This weekend, we'd agreed to meet up with a gang of friends in Bradwell.... seeing the forecast, i'd been less than thrilled with the idea... but no-one had wanted to call it off, so we decided to go. It wasn't the wind... only forecast 4 to 5, but the forecast for constant heavy rain that had me less than optimistic about the cahnces of a good weekend.... we'd got friends, Dave and Louise along, and they arrived about an hour after us Friday evening at about 22h00, at which point we settled in to a quick beer, which turned into quite a few 'quick' beers....mistake number 1... by 02h30, we'd had enough, and bed beckoned....When the alarm went off at 06h30, I could have cried. Not only did I have a thick head from too much beer the previous evening, but after getting up at 06h00 every day during the week, an early rise wasn't high on my list of desireable activities.Regardless, I was somewhat pacified by the grey, but dry skies, and the 15kts max wind.... The direction, a SW, spoilt it slightly, but better... much better, than forecast.... mistake number 2.... So we locked out by 07h10, after a bit of a delay in the lock, when the lockeeper opened the outer gate 12" to let it level, and then went to the loo... we sat there for a good few mins....Soon we passed the Guard buoy, and set the sails... a tight leg up towards Walton Headland, just staying off the Naze Ledge... the wind had built as we cleared land, and now sat at a fairly constant 20kts.... as we rounded the headland, and set course for the far end of the Wallet channel, we were straight into the wind, and as the old adage says, "gentlemen don't sail to windward", so on came the engine... actually, I often do sail to windward, but with a building breeze, and a typical short steep east coast chop, it didn't hold much appeal, so we motor sailed into it..With the tide assisting us, it was a fast run, and we rounded the Knoll buoy by 10h00, and headed into the Blackwater.... soon enough we saw the Bradwell creek entrance and being still 3 hrs before HW, crept in carefully as it can get awfully shallow in there... but no problems... in fact it never went below 3m..A berth was allocated over the VHF, C13 port side too, better by the minute, as port too is easy with our gentle prop kick...So down aisle C we went..... Bradwell seemed however to had omitted to put numbers on any of the berths, or at least numbers that could be read from a boat... so we ended up having to do a 20 point turn, trace our route back out, another turn, and finally we were in.... mistake 3...We then settled in, had some lunch, and put the cockpit tent up... good call, as it started raining quite hard....What followed was a splendid evening.... over the next 3 or 4 hours, everyone else started to arrive... CliveG who had followed us out of the Orwell, but had rather manfully decided to tack up the Wallet, Bernie, with new crew Dougie 3 Bottles on board, and Jim on Full Circle, who had single handed round from Burnham.Jim's better half Lynn arrived by 18h00 by car after having to work for the day, and Kas and Patrick arrived by car too, as Vreny is currenty undergoing repair after having her nosr bashed while on a mooring, and Jim then performed a remarkable feat, by supplying the ingredients for, preparing, and cooking a very very good curry, complete with all appropriate sides, for 17 people!!!!!!!!!We retired, as is the only sensible thing to do, to the Green Man, and enjoyed a night cap or two, and by midnight, wilting from the previous nights exertions, slunk off to bed.... leading crew hands, and chief party attenders, Dave and Louise were obviously feeling the heat too, as they weren't far behind us.... as it happens, a reasonably early night proved sensible...We awoke the following morning at 08h30, feeling refreshed for a decent nights sleep, except C, who, rapidly approaching the age of 12, has decided that teenage behaviour is something that needs practising for, and stayed in bed until 09h30.The forecasted very wet 4 to 5 was somewhat inaccurate. It was quite warm, light cloud, but no rain, and blowing 21kts in the marina.... a listen to Thames Coastguard and the forecast had become F5 to 6, occ 7, sea state moderate... ah.... the low forecast to hit the wesy country must have tracked over a bit farther east than predicted.... oh well...So, suitably filled with a fried breakfast (i'm getting to be a dab hand with the frying pan!), we cast off at just after 11h00, and easy exit, well easier than I had anticpated, as we were being blown straight out of the berth, so I wasn't sure how easy the stern would be to get round before we were on the boats the other side of the aisle, but Morgana is just so easy under power, and she shot round without grumbling at all....Again we crept out of the creek with no problems, and set off towards the mouth of the Blackwater. The further we got, the windier it got, and the bigger the sea got. By the time we reached Knoll Buoy we had a reasonably consistent 30kts of wind, and a quartering sea, that was the largest I have seen in the Wallet in the 3 seasons I have been sailing there.... Rounding the Knoll towards Walton, it became obvious that it was going to be hard work... the wind was absolutely dead astern, and the sea was too.... every wave was a battle with the helm to avoid a broach as we hit the trough.... I headed up slightly to take them on the quarter a fraction, but every minute or so, we had to head off downwind and surf as one of the larger waves came through..... given that I was the only experienced helm on board, and the wind being dead astern, I decide that we would motor.... in 30kts, an inexperienced helm in those seas could get into an awful lot of trouble, awfully quickly..... so it was with great relief that 1.5hrs later, as we rounded Walton headland again, the sea settled down dramatically under the shelter of the headland, and I was able to hand the helm to Dave and get some respite.... and a much needed cup of tea!I was also able to do a few other jobs that people don't think about, like cleaning the salt off my sunglasses.... not easy when you are effectibely single handing....Before too long we were entering Harwich... the sea, which had flattened considerably decided to paly its last card, and for the last mile, the wind piped right up to 35kts, and the sea built quickly again... not ideal considering we were now beam on.... sigh....I radioed the lock good and early, as we rounded Guard given that there were clearly no boats waiting, and I could see an ominous black cloud on the horizon, and the lock keeper opened up, and gave us a green as we approached the outer posts.... starboard side too, only sensible choice given the howling wind blowing us that way, so SWMBO and Dave crawled onto the foredeck, and set lines both sides so that we were also ready to go onto our berth.. (we always put fenders both sides)..... the lock was OK... harder than usual in this wind, but not dangerous, or even overly difficult... the weather still hadn't had enough flesh from us, so as we wiated for the lock to fill, the heavens opened, and in a minute we were all soaked to the skin.... and we locked into the marina to see its still pretty breezy... however, easier, as it was straight down our finger, so an easy motor into the wind, stop her, and we were on....What a weekend.... Dave and Louise seemed to enjoy it... pity we couldn't have sailed more, but safety and common sense ruled. They did seem pleased at having experienced their first genuine F7!!!Secondly, I was delighted with Morgana. While helming her in that sea and wind was hard work, it was more about maintaining a less stomach jarring motion than worrying about her safety.... she wasn't really threatening to do anything nasty, and even the bigger rolls were really quite unsevere in the great scheme of things... her motion was manageable. And despite her definitely being in the 'Average White Boat' category, she handled it with aplomb, and it gave me a great deal of additional confidence in her.All in all, a pretty successful weekend. Don't envy Clive much tommorrow though for his return journey in the same forecast!
Miles logged 50nm
Miles this season 574nm
Miles since this blog started 2,368nm
