Ostende

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tillergirl

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Oh dear: West, backing South. Sorry chaps. Hope it stays West. Have a very good time.

Reports would be appreciated as I am back on my southern hemisphere travels.
 
tillergirl said:
Oh dear: West, backing South. Sorry chaps. Hope it stays West. Have a very good time.

Reports would be appreciated as I am back on my southern hemisphere travels.
Click to expand...

OK - report as requested - currently c. 9-10 boats here...

Mamalade (duh)
Black Magic
Full Circle
Jolie Brise
Sirenia
Wunja
Palladin
Sabre
Dualin

and one or two I've missed. Palladin already left for home - needed to get back before the weather (Sunday not looking great).

Sunny here and great craic.
 
Add Perle d'Azur and Wild Otter to the list

Good time had by all in El Greco last night - one of Jim's negotiating successes

"...er can you seat 44 people in about 4 hours time... and can we have some free beer please"

and they did!

I expect someone will come along and post pics shortly - I'm surely not the only one here with a lappy...
 
Marmalade said:
Add Perle d'Azur and Wild Otter to the list

Good time had by all in El Greco last night - one of Jim's negotiating successes

"...er can you seat 44 people in about 4 hours time... and can we have some free beer please"

and they did!

I expect someone will come along and post pics shortly - I'm surely not the only one here with a lappy...
Click to expand...

Pipedream II here :

El Grecos' was good fun from what I can remember, good to catch up with people, drinks in the club too. I remember even less of the drinks on board with Pink Floyd and whisky. Cooked breakfast coming, shower and stroll planned for later. Good times :D.
 
Morgana reporting in....

Great crossing.... between 12 and 21kts across the beam.... grin style sailing!

Hit 30ks after West Hinder, and on the nose.... happy skipper enjoying sailing her on her ear for a while with 3rd reef in the foresail.... less happy swmbo... :)

Forecast looking 'interesting' for return... not that windy really... well not above a F6... but on the nose.... we get what we get.... have fun all...
 
sounds like you all having fun ;);)

dont think my SWMBO would of been over impressed with 30 knts on the nose either :D:D , ok with a team of geezers but with family :rolleyes::eek::(

wind guru looks good for a tuesday return tho ;);)

i wish you all a safe passage whenever you return .

Nige.
 
Not a cloud in the sky for the crossing - 96nm in 15.5 hours and very little motoring.

Mixed weather since. Last night was wild F6-7 this morning but worse in the night. All a bit bleary today.

Lisa (Black Magic) left yesterday morning and we await news of her safe passage - it must have been a tad breezy. Everyone else sitting tight waiting for the weather to calm down. Wet and windy at the mo so in no hurry and will postpone northbound passage until it suits me. Ah, the benefits of no deadlines:)

Good weekend as usual.
 
skippers conflab at 08h00 has decided that Tues depart is in order... its not frighteningly windy... prob F6... but bang on the nose, and after a breezy night, the sea will be less than pleasant for a motor back....

On the positive side, they've all stopped taking the p*ss out of my 24mm nylon mulitplait mooring warps after all their boats 'squeaked' their way through the night (Oostende does suffer from a scend a little) while we slept soundly... :)
 
Jolie Brise motored - motor sailed all the way on thurs a dull,overcast day.
Awoke Friday to Blue sky & sun Croissants & coffee in the cockpit.
a tour of the Mercator Basin went aboard Transcur & a Nic 51 ( that is a Real Sailors boat ), then a couple of hrs listening to live groups on the stage in the sun whilst quaffing the local nectar ( Ben thought all larger was the same :rolleyes:- he no knows better :cool: ).
Friday Entertainment
P5283601.jpg

SDC10003.jpg

Friday Lunch
P5283605.jpg

All followed by a superb meal in the Royal North Sea Yacht Club watching the sun go down.#
Saturday a visit from old racing friend & my old mate Alain ( ex general stores ) a quick food & Duval shop then cast off to beat the weather. cleared Pr Hd 11.45z SSW 5-6 then 20 mls out Ben shouted "Steering Gone Skip :eek::eek:"
(now this is where the Ah 6000 paid for its self). involuntary tack sorted, decided to furl the Genny & continue under motor on original course & investigate.
opened the lazerette to find one cable detached from the quadrant the 2 bulldog clips had let go :o:o (cables checked @ lay-up but not the clips :o:o:o).
i managed to remove the eye bolt & a team effort got the cable re-attached & all fixed in a hour. Back sailing under A/h. cleared Landguard By 23.15z having logged 75.66 on the GPS.
Back in the marina to new Belgian potatoes,carrots with breaded chicken stuffed with Ham & Kass @ 01.20z.
Max wind spd seen was 28 kts @ 60 deg apparent
Nice to be smugly clearing up Sunday in strong winds ;)

All in all a good trip & a pleasant stay crew all happy
 
Last edited:
Got back Saturday 2030 ish. All safe and sound - although not quite what we had in mind for our first return crossing! The highlight of the trip being SWMBO hugging the EPIRB?!
Many thanks to Marmalade for arranging a great night out and for the sound advice, Cheers.
Will & Susie
 
I got back on Sunday evening. Did the whole trip in one day this time. Big downwind rollers made an exciting trip - especially when I couldn't see them in the dark!

Still drying out the boat after someone opened the vents in the foredeck instead of closing them! :mad:

Another enjoyable forum event, roll on July and the Pirate Weekend.
 
so, here is my sorry tale:

The trip was very lumpy, but manageable. Having followed Full Circle over we made the return on our own and were doing OK. We all took sturgeron in the morning, but I didn't want to take anymore later in the day because of the drowsiness.

Despite the big rolling sea and fairly stiff winds right on the nose, we managed to have a bit of sail up and motorsailed to Long Sand Head, reaching there about on schedule at 9.30. We turned there and got on teh bearing for the last leg home into the Crouch and were just about to start congratulating ourselves on completing the worst of the journey when the engine died. A quick check confirmed that we had run out diesel. Unfortunately, I only had about 6 litres spare (reasons below).

We put out a bit more headsail and tried to get on a decent bearing but were struggling to hold any sort of course. I decided to radio the coastguard to be on the safe side - to report our position and let them know that we might be struggling to get in. they offered assistance, which we declined, and told them we would continue to try and sail into Harwich. Alas, we just couldn't make it. Wind was right on the nose, seas knocking us about and I knew we didn't have enough fuel to motorsail. after about an hour (lost track of time here) I radio'd again to report that we'd only made about 1nm in the past hour. CG offered assistance - which we gratefully accepted.

Taran was getting anxious, so I was worried about him. Marc got the sickness and Paul and I were beginning to feel a bit weary. It got to the point where it just felt unsafe to continue under our own steam.

We continued to try and make way until the lifeboat arrived - but again, we weren't doing very well and also, we were very close to the shipping into Harwich. The lifeboat arrived at about 11.30 and it took about 20 mins or so to get the heaving line onto Black Magic. The seas were rolling us around so the lifeboat couldn't get very close - it took 5 goes to get the line aboard. Anyway, we got under tow. Marc went below to sleep. Taran tucked up asleep and Paul and I in the cockpit being tossed around like the worst fairground ride in the world for 3 hours. I succumbed to one of my worst bouts of seasickness.

Lifeboat cast us off right outside Shotley Marina at about 3am. Lock was on freeflow so we easily got tied up. I stepped ashore and promptly fell to bits and wept copiously for about 15 mins. Mark Taylor, lockkeeper at Shotley, treated us very well and took us in to warm up and give us hot drinks. We finally berthed on the work boat pontoon and hit the pillows about at 5am.

In morning - D3B (what a wonderful kind person he is) came and picked us all up at Shotley and returned us to Bridgemarsh.

The boat is still in Shotley and I'll be picking that up in a couple of weeks when a) I return from holiday, and b) when I can face it.


It has been remarked that accidents and incidents are rarely down to one thing only, but usually due to a series of events. Having given this a great deal of thought over the past 24 hours I can surmise:

The wind was in the wrong direction for an easy passage, and the seas were big, but we managed them.

My fundamental error was not checking that we could refuel in Oostende and not thinking about calculating fuel use. We left the Crouch with 40 litres and used just over 20 litres getting there. My spare canister carries 25 litres. Not being able to refuel at Oostende, I refilled the tank with that and made an incorrect assumption that seeing as we'd got over on 20 -40 would be enough to get us back. I completely misjudged how much harder we would be revving in the big sea and how much further the distance would be when we were climbing mountains for a lot of the time. It's a very naive and embarrassing mistake to have made and put us and the RNLI into a stupid and unecessary danger.

A BIG lesson learned.

The CG and RNLI were absolutely superb - really, can't thank them enough and their attitude towards us was wonderfully kind and non-judgemental. We're members of the RNLI, but will be sending an extra donation and something to say thanks to the guys are Harwich.

That is about the crux of it.
 
Lisa, thank you very much for a full and frank write up, I know it can't have been easy to do. Please don't knock yourself for what happened, there but for the grace of ... etc. Don't know about the others, but I know I've been very lucky to get through some very silly mistakes in my short sailing time, running aground was down to inexperience, as was the fuel situation after my last trip. Luckily I had enough to get there, but trust me, it was only just enough. Would have been well and truly in the smelly stuff if the weather had turned, and as we had already been responsible for one RNLI launch that season, two would not have gone down well. I try to be very relaxed and laid back about it all, but trust me, at times the old bum cheeks are sucking so hard I find it difficult to get up
You made it back safely, that's the most important thing, and I hope everyone else does the same, bit worrying when some haven't yet checked in but that's life. Oh, and yep, D3B is one hell of a gent, as are so many on here
Happy sailing as soon as you feel up to it again, need a hand just shout, I'm sure there will be plenty of willing hands to help you back into the saddle
 
ChattingLil said:
so, here is my sorry tale:

The trip was very lumpy, but manageable. Having followed Full Circle over we made the return on our own and were doing OK. We all took sturgeron in the morning, but I didn't want to take anymore later in the day because of the drowsiness.

Despite the big rolling sea and fairly stiff winds right on the nose, we managed to have a bit of sail up and motorsailed to Long Sand Head, reaching there about on schedule at 9.30. We turned there and got on teh bearing for the last leg home into the Crouch and were just about to start congratulating ourselves on completing the worst of the journey when the engine died. A quick check confirmed that we had run out diesel. Unfortunately, I only had about 6 litres spare (reasons below).

We put out a bit more headsail and tried to get on a decent bearing but were struggling to hold any sort of course. I decided to radio the coastguard to be on the safe side - to report our position and let them know that we might be struggling to get in. they offered assistance, which we declined, and told them we would continue to try and sail into Harwich. Alas, we just couldn't make it. Wind was right on the nose, seas knocking us about and I knew we didn't have enough fuel to motorsail. after about an hour (lost track of time here) I radio'd again to report that we'd only made about 1nm in the past hour. CG offered assistance - which we gratefully accepted.

Taran was getting anxious, so I was worried about him. Marc got the sickness and Paul and I were beginning to feel a bit weary. It got to the point where it just felt unsafe to continue under our own steam.

We continued to try and make way until the lifeboat arrived - but again, we weren't doing very well and also, we were very close to the shipping into Harwich. The lifeboat arrived at about 11.30 and it took about 20 mins or so to get the heaving line onto Black Magic. The seas were rolling us around so the lifeboat couldn't get very close - it took 5 goes to get the line aboard. Anyway, we got under tow. Marc went below to sleep. Taran tucked up asleep and Paul and I in the cockpit being tossed around like the worst fairground ride in the world for 3 hours. I succumbed to one of my worst bouts of seasickness.

Lifeboat cast us off right outside Shotley Marina at about 3am. Lock was on freeflow so we easily got tied up. I stepped ashore and promptly fell to bits and wept copiously for about 15 mins. Mark Taylor, lockkeeper at Shotley, treated us very well and took us in to warm up and give us hot drinks. We finally berthed on the work boat pontoon and hit the pillows about at 5am.

In morning - D3B (what a wonderful kind person he is) came and picked us all up at Shotley and returned us to Bridgemarsh.

The boat is still in Shotley and I'll be picking that up in a couple of weeks when a) I return from holiday, and b) when I can face it.


It has been remarked that accidents and incidents are rarely down to one thing only, but usually due to a series of events. Having given this a great deal of thought over the past 24 hours I can surmise:

The wind was in the wrong direction for an easy passage, and the seas were big, but we managed them.

My fundamental error was not checking that we could refuel in Oostende and not thinking about calculating fuel use. We left the Crouch with 40 litres and used just over 20 litres getting there. My spare canister carries 25 litres. Not being able to refuel at Oostende, I refilled the tank with that and made an incorrect assumption that seeing as we'd got over on 20 -40 would be enough to get us back. I completely misjudged how much harder we would be revving in the big sea and how much further the distance would be when we were climbing mountains for a lot of the time. It's a very naive and embarrassing mistake to have made and put us and the RNLI into a stupid and unecessary danger.

A BIG lesson learned.

The CG and RNLI were absolutely superb - really, can't thank them enough and their attitude towards us was wonderfully kind and non-judgemental. We're members of the RNLI, but will be sending an extra donation and something to say thanks to the guys are Harwich.

That is about the crux of it.
Click to expand...

A fantastic honest report that will be of enormous help to us all. Please, please think of this as just part of life and sailing.
You will only be the stronger for having gone through the experience that you have.
 
Most of us have made a significant error at some stage and looked back and wondered how we got ourselves into such a situation.

Mine was to rely upon a mate to plot our corse down the East Coast on his computer. It failed and we had a force 6/7 on the nose. I had to follow another boat into Lowestoft at midnight. I did not have the corse plotted and was the only person capable of helming. We were carrying the mast on deck and the boat was rolling all over the place. My error was not to have plotted a detailed corse myself and not to have been prepared to navigate myself. I have never made that mistake again.

You were right to get assistance, better to be safe than sorry. That journey back from Ostende was not easy but you had managed it fine and if you had the fuel it would not have been a significant event. Good that you posted your story as it might make others think twice about the amount of fuel they have for their voyage.
 
A Northwester is never good from Oostende especially a strong one :eek:
Thats why we left Saturday ;)
that is compounded by cold winds & a sea sick crew.
We all cock-up now & then, those that dont, dont usually leave the mooring ;).
Did you come back over Sunday Lisa :eek::eek:
 
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