Are the weather gods toying with this mortal?

T

tillergirl

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 Nov 2002
Messages
8,796
Location
West Mersea
Visit site
I have a sneaking suspicion that I am missing something obvious.

Tomorrow it is HW here at Mersea around 8am so the Ebb could take me down to the SW Sunk for around midday and then the flood could bring me back after an hour and a half of soundings

The weather forecasts say its going to be dry

The weather forecasts say for the trip down to the SW Sunk, the winds will be northerly giving me a reach and a run.

The weather forecasts say once I am over the sands, the winds will drop to 3mph and veer to the East so it will be flat.

The weather forecasts say once I am coming back the winds will be south-easterly so a run all the way back.

If I set out to organise the elements for the day the plan would look like that. What have I missed? Am I being fooled?

Surely its too good to be true - remember, just because you are paranoid, it does not mean that you are not being followed!
 
I share your sense of disbelief in terms of what will actually arrive.

However having said that it does come off sometimes, this weekend, as forecast, we found a NW 3/4 for our trip up the Wallet to Hamford Water from Brightlingsea, a SE to take us from Hamford to Pinmill and then a NE to bring us back from Pinmill to Brightlingsea.
 
Sadist Roger, it's uncomfortable. I hope you keep an eye out for my old one. I am sure once it is dried out it will be fine again. By the way, I hope you all noticed I replaced the locker lid on which it is traditional to photo one's hat.
 
tillergirl said:
I have a sneaking suspicion that I am missing something obvious.

Tomorrow it is HW here at Mersea around 8am so the Ebb could take me down to the SW Sunk for around midday and then the flood could bring me back after an hour and a half of soundings

The weather forecasts say its going to be dry

The weather forecasts say for the trip down to the SW Sunk, the winds will be northerly giving me a reach and a run.

The weather forecasts say once I am over the sands, the winds will drop to 3mph and veer to the East so it will be flat.

The weather forecasts say once I am coming back the winds will be south-easterly so a run all the way back.

If I set out to organise the elements for the day the plan would look like that. What have I missed? Am I being fooled?

Surely its too good to be true - remember, just because you are paranoid, it does not mean that you are not being followed!
Click to expand...

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
 
The thing is, Roger, that the weather gods clearly do not communicate with us mortals via anyone whose job title includes the words 'weather' and 'forecaster', so if you got the news from one of those people then it may not be quite right.
Prime example down 'ere in Kent is yesterday's (Monday's) weather when at every opportunity the weather folk were bleating on about multi-coloured Met Office warnings of rain, yet it never rained at all, all day, until early evening.
A glance at the MetO's own 'rainfall radar' page on their website showed clearly to anyone with a couple of brain cells that it wasn't going to rain here as it was busy raining elsewhere, but their yellow and amber warnings (whatever they are) persisted despite the evidence of their own data.
In the morning, look out of the window and make up your own mind!
 
I shall first rely on the cat-o-forecaster. If the hugely pampered cat returns to bed at 7.30am and curls up, the day is going to be c**p. Never fails.

Second, Dick, we had your rain. Thanks very much!

Third Ian, can't see the cable laying getting anywhere near Fisherman's by Monday so should be clear.

Fourth Roger, I'm too scared of the Ore! Anyway that's Chris Woods' territory.
 
You've got even more time. Cable ship has a technical fault requiring visit to Sheerness Docks for repair, will be at least another week, they say, before they even get started in the Swale. Just off Margit as I write.
 
Well it was fine - sort of. The day was lovely. NOt without it's shake-down issues!

Got on board with Colin at about 9am intending just to fire up the engine and laptop and sort things underway. Engine fires fine. Check the battery meter - charging at 0.7amps! That's not right. Alternator belt is slacker than ... than .... well its slack. Out with the spanners and in 5 minutes have the alternator belt tightened to proper deflection. Restart engine, bingo 13amps dropping quickly to 7.

Fire up the laptop and then the data logger. Excel won't start! Fiddle, fiddle, reboot, reboot. What the hell, the raw logger file is saving, lets get under way while I see if I can sort the exporting into Excel.

Clear Mersea Quarters and hoist sail. Wind 7kts from the north as predicted. Something Colin said was called the sun was out. Quick cup of tea and down below to sort the data logger. By the time we get to the Knoll I can get the Excel file to open but the logger is only exporting the depth, lat/long and date. No time! Useless without the time!. Fiddle, fiddle. Reach the Spitway and give up. I have the raw logger data anyway even if importing that into Excel later is a bind. Pass THV Alert which seems to have just replaced the NW KNoll.

Now try and load Imray ID10 and fit GPS Dongle. ID10 opens but can't find the GPS. Windows says found new driver and software loaded? What new software. Been using this Dongle for two years! Fiddle, fiddle. Won't find the Dongle. Shut all the windows one by one and find underneath a Windows message (no flashing icon on Taskbar) saying 'it won't work until you re-boot (or words to that effect)!

RE-boot and it all works - apart from the Excel export!

Wind veers now easterly - a bit early, bit of cloud and its a bit chilly but a lovely day still. Tell Colin to steer 120 degrees for a bit but the compass is reading 160! Remove 2 phillips screwdrivers, 2 posidrive screwdrivers, 2 electrical screwdrivers, 4 slot screwdrivers, two adjustable spanners and two pairs of pliers from their winter quarters in the chart table drawer and the compass now reads 120 degrees!

On tillerpilot and motor sailing. Our course is going to take us clear of the Whittaker Bell buoy. Oh now it isn't, a distinct course correction by the tillerpilot puts us on a collison course! How? Why? Who? Three goes at trying new courses and eventually we pass the buoy about 10ft away!

Time for another cup of tea. Colin now has sun tan. I hardly seen anything outside and we are approaching the NE corner of the Barrow Sands.

Colour of water on the edge of the Boroughs is gorgious. A lovely blue/green and the water is absolutely flat after a curious and noticeable swell in the Swin.

Drop the mainsail as we approach the Barrow No 6. Dutch yacht motoring out from London direction down the Barrow Deep. There is also a gaff yacht apparently aground - mainsail still up - on the edge of the Middle Sunk. As we look and try to make out if they are ok - we can see breakers on the sand ahead, the yacht turns down tide and comes off. Then spins round and heads for us as we approach the No 6.

Throttle back to survey speed, laptop in cockpit to guide passes over the sand and over we go. Nice and flat still although the breakers on the Middle Sunk whilst small are very obvious. London Array fills the horizon of course. In fact, the London Array is clear from the Spitway and coming down the Boroughs you feel hemmed in by sand banks and wind farms.

Gaff Yacht is following exactly in our path about 3/4 mile behind as we end the first run. What will he think when we suddenly spin round and head back on a reciprocal course? Try to give him a call - no answer. Oh well, spin round and it doesn't seem to worry him. Get a cheery wave as we past. Its a Steel Spray obviously set up for long passages.

Pretty close to LW so we get as low as 6ft under us on one run close to the Middle Sunk but as the tide is still falling a little, we decline to take a closer run. Having done 6 passes over and having found the reducing depths on either side, it is now 1330 our self imposed deadline for heading back in time to get the Club launch ashore.

Wind is now SW, about 10 knots falling away now and again. The sun is wonderful. Tea all round, sandwiches and chocolate biscuits. No water in bilge! That's odd (threw that in for wooden boat owners!). Try to wash cups. Hot water and air spurt from the tap like a flame thrower. Must find that air leak!

Relax and enjoy the motor sail back. Bit casual crossing that NE finger of the Barrow Sand. We suddenly notice that there is only 3.3ft under the keel. We almost do something about it but the water starts to deepen. Head back on Tillerpilot for the Whitaker Bell and then the Spitway. Course to miss the actual Whittaker buoy is again suddenly abandoned by the tillerpilot for a collision course! What is it about that buoy?

We take a really oblique course through the Spitway and come within 6ft of the edge of the Buxey. Why? Because we - well me really decided that we would return via the Knoll Swatchway. But we miss the Buxey. We think we can see a colony of seals on the Buxey but they are a bit far away. Coastguard are trying to find an open channel near Brightlingsea on 16. Never troubles us.

Out of the swatchway jsut first the 1 degree meridien and across the Blackwater back into Mersea. Colin executes a asternless approach to the mooring and engines off at 4.20pm. It's still sunny. There is still no water in the bilge! The data is saved and it was just absolutely lovely!

Now to crunch the data. Observations at the time though were that the swatchway at the SW Sunk has narrowed and shallowed. It is still usable though - we did 6 passes over the sand and never had less than 6ft under us and on 3 of the passes nothing much under 10ft. Add our draft of 3'9" and deduct an approximate height of tide of 1.4m. As I say, I am crunching the data now and will probably have a new chart done by lunch-time tomorrow.

Great day. Thanks to Colin especially as this will have delayed June's edition by another day - it's coming folks.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

T
Notices to Mariners - Week 4
Replies
0
Views
308
tillergirl
T
J
Rear crank seal change on BMC 2.2 engine still in boat?
Replies
3
Views
136
Joe Stevens
J

Share this page

Top