Posts

Home at Last!

Image
We finished last week wondering how we would get our lovely boat fixed. The local man (rightly I think) felt we would be better served by getting a Yanmar dealer, but the one we contacted in Chichester was clearly not interested in taking on the job. There was another firm in Chichester, Cutler Marine, whose voicemail said they were closed for annual leave so on Monday this week, Roger was on the case at 9 a.m.  Success! Luke from Cutler Marine said he would be at the boat at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning to investigate the problem.  Roger travelled down to Littlehampton by train on Tuesday to be there when Luke arrived.  What wonderful service - Luke arrived early bringing with him some spare parts he thought might be needed.  Not only is Cutler Marine a Yanmar dealer, but they look after 30 Crabbers in Chichester. By mid-morning Luke had fitted a new wiring harness, starter motor and ignition plate and we were back in business!  I was about to go out with the local Ramblers group (expe
1 comment
Read more

Not quite the finishing straight

Image
 Well sailing keeps springing surprises. Up until around six o’clock last night we expected to complete our circumnavigation either today (Friday) or tomorrow.  Only 37 more miles to go. It was not to be.  Everything was going really well. We have loved having Georgina on the boat and we had a great day’s sailing from Dover to Eastbourne which ended with a delightful meal with Martin (and Jack the dog) and Barbara in an Italian restaurant.   Eastbourne Marina is some distance from the town itself and entry and exit is via a lock.  We were moored by the lifeboats and saw the crew come home happy from whatever rescue they had been engaged in.  The next day (yesterday) we headed for Littlehampton. Littlehampton has a bar to cross so entry and exit has to be a couple of hours either side of high tide. The earliest we would safely be able to get in was 5 p.m. so we didn’t have to have a very early start.  We refuelled at Eastbourne and came out of the lock around 10 a.m. Before long we were
1 comment
Read more

The finishing straight

Image
 On Monday morning Roger, Georgina and I left the Suffolk yacht Harbour for Ramsgate. It was a fascinating navigational challenge. Crossing the Thames Estuary is a maze of sandbanks and wind farms. A fellow sailor helped us by showing us a route from a book called ‘Crossing the Thames Estuary’ and Georgina put all the waypoints on our Raymarine so we were able to be much more daring than we would otherwise have been. The tide was in our favour (not just luck!) and we arrived in Ramsgate in good time.  As we approached Ramsgate we heard a ‘pan pan’ (distress call) from Moon River. Moon River is one of our fleet, helmed by an indomitable woman called Barbara.  We were worried and hoped she was ok. We were reassured that the life boat went out to her. She was waiting for us in the marina and told us her tiller had broken and she had lost all steerage - we were pleased to offer a much needed cup of tea and Ricks, a fellow single handed, brought the biscuits.  Yesterday was our 52nd wedding
Post a Comment
Read more

Jubilee Party Weekend

Image
 What a great celebration it was. The East Coast Gaffers and sailing club at Suffolk yacht Harbour were just outstanding.  Despite terrible weather all the organisation and hard work (two years in the planning) paid off and we all had the most brilliant time. The first event was the presentation of our plaques by the lovely Mayor of Ipswich, with fizz and nibbles.   Then a celebration dinner at St Clement’s Church, Ipswich. It was so wonderful to have our family and friends share all this with us. The Greens brought our Heron dinghy, Lollipop, up with them to take part in the sailing and everyone, including Bev and John had made a very big effort to join us.  On the Friday afternoon we had the most extraordinary Parade of Sail from Ipswich to our second base at Levington. Over a hundred boats took part, nearly all of them gaffers ranging from Letty, a 51ft Bristol Pilot Cutter, with Danny and Steve as crew, to our own 11ft Lollipop (mentioned in despatches) helmed by Georgina, helped b
Post a Comment
Read more

Ipswich here we come!

Image
 It was with some trepidation that we set out at 6 a.m on Tuesday morning heading towards Ipswich. The forecast was for a force 4 - 6 wind and we don’t normally venture out in a 6 but the prediction for the next day was worse so if we were going to get to Ipswich then we had to go sooner rather than later.  In the event we had a really good, exciting morning. Rachel was on the helm and we reached just over 8 knots at one point.  Indian Runner goes very well in a strong wind with three reefs in, and the staysail up. We did get covered in spray occasionally and at one point my hearing aid made a complaining fizzle at the soaking!  All good things come to an end and of course the tide turned against us and a change of course gave us a wind on the nose (our normal experience on this trip).  We slowed to 3 knots but that is sailing.  With the prospect of a strong wind the next day, we phoned the marina at Ipswich to see if we could come in that night and they were very helpful and said that
1 comment
Read more

Nearly at the last fence (of this bit anyway!)

Image
 We’ve had a very good stay in the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club.  The staff are very helpful, the surroundings rather beautiful and the food is excellent. There are many worse places to be stormbound.  We haven’t been idle, on Saturday Roger, Alan and I did the Lowestoft park run (park walk run for Alan and me) which was very well attended and a lovely route. In the afternoon we went to see the film Oppenheimer.  We were glad we did this although we found it quite depressing. The horror of the bomb and the ease with which governments and large institutions discredit those they wish to destroy is deeply troubling.  Alan and Rachel have had the fantastic news that their house and village is safe from the wild fires. This is the most tremendous relief. Rachel didn’t feel very well on Sunday morning but Alan and I went to St Peter’s and St John’s for the morning Eucharist to offer thanks. The service was excellent - a non-fussy catholic liturgy and a deep sense of prayerfulness. On
1 comment
Read more

It’s been a hard day’s night

Image
 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 Low
1 comment
Read more