The log:
It wasn't a bad day really. A stiff South Easterly was in our teeth as we motored down the Deben and there was little point in even pretending to sail
As I anticipated, the exit past the shingle banks and over the bar was quite exciting - we even manage to bury the bows briefly which was interesting! Once we thrashed our way out into deeper water things settled down and we set sail and killed the engine
There was no traffic movement on the AIS and unusual peace on the Harwich VTS radio channel. This lasted right up to the point where we were approaching the deep water channel.
Suddenly everything was on the move! Container ships, ferries, pilot boats, tugs, fishing boats and a clutch of yachts to make life interesting
I assessed the situation, checked my underwear and skimmed around the back of an outbound container ship and skeddadlled over the big boys lane onto the recommended track for small vessels.
Now it was a downwind sail up the river Orwell to the outskirts of Ipswich. We tied up in Fox's marina after a relatively short and easy day.
A chandlery trip didn't produce the needed float switch for the sump pump though. To my surprise they hadn't got what I want. Oh well, it'll have to be ordered when I get home and fitted on our next trip.
I found a suitable length of spare hose and a jubilee clip and extended the nozzle of the fuel funnel with it. This made putting another 12 litres of diesel into the tank a much easier and less messy exercise. With 3/4 full showing on the gauge I'm not planning on visiting a garage now until we're back in Fambridge
Rik gave the heads a good clean complaining it was getting a bit whiffy. It'd have to be very whiffy for me to notice so I'll take his word for it!
Then we headed up to the excellent Fox's Marina Yacht Club for dinner, beer and chat until bedtime
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