Mates or marriage

Marmalade

Marmalade

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Saturday.
Had agreed to meet some friends in Brightlingsea - they were sailing up from Chatham. Forecast was SW 4 or 5 - sea state smooth or slight. I wasn't worried although the missus knows our local water enough to have raised the question... isn't that on the nose all the way down the wallet? I made reassuring noises about that not mattering - not too much wind; smooth seas etc.

We came out of Harwich harbour into a steady 6 (23-25kts) with the odd 28 kt gust. We reefed down and plugged out on the first tack toward the Gunfleet. As we made our first tack inshore; my lady wife's displeasure at the conditions (but it's really sunny darling) was expressed sans euphemism.

We have a table booked at Kovalam and friends coming all the way from Chatham to meet us.

Apart from cursing the forecasters - what would you do? (and what do you think we did?
 
a. You've made a commitment to some chums, your word is your bond; so what if you get a bit wet, have a bit of backbone SWMBO. You keep going (and find on your arrival that chums have turned back, the Brighlingsea Water Taxi has broken down and the Kovalam impose a hefty non apparance charge. Mind you not all bad, SWMBO says that can do it without her in the future).
b. You are a lily livered whimp terrified of SWMBO, you turn back; you make profuse apologises to your chums who have struggle through mountaineous seas and will no longer talk to you.
c. You are a bold go where you please adventurer, however you treasure your marriage; you compromise by easing the starboard tack into a broad reach for Holland where you can lavish moules etc sur la brave femme after a fabulous sail.
 
Marmalade said:
what would you do? (and what do you think we did?
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What would I do?

Tell her to stop moaning and get her head down below if she really thinks it's that bad.
Also point out that she chose the boat and if she can't handle this I might as well look for another female to accompany me RTW when I retire.

What did you do?

You returned to your berth and joined your friends at the Kovalam by car.

What have I won? :D;)
 
I would have phoned friends to make sure that they were on their way. If so then I would placate SWMBO by motoring down the Wallet to get it over with quickly, enjoyed a good time with friends and had an easy sail back. Still alive to fight another day.
 
MoodySabre said:
If so then I would placate SWMBO by motoring down the Wallet to get it over with quickly, .
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As a matter of interest, would that not be even more unpleasant than beating, assuming that the yacht suitably reefed etc can safely handle the conditions?
 
My wife has an aversion to the Wallet which is often justified. She would rather be motoring for a shorter time than heeling over tacking back and forth. Insisting on sailing to her displeasure would be a phyrric victory!
 
what we did

We went for the wimp option I'm afraid - we turned and ran back into Shotley for the night. Friends were understanding - they had a good sail and a curry. I racked up some brownie points.
 
Agree much more comfortable to sail than to motor into the wind.

My policy when setting out in conditions which might not be very nice is to explain this to the crew beforehand and to reassure all crew that if anybody is unhappy, we will turn back.

I would have thought that passage was quite do-able in a 43 footer like Marmalade even in wind against tide conditions. And on a hot, sunny day like Saturday, rather a good sail.

We had planned to take Beyond Reason down to the Blackwater on Saturday but ended up spending too much time on boat jobs than we'd planned too. It was hot and stuffy in SYH and I would much rather have been thrashing along the wallet.

But then I'm weird!

:D:D:D:D
 
eastcoastbernie said:
Agree much more comfortable to sail than to motor into the wind.

My policy when setting out in conditions which might not be very nice is to explain this to the crew beforehand and to reassure all crew that if anybody is unhappy, we will turn back.

I would have thought that passage was quite do-able in a 43 footer like Marmalade even in wind against tide conditions. And on a hot, sunny day like Saturday, rather a good sail.

We had planned to take Beyond Reason down to the Blackwater on Saturday but ended up spending too much time on boat jobs than we'd planned too. It was hot and stuffy in SYH and I would much rather have been thrashing along the wallet.

But then I'm weird!

:D:D:D:D
Click to expand...

It was doable... it was the crew that didn't fancy it! As I said - the wimp option.

I know too many blokes who sail single handed to want to upset the apple cart :-(
 
Marmalade said:
It was doable... it was the crew that didn't fancy it! As I said - the wimp option.
I know too many blokes who sail single handed to want to upset the apple cart :-(
Click to expand...
Quite right too, you are indeed a wise man, sir, the thinking on board our (rather smaller) Moody goes along the same lines.
We beat SW along the Wallet a few weeks ago but I chose to fight the tide from Frinton onwards so that at least there wouldn't be too much of a chop. The idea worked well, there was enough S in the wind for the port tacks to be long ones and we rattled along there quite quickly. Ma'am actually quite enjoyed it altho I was nackered by the time we got to the Colne Bar as I was doing all the winching.
Had a great curry that night, sorry...
 
We were bound for Ramsgate this weekend hoping for a little more west in the wind but when it became obvious that (guessing) F6 on the nose and pushing the last two hours of the ebbing tide down the Black Deep would be a long and uncomfortable experience we turned about and had a blast back, settling for a night in Ipswich.
 
On Saturday we came out of the Colne heading for Burnham two reefs down, it was soon clear the FC was not quite accurate and we turned back at the bar buoy with a very clean foredeck. It would have been a fast reach down to the swin but a really nasty beat up the Crouch (wind over tide). We had a great sail back up the river and a pleasant evening in the Pyefleet.

On Sunday we tried again and had a very nice sail.

In the end we're sailing for fun, and when the crew stops enjoying it we go elsewhere.

BTW, very happy to hear it was blowing a 6, I feel fully vindicated in not trying to enter the crouch in a SW6 !

Marmalade - not only would we have done the same but we actually did.
 
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