Blackwater Booze Cruise Day 2

There was nothing to be gained from an early start today so we didn't start early!

A bit of sorting out and bacon butties fur breakfast was all the preparation we needed and we got under way at the very civilised hour of twenty past ten

With a foul tide and precious little in the way of a breeze, and such as it was it was from the East anyway, it was a case of slogging it downriver under motor

The advantage of flogging the foul tide would come later but it was rather tedious going. Matters eventually improved downstream of Burnham with a bit more breeze and enough angle on the wind to make setting sail worthwhile

That gave us an extra knot or so of progress but it wasn't enough to make sailing alone viable so we motor sailed down to Holliwell Point

The catering department served up rather good ham salad sarnies which fortified us for the wild North Sea that awaited us beyond the river mouth...

Now it was time to reap the benefits of flogging the foul tide as we cut across the Ray Sand close inshore and laid a course direct for the River Colne confident of still having plenty of water over Bachelor Spit

That saved us a good few miles which given that the breeze was now fairly Southerly and barely flapping a flag was all to the good.

The mainsail was still doing some good, even if it was just steadying the ship in the slightly awkward cross swell, but the genoa was just flapping around so that was rolled away

Up until now we'd enjoyed a rather nice sunny, if slightly chilly, day. However, looking to the West one could see a band of rain coming our way so it was on with the foulies for the skipper whilst the crew retired below

In the end we watched the worst of it pass us by to the North and we were just lightly showered upon. The front didn't bring much in the way of extra breeze either, which I'd have happily endured some rain to get.

There must have been some wind around somewhere because the outer Blackwater was being it's usual beastly self. Actually, I've seen it a lot worse but never the less the usual random chop doesn't make life easy on board

We'd enjoyed the benefits of a fair tide up the Rays'n but now it was back to punching the ebb as we motored into the Colne. We encountered quite a bit of traffic, having seen hardly anybody all day.

There was the big Thames Sailing Barge "Thistle", one of Priors small coasters, various motorboats and yachts and a couple of jetskis all milling about

To add to the fun, the Southerly breeze, such as it was, over the ebbing tide was kicking up quite a chop of Brightlingsea.

As we passed Mersea Stone, the point at the Eastern end of Mersea Island, the chop vanished and the calm waters of the Pyefleet opened up before us

Motoring past the permanent moorings, I dropped and loose stowed the mainsail and then we anchored just upstream of the moorings

Bang on six and a half hours and a perfectly executed passage plan. Shame we had to motor the whole way but some days that's the way it goes



We settled down in glorious sunshine with just the gentlest of swells rocking the boat.

Glen cooked up a delicious meal of fried potato, onion and fillet steak which was followed by a major raid on the No1 Beer Hold. We resurrected the family version of Rummy with the cards Jane and I bought at Walton earlier this summer and I proceeded to prove that you can be lucky at both love and cards

Coffee and rum finished off the evening and, after setting the anchor watch alarm app on my phone, we retired for the night

Blackwater Booze Cruise Day 1

We had a decent non stop run down for a Friday, just about bang on two and a half hours. Could have been worse.

We were both gaping for a pint and clemmed with hunger so no time was wasted getting the RIB in the water. Then, of course, the normally reliable outboard refused point blank to start.

No amount of having on the cord, cursing and swearing would extract more than a reluctant hint of activity. Eventually I have up and deployed the alternative means of propulsion, the oars

That was no great hardship given the short distance and with not to much tide running. On board Erbas I quickly sorted mooring lines and fenders, opened the sea cocks and fired up the engine.

It's a faff to do but I decided to remove the buoy tails. They get horribly weedy and dirty if left trailing in the water for a week and make a right old mess of the foredeck when mooring back up

That done, it took no time at all to spin around and come alongside the pontoon. With space tight on the inside and little in the way of breeze, either actual or forecast, I decided to plonk her on the outside.

Secured alongside, I quickly plugged in the shore power then we loaded the gear on board that Glen had barrowed down from the car while I was sorting the boat out.

Then it was a quick row back along the pontoon to the dinghy dock, the outboard still refusing to come out and play, before dragging the dinghy out and putting it away

Then, at last, it was beer-o-clock!

Pub grub tonight too, it's allowed on the first night. Early in, early out, back aboard by half ten we had a final coffee before hitting the berths

Just another weekend in paradise

Well, perhaps not actually paradise but it beats working for a living

We had a good run down on Friday morning. Heaving the RIB down the pontoon was an effort but soon enough we were aboard and tucked up in the v-berth

I slept quite well and the afternoon was half gone when I surfaced. Toby and Paul were just starting to clear some space on the pontoon ready for the weekend so I swiftly got myself and Erbas into gear and shifted off our buoy onto the inside of the pontoon

Shortly thereafter I spotted that people were starting to put dinghys onto the new tender dock so Jane and I got in sharpish and bagged a handy spot quick!



It was rather a pleasant evening as we walked up to the pub for food and beer. People wax lyrical about the light in Cornwall and the scenery in Scotland and so on but Essex is forever condemned to be associated with TOWIE and Bluewater.

For me Essex is about skies like that!

Fed and watered, we retired reasonably early.

Arising quite late, we breakfasted and then set about some chores. Jane tackled the below decks housework whilst I dig out the sailmaking kit to mend a tear in the UV strip on the genoa



I'm not sure how it happened, and given the amount of wear I'm not sure when either, but a stitch in time would save an expensive bill from the sailmaker!

Using a patch of self adhesive sail repair tape, lace stitched around the edges, will keep it going for the remainder of the season.



Although the UV strip is recent, I think we'll have it redone over the winter. It doesn't match the sprayhood and mainsail cover, which are a darker blue, and that I find unaccountably irritating!

It's also showing clear signs of chafing on the vicinity of the tear so I think I'll ask whoever I get to service the sail to add some reinforcement in that spot

With that done we made ready to receive guests. Michael had contacted me some weeks ago via the YBW forums to pick my brains (good luck with that one!) about Sabre 27s and making the switch from dinghy sailing to coastal cruising.

Upshot of that conversation had been my inviting Michael and his wife Jill out for a genteel run down to Burnham as a taster of what life aboard a small cruising yacht might be like

They arrived about an hour before high water and over a cup of tea we showed then over the boat and her systems. This included the safety equipment, of course, which led to further conversation about the risks, both real and perceived.

The tide turned, as the tide does, and we got underway tacking downriver in a gentle easterly breeze. We had a decent sail although in truth the tide was doing a lot of the work!

As we came abeam the yacht harbour I suggested switching to motor for a quick run down to the Branklet Buoy to get a look at the lower river whilst still making it on time for dinner

That we did and then we motored back on the North side of the river to give our guests a closer look at Burnham from the river.

I'd already arranged a berth in the Yacht Harbour by phone earlier in the day so we were straight in and without further ado we quickly made ready for a run ashore

We were only a little late for the table Michael and Jill had booked at the White Hart. As we've previously noted, the food was excellent if a little pricey and the atmosphere most pleasant

Our guests had to walk back up to the car park on the outskirts of town due to it being the annual Burnham Carnival. I think they'd had a worthwhile afternoon and hopefully we've helped them on the first steps to taking up cruising under sail
We walked back to the marina through the crowds and the overspill from the fairground on the park. Spotting lights on aboard Laurin we quietly called "hello" and immediately proceeded to finish off the last of the red wine and Jura whisky!

Our voices were, however, disturbing the sleeping little ones (and one big one, it was way past Patrick's bedtime!) so Karen popped aboard Erbas for a final dash of rum.

Next morning we awoke a little late and the boat jumble was already underway. The were a couple of temptations to be resisted and one that I couldn't resist...



I've long wanted to have a crack at astro nav and with an Ebbco plastic sextant for £20 now I can. The Bosun will also enjoy playing with it I'm sure.

After a quick wash and brush up we headed up to the Swallowtail with the Laurins and their friends James and Henry for an excellent Sunday roast

We had to get our skates on afterwards though as the tide would turn in a couple of hours and thrashing back upriver against a big spring ebb tide, whilst doable, isn't an attractive proposition

We had a very nice sail as it happened. The easterly breeze was light but steady enabling me to keep the sails drawing even when goosewinged and the day was warm and even sunny at times

Arriving back at Fambridge we dosed and idled away the rest of the afternoon before heading for the pub for several drinks.

The breeze had died as night descended and we had a quiet night in calm conditions. It rained as I was contemplating getting up but it held off while we offloaded the few odds and ends that needed to go home despite the delays caused by my tendency to stop and chat instead of getting on with it!

I'd already retrieved the tender from the new tender dock and we neatly picked up our mooring, closed valves and 1switches and shut up, shut down etc as appropriate before running back ashore

Landing on the new dock proved as convenient as the launch although I have suggested the addition of a cleat or two at the bottom of the ramp to make fast to

And that was that. Just a fortnight now before Glen and I have a whole week aboard.

Autumn Cruise 2014 Summary

One of our key objectives for this week on board was to spend rather less time in marinas and rather less money in pubs and bars!

That's not to say that we have an issue with marinas and bars, just that our future plans don't envisage being able to afford the indulgence more than once or twice a week

The first night doesn't, we decided, count so we ate out at the Ferry Boat. When all's said and done, we had been working until six that morning, then we'd driven down to Essex and we'd only had a few hours sleep.

We got into our stride on Thursday though with a night at anchor in the Yokesfleet. We had planned to get out of the Crouch on the first day but another aspect of our developing cruising philosophy is to stop when you've had enough and I'd had enough!

We could have taken an uncomfortable outside berth on Halfpenny Pier where we'd hoped to get on the inside. However, for the sake of seven quid we enjoyed the conforts of a sheltered berth in Shotley with the added benefit of shore power to replenish the rather depleted batteries.

That was a lesson learnt. Yes, the laptop can be recharged and / or run on our small 150w inverter but it doesn't half clobber the batteries. I should have charged the laptop up while the engine was running rather than overnight.

We did eat on board before indulging ourselves with a couple of drinks in the Shipwreck.

It was an almost identical scenario the following day. We could, as originally planned, have picked up a buoy in the vicinity of Pin Mill. We could even have anchored clear of the moorings. In either case we would have been a fair distance from the hard.

Having only the petrol in the outboard tank, and with a degree of reluctance being expressed with regard to a long haul ashore in the dinghy, we decided to permit ourselves the indulgence of a night in Wolverstone Marina

The walk through the woods to Pin Mill is extremely pleasant. The drag up the hill into Cholmondiston for essential supplies was rather less so. On the way back we ate out in the Butt and Oyster

The foggy start to the following day and the passage of a couple of coasters, foghorns blaring, upriver made me quite glad to be tucked up in the marina.

We made our way slowly downriver and across the bay into the Walton Backwaters to anchor, for the first time this trip, where we had set out to be!

The anchorage at Stone Point looked pretty busy as we sailed past however I'd intended all along to anchor in the Hamford Water. This anchorage has only one drawback - it's very exposed to the East Nor'East.

We anchored in a near flat calm with an overnight forecast of F2/3 from the North or North West. Of course, it goes without saying that the breeze got up to F4 plus from, you guessed it, the East Nor'East!

This was a bit of a test of our resolve and we resolved to sit it out unless conditions became untenable in which case we'd bolt for Shotley. It being almost dark already there was no way I'd attempt to shoot the narrows at Stone Point in the dark.

As it turned out, it never got that bad and by morning a flat calm and a sunny day made us think of possibly leaving Erbas at anchor and exploring the Backwaters by dinghy. The lack of petrol put the mockers on that idea

In hindsight I'm rather glad of that because the plan B turned out so well. Not many people pluck up the courage to make their way up the drying Foundry Reach into the pond at Walton. I'm very glad we did because our day at Walton on the Naze was probably the highlight of the trip

We lunched ashore, ate on board and went out for drinks. It's a hard life!

The downside of the visit to Walton wad that we'd have to fight a foul tide virtually all the way back into the Crouch the following day. Although we had the option of splitting the trip by overnighting in the Blackwater we preferred to get back to our home river that day if possible

I was pinning my hopes on the spinnaker. The portents were lining up to suggest we'd be running before a moderate breeze down the Wallet where we'd also encounter the worst of the foul tide

The kite did indeed do the business for us. In fact, once we'd got the damn thing up (an exercise that took far too long but that will get better with practice) we sailed from somewhere off Frinton all the way to the Inner Crouch buoy with the spinnaker set and drawing.

We even pulled off a sort of extended ferry glide across the Spitway keeping the kite aloft the whole way. It was a little annoying to find that a mistake with handling the sheets had led to a bent mast eye and slightly damaged pole end but it's easily put right and I'll know better next time

It was a very tired but well satisfied crew who dropped the hook in the Brankfleet that night. Our final day saw us back to Fambridge where we indulged ourselves with a pub lunch and had our second fresh (add opposed to tinned) meal aboard followed once more by drinks in the pub

It was without doubt a great week. Possibly even the best week Jane and I have had aboard to date.

Discounting the first and last night's, we anchored out three nights and went into marinas twice plus the night in Walton Yacht Basin (which is sort of marina like but much nicer!)

We ate out just the once and had lunch ashore once although we went ashore for drinks on two further occasions.

We could, if we'd needed to, have avoided marinas altogether and indeed we needn't have gone out for drinks as often

Above all, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves

Autumn Cruise 2014 - Last Day

It was the usual scenario. Get up, get off the pontoon and onto our mooring, go home.

We didn't even bother bother with the outboard on the tender today, rowing did the trick as it was slack water even though it was an hour before the tide was due to turn

The long period of slack water might have had something to do with the very high spring tides. That did pose us a small problem to wit a lack of water in the vicinity of where we stow our tender

Carrying the RIB is a bit much so we managed to drag it onto a marina trolley



That did the trick. We are picking up some scratches and gouges on the bottom though which will bear watching. Might need to add some keel band to protect the vulnerable spots

The journey home was uneventful and now it's back to the daily grind - but not, perhaps, for too much longer. Watch this space!

Autumn Cruise 2014 Day 8

Today the tide would be very much in our favour until early afternoon so there was no pressing urgency to get under way.

After a late breakfast we sailed off the anchor just before eleven although we had to have the engine running to power the anchor capstan

Even so, we still had voltage drop issues and it is nuisance (and potentially damaging to other systems). The capstan really needs a dedicated battery as close to the chain locker as possible. It's on the list!

We were close hauled out of the Roach and in quite a brisk breeze too. With big spring tides I ventured to suggest a fast run upriver might be in the offing.

Of course., the wind dropped and shifted to make the trip up to Fambridge a genteel run with the sails goosewinged much of the way.

Very pleasant it was too and we very nearly sailed onto the pontoon but I misjudged the moment to luff up and had to hit the engine starter and motor the last few yards.

Almost exactly two hours after weighing anchor we were alongside. A pub lunch beckoned after which we spent the afternoon tidying the boat, putting our kit on the car and swabbing the decks.

After eating on board we repaired to the pub once more for a drink or two before retiring for the night

Big tides at Fambridge and a rare breed of wader!

Autumn Cruise 2014 Day 7

(Tuesday)

Tides would play a big part in our plans today. The gate at the entrance to the yacht basin at Walton is only open for an hour to an hour and a half either side of high water, the rest of the time it is closed to keep the water in the basin and the boats moored therein afloat!

So that meant a predicted start time of 11:30am BST. Happily, however, the gate was open by 11:00 and as soon as the initial rush of water through the narrow entrance subsided we lit up the engine and motored out of the basin at ten past the hour


It was already a glorious day with a moderate breeze from the East Nor'East, a clear blue sky and sunshine. It was on with the Factor 30 from the off - sunburn can spoil the day and we're very careful out on the water because the reflected UV can significantly increase the chances of burning

Motoring out of the backwaters with the wind virtually dead ahead we shot the narrows at Stone Point having to throttle back to idle speed for a few minutes to let two inbound yachts clear the channel first.

It's not difficult to do safely provided you "join the dots" of the buoys and stay firmly in the channel! You can see how the current eddies around although I had no problems maintaining our course. I would think twice about trying it at night or in rough weather though!

As soon as my nerves would stand it, and after hoisting the main whilst the wind still headed us, we made our turn to starboard to cross Pennyhole Bay towards the Naze. It was off with the engine now and sailing nicely on a beam reach



Clearing the Naze, we turned further to starbord onto a broad reach towards the end of Walton Pier. Once clear of the pier it was up with the spinnaker. Actually, in truth it took the best part of 40 minutes of faffing about to get the damn thing aloft and set. If it could go wrong, it did. In our defence, it's only the second time we've flown the kite on Erbas and sometimes things just don't quite go right! We did get it all sorted without any massive drama ...

And by 'eck once it was up and drawing did it ever make a difference! Our speed through the water went up from 3 to 4 knots to between 5 and 6 knots!

With up to two and a half knots of foul tide that was pretty critical to making the passage in good time. We even managed to (just) hold onto the kite through the Spitway where I perpretated a cunning ferry glide using the tide to keep the winf angle just wide enough to stop the spinnaker from collapsing.

That was much to be desired because once acoss the spitway we were back on a very broad reach to a run down the North side of the Swallowtail bank and into the river.

By the time the river banks closed in on either side of us, the sun had set, the wind was dropping (as it so often seems to do when the sun goes down) and night was rapidly overtaking us.

We snuffed and stowed the kite in the last light of dusk (discovering that we appear to have bent the spinnaker pole mast eye and jammed the pole end release - not sure how that has happened but I'll attent to it tomorrow)

Then it was on with the engine and a quick thrash round into the Brankfleet to drop anchor on the Eastern side of the channel. We normally anchor in the slight bay on the other side of the river but with an Easterly breeze we'd get a little more shelter on the Foulness side.

Dinner of All Day Breakfast with Beans was quickly warmed up on the stove and gobbled down just as rapidly! We settled down for the night after I'd run out plenty of chain and set an anchor drag alarm - big tides tonight.

We covered just under 32 miles in about 9 hours and 20 minutes. Realistically, we couldn't have sailed the first leg out of the backwaters, it would have been utter madness as there's simply no room to tack in the narrow channel and for most of the reach it's also full of moored craft.

The final stretch into the anchorage could have been sailed I suppose, if we'd been willing to spend another couple of hours faffing around in the dark! I think knot.

So all in all, apart from the difficulties with the spinnaker, which once up was worth all the bother, it was a most excellent sail. It was very satisfying to make the passage as planned.