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

phew

Berths finished! (well enough to be useable anyway - still needs a bit of trim) Bit of a cock up with the cool box...... compressor worked very well indeed... lovely cold box, but when I got down to the boat last night it wasn't running..... darn I thought... don't need this now.... Anyway.... what had actually happened was when I had fitted the power supply to the services battery for the fridge (its through a switch before you all tut!), I had dropped the nut on the battery clamp.... and in retrieving it from under the battery, I had pushed the lead from the shore power supply into a neat little hidden spot, so hadn't reconected it.... Having turned the coller up to full whack, it had demanded around 4 amps for 24 hours, and the battery was protesting!... the fridge unit has a low voltage cut out, and so it was a simple matter of re-connecting the shore power/battery charged, and click, everything fired off again.... the battery was charging at full pelt when I left last night!.. probably won't do it any harm to be discharged a little bit... it wasn't too heavily discharged thankfully because of the low voltage cutout... so shouldn't be any permanent harm... Weather is looking OK for the weekend.... planning to head for Ramsgate on saturday... wind is going to be in the west, with perhaps a touch of Northerly, so shouldn't really be any upwind work with perhaps the exception of the last couple of miles into Ramsgate..... it'll be somewhere between 5 and 15kts, so quite OK really.... as well as about 23 degrees... Sunday will be a day of rest!, and then a monday passage over to France.... the wind should be turning northerly, so again a decent downhill run.... Got to make the outboard mount this evening... Got my wireless card to work this morning in the laptop, so if I can find a network anywhere I'll try to post as we go....

and yet more drivel...

Another late night last night, getting home after the witching hour was well and truly under way.... However.... I do have a fully installed compresser based evaporator now, so my cool box is just that..... I am so looking forward to cold beer! Furthermore, the forepeak is nearly done.... just a bit of minor detail work with some epoxy to tidy up a couple of small gaps, and the trim edge to fit to stop the cushions falling off, plus cutting and fitting the access hatches to teh storage space below, and bobs yer uncle..... we are going to order some of that wall carpet to finish it off, but having looked at the prices, it'll have to wait until next pay day! photos soon, I promise! The set of dodgers that I ordered on Saturday morning tunred up in the post today... truly marvellous customer service from N&J Mussett of West Mersea... highly recommended.... I still need to make an outboard bracket for the pushpit.... that'll happen over the next 24 hours... measured up last night, and have the materials.... also still need to fit the new stern light.... bought another drill bit, but didn't get round to fitting it... Last thing...... Maggie is quite rare... there aren't many Carter 3/4 tonners about.... in fact, I've only seen info on one other..... but last night, while merrily working away down below, there was a tap on my coach roof.... I came up on deck to find two blokes saying "hello..... nice to see a sistership...." and lo and behold.... 3 berths away was a visiting Carter 3/4 tonner, 'Stomper'..... very very similar in layout... and based locally at Burnham.... weird!... got a few good ideas about some modifications.... as did they I suspect.... particularly liked what they had done in the cockpit with the addition of a couple of small steps/seats.... and a clever folding addition to the worktop space in the galley.... also interesting to see how their saloon table worked, as we still don't yet have one..... high on my list of next jobs.... anyway... nice to meet you guys... hope the rest of your summer cruise is fun! Back down this evening to get some more work done, and hopefully that'll be it before our week off........ wow have I knocked up some miles this week... reckon it'll be well over 1200 before the week is out! Still planning on a run across to France next week.... in company with Jeanneau SO 34 Miss Behavin......

sticky fingers

Just a short entry... not much to report really.... This weekend, as planned was a building weekend....mainly the forepeak berths.... the uprights, and the dividers are in and epoxied into place.... it all fitted quite well....bit of a ball ache trying to work out how to hold things in place while the epoxy mix reached a sufficiently frm state to hold things themsleves... made a bit of a mistake getting the slow setting catalyst.... should have ordered the quicker one... but it was very hot when I ordered it... This took me pretty much all weekend, being somewhat restricted by having to wait 7 to 9 hours for each application to cure to a workable state... Got home Sunday evening, and cut out the berth tops using the cardboard templates made earlier in the day.... Back down to the boat this evening to apply the first coat of varnish, and if it dries sufficiently, a second coat.. and to trial fit the berth tops..... and then tommorrow evening to epoxy the tops in place.... That leaves Wednesday evening to fit the trim, to cut out the access hatches and fix them in place, and to apply a further coat of varnish..... We ordered a compressor refridgerator unit Friday, so with a bit of luck, I might get that fitted before we go... Also fitted a small voltmeter for the battries.... great, except it has a small resistor in series on the earth lead that I managed to break off....so need to order another resistor... still, we'll cope without that for a week! I also tried to fit a new stern light to replace the one with a cracked glass..... the mounting plate is on the pushpit rails... natrurally, the new light has different mounting holes, so after blunting two drill bits trying to drill the holes through a 4mm thick stainless plate I gave up... I still need to make a mounting bracket for the outboard otherwise its in the boat for the whole holiday..... So little time, so much to do!