mbird

Saturday (contd) Once safely moored, a calming beverage or two may have been consumed in the bar which was invaded rather en-masse by the Salty bottoms (sorry to the RNSYC members for that!) along with a sandwich or two. It was then time to take a walk up the pier to view what we were all there for. The forecasts seemed to have been a bit wrong, so we were pleasantly surprised by what looked (to my very untrained laymans eyes) a reasonably calmish sea state. I have to confess I had never really looked at the sea before with such a feeling of the unknown, and was getting a bit nervous about taking my little boat into the vast expanse! Jonathan (Mariotech) joined us for a look, and to see the fast Sea Voyager rib leave the harbour and what it would make of the sea, to give us a better gauge of what to expect. It was decided we would plan to head out at around 15:00 for a little play so we headed back to the marina to prepare. Gear was stowed, sea cocks closed, laptop and chartplotter software fired up, course plotted, nerves frayed ......... And out we go. The first vision I had through the harbour entrance was what seemed to be a sea considerably choppier that it looked from the pier, and Crackerjack, the most suitable boat among us for these conditions, rearing up at what looked like about 45 degrees . "Holy crap" thinks I! But the more experienced around me seem quite happy to continue out, so I fight the urge to run home crying to mummy and out we go. The exit from the harbour walls was a little bumpy to say the least! At least we were out, and flippin eck don't it look BIG! I opened the throttles a bit and gained speed but didn't get up to the plane. At this point Jonathon was way infront with no hope of us planing hulls catching him, when from behind comes a planing Clandestine (Senator) overtaking us at a rate of knots, only to hit our wash and take it right over the flybridge! Ha, that'll teach him But then, if he can plane, so can I as we have the same hulls! Up onto the plane we go, only to get launched completely skywards and come down hard with a crash. Several more takeoffs, and I'm afraid my testicles just aint that big, so we back off on the throttle a bit. I slowly build up a little confidence, not helped greatly by VHF calls of "your anti foul looks good!" or "nice propellors", but we stay afloat, start enjoying ourselves, and almost get used to the banging the boat is taking (not like this on Breydon ). Jonathon cuts the course a little short, and we now have a following sea, which my trim is totally wrong for and my lack of experience shows, with the bow too far down. We get it roughly sorted and head back for the harbour. The entrance is again a mass of confused swells being reflected back of the harbour walls, but we get through safely and back into the marina with only slightly soiled undergarments, but a huge grin. I'm sure the old-hands will tell you it was only a slight sea with 0.5m wave height and is normal for the North Sea, but to me, it was the Perfect Storm A couple of tinnies were supped on the pontoons, and tales related (I'm sure we were being frowned on by the webcam). The day concluded with an excellent meal at the RNSYC. I think we may have livened up the dining room a bit more than the average clientele, but my face hurt from laughing, and it was a great night. Unfortunately the ydecided midnight was the perfect time to shut the bar, so those of us remaining were kicked out and forced to go to bed

Saturday The day got off to a pretty good start weather wise with lighter winds and some sunshine. We started to be called by Mutford lock to commence the rather long process of getting 9 boats through the lock in time for the 11:15 bridge lift we were all booked in for. The procedure saw ourselves and Gran Cru (Diesel-falcon) being the last boats to lock through at a worrying 11:10am, with a mile to travel through Lake Lothing to the bridge . Our first ever lock through went smoothly (apart from the time aspect) and we were straight into Lake Lothing and Haven Marine. I got shouted at for travelling too fast (okay I was doing 5.5 mph in a 4mph area but I was terribly concious we were late and about to be stranded in Lake Lothing until the 14:00 bridge lift). To compound the worry, Ian (Senator) was in the process of telling Lowestoft harbour that we would be fine with the bridge clearance of 8'6" anyway! "NOOOOOO" I was shouting at the VHF as we need 8'10", but luckily Col (HJII) beat me to it to, and Lowestoft harbour kindly delayed the lift until Gran Cru and ourselves could get to the bridge. The experience of taking our little 10m boat through Lake Lothing with its collection of "proper" ships was really quite exciting, but it did make us feel rather vulnerable As we arrived at the bridge, the lift commenced meaning we only had to try to hold the boat still in a building breeze for a minute of two, unlike the poor peeps who had been waiting for us for about an hour! Once through the bridge a sharp turn into the RNSYC saw 9 boats trying to find spaces to moor in what can only be described as "close quarters". A lot of very expensive marine hardware was just sitting there waiting to be clouted, but we did okay, and ended up rafted onto the outside of Sea Jem (Wayneakp).

I wasn't too sure whether to post this in the coastal area, or holiday tales. As it's a recount of our little holiday, I guess here will do! Apologies for the lack of photos, and the couple I do have are from my phone ..... I forgot my camera Good Friday After some titivating, we left Brundall at around 11:00 am for a pleasant but uneventful cruise down to Oulton Broad. We were lucky with the bridges, neither of which we had to wait long for, and arrived at Oulton around 3 hours later. With my slightly iffy track record of mooring maneoveurs with Serenity, I had been dreading the first ever stern-on mooring all day and part of the previous night too! However, when it came to it, lady luck shone, the wind came from dead astern, and a neat landing next to Sea Hunter was accomplished. Of course I claimed it was all planned that way Some of the other boats were already there, and general chit-chat ensued whilst watching the antics of some very expensive boats in the stiff breeze in what proved to be a very busy Oulton Yacht Station indeed! Some other members were also at Oulton, though not as part of the Salty Bottoms, so hello's and chat were exchanged. We had some visitors for a couple of hours, during which time the heavens opened I was reminded that I hadn't managed to yet waterproof the canopy properly Meaning the seating arrangments were a little restricted, unless you wanted to wash your hair! The chaps from the RNLI came around to each boat to carry out a Sea Safe check and make recommendations on safety equipment which should be carried etc, and then we all moved over to the cafe behind the Boulevard amusements where the same chaps gave a practical demonstration on the importance of maintaining and wearing life jackets. During this demonstration, a certain Lucky volunteered yours truly to make an **** of himself (which of course I happily agreed too) along with some other members. I'm sure the photos of that will follow, though I think I'd rather they didn't Following the demo, Sharon and I took the kids to the Indian restaurant across the road and had a very pleasant meal, during which I ate far too much. We were too tired for socialising after that so bed called to prepare for the unknown the following day

Can I just throw a spanner of caution into the works please? Just because a vehicle manufacturer states the towing capacity of a vehicle to be 3000kg, doesn't mean it is safe to tow at that weight. I was a caravanner for many years before seeing the light and buying a boat, and the recommendation of the various caravanning organisations have always been that for safe stable towing, the trailer (be it boat or caravan or trailer of rubble) should never exceed 85% of the kerbside weight of the towing vehicle. The problem is that most vehicle handbooks tend to state a vehicle can tow a weight often in excess of the vehicle weight, which can result in very unstable combinations, and in worse case scenarios end up with bits of vehicle and trailer strewn over motorways, when the trailer takes charge of the whole combination. Sorry to sound a bit like yer mum, but it is worth thinking about.....

Red jacket was probably me Julz, as I can't afford multi-coloured Musto's

Indeed it is Jonny, but none were to keen to do it topless, as is the tradition with figureheads . Great set of pics Luke, I hope you don't mind but I've knicked a couple for my facebook page. Please thank Claire for risking life and limb to be the photographer, and thank you to you for being such "Special" company I'd also like to publicly thank Ian and Jonathan for the organisation and moral support and guidance they showed to us newbies to the salty side. Without it I don't think I would have been brave enough to try it, and I can't begin to tell how much I have learned these past few days. Even my boat handling seems to have got a little better What a fantastic weekend, thanks everyone

It was no problem Paul. Infact you made a very valid point which could have resulted in one of us less experienced salties getting into bother, so thank you for that

I have edited Lukes post to make it clear this was only a test route for the software, not a route to be followed.

I've just see nthe BBC weather forecast. Oh how I wish I had a waterproof canopy

I think we'd quite like to. We didn't manage to get into the RH on time, so that would probably be quite nice.

With the weather looking as it is, is anyone going to attempt this?

I know the feeling Wayne. And with all those other forumites to take the p**s, er I mean, lend a hand, you can be sure it will either be a perfect landing or an embarassing hash. I put my first scratch on Serentity on sunday, so my confidence is now somewhat lower than it was (and it was pretty low to start with)

Thank you for the benefit of your experience Paul. With a 1m draft, only 2m of water does seem a little tight!

That could be interesting Luke!

It does sound rather like some kids book "Lucky Luke and his Special Beans"

Adam/Suzanne I'm just waiting for my Aunt to get back to me as we were supposed to be meeting them on Friday, but have suggested the afternoon would be better to leave us the evening free. Would there be room for us 4 at RH, or has that opportunity passed?

Right now I am getting a bit nervous All this talk of turning left and islands ....... I think I am gonna need some help when we meet up guys PLEEEEAAAASE!

You recovered okay yet Col?

I'm sure there's a challenge in there somewhere Luke

Thanks for the help. So do you peeps tend to plan the route on the plotter, then transfer the waypoints and route to the paper charts as a backup, or the other way around? I presume you would then print out a passage plan from the plotter to give you the course to steer to each subsequent waypoint?

No heating Luke??? At last, something I have that you don't

Ok, so I've now sussed out how to add waypoints and then create a route from them What I need I think is some pointers as to the best way to create a route. I can happily click at points to generate a route, but should I be trying to "buoy hop" to get a definitive position fix? One thing I note about the route Luke has created is that there are no waypoints which coincide with fixed known locations (eg buoysm marks etc). This is in no way any criticism, Luke, I just have no idea of the best way to plan a route

Welcome to the forum Tracy. Now we are based down south, we will be sure to visit, having had a really good time on New Years Eve (we are the people originally from SIlver End that used to live next to the Wstern Arms that you ran?). And Luke, that photo . Poor little chap looks so happy to have his beans

Excellent, Luke!