oops!

A weekend of events and happenings!The forecast had changed from promising 23 degrees and 10kts to 19 degrees and F4 to 5 Occasionally 6.... and worst still, North Easterly, promising dead downwind on the way to Burnham, and dead upwind on the way back.... at least the sea state would be 'slight'..Undaunted, we arrived a little late Friday evening, after M had decided that Cubs was essential, so it was past 22h30 before we reached Shotley.... We had my Father-in-Law along, whom the kids are somewhat fond of, so it was nearly 23h00 before we'd curbed their excitment, and packed them off to bed... a quick cuppa, a trip to the lock office to get a full bottle of gas, and we followed suit....An early start the following morning, saw us out of the lock at 06h45, into about 16kts of wind.... we motored out to Guard buoy, and then, given that we were sailing downwind, stuck all the sails up, and shot off like a cork out of a bottle towards Walton headland... and easy 10kts over the ground, ocassionally touching 12... great fun... As we reached the headland, the forecast proved itself thoroughly unreliable, with 20kts gusting 23, and quite a big sea running..... terrible for a dead downwind leag through the Wallet channel, some 10nm.... however, with the wind right behind us, the boat wasn't too pressed, and so we carried on.... I did begin to think maybe we should stick a reef in, but she seemed pretty OK....As we neared Clacton, I noticed that the genoa sheet had flicked the black plastic cap off the top of the tube that covers the shrouds to protect the sheets, so I handed the helm to SWMBO, and went forward to see if I could retrieve it..... then all hell broke loose....As I reached the shroud, the wind suddenly picked up to 28kts, gusting over 30, and coincided with quite a big wind shift.... the main backed, and wallop... a huge crash gybe.... unfortunately, with a full main up, fully out, and nearing 30kts of wind, something had to give... it was the pin joining the main sheet block to the traveller.... which sheared off.... the main flew right out and pinned itself against the spreaders....So here we were, completely overpowered, with the main right out, and no main sheet....a full genoa, absolutely dead downwind, in a heavy sea, right behind us.....I ran back, keeping my head very low, to the helm, and grabbed it from SWMBO.... I glanced at the instruments, and gulped when I saw that we were now doing over 11kts through the water, and touching 14 over the ground.... holy ****.... things were messy!!!!!!What followed was actually quite rewarding.... we instantly went into emergency mode... the kids shot down below to get out of the way, I asked SWMBO to start furling the genny, which with F-i-L's help took only a few seconds, during which time, I concentrated like crazy on keeping the boat dead downwind, working the rolling sea to avoid either another crash gybe, which with no main would have been very serious, either damaging the sail, rigging, or possibly even ripping the gooseneck off the mast, not to say hugely dangerous to the crew... equally with 30kts of wind, we couldn't really afford to round up, as we'd have been right over on our ear with full sails up, which would have made any further steps very difficult and dangerous....As the genoa dissapeared onto the roller, things got a little less fraught, the speed reduced to a more sensible 8kts through the water (!!), and we were able to round up just a few degrees to take the pressure off the sail and spreaders...SWMBO then took the helm back, while I went forward and grabbed the free swinging main sheet block and pulled it back aboard.... a decent lashing with a length of rope allowed us to get enough control to be able to round up into the wind, with the boom under control, and furl the main away.... this was also complicated by the fact that while furling the genoa, one of the sheets had lost its stopper knot and was traailing in the water alongside the boat, so we weren't able to start the engine until the main was under enough control to make it safe to go forward... so we had to hold the boat head to wind by sheer concentration on the helm rather than with engine assistance....Phew.... once sorted, we took a deep breath, and decided that as we were allready 20nm into the passage, rather than turn back, we'd continue under engine to the Roach...A rolly old trip, down the rest of the Wallet, through the Swin Spitway, and then up the long trudge from Whitaker buoy saw us into the Roach and anchored by 12h30.... we called up Jim (Full Circle) who was waiting for his SWMBO (Lynn) to finish work, so had an ETA of 18h30... so we found a decent bit of shelter, dropped the hook and chilled for a while... a nice cuppa, a bite of lunch, and all seemed to be getting sorted out...By 16h30, we realised that Peter had arrived on Flipper, and was anchored the other side of the Roach, on the Foulness island side, so we upped anchor (big cheer for the electric windlass - given that it was still pretty breezy, and the anchorage was empty, i'd stuck a lot of chain out.... 25m in just 4m of water.... not going to do anything to help sitting in the locker! - but wouldn't have fancied pulling 25m of 10mm chain and a 20Kg anchor in by hand!)... we found a decent spot near Flipper, set the anchor, and the spent the next hour trying to work out how the tender went together.... the floor seemed impossible to fit... but eventually we saw how it was done, and inflated it with no further dramas...Jim arrived as promised at 18h30, and dropped his anchor between us... a little close, but not too bad, certainly no closer than would be the case at for example Stone Point.....I motored over in the tender firstly to say hi to Peter quickly, then over to Jim to see him looking pretty glum.... his outboard wouldn't start. so he was going to have to row, and then his main engine, a Yanmar wouldn't start either... oh dear.So I wne back to Morgana, fetched SWMBO and the kids, and we all went onto FC, while Jim and I investigated the engine problem.... it looks a lot like a knackered starter motor.... the solenoid is engaging, the battery is good, but no starting motion, although a massive 30Amp current drain on turning the key.... ah...Eventually we all say sod it.. lets go to the pub... so we motor/row ashore, meet Peter formally, and walked the 1 mile or so to the George and Dragon... halfway there, a sign proudly announced food until 19h00... it was now 19h30.... arghhhh...We decided to grab a couple of quick pints anyway, and when we got there, they seemed quite happy to still serve food... a result.. maybe our luck was changing!So, by 21h00, everyone was fading quickly, so we returned to the boats, again negotiating the extremely slippery steps, covered in seaweed, and safely back to the various craft...It wasn't long before we had crashed... I held on until 23h00 to see the tide turn at HW, and be comfortable with the anchor holding, and then went to bed..... I seem to have gotten over my inability to sleep when at anchor, and dropped staright off.... nothing to do with the three pints of Ruddles i'm sure!At 03h00, we were woken by a loud bang..... i pulled my trousers on, and rushed on deck to be greeted by a terrible sight..... alongside us was Full Circle...(one of us had either dragged, or we had turned very differently on the tide)... but the truly terrible bit was a fast reacting Jim on deck with a ball fender, avoiding any damage being done, but completely naked!!!!!!!!!OMG!!!!Lynn arrived up on deck, took over, and Jim, using a fender to protect his modesty ran down and stuck some clothes on.... phew... things were getting better already...As for the coming together... it was thoroughly confusing... neither of us seemed to have dragged, we'd both got appropriate and similar scopes set, yet despite having similar displacements, and similar topsides and windage, seemed to be sitting entirely differently to the tide/wind.....Fortunately, no harm done, so given that we had an engine, we upped anchor, and moved a few hundred feet down stream, and reanchored.... It was the easiest solution... I am also very glad it wasn't Jim dragging, as with no engine (and also no genoa on board) it would have been potentially rather dangerous.... we'd have probably had to motor in, and tow him off, with our much deeper draft, easier said than done....So... eventually back to bed at 04h30, and slept through to 07h00, when my phone rang with a wake up call from Jim to get a lift (as agreed the previous evening I should add) back to Burnham for FC and crew...Wu upped anchor, went alongside FC and used our engine to give his anchor chain enough slack to Jim to pull it in by hand (no engine, no windlass!)... which eventually a purple faced Jim achieved.... and just 30mins later, we motored with them alongside onto Jim's mooring.... We quickly ran Lynn ashore, asshe was now quite late for work, and then returned to FC, where we managed to do two very important things.... firstly we had a huge fried breakfast, with Jim as a guest, and then with the assistance of the tardis like FC spares box, managed to rig the main block to a useable standard... actually, a useful tip.... given that the pin on the bottom had sheared, we simply turned the block upside down, used a shackle through the becket onto the traveller, used the two pulleys as previously threaded, and then tied the sheet through the block (which had enough space for the rope around the pulley and another)... pefect, not only solid, but also, the same purchase as previously in place....10h00, and it was time for us to set off. so we made ready for sea, and chugged away.... a different day fro Saturday.... just 9kts in the Crouch, and very little sea making its way in... looked more promising... even not cold, although quite overcast...As expected, as we got further out of the Crouch towards the sea, the wind built a bit, and the sea built a bit too... but nothing too serious... just 16kts, and decent classic North Sea/Thames Estuary chop..... but sadly also right on the nose... so we motor sailed with just the main...It seemed to take forever to reach Whitaker number 6 buoy, actually it was nearly midday by the time we got there, and I stuck a bit of a reef in the main before we freed right off through the Swin Spitway, which proved sensible.... I had realised that while SWMBO had remained calm htroughout the previous days 'incident', it had also frightened her a little bit, and I didn't want to make the same mistake of not reefing soon enough two days in a row....A we exited the Spitway, the wind was right on the nose again, so we continued motor sailing.... I actually woked quite well... I freed off enough to fill the main properly, and with just a few revs to balance the helm, we made a god 8kts over the ground, and could feel the sail doing the work not the engine....By 14h15, we rounded Walton headland, and freed right off towards Harwich via the Stone Banks buoy, and in towards Languard Cardinal.... a great sail... 11kts over the ground again, the engine almost in neutral, and flying along.... A good sail to ensure that SWMBO forgot the dramas, and a bit of a bump and crash into the seas, which she really enjoyed... taking the helm happily...15h00, and we locked into Shotley... tired, even a little sunburned, and very very salty! a neat and tidy arrival on our berth, and silence as the engine went off...Showers were the first order of the day, followed by a pick and mix meal of all that was left over, a strong coffee,and by 18h00 we set off home.... A quiet journey as everyone slept all the way home (bar me of course!) and actually with hindsight, a great weekend, despite all the dramas!

Miles logged 72nm
Miles this season 270nm
Miles since this blog started 2,064nm