robinborton
New member
I was going to report back promptly on my first sea voyage which happened
over the Jubilee weekend but PC aggro and family stuff caused me to be late.Here is a summary of the three day trip.
Two of us set off from Windsor on one of the few hot days of this summer at
9am (this meant a 5am alarm call).We headed down stream to Teddington Lock
and moored up below the lock for the night .The berth was OK although the
lack of security worried me but doesn't seem to be much choice of berths thereabouts.Alarm call the next morning at 4am and we set off thru London
What an experience motoring thru the middle of the greatest city in
the world IMHO without a single boat in site on a beautiful morning....a treasured
memory.
We picked up Will (our professional help) from St Kats and headed off at
speed, avoiding the plastic beer crates and planks of wood, for Shotley
Marina Harwich.At about South End the sea was throwing my 27ft boat about a
bit to the point where Will said we had better take avoiding action and head
for Queenborough but things slowly improved and we arrived at Shotley
Marina and very nice it was too.
Will dragged us straight to the bar....well we didnt need much
persuading.Now remember we were up at 4am having had hardly anything to eat
and it wasnt long before I was decidedly the worse for wear and just at this
point Will decided I needed a lesson on map reading/plotting which there is no doubt I do but I can honestly say I cant remember a thing.Next day up at 5am we head for Gt
Yarmouth and back to Horning....all went according to plan.I have one regret
which is Will was from the old school and navigated with paper charts etc
and knew nothing about plotters so I wasnt able to use my new toy I would
prefer to have charts as back up but the primary method to find your way
around would be electronics (I have a back up hand held Garmin).....what
does the panel say?
Last weekend this time without help we headed out to sea from Gt Yarmouth on a course for Lowestoft which is all of 7.something NM and then back to Horning thru the Broads...had a great time with no mishaps except one as we were speeding across Beydon Water.Unfortunately I noticed a guy frantically waving so we stopped ....he was off the channel and stuck in the mud he said that he had lost drive but the engine was running.
We said we would pull him off and tow him to the pub we had just left ..talk about blind leading the blind,we eventually got a rope to him and pulled him off going astern .We then managed to attach a rope to his bows I didnt care that he took the rope over his guard rails .All the time this was going on the skippers language had to be heard to be believed between comments like " I knew this was going to happen" and "where shall I tie the rope" and "how do I tie a knot" and "I know nothing about boats I only got this two weeks ago" We proceeded to tow him to the pub but after about 15 mins he shouted that he thought the boat was OK and she had just been stuck in the mud .I didnt need to be told twice and asked him to untie us but he couldn't untie his knot but eventually he did .We prepared to go he thanked us profusely and said " I feel like Frank Spencer" which was a perfect description.
In hindsight I dont know much and in different circumstances ..there but for the grace of God etc.
Hope you are all not too bored
Robin
over the Jubilee weekend but PC aggro and family stuff caused me to be late.Here is a summary of the three day trip.
Two of us set off from Windsor on one of the few hot days of this summer at
9am (this meant a 5am alarm call).We headed down stream to Teddington Lock
and moored up below the lock for the night .The berth was OK although the
lack of security worried me but doesn't seem to be much choice of berths thereabouts.Alarm call the next morning at 4am and we set off thru London
What an experience motoring thru the middle of the greatest city in
the world IMHO without a single boat in site on a beautiful morning....a treasured
memory.
We picked up Will (our professional help) from St Kats and headed off at
speed, avoiding the plastic beer crates and planks of wood, for Shotley
Marina Harwich.At about South End the sea was throwing my 27ft boat about a
bit to the point where Will said we had better take avoiding action and head
for Queenborough but things slowly improved and we arrived at Shotley
Marina and very nice it was too.
Will dragged us straight to the bar....well we didnt need much
persuading.Now remember we were up at 4am having had hardly anything to eat
and it wasnt long before I was decidedly the worse for wear and just at this
point Will decided I needed a lesson on map reading/plotting which there is no doubt I do but I can honestly say I cant remember a thing.Next day up at 5am we head for Gt
Yarmouth and back to Horning....all went according to plan.I have one regret
which is Will was from the old school and navigated with paper charts etc
and knew nothing about plotters so I wasnt able to use my new toy I would
prefer to have charts as back up but the primary method to find your way
around would be electronics (I have a back up hand held Garmin).....what
does the panel say?
Last weekend this time without help we headed out to sea from Gt Yarmouth on a course for Lowestoft which is all of 7.something NM and then back to Horning thru the Broads...had a great time with no mishaps except one as we were speeding across Beydon Water.Unfortunately I noticed a guy frantically waving so we stopped ....he was off the channel and stuck in the mud he said that he had lost drive but the engine was running.
We said we would pull him off and tow him to the pub we had just left ..talk about blind leading the blind,we eventually got a rope to him and pulled him off going astern .We then managed to attach a rope to his bows I didnt care that he took the rope over his guard rails .All the time this was going on the skippers language had to be heard to be believed between comments like " I knew this was going to happen" and "where shall I tie the rope" and "how do I tie a knot" and "I know nothing about boats I only got this two weeks ago" We proceeded to tow him to the pub but after about 15 mins he shouted that he thought the boat was OK and she had just been stuck in the mud .I didnt need to be told twice and asked him to untie us but he couldn't untie his knot but eventually he did .We prepared to go he thanked us profusely and said " I feel like Frank Spencer" which was a perfect description.
In hindsight I dont know much and in different circumstances ..there but for the grace of God etc.
Hope you are all not too bored
Robin
