Goodbye to the East coast

Thursday started with a strong blustery wind from the West which gradually eased during the day with the clouds starting to break up and show signs of better weather. Debbie did some FLP catching up and we went for a walk along the seafront. This time we could walk without being blown sideways by the force of the wind, which is what it was like on Wednesday!

 

In the middle of the afternoon we prepared to leave to spend another night on the River Roach. We set up bow and stern lines ready to slip and, as there was still a strong breeze from astern blowing us onto the berth we also set up a spring on a slip to be released as soon as we started to go astern. All went well, the bow line came off, then the stern line and we started to go astern. Then disaster! The spring slip line jammed on another rope on the cleat bringing us to a sudden halt part way out of the berth! Fortunately the pontoon, the boats around us and ourselves were all well fendered so, with some hefty pushing we extracted ourselves with nothing worse than dented pride and a strained wrist (David)!

 

After a short motor down the Crouch we turned into the Roach and were soon anchored, in peaceful solitude, under the West Bank of the river. The sun came out giving us a pleasant evening.

 

On Friday we left at 1000 for Ramsgate. With David's strained wrist and Debbie cricked her back getting up we wondered how we would manage but taking things steadily worked out fine. When we joined the Crouch we met our new friends, Michelle and Trevor in their motor cruiser, heading back to Lowestoft. We met Michelle and Trevor when we moored next to them in Bradwell Marina and again in Burnham Yacht Harbour. They gave us a friendly hoot as they went past, working to a passage plan of 16 knots average rather than our 5.5 knots!

 

The wind forecast was WSW or SW force 3 to 4 occasionally 5 at first giving us a run out of the Crouch and for about 10 miles down the Whitaker channel to the Inner Whitaker buoy followed by a reach across to the Sunk sand, then crossing the Black Deep shipping channel before going down a channel called Foulgers Gat, through the London Array wind farm before heading South towards North Foreland on the Kent coast then into Ramsgate. We needed to keep on schedule to ensure we had a fair tide around the North Foreland to Ramsgate. Like all prominent headlands the tide runs very strongly around it.

A small part of the London Array wind farm

The Long Sand Inner safe water mark showing us the entrance to Foulgers Gat.

Nearly through.

 

All went reasonably to plan, getting us to the Sunk sand about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, strange to be in 5 metres of water nearly 20 miles out to sea! We crossed Black Deep, which, for a main shipping route into London, had surprisingly few ships, like none! As the tide was setting strongly across Foulgers Gat we opted to motor sail through the wind farm to avoid getting carried too close to any of the turbines. After Foulgers Gat we had a 12 mile leg directly South to North Foreland. With the tide setting eastwards until we closed North Foreland and the wind staying in the SW and dropping we could not lay our course under sail so continued to motor sail.

Starting the 12 mile leg to North Foreland. After an hour we were in full waterproofs, life jackets and harnesses!

Approaching the Kent coast the wind picked up and it looked like we would be able to sail but it continued to increase until we had a regular 20 knots with gusts up to 30. Where was the force 3 to 4 of the forecast? With wind against tide the sea was awful, very confused steep waves stopping the boat as she headed into them. We eventually dropped 2 reefs in the main and motor sailed inshore towards Margate to find some quieter seas. This we did, arriving at the Ramsgate entrance channel at 1805 and mooring in Ramsgate Marina at 18.40. Shock, horror! Back to South Coast Marina prices. We have been used to paying nearer £20 a night than £32! At least the shower block was nice and warm and clean and the showers were hot, washing off the salt from the last hour of our passage. We cancelled our plan for an early start to Dover next morning in favour of a late afternoon start and a morning exploring Ramsgate. A good choice, some interesting engineering around Smeaton's harbour and interesting architecture around the town. Plus the first Waitrose since before we went to Scotland. Lunch in the sun at a pavement cafe finished off the morning.

Ramsgate beach.

Ramsgate town.

View of the harbour from our lunch spot.

We now wait the turn of the tide for our short, 15 mile passage to Dover, intended to shorten the passage distance to Brighton on Sunday when we will, hopefully, make use of the forecast easterlies to make good progress west towards the Solent. We say goodbye to the East coast charts and pilot book and revert to our old familiar, Tom Cunliffe's Shell Channel Pilot.

 

 

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Bradwell and Burnham on Crouch

Our sail from Marconi to Bradwell was in bright sunshine, reaching in a southerly breeze. We passed around the Stone Sailing Club course where Shearwater catamarans were holding their national championships. The shearwater is an old catamaran class but has been brought up to date with modern laminate sails, they were certainly quite quick. It took us 1.5 hours to sail the 5 miles to Bradwell against the tide but it was a very pleasant, gentle sail, finishing in Bradwell Marina for a late lunch.

Shearwater cats.

Thames barge Thistle.

We met our friends, Sue and Nick Hillman, in the Green Man pub in Bradwell village for a couple of beers, some food and a couple of hours catching up, as you do. Nick recommended a walk around the sea wall so that set the plan for the next day, which dawned bright and sunny. The sea wall gave us some good views of smacks and more modern boats, racing in West Mersea week plus the sailing barge Will Everard, coming in from the Wallet channel. We cut inland to Bradwell village when we got to St. Peter's chapel, reputedly one of the oldest churches in the country, built in 654AD by St Cedd of Lindisfarne, brother of Chad who brought Christianity to Mercia. The next place of interest, as it was pretty warm, was the Cricketers Arms for a welcome cold drink and back through the village to the marina and dinner on board.

Smack racing

On Saturday we planned to sail to the River Crouch and needed to get out of the marina while there was still some ebb tide to get us out of the Blackwater then cross the Spitway bank at slack water and carry the flood tide up the Swallowtail channel into the Crouch. The advice was to leave by 0915 at the latest to ensure enough water in the Bradwell creek. We actually left the marina at 0835 and half way along the buoyed channel saw the echo sounder at 1.5m (we draw 1.8m!) and felt the keel dragging in the mud. Fortunately the mud was soft and we pressed on to find some deeper water a bit further on. We later looked at some surveys produced by www.crossingthethamesestuary.com which showed the shallowest water exactly where we found it, with deeper soundings actually outside the buoyed channel!

Bradwell creek near low water.

Once we were out into the Blackwater we had plenty of time to get to the Wallet Spitway buoy, about 10 miles out, and so sailed into a gradually building SE breeze in the warm sunshine, a very pleasant change from the trip into the Blackwater only a few days ago. As planned we crossed the Spitway channel and carried the tide 10 miles back into the River Crouch, still in warm sunshine. We turned from the Crouch into the River Roach and, by 1345, were anchored off the eastern bank for an afternoon's sunbathing. Now there's a first for this trip, the admiral even had her bikini on!

Barge Ironsides preparing to anchor next to us on the Roach.

On Sunday we moved into Burnham Yacht Harbour to leave the boat and travel by train back to Lichfield to attend the funeral of Robyn's friend, Charlotte Watsham, who died on her 28th birthday after an 18 year fight with Wilson's disease, including 3 liver transplants. A very moving occasion for a courageous girl. We returned to Burnham on Tuesday afternoon to a forecast of gales on Wednesday and heavy rain so no plans to move on. We thought the weather would moderate enough for a move back to the Roach on Wednesday afternoon to give us a head start with a passage to Ramsgate on Thursday but as the day progressed the forecast was starting to give force 6 winds on Thursday so we revised our plans, now intending to move to the Roach on Thursday and head for Ramsgate on Friday.

Egret in Burnham yacht harbour.

 

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The muddy waters of Essex!

After our time at anchor at Pin Mill we upped anchor (with some difficulty as the cable had wound its way round an old, muddy, mooring anchor), and made our way to Suffolk Yacht Harbour for diesel and to collect our box of Aloe Vera products which had been waiting at Parker and Kay sailmakers. While Lacerta was measured up for new sails we grabbed the opportunity to have a shower and to buy the chart of the Thames Estuary which we missed out of our portfolio. The marina didn't charge us for the few hours stay which made up a bit for the most expensive diesel we have bought for some time!

most of our worldly goods unloading at Felixstowe.

Mega Maersk Line container ship.

 

At lunchtime we headed out into the Orwell bound for Walton Backwaters, which David, as an Arthur Ransome reader in his youth, wanted to visit as the setting for 'Secret Water'. We made our way down the shallow entrance channel, missed the entrance to Hamford Water and had to backtrack due to David being distracted by the lifeboat coming in, and were anchored in Hamford Water by late afternoon. The place was a bit of a disappointment, very low lying ground behind sea walls and no good places to land. The sun, which had been out for most of the day, disappeared behind clouds which ruled out evening drinks in the cockpit.

The sun reappeared for sunset!

 

The forecast had been for light winds and sunshine the following day but a nasty little front butted in, now promising heavy rain and clouds with a strong West wind. We abandoned our plans for exploring in the dinghy and opted instead to sail round to the Blackwater.

Kitted out for another wet, chilly, sail.

 

The day turned out exactly as forecast. We left Hamford Water, with another muddy anchor, in drizzle, which turned to heavy rain as we rounded the Pye End buoy and headed South West with a strong tide under us. We were soon down to 2 reefs in the main and a reefed genoa. Although it was pretty lumpy with wind against tide it was actually quite a good sail, in 4 hours we were at the mouth of the Blackwater, wet but happy! We decided to sail up the River Colne and anchor in Pyfleet Creek, behind Mersea Island. All went to plan until we got into the creek when, after exploring most of the available space, we couldn't find enough depth of water to keep us afloat at low tide (we are just after spring tides). We ended up anchoring off the steep shingle beach at Mersea Stone Point at the Eastern extremity of Mersea Island, which was actually quite a nice anchorage.

The ferry arrives at Stone Point.

Transport back to Lacerta.

 

This morning (Wednesday) the sun came out, allowing us to dry off all yesterday's wet kit. Being close to the beach we only had a short row ashore so we beached the dinghy and took the ferry across to Brightlingsea, another place last visited in our E boat days in the 80's. A bit of shopping, a Iwalk around the boating lake wher some fantastic radio controlled model Thames barges were sailing, lunch at the Colne Yacht Club and an ice cream saw us ready for another short passage, West up the Blackwater, past the anchored Radio Caroline, to a mooring off Marconi Sailing Club, which we had visited a couple of times when Tideway sailing. The tide was running strongly and it was a long way to the club so we opted to stay aboard but we are going down to Bradwell Marina tomorrow to meet Sue and Nick Hillman, both Marconi members and ex Tideway sailors for another reminiscing session!

Radio controlled Thames barge model.

The keel is not to scale!

Radio Caroline in the Blackwater.

 

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A peaceful time in Suffolk

Thursday morning was spent doing a little shopping in Aldeburgh and visiting an art exhibition in the local cinema. Very cultural! We bought smoked haddock from a smokehouse on the beach which made a very pleasant lunch poached in milk. After lunch we waited for the tide to turn before dropping down river to Orford for the night. We delayed leaving until the young sailors at Aldeburgh Yacht Club had finished their race, they had enough to contend with with the tide and the strong, gusty, wind without having a yacht manoeuvring in their course area! We did have one of the AYC RIBs attached to our anchor cable for a moment as the instructor was intent on dealing with the young sailor in an RS Tera who had just capsized. We sympathised with him, we've been there a few times ourselves!

AYC young sailors at close quarters!

After what must be our shortest passage yet, 3.14 miles on the log, we picked up a visitors mooring off Orford and headed ashore in the dinghy for a walk around the very pretty village and up to the keep, the only remains of Orford's Norman castle. The harbourmaster (another helpful one) gave us a low down on what was where in Orford and the current state of the sand banks at the bar. I think he was impressed that we used the latest download off the East Coast pilot's website coming in, he had many yachts using out of date editions of charts to come in! We just made the local general store but the bakery had closed for the day, giving us a reason for another call ashore in the morning. Arriving back to the dinghy, which we had left on the Orford SC jetty, we found her in a rather muddy state with some local young children playing in the water and the mud off the jetty. They were very apologetic when they realised just how much mud they had got on her and did their best to get it off, leaving us a little bit of cleaning to do when we got back alongside Lacerta, again we have been there before and weren't too upset.

Orford Castle keep.

Orford village and the view to the river.

In the morning we had time for a quick trip to the local artisan bakery before heading down the river to cross the bar at high water and make our way Southwards to Harwich and the River Orwell. We had wind (southerly force 4 gusting 5) and tide against us so what was a 15 mile sail over the ground turned into a 36 mile sail through the water. We had plenty of time and the sun was shining so we enjoyed the sail. There was plenty of shipping to deal with entering Felixstowe, with huge container ships alongside the quays.

Ships entering and leaving Felixstowe.

Container ships unloading.

We were due to pay a visit to Parker and Kay sailmakers in Suffolk Yacht Harbour to collect Debbie's latest order of aloe vera products and chat about some new sails but we were too late on Friday so we headed on up the Orwell to an anchorage inside the moorings south of Pin Mill. We saw more yachts than we had done on the rest of the journey since leaving Torquay, including one Southerly who insisted on motor sailing under autopilot with no one on deck. As we were still sailing with our speed altering as the wind strength varied he was a real menace! Despite this challenge we sailed almost up to the anchorage. As there was rain in the sky we settled down to dinner on board with a visit to the Butt and Oyster to look forward to at lunchtime on Saturday.

The Pin Mill anchorage.

Barge Thistle, doing day trips.

A little boat cleaning was the order of the day for Saturday morning, amazing how much easier that is when the weather is warm! Approaching high tide we headed ashore for lunch at the Butt and Oyster, last visited on a cold Easter cruise in our E boat when we were looking for the comfort of a warm log fire and a pint of Tolly Cobbold straight out of the barrel. It was good to see that the bar hadn't changed with barrels still lined up behind the counter, now with Adnams beers. This time we opted for lunch outside in the sunshine, watching the tide gradually creep higher (springs tomorrow). After lunch we walked up to Chelmondiston and visited the well stocked village shop then rewarded ourselves with ice creams on the quayside, by which time the tide was on the ebb, giving us quite a walk down the hard with the dinghy to find enough water to float her.

The Butt and Oyster at high water.

Someone hasn't done their tidal calcs!

On Sunday morning we made contact with an old friend, Fiona Wylie, who David met on the 2001 Fastnet race when Fi provided hot food on board Sir Jasper II irrespective of the weather conditions. Fi was going to Pin Mill SC for lunch and recommended their bacon sandwiches so that settled our lunch plan.

View from Pin Mill SC.

Our future plans are dictated by the sad need to travel to Lichfield on the 24th to attend the funeral of Robyn's old friend Charlotte Watsham who, on her 28th birthday, finally gave up the 18 year old struggle against illness, including 3 liver transplants. We have arranged to leave the boat at Burnham Yacht Harbour and travel to Lichfield next Sunday, returning on Tuesday to resume the voyage.

On a lighter note we enjoyed lunch with Fi, it was good to see her again although she has her own health problems at the moment which she seems to be overcoming. Pin Mill SC lunch was considerably cheaper than the Butt and Oyster, and their bacon sandwich turned out to be a bacon filled baguette with a substantial salad. We needed a walk through the woods to work some of that off, getting back to the jetty where we left the dinghy just in time before she dried out. Back on board Lacerta an afternoon siesta was in order.

View of Lacerta on our woodland walk.

Tomorrow we call into Parker and Kay at Suffolk Yacht Harbour before heading to Walton Backwaters and onwards to the River Blackwater.

 

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Heading South to Lowestoft and the River Alde

We left Wells as early as possible on Sunday afternoon's tide, scraping the bottom a couple of times with the keel on the way out. Over the bar we met Pete and Sharon on Topaz 2 and John Calver on Mardi Gras, both coming in. Once outside we had plenty of tide taking us along the coast past Cromer towards Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft but not enough wind to achieve our minimum 5 knots over the ground so the engine worked for it's living again. We made good time until the tide turned when we were faced with a strong North going current in the channel inside the Scroby sands off Great Yarmouth. Our most optimistic passage time, arriving Lowestoft at 23.35, slipped away as it got dark and our pessimistic time, arriving 0125, looked more realistic. In the narrow channel we met a tug towing a large vessel, with another tug behind controlling any turns, all lit up with the regulation lights for restricted manoeuvrability. This was the moment our port hand red navigation light packed up so we're not sure what the tug crew thought they had coming towards them!

Leaving Wells, 1.9 on the echo sounder, we draw 1.8!

The tide did eventually ease off and we entered Lowestoft harbour, to be moored in the Hamilton Dock by 0155 when we fell into bed!
The next day, Monday, we got totally wrong. We planned to go to the River Ore, 30 miles South. The ideal time for entering the river was 2 hours before high water, 1900. The wind was forecast South, veering South West force 3 or 4, occasionally 5 at first. We set off at lunchtime to avoid the worst of the foul tide but when we were out the tide was still strongly against us and the wind stayed in the South at a solid force 5 with a lumpy sea. After 2 hours we had only made 4 miles and should have packed up then but we decided to motor sail which was very wet and uncomfortable. By the time we were off Southwold it was obvious that we could not make the entrance of the Ore so we turned around and headed back to Lowestoft, arriving back in the same berth at 18.35. At least we could get a good nights sleep! As a plus, because we had arrived after midnight the previous night the marina didn't charge us for another night.

Leaving Hamilton Dock, Lowestoft.

The forecast for the next day was much better, North West veering North East force 3 to 4. We still had our work cut out to get to the Ore. The tide was an hour later so we needed to be in at 2000 and couldn't afford to be any later as it would be getting dark and there were few lights in the river. All worked for us this time. We hoisted our cruising spinnaker soon after we left Lowestoft and, with a fair wind and tide were making 7 or 8 knots over the ground, totally different to the previous day. We got to the entrance of the Ore on schedule and motored up the river in the dusk, to anchor in the narrow Butley river in total peace, we were settled in with the covers on just before the rain started!

Cruising chute hurrying us on our way.

Passing Sizewell B nuclear power station, the last one built in Britain.

As the forecast for Thursday was for more strong winds we are staying on the Ore, which perversely changes it's name to the Alde further upstream, for a couple of days. This morning we motored the 6.5 miles up the river to Aldeburgh, passing Mirosa, our first Thames Barge of the trip, and anchored off Aldeburgh Yacht Club, separated from the sea by a narrow strip of shingle. We went ashore to the hospitable yacht club, left our life jackets etc. in the club and walked into Aldeburgh, a very pretty town, with a splendid parish church frequented by the composer, Benjamin Britten.

Thames Barge, Mirosa.

The shingle strip between the River Alde and the sea.

A visit to the local lifeboat station, where a Mersey class boat is carriage launched off the beach gave us food for thought. Photographs of the lifeboat launching into an Easterly gale made us realise how important it is to make sure of the conditions to expect before you set out.
We returned to the club for a drink then back on board for dinner and to watch the club racing. Anchored downwind of the start line gave us an excellent view and some heart in the mouth moments with boats manoeuvring close around us!

Aldeburgh Yacht Club from the anchorage.

Loch Long keelboats just after the start.

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Goodbye Yorkshire, hello Norfolk

Our stay in Whitby made us some new friends, as well as meeting up with old ones. Debbie met a lady in the laundry and started chatting, would you believe because they were both wearing the same brand of glasses! Bill and Julie kept their 36 foot Westerly ketch in Walton Backwaters and had sailed to many of the East Coast ports. The meeting in the laundry developed into us going aboard their boat for tea and us revising our onward plans from Lowestoft to Wells next the Sea, a harbour we didn't think we could get into but Bill assured us we could, and a call to the Wells harbour master confirmed this. As it was about 45 miles nearer and more interesting than Lowestoft our plans were updated.

At lunchtime our friends Ali and Mark joined us with Woody and Cio. Ali was recovering well from major back and throat surgery, we were pleased to see her looking well, if a little frustrated at not being allowed to drive or return to work, these women have no patience!

Mark, Woody, Cio and Ali.

Our undoing was a late lunch of fish and chips with Ali and Mark, doing what most of the holiday makers in Whitby were doing. There must be more to Whitby than fish and chips and ice cream! After Ali and Mark left us Julie Bill and their friends Pete and Sharon, who were cruising in company with them, joined us for a pre dinner drink, in anticipation of us leaving first thing in the morning. In our case dinner was cancelled as Debbie came down with severe stomach pains, eventually being very sick. Fish and chips at an odd time of day did for her, our early start was cancelled in favour of a recovery day in Whitby.

An enforced stay had it's benefits. The tides and weather forecast were better a day later and we were able to walk to the East side of the river and around the ruined abbey and the quieter parts of the town. The final plus was an invite to dinner on board 'Romteskip' from Bill and Julie. Julie was not phased by producing dinner for 6 on board and we all had a pleasant evening. Bill, Julie, Sharon and Pete were going through the early bridge opening the next morning to catch the tide into Scarborough. We were going out through the last bridge opening for the longer passage to Wells as we would have to wait for the tide into Wells on Friday morning.

Whitby Abbey

 

Sharon, Pete, Bill, Julie and David enjoying a glass or two.

We left on Thursday morning at 10.45 with the expectation of a SW wind, strength force 3 to 4, which we eventually got off Filey. Before that the wind teased us, varying in direction and strength so we were furling and unfurling sails and stopping and starting the engine, at least the sun was shining and we didn't need waterproofs. When the breeze finally settled down we were sailing amongst scores of fishing pot markers, the sailors frustration around our coasts, not the thing to wrap around your rudder or propellor.

A sea of fishing floats.

Once the SW breeze kicked in we were making good speed under sail and, as the tide was now with us, we shot around Flamborough Head and kept the tide with us until we were off the mouth of the Humber.

Approaching Flamborough Head with a dramatic sky.

There was plenty to look out for as we headed South. With wind farms, gas platforms and shipping there were plenty of lights around us as it started to get dark. Most of the shipping was anchored, awaiting their call to dock in the Humber. We had one cargo ship underway who called us and said he was making an alteration of course to starboard and would we do the same so we could pass each other port to port. Under the collision regs we didn't have to, being a sailing vessel, but it seemed a logical thing to do.

After we rounded the Outer Sand buoy, marking the eastern extremity of the Humber large vessels anchorage, the wind started to drop and the tide started to turn so we furled the genoa and started the engine. As we had enjoyed 7 hours of fair tide and good breeze we were well ahead of our schedule and would be very early for the tide into Wells so we slowed down, only making 3 to 4 knots over the ground. We were approaching an area of sea where shallows existed a long way offshore, very different to sailing in Scotland when the depth was often too deep for the echo sounder to find the bottom. So it was strange to be looking for buoys that marked channels between shallow banks when we were 20 miles offshore.

Sunrise

For the last 10 miles of our passage, when the sun had come up, we stopped the engine and boomed out the genoa to run down to Wells at a peaceful 3 knots. Even so we were still an hour early and anchored off the Wells west cardinal. Wells harbour is well sorted with a camera, as well as AIS to pick up any boats approaching the entrance channel. When they called us to give us the all clear to enter they also sent out the beach rescue RIB to pilot us in as it was our first time into the port, something which we were grateful for as the channel is very winding and narrow in places with the deepest water closer to the port hand marks.

Our escort in.

Close to Holkham beach.

We did touch the bottom very gently a couple of times but the tide was still on the rise so were hardly stopped at all.

The last stretch before the quay.

Our escort guided us into a berth alongside a Westerly Oceanquest belonging to Dave and Anne, a very friendly couple who knew the area well. They told us that it was carnival weekend in Wells and things might get a little noisy. It might have done but on Friday night we were dead to the world and didn't hear anything!

Today we have sampled the delights of Wells, finding what must be the best green grocer we have come across on our trip. The Country Garden had a wonderful display of fresh fruit and vegetables, some of which we've sampled tonight. We also found a good butchers shop and a bakery, both run by a local family, Arthur Howell, well worth a visit. While we were in the town we both managed, at short notice, to get haircuts by Olly at Hair by Jenny. He managed to get both of us looking respectable again! Excellent value. Lunch of pancakes on the Dutch barge, Albatross, moored alongside the quay set us up for the afternoon carnival parade, we declined the funfair though! Choosing instead to walk out to Holkham Beach and have a look at the entrance channel at low water, a bit scary! Most of the channel marks were dry and you could wade across the channel in places.

Wells quay.

During the day 12 square metre sharpies have been racing . This is one of the few strongholds of this old Olympic class.

We will have to wait until early afternoon tomorrow for enough water to leave but we then head to Lowestoft and then to visit some of the East Coast rivers.

 

 

 

 

 

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