oh, and as I forgot....

We sat in the cockpit Saturday evening, watching the stars twinkling, and saw a good few shooting stars.... really clear and obvious ones thanks to the clear skies.......and after watching for half an hour or so, I was even inspired into getting my sextant out and taking a few star shots.... i've no idea what I was doing, and don't have any tables to make the calcs, but I did enjoy a few mins of setting the sextant up properly, and taking a few stars down to the horizon..... and learn't a little about setting it up properly, making sure the reading is accurate (swinging it from side to side for those that know what they are doing!) and generally enjoyed playing with what is a great little toy.... one day i'll use it in anger to get a noon sun shot.....

Finally, summer arrives

Well, you can't complain about this weekend's weather!All week the forecast has flipped between OK and poor, and so it we held off the decision on our plans until Thursday pm, when we decided to go for it....We'd invited along a school friend for both kids (or rather they had!), and we wanted to make sure it was OK weather wise, as 2 kids are hard enough when they get 'bored' as the weather isn't compliant, so 4 would be a bit much....However, we arrived Friday night to a breathless and hot evening, and by the time we'd got the kids settled in for the night, snatched a quick ice cold beer, it was time for us to crash out too....Saturday was an early start.... the first HW was at 07h00, and while we were OK to enter Stone Point (the main kid friendly destination within an easy distance) until about 10h00 or perhaps a bit later given that it was neaps, we knew that with the forecast, the anchorage would get busy.... so 08h00 and we were out....Still completely calm, so we motored the short distance to the Backwaters, and were proved completely correct.... there were already at least 10 boats there in an anchorage that holds 20 boats at best.....and by 09h30 we were on the beach!And boy was it hot...... the temperature continued to build, until it hit the 30's around lunch time.... the kids swam nearly all morning....By lunchtime a bit of a sea breeze had kicked in, so I took the tender (now named by C as Seaweed - complete with painted name on stern) back to Morgana and stuck the sail on.... finally a chance to sail her..... and it couldn't have been better..... very hot, 12 to 15 kts of wind..... and she sailed beautifully!By the time i'd finished tacking back and forth, taking the kids for a ride, as a group, individually, and as a group again.... it was mid afternoon.... and the heat was winning out.... so we retired back to the boat and relaxed for a bit..... Morgana's greater creature comforts in evidence as we were all able to take a shower to wash the sand and salt off, and then by 17h00, C and her friend offered to cook, and put together a great curry, which we all enjoyed in the cockpit.....During the late afternoon, the anchorage had got considerably busier, and was now well past it nominal capacity, and still they came.... one boat tried to slip inbetween us and our neighbour, and sat there happily for an hour or so.... I was most unhappy about the proximity, and as the tide slackened, our difference in displacement inevitably kicked in, and we got very close.... after a bit of fending off, I convinced them that there really wasn't space, and they begrudgingly upped anchor and cleared off up the river....As the evening progressed and the heat faded a little, we all returned ashore and went for a long walk along the shore line, a couple of miles towards Walton and back.... its a lovely beach, made all the better by its lack of access to the general public making it quiet, unspoilt and quite beautiful. The only spoiler being the ridiculous amount of plastic washed up along the HW mark..... Humans really are a disgusting species.It was a classic Stone Point evening.... complete flat calm, a wonderful sunset, a warm evening, and absolute peace and quiet.... apart from a rock band in the far distance (obviously an open air gig of some sort), but that was far enough away, and sufficiently infrequent to spoil the evening.... the Avocets and Curlews were in full song..... not matter how many times I experience that feeling, I still live for it.Sunday dawned very similar, so again, driven by tidal times, we cast off early and this time set off out to sea... there wasn't a great deal of wind... just 4 or 5kts.... but with no destination planned, and such great temperatures, we drifted idly.... with the log reading never more than 1.9kts, and regularly drifting down to zero, I was at peace with the world... the kids sat on the foredeck and dangled their toes over the bow in a vain attempt to reach the water, and we put gentle music on the cockpit speakers and floated along...After a while, we about faced, and sailed up wind back towards Harwich, and with the apparent wind increased, made a better 2.5kts through the water.... the breeze over the deck most welcomed..... the spray hood dropped for the first time in a long while....After one or two tacks, we waved at the first of several friends spotted... this time Barbican Bill on Santana, and then slowly worked our way into Harwich and on up the Orwell to SYH, where we grabbed Guapa's bouy for a lunch stop..... it was to be a relatively short stop.... going up the river had lost much of the sea breeze, and the lack of apparent wind saw the temperature in the cockpit shoot upwards..... us soft Brits aren't used to temperatures regaularly reaching double figures, let alone hitting the thirties, and so we all baked for a while, and fading rapidly, set off back to the marina..... where ice creams solved all our woes.... tied up, packed up and departing by 15h00....Magic.... what a weekend!

Miles logged 19nm
Miles this season 393nm
Miles since this blog started 3,330nm

Perfect!

This weekend we had SWMBO's sister along and her husband Charlie and kids..... now, this works perfectly for me..... not only do we get along with them like a house on fire, and the kids are all good friends, but also SWMBO's husband is a very keen and experienced dinghy sailor, and also sails some fairly extreme dinghies.... like an 18' skiff..... so he's always up for a 'proper' sail....They couldn't get down until midday Saturday, so we had a fairly lazy start on Saturday and had a lay in until gone 09h00... I always sleep well on the boat!As soon as they arrived, we stowed their gear, and cast off the lines.... it was obviously a bit breezy, but with Cahrlie on board it wasn't such a big deal, as there was no lack of helping hands to hoik up sails, and winch... plus someone who was happy on the helm in that kind of wind....We decided to have a bit of a sail out to sea, so we headed out past Harwich, with most of the sails set, then dropped in an extra reef when it hit 30kts.... but great fun!..... a broad reach out to Medusa with between 6 and 9kts on the log..... only downside was that the main had jammed.... it hadn't gone away well last time (v windy, and big seas), so it proved troublesome to get out....We eventually had to turn back though, and head back in.... and with the tide pushing us, it was almost a beat back..... but nonetheless great fun again....Saturday night was interesting.... with us all having had a bit of a rufty tufty sail, then a decent meal and a couple or three pints at the Bristol Arms (not to mention having kids!), we were all shattered, and the collective yawning sent us all scurrying for our berths by 22:30.....Sunday dawned promising.... not quite as windy as the previous day, and much less of the grey skies...... so after a hearty breakfast, we set off out again, and this time decided to go up the river..... and what a ball of a sail that was!The wind was on the nose up the river, but with a strong crew onboard we sailed instead of motoring..... I kept a bit too much sail up simply becuase it was great fun to sail her right over on her ear for a change....with the wind at about 20kts, and slightly stronger gusts coming through we flew upwind.... and with the narrow channel in places were tackign every minute or so on occasions..... but it felt like 'proper' sailing..... and was grin inducing!We beat all the way up the river to the Orwell bridge..... some 8nm upwind in a narrow channel, so we tacked plenty!!!!After passing under the bridge, we tacked round, and the apparent wind dropped, it got even warmer, and our guests youngest daughter took the helm for the first time in her life on something other than a dinghy, and definitely the first time with a wheel and sailed her beautifully back up the river as Charlie and I concentrated on getting the sails in the right spot, avoiding gybes and generally doing the trimming..... she held her goosewinged for ages too.... a fine effort!Sadly, all good things come to an end, and this marvellous sail had to....... but we set of home with glowing faces, exhausted kids, and me with a smile like a cheshire cat!

Miles logged 29nm
Miles this season 374nm
Miles since this blog started 3,311nm

Rescue mission

Well what a different weekend!With Sirenia sinking mid week, we put together a working party to help Clive get the recovery task moving....So we farmed the kids off on parents, and headed down Friday evening.... what a strange experience going down to the boat with the kids arguing in the back!We had a leisurely Friday evening, including a rather interesting trip to the Shipwreck bar, where SWMBO and I sat and enjoyed a quiet drink, and rediscovered the fine art of conversation that isn't interspersed with a "stop that!" or a "will you sit down and behave!"....And then an early night.Saturday morning saw us away early (in the car) and a short trip to Felixstowe Ferry, where we sampled the famous Felistowe Ferry Cafe breakfast, and then set too on Sirenia.What a state she was in. Poor Clive.Initial challenge was to untangle the rigging, and remove the seriously bent mast from her. The mast head (she's a fractional) was bent at 90 degrees, and there was a further 30 degree bend at the kicker.... and as for down below... I can only say that anyone who owns and loves their own boat would have been heartbroken at the sight.... everything was where it shouldn't be, there was between 1" and 4" of thick brown mud coating the entire boat, the headlinings hung drooping throughout the boat, and every bit of her was wet and stinking.... there were crabs in the bilges, and oil had floated from out and under the engine and coated the entire boat.Seacocks were opened, the log pulled, and a gang emptied the contents out into a soggy pile in the boatyard.We then split into two gangs... one started the painful process of sorting through this pile and cleaning what could be saved, and putting the rest into a heap for disposal, the other gang ventured below with a pressure washer and sump pump and started cleaning...We washed inside from bow to stern removing hundreds of kilos of mud which slowly drained out of the boat, and then repeated the process...Along the way Karen produced world class bacon and sausage sarnies, and liberal quantities of tea and coffee....By the end of the day, a boat had reappeared from the carnage.... yes, she still stank.... yes, there was still a bit of mud below, and yes, she was saturated... but at least she looked less sad.My blog has been a bit diary format, and lacks the expression of 'feeling' and 'state of mind' that some others have delivered, but i'll just slip for a moment into that mode, by observing that Clive needed the help, and we rallied around him.... it wasn't the physical help, it was the psychological help that counted.... I was proud to be part of that group... a group of good friends, that today proved their worth. Saturday evening, we celebrated in a strange kind of way. We all went to Levington, sat, swapped sea stories and sampled the beer.It was a grand evening... a celebration of a sense of achievement, and a sense of friendship and comraderie. It's a long seafaring tradition that when someone needs help then other seafarers come to their aid. Today we upheld that tradition and it made me feel good about myself.....

gutting

Just spoken to my mate Clive and his boat Sirenia sank on her mooring last night.He's understandably devastated. He's poured massive amounts of time and care into that boat, and its obviously his pride and joy.Only silver lining is that all his friends have rallied around, and he has no shortage of willing hands to help him start getting her sorted out.Clive.... really sorry mate. I hope that she's back, looking as good as she did, and sailing again before too long.

Pirate invasion

What a brilliant weekend!The weather realy looked like it was going to let us down, and I had messages from all sorts of different sources with people calling off their attendance at the Pirate weekend.... we'd had 22 boats planning on coming.But not deterred, we carried on.We did manage to get to the boat by 20h00 Friday despite having to detour for C to take a music grading exam, and had every intention of setting out for the Backwaters that evening..... but Dave and Louise, our guests for the weekend were delayed by an accident, and didn't arrive until 22:00, so it was too late, and we decided to leave the next morning........which dawned wet and cold. However, by about 09:30 it had stopped raining, so we set off out into about 20kts of wind... the skies grey and not overly warmLeaving itself was dramatic... the wind was sufficiently strong that the stern was seeking the wind, and despite several attempts to get her to push her bow round the corner, she was having none of it, and so I had to reverse along the marina until there was a large enough space to turn her around.... i'd watched several other boats have the same problem...... on the way, calls from more pirate casualties calling off.... I felt quite low about it all, and I know SWMBO did.... but we decided to press on....We made our way down the channel into the Backwaters to see a boat making its way out dressed with a pirate flag... it was Hilsa, Mr Slow_boat!So he did a U-turn and came back..... well at the least there would be the two boats!!!!!Anchoring proved troublesome.... as per last year, the wind direction made it hard to judge where to drop the hook as slight misplcement meant either being right out in the channel, or in water too shallow for safety.... not aided by it being a lareg spring tide with just 0.1 above LAT at LW!So.... 4 attempts finally saw us in.I dropped the tender in, and popped over to introduce myself to Duncan, and thankfully saw another boat arrive.....By the time we'd got ourselves sorted out, there were a few boats in the anchorage complete with Pirate flags.... maybe it wasn't going to be a disaster..... and then the sun came out!And wonderfully, it shone for the rest of the afternoon and evening...We had a very leisurely afternoon preparing, and by about 16:00 went ashore....By now we had 8 boats at anchor.... so we introduced ourselves to a few new friends, and said hello to a few old ones...Clive had arrived in Sirenia and had briefly tied up alongside us, to which we grabbed the opportunity to transfer our heavy bag of firewood to his boat, as he was putting her ashore later... he then set off to motor the 1/2nm to Titchmarsh to fetch a few arrivals by land.... yes some folks had even driven there!By 18:00, we were settling into a decent pirate camp, and BBQ's were being lit.... it had become pleasantly warm, the wind had moderated, and life was looking good... the fire was built, and ready to light....


And then two more boats arrived.. PyroJames in his beautiful wooden craft (see elsewhere on Yotblog!) and BastonJock as well.... he, like Clive, put his boat ashore.... only he managed to find an even muddier spot than Clive!And so the evening progressed..... the fire was lit, much grog was consumed, the kids did sack races, and egg and spoon races... the adults did the same, only with a far more competitive streak!, and the beer and chocolate relay went down a storm....Duncan entertained the kids.... or rather they wouldn't leave him alone!

And then finally, as it got dark, Duncan finished of his starring role by fetching his Sax and treating us to a Jazz rendition!

With songs around the fire, much socialising, and general merriment, it was a very tired Morgana family that finally crept off to bed at midnight.... or at least tried to...SWMBO and the kids rebelled, and decided that the better option was to jump on Sirenia and as she floated off, to be ferried in much better style than a small wet tender.... so Dave and I took the tender route and waited..... and then Clive called.... "i've got a rope around my prop"So he had to beach again and wait until LW to clear it.... which meant a ferrying trip for the kids.... soon done, and then we all retired exhausted to bed.We awoke Sunday to a grey day again, and considerably more wind...We'd left bags on Sirenia the previous evening, and had to wait for her to refloat, which wouldn't be until midday, so it wasn't a rushed morning!We had the odd visitor or two, and then by 13:00 pulled up the anchor, and motored out of the Twizzle.It was blowing pretty hard, gusting well over 30kts, so we elected to motor the short distance back.... which was fine....The lock however was a different matter!I new it was going to be interesting with 30+kts of wind blowing straight into the lock, and had this confirmed when the lock keeper announce on the radio, "only one boat at a time" despite there being room for 3 or 4...I motored down the channel into the lock which was quite lumpy, and could see, to my horror, enormous chop at the entrance.... this neccessitated much more throttle than i'd normally use to get in safely, and even then I was grabbing big handfuls of helm to keep her from hitting the entance gates.... gulp!We went into the lock, which is quite short, still doing 5kts... and less would have seen us swept against the gates, and then threw her into full reverse to try and stop her.... which we just managed... plans to go port side too were abandoned as she was swept against the starboard side... the anchor scraped painfull along the lock wall, and two warps were desperately thrown over cleats and the crew hung on for dear life.... Lousie jumped onto the helm once we had warps over cleats and gave her a handful of reverse to stop her from ripping the warps out of people's hands before they were made fast.... wow, what a drama!Gettin out of the lock was just as traumatic... we were pinned against the side, and it took lots of throttle and full lock on the helm to get out without scraping our way down one side.....So I was nervous about our berth!It was however, slightly less challenging as it was thankfully upwind.... and with a group of other skippers assembled to grab lines (they'd all had the same lock dramas!), we were manhandled into our slot, and finally tied up.... phew....So... summary.... what a great weekend.... the weather relented perfectly to give us a great evening... the company was superb.... thanks all.. we had a wonderful weekend.

Miles logged 12nm

Miles this season 345nm

Miles since this blog started 3,282nm

Pirates ahoy!

This coming weekend is the repeat of last years Pirate weekend.... it was absolutely brilliant last year, made by the weather, and so I decided to repeat it this year...What I didn't count on was that a load of people saw the pictures from last year and have suggested that they too will be coming along....At the last count we have 22 boats, with 25 kids attending, and god knows how many adults.... probably in excess of 50....!!!!Weather is looking suspect at the moment with occasional rain, and perhaps a little breezy, so that may thin things down a little.... but even so...We've changed the format this year.... no kids treasure hunt, but this year will be the 'Pirate Olympics'!We have acquired sacks, eggs, spoons, a giant football, we plan a beer and chocolate relay race, and much more besides....The boats will all be sporting Jolly Rogers, and many of us will also be dressed overall....Can't wait.... hope the weather is kind!