The day dawned, well they always do this far in my experience. This was a fine start with clear skies and bright sun.
However, it was not to last and within the hour foghorns were booming on the river as a couple of freighters made their way slowly up to Ipswich docks.
We had neither the need nor the inclination to go and play dodgems and delayed our departure from Woolverstone until things had cleared somewhat
We left at twenty past eleven and optimistically made sail and stopped the engine as soon as we'd cleared the marina and tidied away lines and fenders.
For the best part of a couple of hours we had a not unpleasant drift down river on the ebbing tide. Despite the almost total lack of breeze we were able to mantain steerage way at least and even gave the log some work to do on occasions
I was very happy that we ghosted past a Moody 29 and kept station with a similar size boat to ourselves. It's always satisfying to know that you're ding at least as well as the other boats out there.
There were a couple on interesting interpretations of colregs which passed without incident and I did have to briefly start the engine and use a burst of throttle to avoid being carried into a line of moorings but the drama was all happening to other people today
Mo
A large and very smart looking yacht had gone aground at Collimer Point and despite the best efforts of the crew, a workboat and two RIBs it wasn't coming off again
On we drifted until at last my patience was exhausted (my excuse being that drifting around in the middle of the biggest container port in the UK was silly) and it was on with the engine anfd away we went out past Harwich breakwater
Just over an hour and a half later, about three-o-clock, we felt our way carefully down Hamford Water passing another yacht aground in the entrance. This time the efforts of the wardens launch soared to be successful at getting them off. We avoided any similar calamities to and picked a spot to drop the hook.
Those of you familiar with the writings of Arthur Ransom will have no trouble recognising Secret Water. The flag marks the popular anchorage at Stone Point however the entrance is a little tricky and not for the faint hearted on a falling tide so we opted for the easier option of anchoring in Hamford Water
Although the sun steadfastly refused to come out to play, barring the odd spot or two of light rain earlier it was a pleasant enough day.
After a cuppa and a spot of rest and relaxation after our strenuous exertions (!) we set about cleaning the ship. I did my best with the windows (need some Windolene or similar) whilst Jane dealt with an accumulation of dust on the book case.
I then decided to get the tools out and screw the toilet and kitchen roll holders up after first giving them a good dose of teak oil
There was no debate about the location for the kitchen roll holder...
but the loo roll holder was the subject of some discussion and trial and error brute we settled on a position high up above the towel rail.
By now, with the tide well in and the wind well round into the East and gusting up to 14 or 15 knots it was getting a bit bouncy in the anchorage. We'd acquired neighbours ahead and astern of us too.
I broke out the snubber (a length of nylon rope with a chain hook on one end and an eye splice to go over a cleat on the other) and ran out another ten metres of chain before hooking the snubber on and easing out the chain into a loop below it.
The snubber then takes the strain of the bows bouncing up and down rather than stressing the mechanics and mountings of the anchor windlass. Being nylon it also acts as a shock absorber although ours doesn't have a lot of givde left in it. I'm making a new one but it's a work in (slow) progress because I keep scrapping my attempts at splicing the line to the chain shackle
As the sun set, the wind stubbornly remained in the East rather than the North or North West where it was supposed to be. Happily, however, the F5 (17 to 21 knot) breeze predicted in some forecasts didn't materialise and it was far from being unbearable on board.
We had dinner and a tot and then to my delight I discovered a lone survivor of the Burnham Beer Locker Massacre...
It didn't survive for long!
Jane retired to bed and I dozed until my alarm foretold of The Turning off the Tide (there's a song in that.. oh, hang on, some Thompson bloke has already done it). We gently swung at the behest of the note ebbing waters and satisfied that all was well I settled down to sleep too
However, it was not to last and within the hour foghorns were booming on the river as a couple of freighters made their way slowly up to Ipswich docks.
We had neither the need nor the inclination to go and play dodgems and delayed our departure from Woolverstone until things had cleared somewhat
We left at twenty past eleven and optimistically made sail and stopped the engine as soon as we'd cleared the marina and tidied away lines and fenders.
For the best part of a couple of hours we had a not unpleasant drift down river on the ebbing tide. Despite the almost total lack of breeze we were able to mantain steerage way at least and even gave the log some work to do on occasions
I was very happy that we ghosted past a Moody 29 and kept station with a similar size boat to ourselves. It's always satisfying to know that you're ding at least as well as the other boats out there.
There were a couple on interesting interpretations of colregs which passed without incident and I did have to briefly start the engine and use a burst of throttle to avoid being carried into a line of moorings but the drama was all happening to other people today
Mo
A large and very smart looking yacht had gone aground at Collimer Point and despite the best efforts of the crew, a workboat and two RIBs it wasn't coming off again
On we drifted until at last my patience was exhausted (my excuse being that drifting around in the middle of the biggest container port in the UK was silly) and it was on with the engine anfd away we went out past Harwich breakwater
Just over an hour and a half later, about three-o-clock, we felt our way carefully down Hamford Water passing another yacht aground in the entrance. This time the efforts of the wardens launch soared to be successful at getting them off. We avoided any similar calamities to and picked a spot to drop the hook.
Those of you familiar with the writings of Arthur Ransom will have no trouble recognising Secret Water. The flag marks the popular anchorage at Stone Point however the entrance is a little tricky and not for the faint hearted on a falling tide so we opted for the easier option of anchoring in Hamford Water
Although the sun steadfastly refused to come out to play, barring the odd spot or two of light rain earlier it was a pleasant enough day.
After a cuppa and a spot of rest and relaxation after our strenuous exertions (!) we set about cleaning the ship. I did my best with the windows (need some Windolene or similar) whilst Jane dealt with an accumulation of dust on the book case.
I then decided to get the tools out and screw the toilet and kitchen roll holders up after first giving them a good dose of teak oil
There was no debate about the location for the kitchen roll holder...
but the loo roll holder was the subject of some discussion and trial and error brute we settled on a position high up above the towel rail.
By now, with the tide well in and the wind well round into the East and gusting up to 14 or 15 knots it was getting a bit bouncy in the anchorage. We'd acquired neighbours ahead and astern of us too.
I broke out the snubber (a length of nylon rope with a chain hook on one end and an eye splice to go over a cleat on the other) and ran out another ten metres of chain before hooking the snubber on and easing out the chain into a loop below it.
The snubber then takes the strain of the bows bouncing up and down rather than stressing the mechanics and mountings of the anchor windlass. Being nylon it also acts as a shock absorber although ours doesn't have a lot of givde left in it. I'm making a new one but it's a work in (slow) progress because I keep scrapping my attempts at splicing the line to the chain shackle
As the sun set, the wind stubbornly remained in the East rather than the North or North West where it was supposed to be. Happily, however, the F5 (17 to 21 knot) breeze predicted in some forecasts didn't materialise and it was far from being unbearable on board.
We had dinner and a tot and then to my delight I discovered a lone survivor of the Burnham Beer Locker Massacre...
It didn't survive for long!
Jane retired to bed and I dozed until my alarm foretold of The Turning off the Tide (there's a song in that.. oh, hang on, some Thompson bloke has already done it). We gently swung at the behest of the note ebbing waters and satisfied that all was well I settled down to sleep too
No comments:
Post a Comment