AJB43
Well-Known Member
Having enjoyed a similar post a few days ago I thought I would share this with you as a little appetiser for the season ahead. First time I have posted something like this !
Thursday 2nd April- late afternoon - locked out of Gillingham and had a lovely beat out of the Medway against the last of the flood. The skies had brightened at about 2pm and were now clear ,although the NE 10-15kt wind was a bit chilly. Got to the mouth of the Medway (sloppy corner as many of my friends call it) at about 6.30 and then sneaked across Grain sand much closer than I would usually, due to it being high water ( I normally use the Grain End buoy as my turning point). From Grain Sand I then had a fantastic broad reach across the Thames to the Leigh Buoy just off Southend pier. Boat speeds hit 7.5kts as the wind seemed to freshen in mid Estuary. Dusk was falling by the time I entered Ray Gut to pick up a spare buoy opposite Leigh-on- Sea in just over 5m of water- luckily by now the breeze had fallen lighter so Selkie sat comfortably as the tide ebbed away to leave glistening sandbanks on either side.
Friday morning - woke to flat calm water and a damp grey blanket of fog with visibilty down to about 300m. Pumped the dinghy up and motored ashore for breakfast at home. Then had to do some work!!
Saturday morning- woke at home and looked out to another grey misty start!! Had a rather damp dinghy ride out to Selkie against 15kts SW breeze- partly due to my 13 yr old son trying to get mum and dad as wet as possible whilst he drove us out. But by 8.30 we were enjoying breakfast onboard with the heating on to dry us out. Sitting having breakfast we were hailed by a fellow EYC boat who was joining us for part of the weekend and had come out of Benfleet creek at high water and was heading rapidly out of the Ray with the start of the ebb.
Left the Ray at 1045 and had another broad reach down to the Leigh Buoy then a 2 hour reach across the Thames via Cant and Spile marks to Columbine buoy at the mouth of the Swale. The SW breeze varied between 10 and 17 kts, boat speed between 5 and 7.5kts and SOG 6 and 9 kts- why can’t all passages be like this!
Got to the end of the Columbine Spit about 1400 and decide to roll the genny away and motor sail into the Swale. Then decided that flogging the main, as we motored directly into the wind, was not a good idea, so stowed the main and motored into the river past a large colony of seals and our friends, who were motoring slowly with a fishing line over the stern and catching nothing, as usual !!
Dropped the anchor at 1430 just upriver of Faversham creek N Cardinal. As we messed about making sure it was set well the clouds started to roll back and an hour later we were sitting in the cockpit in the warm spring sunshine drinking tea and eating cake with our friends, who had rowed across, whilst the children played about in the dinghies.
Late afternoon we all took to the dinghies and headed up Faversham Creek to the Shipwright Arms at Hollowshore. Bit of an adventure getting ashore as the tide had not yet reached the hard but managed to tie up to one of the many old boats ‘moored’ there. What a great place full of tired hulks, lovely traditional fishing smacks, boats in various states of neglect and repair and a feel of not having been any different for decades.- Very East Coast!
Got to the pub and shock/horror had to wait 20mins as it didn’t open till 6pm ( how quickly we get used to open all hours ). Had a lovely meal and even nicer real ale all topped off by a landlord who was very entertaining especially with the 3 children we had with us. What a great pub!! Can highly recommend it as a destination if the tides are right!
Dinghied back to the boats at about 8.30 in flat calm and bright moonlight- having a bit of fun towing our friends who had neglected to bring their outboard- it is early in the season.
Sunday morning got up about 9 to see clear blue skies and flat calm. Our friends had left to get one of their sons back for rugby at 1030am. (They later informed us we had missed a lovely sunrise! ).
By mid morning a very faint North East breeze had arisen so we motored out of the Swale to Columbine Buoy and then set the sails and turned westwards against the tide up the North Coast of the Isle of Sheppey. The wind stayed in the northeast between 10-15kts as we broad reached again all the way up to the mouth of the Medway. We had to keep out of the way of a couple of ships who sneaked round the corner of the mouth of the river, but nothing too dramatic.
We then ran up the Medway against the last the last of the ebb having a race with several other yachts heading the same way , much to the pleasure of my dinghy racing son ! By 5pm we were moored outside Gillingham, starting to pack the boat up and when I radioed the lockkeeper just after 6 there was enough water for us to lock-in.
Left the boat about 6.30 and headed for home.
Logged about 85 miles-wind never more than 18knots-broad reached for 75% of the time-discovered a great pub- even the reluctant sailor wife admitted it had been a lovely trip.Yes it was bit nippy at times but it already feels a better summer than last year! And it’s not even Easter yet.
Thursday 2nd April- late afternoon - locked out of Gillingham and had a lovely beat out of the Medway against the last of the flood. The skies had brightened at about 2pm and were now clear ,although the NE 10-15kt wind was a bit chilly. Got to the mouth of the Medway (sloppy corner as many of my friends call it) at about 6.30 and then sneaked across Grain sand much closer than I would usually, due to it being high water ( I normally use the Grain End buoy as my turning point). From Grain Sand I then had a fantastic broad reach across the Thames to the Leigh Buoy just off Southend pier. Boat speeds hit 7.5kts as the wind seemed to freshen in mid Estuary. Dusk was falling by the time I entered Ray Gut to pick up a spare buoy opposite Leigh-on- Sea in just over 5m of water- luckily by now the breeze had fallen lighter so Selkie sat comfortably as the tide ebbed away to leave glistening sandbanks on either side.
Friday morning - woke to flat calm water and a damp grey blanket of fog with visibilty down to about 300m. Pumped the dinghy up and motored ashore for breakfast at home. Then had to do some work!!
Saturday morning- woke at home and looked out to another grey misty start!! Had a rather damp dinghy ride out to Selkie against 15kts SW breeze- partly due to my 13 yr old son trying to get mum and dad as wet as possible whilst he drove us out. But by 8.30 we were enjoying breakfast onboard with the heating on to dry us out. Sitting having breakfast we were hailed by a fellow EYC boat who was joining us for part of the weekend and had come out of Benfleet creek at high water and was heading rapidly out of the Ray with the start of the ebb.
Left the Ray at 1045 and had another broad reach down to the Leigh Buoy then a 2 hour reach across the Thames via Cant and Spile marks to Columbine buoy at the mouth of the Swale. The SW breeze varied between 10 and 17 kts, boat speed between 5 and 7.5kts and SOG 6 and 9 kts- why can’t all passages be like this!
Got to the end of the Columbine Spit about 1400 and decide to roll the genny away and motor sail into the Swale. Then decided that flogging the main, as we motored directly into the wind, was not a good idea, so stowed the main and motored into the river past a large colony of seals and our friends, who were motoring slowly with a fishing line over the stern and catching nothing, as usual !!
Dropped the anchor at 1430 just upriver of Faversham creek N Cardinal. As we messed about making sure it was set well the clouds started to roll back and an hour later we were sitting in the cockpit in the warm spring sunshine drinking tea and eating cake with our friends, who had rowed across, whilst the children played about in the dinghies.
Late afternoon we all took to the dinghies and headed up Faversham Creek to the Shipwright Arms at Hollowshore. Bit of an adventure getting ashore as the tide had not yet reached the hard but managed to tie up to one of the many old boats ‘moored’ there. What a great place full of tired hulks, lovely traditional fishing smacks, boats in various states of neglect and repair and a feel of not having been any different for decades.- Very East Coast!
Got to the pub and shock/horror had to wait 20mins as it didn’t open till 6pm ( how quickly we get used to open all hours ). Had a lovely meal and even nicer real ale all topped off by a landlord who was very entertaining especially with the 3 children we had with us. What a great pub!! Can highly recommend it as a destination if the tides are right!
Dinghied back to the boats at about 8.30 in flat calm and bright moonlight- having a bit of fun towing our friends who had neglected to bring their outboard- it is early in the season.
Sunday morning got up about 9 to see clear blue skies and flat calm. Our friends had left to get one of their sons back for rugby at 1030am. (They later informed us we had missed a lovely sunrise! ).
By mid morning a very faint North East breeze had arisen so we motored out of the Swale to Columbine Buoy and then set the sails and turned westwards against the tide up the North Coast of the Isle of Sheppey. The wind stayed in the northeast between 10-15kts as we broad reached again all the way up to the mouth of the Medway. We had to keep out of the way of a couple of ships who sneaked round the corner of the mouth of the river, but nothing too dramatic.
We then ran up the Medway against the last the last of the ebb having a race with several other yachts heading the same way , much to the pleasure of my dinghy racing son ! By 5pm we were moored outside Gillingham, starting to pack the boat up and when I radioed the lockkeeper just after 6 there was enough water for us to lock-in.
Left the boat about 6.30 and headed for home.
Logged about 85 miles-wind never more than 18knots-broad reached for 75% of the time-discovered a great pub- even the reluctant sailor wife admitted it had been a lovely trip.Yes it was bit nippy at times but it already feels a better summer than last year! And it’s not even Easter yet.
