shallows of sunk sand, but not putting to much west in the course.... We reached Sunk Head after logging nearly 20nm, and then hardened up onto a broad reach down Black Deep.... this was Maggie's playground, and we were playing her favourite game..... we absolutely flew down Black Deep.... regularly making 9kts over the ground with just white sails, and a lovely motion, riding the waves... David was being pressed in his SO32 to keep up with us... so we put another couple of turns in, and still held 8kts+.... we then freed back off through Foulgers Gat, having covered the 9 miles of Black Deep in just 1hr 10mins...... big grin! Even better, this fast passge meant that we were well ahead of schedule, and stood a serious chance of not having to face any foul tide at all! 3 miles of running through Foulgers Gat, and we were in sight of the Kent coastline... with Margate clearly visible in the distance.... we carried a very deep reach.. almost a run towards the Kent shores, and within no time were closing on North Foreland, and it was still only just after midday.... The very broad point of sail, and the rolly motion finally took its toll on C, and a quick bout of seasickness ensued. She was soon over it, and happily chatting away again.... Sadly, while the wind remained around, the wind shadow of Nth Foreland took its toll, and we slowed down sufficiently, that we then had about an hour to fight the tide up towards the Ramsgate bouyed channel, eventually passing through the harbour wall at about 14h45. The marina was to prove challenging!.... the space were limited, although we were told to just pick one.... we motored round to a candidate, tried to turn in, and realised that we were not going to make it... the angle was just too tight with our relatively poor perfromance under power and a wind blowing us off.... so we backed out, and I then reversed up the same aisle, and we came in from the other direction.... a perfect maneouvre... beautifully done even if I do say so myself... tides and wind in harmony to place the boat in just the right place..... so I started easing forward into the slot....b at this point the neighbouring boat pointed out (quite correctly) that the gap wasn't wide enough....bugger.... I backed off, and tried a different slot.... better this time, straight in... very tight...fenders touching both boats... but enough..... We relaxed... sorted out the boat, and then found a local hostelry for a pint and a spot of food.... very nice.... and then back to the boat for 21h00.... everyone is knackered... kids in bed, and I am sitting and writing this at 22h00 struggling to keep my eyes open! A day of rest tommorrow... if it was just us, we'd probably push on, but with the kids, a bit of shore time is also important... forecast is for sun, so perhaps a trip to the beach?... find out with the next installment!
Miles logged today 46.7
So far this trip 46.7
So far this season 352