miket
Active member
Just read the weekend's posts about terrible weather and broken this and that and thought I'd have a gloat!
Aim: move boat from Southampton (Shamrock Quay - great mooring) to Non tidal Thames (Reading).
Date: Easter weekend.
Crew: Me - conservative with plenty of experience but only moderate pain threshold. Geoff - ex RAF (engineering) good eye for detail, good experience but fairly low pain threshold. John - marine engineer (excellent and available) plenty of experience and doesn't know the meaning of the word pain threshold !
Trip: gather at TAP's restaurant, Shamrock Quay Thursday eve and check my itnerary. Ideal is Chatham Friday eve, restaurant in marina or in Rochester. Saturday, Hampton Court, Louis' Greek restaurant, Sunday Cookham, large variety of eataries. Monday Upper Thames Motor Yacht Club, Sonning, Reading.
Well what trip ever goes according to the ideal plan?
As the week had worn on the weather forecast got worse and worse.
As posted elsewhere the final one was F4/5 increasing 6 occ' 7 in Dover strait. Just about the time we were due to be there.
OK, forget the 10.00 ideal departure. Option 2 was 04.00 with tide and wind against us. Having had an excellent evening in TAP's, rose blearily at 03.00 and listen to the halyards slapping and a none too encouraging moaning noise from creaking ropes. Geoff and I look appeallingly at John. Surely there is no point in even going out to look. "Your decision skip'. Your boat". But I could see the hurt in his eyes. That little boy who just had his favourite toy taken away.
"Oh hell, we may as well have a look".
End of Southampton Water, still OK.
Shelsey Bill, still OK and sun starting to rise. Going to be a nice day. Always makes you feel better.
Pass Brighton on the way to Beachy Head. Sorry ChrisP and Pauline, we're carrying on.
Beachy Head's a bit bumpy despite being 5 miles off. Went closer in last time and paid the price.
Beachy Head to Dungerness, definitely getting bumpy but we are still doing 20 knots. Not bad these Brooms despite all the comments from you lot.
Dungerness to S Goodwin pretty similar but looking forward to some protection inside the Goodwins. None found. Down to 18 knots.
Considered Ramsgate, but past experience is of getting stuck there. Also, with large quantity of diesel required, don't fancy their prices checked at 38 pence per litre. Hell's teeth.
Only 20 minutes of N Foreland and it's all down hill?
No problem.
Left Shamrock Quay 04.00 tied up in Chatham Marina 14.00. distance 160 miles to Medway plus 1 hour to Chatham. Not bad!
Celebrated in the pub at the edge of the marina. John winding up super waitress who we initially felt sorry for, but soon realised was perfectly capable of handling John's sense of humour.
Forecast for Saturday now had an 8 in it.
At 09.00 the wind was whistling across the marina, but a local said it's always a bit windy there. Don't think he really meant this windy stlill !
All battened down for pretty rough exit from the Medway. Spray flying everywhere and we are only half way down the Medway.
We knew we only needed to go about a mile out along the Medway entrance channel before we could hang a left (sorry Pauline, thats a left as in right) and then the wind and tide would sweep us up to London.
Saw most of the underneath of 2 sailing yachts and I'm quite sure they were privvy to all of Mr Broom's undercarriage. This at 0 to 8 knots. Very bumpy. Glad Mr Broom saw fit to give the others something to hang on to as well.
OK, we are clear of Grain Hard time to go left. Grain edge and left again. Brilliant. All nice and smooth, well relatively. Any casualties? Well the radar's lost it's picture. Have to hope that Furuno can fix it.
There on in it was plain sailing.
Major celebration in Louis' on Sunday evening. Culminating in John exiting the restaurant with only one shoe. The staff were killing themselves. Top tip - don't ask for more "turkish delight" in a Greek restaurant.
Many thanks to Thames Motor Yacht Club at Hampton Court for allowing us to stay overnight. Nice crowd.
Thanks to my 2 companions for an entertaining and successful weekend, and to Mr Broom for making a very conservative but bloody well built boat!
Where did you go to?
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Aim: move boat from Southampton (Shamrock Quay - great mooring) to Non tidal Thames (Reading).
Date: Easter weekend.
Crew: Me - conservative with plenty of experience but only moderate pain threshold. Geoff - ex RAF (engineering) good eye for detail, good experience but fairly low pain threshold. John - marine engineer (excellent and available) plenty of experience and doesn't know the meaning of the word pain threshold !
Trip: gather at TAP's restaurant, Shamrock Quay Thursday eve and check my itnerary. Ideal is Chatham Friday eve, restaurant in marina or in Rochester. Saturday, Hampton Court, Louis' Greek restaurant, Sunday Cookham, large variety of eataries. Monday Upper Thames Motor Yacht Club, Sonning, Reading.
Well what trip ever goes according to the ideal plan?
As the week had worn on the weather forecast got worse and worse.
As posted elsewhere the final one was F4/5 increasing 6 occ' 7 in Dover strait. Just about the time we were due to be there.
OK, forget the 10.00 ideal departure. Option 2 was 04.00 with tide and wind against us. Having had an excellent evening in TAP's, rose blearily at 03.00 and listen to the halyards slapping and a none too encouraging moaning noise from creaking ropes. Geoff and I look appeallingly at John. Surely there is no point in even going out to look. "Your decision skip'. Your boat". But I could see the hurt in his eyes. That little boy who just had his favourite toy taken away.
"Oh hell, we may as well have a look".
End of Southampton Water, still OK.
Shelsey Bill, still OK and sun starting to rise. Going to be a nice day. Always makes you feel better.
Pass Brighton on the way to Beachy Head. Sorry ChrisP and Pauline, we're carrying on.
Beachy Head's a bit bumpy despite being 5 miles off. Went closer in last time and paid the price.
Beachy Head to Dungerness, definitely getting bumpy but we are still doing 20 knots. Not bad these Brooms despite all the comments from you lot.
Dungerness to S Goodwin pretty similar but looking forward to some protection inside the Goodwins. None found. Down to 18 knots.
Considered Ramsgate, but past experience is of getting stuck there. Also, with large quantity of diesel required, don't fancy their prices checked at 38 pence per litre. Hell's teeth.
Only 20 minutes of N Foreland and it's all down hill?
No problem.
Left Shamrock Quay 04.00 tied up in Chatham Marina 14.00. distance 160 miles to Medway plus 1 hour to Chatham. Not bad!
Celebrated in the pub at the edge of the marina. John winding up super waitress who we initially felt sorry for, but soon realised was perfectly capable of handling John's sense of humour.
Forecast for Saturday now had an 8 in it.
At 09.00 the wind was whistling across the marina, but a local said it's always a bit windy there. Don't think he really meant this windy stlill !
All battened down for pretty rough exit from the Medway. Spray flying everywhere and we are only half way down the Medway.
We knew we only needed to go about a mile out along the Medway entrance channel before we could hang a left (sorry Pauline, thats a left as in right) and then the wind and tide would sweep us up to London.
Saw most of the underneath of 2 sailing yachts and I'm quite sure they were privvy to all of Mr Broom's undercarriage. This at 0 to 8 knots. Very bumpy. Glad Mr Broom saw fit to give the others something to hang on to as well.
OK, we are clear of Grain Hard time to go left. Grain edge and left again. Brilliant. All nice and smooth, well relatively. Any casualties? Well the radar's lost it's picture. Have to hope that Furuno can fix it.
There on in it was plain sailing.
Major celebration in Louis' on Sunday evening. Culminating in John exiting the restaurant with only one shoe. The staff were killing themselves. Top tip - don't ask for more "turkish delight" in a Greek restaurant.
Many thanks to Thames Motor Yacht Club at Hampton Court for allowing us to stay overnight. Nice crowd.
Thanks to my 2 companions for an entertaining and successful weekend, and to Mr Broom for making a very conservative but bloody well built boat!
Where did you go to?
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