After an exciting crossing back from Dunkerque, a day of rest was called for in Ramsgate, which proved to be an excellent decision. The sun shone all day, and its got decidedly warm. CliveG's son and daughter took M and C to the cinema to see Pirates of the Caribbean, we lounged in the cockpit and drank a few cold beers!In the afternoon, we visited the beach... M and CliveG's son swam in the sea!!!!!!!!!!!The evening was quiet... relaxing, with us sat in shorts and tee shirts until gone 9pm in the cockpit...A decision was made that we would head off Friday morning towards Stone point in the Walton Backwaters, and so by 09h00 the following morning, we slipped and headed out to sea. With a forecast of NE 3/4 it looked promising for a decent run across the Estuary... how wrong we were to be proved!We found about 4kts of wind upon leaving Ramsgate, and bang on the nose, so we motored past North Foreland and on towards Long Sand Outer, the buoy marking the entrance to Foulgers Gat. as we closed within 3nm of LSO, it became obvious that the visibility was closing in, and by the time we reached 1nm off, we could tell it was bad, but with no reference points, being out of sight of land, it was hard to tell how bad. Numerous VHF calls were appearing on ch16, with yachts issuing 'all ships' warnings, so we took great care, with the radar running.... Clive called... could we wait for him, as without radar, he was feeling pretty vulnerable... so we agreed to head for the shallow water around LSO, circle the mark and wait for him there.... as we approached the position given on the charts, there was no sign of the buoy... not unusual for the East Coast, where marks are regularly moved to reflect shifting sands, so I looked on the radar, to see it quite obviously just to port.... we motored towards it, still no sign... and then it appeared out of the fog..... jeepers!!!!! the visibilty was 100ft if we were lucky...... we circled the buoy... a most disorienting event in heavy fog, and waited for Clive... in the end I had to call him with the lat long, as in the fog he couldn't find it!We cautiously crept through Foulgers Gat, at times struggling to see each other despite us sitting almost on Clive's stern...using the radar to confirm that the charted position for Long Sand Inner was correct, and following the depth guage carefully, and as we entered Black Deep, I started full time radar watch to enable us to cross the 2nm wide channel safely..... we saw no traffic, not that it made it any less easy, and then crept along the 5m contour on the far side of Black Deep.... and 20 minutes later, burst out into bright sunlight, and 15nm visibility... phew what an experience... the Estuary is a scary place in that kind of heavy fog, and 2 hours was enough for me!We headed on down the remainder of Black Deep, round Sunk Head, NE Gunfleet, and promptly into more heavy fog..... however, we were now in shallow water, and out of normal shipping areas, so a run down to Medusa under sail was far less stressful, and as we rounded Medusa, towards Pye End, the visibilty came back, and we had a simple run from there into the Backwaters.As soon as we had anchored and sorted ourselves out, Clive arrived and anchored nearby, and a plan was hatched to go ashore to the lovely beach at Stone Point, barbeque, and maybe light a beachfire.... which we did.... a splendid evening was had by all.... good food, nice cold beer (OliveOyl - The Popeye beer was magnificent!!!!), and a great roaring beachfire which we sat around until dusk...We've got back to the boat now, M & C finally to bed, sitting quietly at anchor in a whisper of a breeze, smelling faintly of woodsmoke, and as I look out, the visibility has gone again, I can't even see the shore, and we sit happily in our own little bubble with the halo that an anchor light makes.I'm happy.
Miles logged 48nm
Miles this trip 222nm
Miles this season 495nm
Miles since this blog started 2,289nm
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