MoodySabre
Well-Known Member
For the first time I persuaded SWMBO to come on a summer cruise. Nothing too big was planned, no hairy sailing to be entertained and no getting cold and wet.
Wednesday of last week we set off from Bradwell and the sun came out and we had a very nice sail up the Wallet (oh yes it can happen). Three nights on the Orwell (Shotley, Ipswich Haven and SYH incl a beer or two with Bernie). Rund to the Deben and two nights in the Tidemill. Our neighbour was in the prototype Centreboard 38 which he built and is now developing the 40ft version. A v. smart steel boat. A Dutchman living in Hungary where the boat is built. Lots of Dutch folk everywhere. Anyway - we went back to Shotley so that we could have an early start the next day and went to Southwold. It was a long and slow flog round Orford Ness but we arrived at Southwold 6 minutes after HW
Fabulous place as you will know (would have been even better with a holding tank
) Daughter's M-I-L has a house there and grandchildren were on holiday there - the attraction for wifey. Granddaughter slept on board for the first time.
We left Southwold at LW+90mins and due to the tide timing differences had 6 hours of tide coming back south. The forecast for today (Friday) was F4 on the nose wind over tide down the Wallet - not the ideal end to a successful trip. So I decided to play it sensibly and we got all the way back to Bradwell in one go - 9 hours is along day but we live to sail again another day.
So all in all it went well - we only got wet for a few hours walking into Southwold - never wore wet gear on the boat and wore shorts just about every day.
The only bad bits - a very strange wind near the Deben coming south - sailing along 9 or 10 knots fairly close hauled lovely, a sudden 90deg gusting wind shift the jib backs and the boat tacks and is all over the place ("we are going to die" mortal dread sets in
and takes hours to disperse) then a wind hole and we have to motor. What is going on
Oh and my shaft anode must have come loose and rattles like a machine gun and the cheap antifoul doesn't so I'm off to Shotley for a summer scrub and half an hour in the slings ("I think we can accomodate that sir") to sort it out.
Brilliant - roll on Holland next year.
Note for trip to Southwold - a local told me to aim for Orford Ness at LW (to miis the huge tides) and plug it up to Southwold from there. This may get you there a bit early but for my 1.7m keel there is a window of HW+/- 2 hours.
Wednesday of last week we set off from Bradwell and the sun came out and we had a very nice sail up the Wallet (oh yes it can happen). Three nights on the Orwell (Shotley, Ipswich Haven and SYH incl a beer or two with Bernie). Rund to the Deben and two nights in the Tidemill. Our neighbour was in the prototype Centreboard 38 which he built and is now developing the 40ft version. A v. smart steel boat. A Dutchman living in Hungary where the boat is built. Lots of Dutch folk everywhere. Anyway - we went back to Shotley so that we could have an early start the next day and went to Southwold. It was a long and slow flog round Orford Ness but we arrived at Southwold 6 minutes after HW
Fabulous place as you will know (would have been even better with a holding tank) Daughter's M-I-L has a house there and grandchildren were on holiday there - the attraction for wifey. Granddaughter slept on board for the first time.We left Southwold at LW+90mins and due to the tide timing differences had 6 hours of tide coming back south. The forecast for today (Friday) was F4 on the nose wind over tide down the Wallet - not the ideal end to a successful trip. So I decided to play it sensibly and we got all the way back to Bradwell in one go - 9 hours is along day but we live to sail again another day.
So all in all it went well - we only got wet for a few hours walking into Southwold - never wore wet gear on the boat and wore shorts just about every day.
The only bad bits - a very strange wind near the Deben coming south - sailing along 9 or 10 knots fairly close hauled lovely, a sudden 90deg gusting wind shift the jib backs and the boat tacks and is all over the place ("we are going to die" mortal dread sets in
and takes hours to disperse) then a wind hole and we have to motor. What is going onOh and my shaft anode must have come loose and rattles like a machine gun and the cheap antifoul doesn't so I'm off to Shotley for a summer scrub and half an hour in the slings ("I think we can accomodate that sir") to sort it out.
Brilliant - roll on Holland next year.
Note for trip to Southwold - a local told me to aim for Orford Ness at LW (to miis the huge tides) and plug it up to Southwold from there. This may get you there a bit early but for my 1.7m keel there is a window of HW+/- 2 hours.
