Saguday
Well-Known Member
Had a go at dredging recently. Thought the Walton Channel would be a good place to practice so we chucked the CQR and 30m+ of chain over the side in between the 20 or so old gaffers already at Stone Point (for the avoidance of doubt I shall include Mr Full Circle in this latter description) and then proceeded to inscribe a series of artful grooves on the sea bed in search of the ideal holding.
After 3 different locations and about 10 attempts (much to the amusement of the aforementioned Mr Circle who shouted encouraging words and coaching tips from the security of his cockpit) we eventually cut a particularly sticky groove which held us even with the application of 2k revs of reverse, so there we spent a pleasant afternoon and evening in the company of Mr & Mrs FC, riding out two tide swings and the F4-5 or so blowing from the west.
Shortly after returning to the boat after dark from our shoreside perambulation we checked all was well and retired below around midnight. I became a bit confused upon finding that pumping the loo didn't draw any sea water in to flush so dashed up on deck to discover we were one tenders length away from the muddy shore on a falling tide. "Bother", said I, or similar. Checked the anchor which appeared to be pointing in about the right direction but there didn't seem to be much tension on the rode when we used the windlass. Started the engine and attempted to motor away but no movement whatsoever. Oops.
Considered possible strategies (use of dinghy to pull bow round, relay the anchor and winch in, etc etc) but decided none would work and time was of the essence so rowed over to Mr FC to seek opinion, noting at this point that the stern was now about a foot out of the water. More oops.
Now, our Mr FC likes a challenge and after cajoling an understandably reluctant Mrs FC (I believe a lot of wine and cognac had been consumed at this point) they hauled anchor and steamed over to render towing assistance. There was some confusion on board Saguday as we couldn't find our long towing warp so tied a couple of mooring lies together, although due to an error of communication FC steamed away before the final bowline could be tied.
Mr Full Circle then did a Full Circle (now we know where he gets his name from) and returned alongside by which time we had fashioned the longer towing line, which we threw to an eagerly awaiting Mrs FC. Mr FC was voluble in his description of how much water he didn't have under his keel and though we sympathised we were distracted by the fact that our bow was by now well clear of the water. We now thought it unlikely the redoubtable Full Circle would be able to pull a 10 ton long keel cruiser out of Essex mud but hey ho nothing ventured nothing gained.
At this point there now appeared to be some confusion on board Full Circle, involving "warp" and "radar pole" and a lot of swearing but all was happily resolved and numerous unsuccessful attempts were then made to pull us clear. At 1am it was concluded she wasn't going to budge so we resigned ourselves to our muddy fate and watched our erstwhile rescuers motor off to re-anchor.
There then followed an entertaining interlude where Mr & Mrs FC made 4 furrows of their own on the river bed in an attempt to find purchase but eventually the shouting stopped, the engine was turned off and the lights went out on Full Circle.
We've never seriously run aground in all our 20 years sailing and never taken the mud, certainly not in Saguday, so there was some trepidation about how our boat would actually behave as the tide went out (there was another metre to go at this point). We were not quite parallel to the east bank, pointing south, with the stern closest too with the bows point into the channel at about 30deg. The bank sloped of course and as we dropped we appeared to be assuming a position with the mast perpendicular to the plane of the mud bank, so heeled at maybe 15 degrees nose down. I decided to stay in the cockpit and observe while Molly went below to sleep for a bit - just to be ultra cautious I suggested she sleep on the port side but with hindsight I'm not sure how well she took the implication that her weight was going to be a significant factor in the balance of a heavy cruiser settling into mud.
In the cockpit I was treated to the decreasing lapping sound of the water receding and a rather splendid moonrise, some great starfields, a lot of very noisy birdlife, a bloody mosquito thing which buzzed round my ears and 5 flashing blue lights on the horizon as some emergency vehicles headed into Harwich.
At 4am neither of us had slept although the boat had settled quite happily and showed no inclination to cant any further. We made a cup of tea and sat in the cockpit discussing ways we might get off the mud as the sun rose, so we took some photos and waited for the water to come back. We thought that some time after 6am we'd have enough water to be able to try.
By 5:30 the wind had picked up again but this time it was from the south, which was quite nice really because it meant the bows were being blown into the channel not onto the bank. We thought we might be able to get some sail assistance but decided not to bother. At 5:45 we made our first attempt to motor off, then again at 6:00 and 6:15. At 6:30 we tried again and slowly, without any fuss, we edged forward and into the channel.
Unfortunately, our attempts at sneaking away stealthily were dealt a severe blow as by this time several of the gaffers had woken up and spotted us, no doubt shaking their heads at amateur cheque book sailors in plastic boats who don't know how to anchor, etc etc, so our reputation has been sealed. It wasn't this that decided us against re-anchoring in the channel (honest!) but the fact that the wind was now blowing 20+kts so we went up-channel in search of a spare mooring for a few hours so we could sleep. Of course, there were no spare moorings as they were all used by the old gaffers, so we ended up on the end of the waiting pontoon for Titchmarsh marina.
I should of course wrap up this little tale with a list of "lessons" learnt" and do's and don'ts but will first of all say thanks to Jim and Lynn for their brave attempts to tow us off - in the end it was probably better just to stay put and this is the first lesson learnt. We now at least know that our boat takes the mud well, just settles down and sits there as happy as anything. Jim thinks I fall back too quickly when anchoring and this was preventing the anchor from digging in, although on our last apparently successful attempt I drifted with the tide and wind and only dug in once it had bitten - I normally kick in some reverse and go back at a knot or two. We anchored extensively when we lived aboard, using the same tackle and techniques, and only drifted once in 6 months and that was in a F7-8 on a very soft river bottom.
There is the possibility that someone dragged over our anchor/chain at some point as there were a lot boats trying to anchor in a tricky crosswind, but then again it may be that we were just barely holding and didn't notice the drift. All I would say is be very careful anchoring if there's any cross wind above a F3 blowing in the Walton Channel.
And the final lesson is don't put the inflatable kayak in the locker on top of your long towing warp.
Thank you and good night
Neil
After 3 different locations and about 10 attempts (much to the amusement of the aforementioned Mr Circle who shouted encouraging words and coaching tips from the security of his cockpit) we eventually cut a particularly sticky groove which held us even with the application of 2k revs of reverse, so there we spent a pleasant afternoon and evening in the company of Mr & Mrs FC, riding out two tide swings and the F4-5 or so blowing from the west.
Shortly after returning to the boat after dark from our shoreside perambulation we checked all was well and retired below around midnight. I became a bit confused upon finding that pumping the loo didn't draw any sea water in to flush so dashed up on deck to discover we were one tenders length away from the muddy shore on a falling tide. "Bother", said I, or similar. Checked the anchor which appeared to be pointing in about the right direction but there didn't seem to be much tension on the rode when we used the windlass. Started the engine and attempted to motor away but no movement whatsoever. Oops.
Considered possible strategies (use of dinghy to pull bow round, relay the anchor and winch in, etc etc) but decided none would work and time was of the essence so rowed over to Mr FC to seek opinion, noting at this point that the stern was now about a foot out of the water. More oops.
Now, our Mr FC likes a challenge and after cajoling an understandably reluctant Mrs FC (I believe a lot of wine and cognac had been consumed at this point) they hauled anchor and steamed over to render towing assistance. There was some confusion on board Saguday as we couldn't find our long towing warp so tied a couple of mooring lies together, although due to an error of communication FC steamed away before the final bowline could be tied.
Mr Full Circle then did a Full Circle (now we know where he gets his name from) and returned alongside by which time we had fashioned the longer towing line, which we threw to an eagerly awaiting Mrs FC. Mr FC was voluble in his description of how much water he didn't have under his keel and though we sympathised we were distracted by the fact that our bow was by now well clear of the water. We now thought it unlikely the redoubtable Full Circle would be able to pull a 10 ton long keel cruiser out of Essex mud but hey ho nothing ventured nothing gained.
At this point there now appeared to be some confusion on board Full Circle, involving "warp" and "radar pole" and a lot of swearing but all was happily resolved and numerous unsuccessful attempts were then made to pull us clear. At 1am it was concluded she wasn't going to budge so we resigned ourselves to our muddy fate and watched our erstwhile rescuers motor off to re-anchor.
There then followed an entertaining interlude where Mr & Mrs FC made 4 furrows of their own on the river bed in an attempt to find purchase but eventually the shouting stopped, the engine was turned off and the lights went out on Full Circle.
We've never seriously run aground in all our 20 years sailing and never taken the mud, certainly not in Saguday, so there was some trepidation about how our boat would actually behave as the tide went out (there was another metre to go at this point). We were not quite parallel to the east bank, pointing south, with the stern closest too with the bows point into the channel at about 30deg. The bank sloped of course and as we dropped we appeared to be assuming a position with the mast perpendicular to the plane of the mud bank, so heeled at maybe 15 degrees nose down. I decided to stay in the cockpit and observe while Molly went below to sleep for a bit - just to be ultra cautious I suggested she sleep on the port side but with hindsight I'm not sure how well she took the implication that her weight was going to be a significant factor in the balance of a heavy cruiser settling into mud.
In the cockpit I was treated to the decreasing lapping sound of the water receding and a rather splendid moonrise, some great starfields, a lot of very noisy birdlife, a bloody mosquito thing which buzzed round my ears and 5 flashing blue lights on the horizon as some emergency vehicles headed into Harwich.
At 4am neither of us had slept although the boat had settled quite happily and showed no inclination to cant any further. We made a cup of tea and sat in the cockpit discussing ways we might get off the mud as the sun rose, so we took some photos and waited for the water to come back. We thought that some time after 6am we'd have enough water to be able to try.
By 5:30 the wind had picked up again but this time it was from the south, which was quite nice really because it meant the bows were being blown into the channel not onto the bank. We thought we might be able to get some sail assistance but decided not to bother. At 5:45 we made our first attempt to motor off, then again at 6:00 and 6:15. At 6:30 we tried again and slowly, without any fuss, we edged forward and into the channel.
Unfortunately, our attempts at sneaking away stealthily were dealt a severe blow as by this time several of the gaffers had woken up and spotted us, no doubt shaking their heads at amateur cheque book sailors in plastic boats who don't know how to anchor, etc etc, so our reputation has been sealed. It wasn't this that decided us against re-anchoring in the channel (honest!) but the fact that the wind was now blowing 20+kts so we went up-channel in search of a spare mooring for a few hours so we could sleep. Of course, there were no spare moorings as they were all used by the old gaffers, so we ended up on the end of the waiting pontoon for Titchmarsh marina.
I should of course wrap up this little tale with a list of "lessons" learnt" and do's and don'ts but will first of all say thanks to Jim and Lynn for their brave attempts to tow us off - in the end it was probably better just to stay put and this is the first lesson learnt. We now at least know that our boat takes the mud well, just settles down and sits there as happy as anything. Jim thinks I fall back too quickly when anchoring and this was preventing the anchor from digging in, although on our last apparently successful attempt I drifted with the tide and wind and only dug in once it had bitten - I normally kick in some reverse and go back at a knot or two. We anchored extensively when we lived aboard, using the same tackle and techniques, and only drifted once in 6 months and that was in a F7-8 on a very soft river bottom.
There is the possibility that someone dragged over our anchor/chain at some point as there were a lot boats trying to anchor in a tricky crosswind, but then again it may be that we were just barely holding and didn't notice the drift. All I would say is be very careful anchoring if there's any cross wind above a F3 blowing in the Walton Channel.
And the final lesson is don't put the inflatable kayak in the locker on top of your long towing warp.
Thank you and good night
Neil
ok, now I'm worried. not very experienced in anchoring and will be turning up very shorthanded (just me and my sister who's a first-timer).
