well.... it keeps me out of trouble... (just)

We've had a ball!Friday evening everyone gathered dowm at Morgana, and by 17h30 we had a full complement.... so we did the only honourable thing, and after chewing the fat for a while, we went to the pub!To be precise, we went to the Bristol Arms, which yet again excelled itself as a fine venue for a bite to eat.A great meal, with enormous portions of more than acceptable quality for a very reasonable price.... mixed in with a grand pint of Adnams (or two), a lovely whisky (or two), and a great musician, with a real sense of humour made for a brilliant evening.We eventually swayed our way back to Morgana, swapping text messages with the girls querying their sobriety, and drank a little more... several bottles of red and a good few snifters of an excellent Irish whiskey.... 02h00, and the crew all made their excuses and went to bed...The following morning was pretty relaxed..... we'd decided that the early morning tidal entry for the Ore/Alde (our chosen destination) was just a 'little' too early at around 08h00, so we'd have a mooch around at sea, and aim for the afternoon opportunity.... any time after 15h00 from my calculations (more on this later)...So after a decent fry up (spotting a trend here?), we left at about 10h00, and sailed off up the coast....Well, the weather was just glorious.... warm, indeed hot, and the wind across the beam at initially just 8kts, but eventually building to 17kts....We soon passed the Deben, and as we were going to way too early for the Ore/Alde entrance, we decided to head out to sea.... hard on the wind, and with 15kts true, we were making 7kts through the water.... it was T shirt weather.... unbelievabley good... the boat was flying, everyone loving the sail.... Full Circle fell asleep on the foredeck..... it was so nice that we were regretting not bringing our passports, as we could have quite happily just carried straight on towards Oostende or Nieuwpoort or somewhere similar.... but it wasn't to be....By 13h30, we tacked around, and headed back to the entrance....Timings wise, it looked OK, so we went for the entrance... past the safe water mark, and to the red can.... we set course for the green, and it started to shallow off quite dramatically.... I called the depth under the keel out loud....1.1m...... 1.0m..... 0.8m..... 0.7m.... by the time I'd called 0.4m everyone was looking distinctly nervous.... we still had the main up, dead downwind.... so if we hit it was going to be a good one, and we'd be well pushed on.... so the main came down... and we crept as slowly as we could.... and heaved a sigh of relief as we finally cleared the green and the depth started to improve.... it went down to 0.3m under the keel... far to close for my liking... OK on a large open piece of water, but not sensible in a river entrance where tides can run at up to 5kts....A drains up later that evening revealed a major flaw in my calculations for the time of LW.... we'd just entered the Ore/Alde in a fin keeler drawing 1.75m bang on Low Water.... phew..... moral... don't do the calcs when pissed!Anyway.... with no harm done, we crept up the river past some lovely looking anchorages.... ideal for a complete 'get away from the world' type of experience... and cariied on up to Orford where we grabbed a visitors buoy...We proceeded to cook a great suasage casserole with mash, which was consumed with gusto, and then went ashore for a drink... Michael sadly had to depart at this stage due to babysitting challenges, and the remainder of went to the Jolly Sailor.... where we found Micahel propping up the bar waiting for his taxi!Several pints of Adnams finest later we even managed to get into the tender without getting wet, and quickly returned to the boat.... Orford is a delight.... it is very quaint, and has a real 'sailing' feel about it... we did nearly manage to wipe out a couple of guys night fishing from the quay on the way... or at least their fishing gear... but narrowly avoided it in the end...Another late start.... we'd done the calcs sober this time... and we could leave any tine after about 09h00 through to midday..... so a gentle start... another monster breakfast, clearing up all the bacon and sausages, and then about 10h00 we slipped the lines off the morring buoy....I decided to let the boat drift back from the mooring on the tide a little to avoid the pick up line... and as we got about 15ft from the bouy, engaged forward gear, and the boat promptly did a 90 degree turn to port...... umhh.... this didn't feel right.... so I grabbed the wheel to swing it over.... there was a strange graunching noise and it went completely slack, and then locked itself solid...... Oh Shit!.... the steering had just failed.....We had 2 kts of tide slinging us back up the river.....I engaged reverse and Morgana did a graceful turn and stuck her stern into the tide.....I immediately asked Chris to go remove the retaining pin from the anchor while I did my best to keep her off the bank with alternative blasts of reverse and forwards..... somehow or other we ended up just uptide of the mooring we'd just left, and by very gentle throttle application we managed to drift down on it, which thankfully Jim and Chris managed to grab first time.... phew... at least we were secure....I opened up the access hatch to the rudder post, and it was quite obvious what had happened.... the admittedly slight loose steering cable had jumped off the quadrant.... so we had no steering at all.....Just 10mins with a pair of spanners had it fixed.... drama over, but crikey, it was a bit of a heart stopper!So on the second attempt we left the river... this time seeing no less than 1.1m under the keel (although I suspect more water was available slightly to the right of our final track), and with the wind coming directly along the coast had a beat back towards Harwich.It was a bit windier than the previous day, although still quite warm, but the cloud just taking the edge off.... but we set the sails, and started to tack our way up the coast..... with the tide against us we were fighting a loosing battle, and after standing out a fair way to sea twice we were only just a mile from our starting point... so rolled up the genny and motor sailed back to Harwich seeing the wind rise to about 20kts....We were soon locked in... and with a bit of tidying up, left by 16h00....What a truly grand weekend..... excellent company.... excellent food... laughter the whole way.... and to really cap it off, some of the best sailing of the season so far.What more could anyone want?

Miles logged 42nm
Miles this season 1,027nm
Miles since this blog started 2,824nm

another girls and boys weekend

Following on from last years roaring success, we're repeating the girls and boys weekend... this time the girls are heading to Burnham, and disappearing on Full Circle, and the boys are on Morgana...We're (the boys) planning to head up the Ore/Alde, and enjoy the scenery.... the girls are planning a weekend of pontoon bashing and wine tasting...The boys crew is 6 people, mostly people that I know well and have sailed with many times, except one new member of the gang, Michael, who I've (we've) met a couple of times now, and I think Pat knows quite a bit better, who we've convinced after a long campaign of brow beating to join in!!!!!(I know Michael reads this blog..... looking forward to getting to know you a bit better Michael, and proving that we aren't always drunk.... well maybe not completely proving it......!)Maybe this will be the weekend that pushes the annual mileage over the 1000nm mark....I've also booked Morgana's lift out for 5th Nov... and lift back in for end of Feb.... we did contemplate leaving her in, but two things stopped us.... firstly, the last few weeks have seen a bit of weed growth at the waterline, so she obviosuly needs antifouling.... and secondly, we'd want to remove most of the soft furnishings, remove the sails etc etc, which would make winter sailing both uncomfortable, and a lot of hassle to bend sails back on etc etc...Laying up supper planned for end Oct.... West Mersea again.... can't believe its nearly a year since we sold Magna Carter.... time flies...

SIBS

No sailing this weekend, although we'll probably go down to the boat Sat night just to sleep over, and maybe grab a bite to eat at the Shipwreck.... and then on down to SIBS on Sunday....Targets:New oilies for SWMBO and ILook at offers on dual station DSC VHF (main set and command mike)Set of D rings for clipping on in the cockpit

two visits to the bar...

This weekend, the weather inevitable cheered up considerably, and the sun shone consistently... the kids have gone back to school of course, so good weather is almost guaranteed.We'd arranged to meet a group of friends at the Rocks anchorage in the river Deben. This was a good plan in many ways.... firstly, the tide timing was excellent, and secondly, SWMBO had never been up the Deben, something that needed fixing as a matter of urgency!We slipped from Shotley at 08h30, and headed out towards the guard buoy, just 1/4nm from the marina, where we found a lovely 12kts of breeze.... it was up the chuff, but we'd had enough of motoring recently, so we set sails, switched the engine off and pootled out towards Languard.... as we reached the Languard buoy, we headed north, and the wind came across the beam, presenting a fabulous reach at 5kts SOG to the Deben entrance..... it was hot, sunny, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed getting the sails out again.... as we were arriving at the Deben bar 1hr after HW, I couldn't afford to be sloppy with my course, so I dropped the genny, and we motor sailed into the river, and then on up to the Rocks anchorage...For those that don't know this anchorage, it is fantastic... a reasonably wide bit of river, with loads of space to anchor, great holding, a lovely little beach, and wonderful views....Half an hour later, Bernie came and tied up alongside us... she'd yet again had engine trouble, and so was less than keen to anchor, and being alongside us gave her more options to get away quickly...By 18h00, we were all on the beach, and a great BBQ was had by all.... and a few new faces in the gang, which was great....We eventually returned to our boat by 20h30 (party animals!!!) and with the kids exhausted, and pretty much straight to bed, SWMBO and I sat and relaxed for a short while, listening to the total silence, interrupted only by a wide range of bird calls.... this has to be one of the very best bits of owning a boat. By 22h00, we too retired for the night.... folowing a trend, I slept like a log... something I never managed on Magna Carter.... I don't know why, but I sleep really well on Morgana at anchor.... not complaining mind!We arose quite early the next morning, around 07h30. I guess the early night was to blame, but yet again, it was already beautifully warm, so we enjoyed a silent coffee in the cockpit, and watched the world wake up....About 08h45, I had to fulfill a promise made to the kids the previous evening, and we jumped into the tender, and set off to motor up a small creek.... what a great decision that turned out to be.... we crept a good way up the small creek, and as we rounded yet another bend, there sat on the mud was a young seal, sunning himself.... we immediately shut the engine down, and I rowed gently towards him, while he sat and stared at us.... we got to within 30 feet of him before he decided we were a bit close, and slipped off into the water.... he then proceeded to poke his head up, and watch us, as we left the creek.... what a wonderful thing to be able to do.... how lucky all us boat owners are!By 10h00, we weighed anchor, along with all our friends, and all set sail, and mooched up and down past one another for 15 mins or so, taking photos.. hopefully some of them will be good!Sadly, by 10h15 we set off towards the bar for the second time, and by 10h45, had safely crossed back out to sea... The Deben bar has a fearsome reputation, and I can see why.... at HW neaps, there was plenty of sand showing, and you do have to stay quite close inshore.... but follow the route correctly, and its perfectly safe... and even SWMBO has to admit that it wasn't that bad, and certainly worth it for the lovely anchorage at the Rocks.We had a bit less wind heading back, and by half way, had to give up and motor sail.... with the tide turned against us, it was slow going under sail..... nevertheless, we got a good 3 hours of sailing this weekend, out of 4hrs of travelling time, so a welcome relief after our 'sail free' summer cruise!We were a bit slow locking in, as we had to wait for a casualty in the lock... someone feeling very unwell aboard another boat, and carted off in an ambulance... hope you get well soon whoever you are.We ate on board, and then after tidying up, and getting Morgana put to bed properly, we were away by 15h00....A grand weekend... hot and sunny all weekend.... even feeling a little burnt... perhaps the nicest weekends sailing so far this year?

Miles logged 25nm
Miles this season 985nm
Miles since this blog started 2,782nm