It’s been a hard day’s night

 We had made all our preparations for a long sail the evening before, fuel and water replenished and sandwiches and drinks in thermos cups prepared.  We worked a watch system, three hours on and three hours off, with each couple taking their turn. Rachel and Alan have done a lot of overnight sailing and the key advice from them was to start the system in the morning. This meant that we all had times of rest during the day so we didn’t begin the evening watches already tired.  

Sailing through the night was a memorable experience along this part of the North Sea. We sailed through many very large wind farms, which at night are lit up in white and red. The sky was clear and the stars were quite beautiful.  We also spotted satellites, a shooting star and flashes of phosphorescence in the waves by the boat.  

Dawn was beautiful but can be quite cold! 



The extraordinary sights are not limited to night time of course. This video shows a feeding frenzy by gannets and gulls. 


We arrived at Lowestoft at three in the afternoon - 140 nautical miles in twenty nine hours.  A new record for me.  We were all very happy to have made a safe passage and all very tired.  Our berth is in the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club which is stunning. The club house is Grade II star listed and is built in the Art Nouveau style - the work of George Skipper, one of the greatest commercial architects of the late Victorian / Early Edwardian era. 

Photo of the club house (and a bit of Indian Runner) taken by Alan in the evening


Scarborough to Lowestoft         140 nms


Comments

  1. RickJuly 31, 2023 at 8:48 PM

    I am envious of the beautiful sights you must have seen at night without any light pollution. Wind turbines must have looked beautiful. Glad you are all doing so well.

    ReplyDelete

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