Canoe Sailing Up The East Coast...

[gregandginas]

This is just a "heads-up" really... as a friend (Gavin Millar) is on his way up the east coast... having downsized from yachts to a 16' x 39" sailing canoe

He set off from Southampton on 6th June... and had a fairly laborious slog along the south coast to Rye (~100 nautical miles in a week)... but after being pinned in by storms for a couple of days... he flew past Dover and pottered around to Whitstable... from where he crossed the Thames to Brightlingsea and rounded the corner to Shotley before completing the leg up to Lowestoft.

His aim is to see how far he can get before he has to return to work in September: ideally up to Inverness, through the Caledonian Canal and back home down the other side... but for the next week or two, the focus is very much on getting up this east coast.

I've been maintaining a blog for him at www.canoesailor.com, and a fair few of us have been avidly tracking him via Spot Messenger and chattering away about his progress...

Anyway... if you see him sailing up the East Coast this next week or two, please give him a wave / sail with him for a while... and if you see he's coming past a patch you know well and would be willing to offer some local advice... please get in touch!

 

[maxcampbell]

Thanks for the links. Lovely boat - nice to see something smaller than mine

 

[MoodySabre]

Very nice - good luck tp Gavin.

I once chased a mysterious water craft up the Deben - it was going almost as fast as me. When I caught it up it was a canoe going downwind with a golf umbrella

 

[Tomahawk]

Stark Staring Bonkers

Or what???

But utterly charming, and eccentric...

Do have to wonder if he could persuade SWMBO to step onboard...having no stove and other creature comforts?

 

[gregandginas]

Do have to wonder if he could persuade SWMBO to step onboard...having no stove and other creature comforts?

Excellent question - I'm reliably informed (by Gavin) that Katherine sails with him occasionally... but that her "Goldilocks Zone" (where the canoe is found habitable) is rather.. erm... narrower than his

... and thanks for the feedback from everyone else: providing encouragement at present as he slogs around the north Norfolk coast

 

[Boz]

Wow .... Canoes have obviously moved on a bit since I sailed one in the 70s, a big heavy old thing as I recall.

Good luck on the trip, keep us posted
Regards
Boz

 

[gregandginas]

Well... Gavin's completed the second leg, starting with the Thames Crossing and ending (last night) with a crossing of the Wash to Wainfleet Haven (blog to follow).

The rough weather gave him a chance to catch up with the blog... and a couple of the entries are quite notable.

Shotley to Lowestoft turned out to be way tougher than expected, with a squalls from the south and a large following seas...

Glancing behind revealed occasional breaking waves above head height rearing up towards me. This didn’t help so I gave up looking and concentrated on steering a straight course downwind and down the waves. Progressively reefing the sail down to less than half its full size helped to avoid the danger of slewing to one side and capsizing when flying down the face of a wave. The sailing was physically and mentally demanding...

We didn't anticipate conditions being that challenging, and Gavin's keen to avoid encountering them again, but the resulting sail goes down as perhaps the sternest test to date.

Gavin then set of northward from Lowestoft:

That was a good day, but concluded in undignified fashion with a mishap whilst attempting to land through dumping surf at Winterton Ness

The next day was mammoth: 38 nautical miles in a 13 hour day... with some inhospitable looking surf discouraging any approach to the shore:

Anyway... that got him to the one quiet stretch of the trip: A day in Wells Next the Sea and then on to Hunstanton…. That's where I last met up with him, as he settled in to see out some very strong winds last weekend... waiting for yesterday's opportunity to cross the Wash.

Ps. Heading for Saltfleet Haven at present

 

[creeksailor]

East Coast -

Not run aground yet...? If he aint hit bottom here its all for nothing as he still hasn't lived I admire his spirit for adventure, and good luck on the rest of the journey.