A Holiday (on) Melody

[kpnut]

What an adventuresome day. One you won’t forget in a hurry. 
 

Somerleyton is a very pretty village but maybe a bit far for you distance wise. 

I love your littl’un’s cheerful coat. And his icecream.  

The thought of all you boats on the New Cut crabbing sideways down the channel made me chuckle. 

[Broads01]

Wow, I like doing the cruising hours but you guys did some miles today. Thanks for writing up so comprehensively each night, I'm enjoying your story. Flooding pictures are a sorry sight.

[catcouk]

A few observations from this morning's cruise.

I didn't realise just how far you could see Cantley from. I first spotted it just above the Oulton Dyke (about 15km away) and managed to get this photo near Black Mill, south of Somerleyton (about 13km away).

 

Serious question: Why does Somerleyton ask for donations towards the upkeep of the mooring? Isn't that what the river rolls are supposed to cover? The little column to the right is a donations request box.

 

I'm guessing the levels are Berney Arms were REALLY high from the look of where the reeds got to!

 

Lastly, the land on the Yare/Waveney island is very flat. Took this photo of Berney Arms mill from the Haddiscoe New Cut.

[dom]

21 minutes ago, catcouk said:

Serious question: Why does Somerleyton ask for donations towards the upkeep of the mooring? Isn't that what the river rolls are supposed to cover? The little column to the right is a donations request box.

It's a controversial subject. BA are clearly having funding issues, so it's a means by which to beg for money to top up their coffers. I suspect the plan was to install them at every non-chargeable mooring, but this one came in for immediate scorn with a particular campaigning organisation - so they may have had a change of heart. Equally possible they may start popping up elsewhere.

Interestingly, I notice BA are recruiting for a senior accountant, reporting to the Director of Finance. I'd suspect they're employing someone as a scapegoat to protect the FD and CEO from the rapidly increasing scrutiny which BA's finances are coming under.

 

[YnysMon]

By the way, I was having a chat with other members of the Moonlight Shadow syndicate, and we are fairly certain that it wasn’t Moonlight Shadow that you saw at Hardley Mill.

Not surprising, as there are several boats that look very similar, not least her ‘sister ship’ Evening Shadow and a few hires (such as Horning Pleasurecraft’s ‘Tideway’). I’ve almost mistaken Tideway for Evening Shadow before now. Someone once posted that they had seen me take Moonlight Shadow under Ludham Bridge on a particular day, when I hadn’t been anywhere near the Ant.

[kpnut]

2 hours ago, catcouk said:

Lastly, the land on the Yare/Waveney island is very flat. Took this photo of Berney Arms mill from the Haddiscoe New Cut.

The Chedgrave marsh island just about reaches 1m above sea level according to the OS map. 

[catcouk]

Some other photos from today.

[catcouk]

We treated ourselves to a lie in this morning and didn’t leave Beccles until a sedate 8am! Once again, we had the absolute treat of amazing sunshine glistening over the Waveney. I really love this river when the sun comes out. It was a special treat that we more or less had to ourselves. Between Beccles and St. Olaves, we only saw four other boats moving.

To continue our goal of cruising all the waterways, we naturally diverted down Oulton Dyke to Oulton Broad. I haven’t been here since I was a child and have no memories of it but was really surprised by how narrow it is. I know it is a popular powerboat racing spot and there must be some tight turns in places! Some very expensive and interesting waterfront properties here too – definitely a place to play ‘I wonder what job you have to do to earn that?’

It was here that my son was given the freedom to indulge himself on the helm (pretty much for the first time since we crossed Barton Broad on Saturday). Onlookers either thought we were mad or worked out that a child was in charge – we weaved and span all over the place. In fairness, I think this does more to give him a true feel for the helm than my instructions on the rivers – he has plenty of space to experiment and see what happens.

The sun continued to shine down as we continued back down the Waveney. I noticed chimneys in the distance just after we left Oulton Dyke but couldn’t work out what they were. Scanning the horizon with my binoculars, I realized they were part of the works at Cantley (later worked out to be 15km distant using my OS map). I know Norfolk is flat but that is still some distance to see over!

As we approached Somerleyton, my thoughts turned to the swing bridge: the tide was well on the way up by now so I wondered whether we would see the bridge open for us. As it turned out, about 7’10 showed on the board and I reckon that is pretty accurate. It felt like there was only inches to spare above us! It was at this point, I realised a grave error that I had made when replanning our route last week.

Originally, we planned to go to Beccles before Norwich but changed this so that we could meet up with family. I had checked the running times and it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. But, as I am less familiar with the South (especially the Waveney), I had neglected to check the tide state (and thus bridge height) for St. Olaves. As we passed Herringfleet, I did the maths and knew the inevitable conclusion. We approached St. Olaves (with high river levels and the tide still rising) to see only 7ft of clearance (we need 7’08). It would be four if not five hours before we could even attempt a passage and we wanted to play crazy golf on Yarmouth seafront. We turned around and made our way back along the Haddiscoe Cut (which was considerably easier than with yesterday’s crosswind).

‘So what?’ I hear you muse. It’s really only a 40 minute or so detour and would have the added advantage of giving more time after hide tide to get under Yarmouth Vauxhall bridge. Well, this miscalculation has ended my agenda of covering all of the Broads’ waterways below low bridges within the week. We have had to miss the lower Waveney past Burgh Castle. Darn. It’s not like there’s a medal or anything but I thought it would have been a cool thing to achieve (and one that I didn’t think was entirely possible).

We arrived at Berney Arms about 1pm with the intention of a stop for lunch whilst I called the Yarmouth Yacht Station for the bridge height. As it happened, Spirit of Breydon (the ranger launch) had just moored up and even tied up our mooring lines for us (lovely guys). They told me they patrol the entrance to Breydon whenever the clearance below Yarmouth Vauxhall drops below 7’02. We also had a chat about their patrol area (around the ‘island’ as he called it and up the lower Bure, home moorings at Burgh Castle if you are interested) and I was amused by the ranger’s disdain for Spirit of Breydon’s poor handling characteristics compared with the twin screw lifeboats he had helmed in the past (they also have an air draft of 9ft for anyone that’s interested too). This chat aside, they said they were going to mow the grass whilst they were here but would let us know when we had enough clearance which was lovely of them.

They have a direct link to a digital gauge at the bridge (which made me wonder why the public can’t access this information in the age of the Internet – maybe we can and I just don’t know) and said the levels had risen very quickly and expected them to fall just as soon. Sure enough, within about 40 minutes (a perfect lunch break), the ranger told me there was 7’10 clearance. I don’t know how often the gauge updates because it hadn’t long been 7’02 on their gauge? Another point of interest is the height gauge at Berney gave the clearance as just 7ft (10 inches less than the ranger’s digital gauge report) – I guess this makes sense if you were considering a crossing on a rising tide and the length of a crossing could well provide that difference if not more.

It was a much speedier crossing than the battle against the wind a few days ago. Instead of struggling to attain 3.5mph, we had both the wind and tide with us giving us almost 10mph at one point (GPS indicated speed over ground)! I’m not sure I’ve ever travelled so fast on a Broads cruiser! Needless to say, we were assisted to moor up at Yarmouth Yacht Station in the blink of an eye. It was an interesting turn up the Bure though with the speed of the water rushing through!

We were quick to secure the boat so we could get down the seafront. Typically, the lovely weather ran away and hid behind clouds so that we even had the odd spot of rain during our round of crazy golf. My wife loves piers and 2p machines but I was gutted for her not getting the glorious weather to match the pleasant seafront. Having said that, the walk to the seafront was quite an experience. I can’t believe there wasn’t a single chain store between the bus station and the front (something I think should be admired). Also, it was clear that the town had invested in regenerating the main high street and the promenade but appears to have neglected the bit in the middle.

We returned to the moorings with the traditional fish and chips for dinner (very good actually – we used the one nearest to the moorings just the other side of the underpass). My son was in for a shock – the boat had ‘sunk’. To be fair, I had forgotten just how drastic the tidal range here was. Arriving back at almost exactly low tide, the quayside was nearly above Melody’s canopy. As my mum said on WhatsApp – we needed a parachute to get back aboard! Certainly it was quite the trick getting my mobility scooter back on board.

Well, that’s another day done. Just a few bits of housekeeping to finish the post. I neglected to mention heron on my list of birds seen the other day (we saw a new bird of prey with really bright red leading edges on it’s wings today). Broads01 had commented on our cruising distance; as we left Beccles this morning, the GPS odometer went over 88 (I wondered if we were about to travel through time…) and I think we are now at 115. Still annoyed not to have ticked off the lower Waveney though…

[catcouk]

Not quite as picturesque as Norwich but still has it's charms...

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

Someone once posted that they had seen me take Moonlight Shadow under Ludham Bridge on a particular day, when I hadn’t been anywhere near the Ant.

So you may have been "a shadow of your former self".       

[Mouldy]

23 minutes ago, catcouk said:

We treated ourselves to a lie in this morning and didn’t leave Beccles until a sedate 8am! Once again, we had the absolute treat of amazing sunshine glistening over the Waveney. I really love this river when the sun comes out. It was a special treat that we more or less had to ourselves. Between Beccles and St. Olaves, we only saw four other boats moving.

To continue our goal of cruising all the waterways, we naturally diverted down Oulton Dyke to Oulton Broad. I haven’t been here since I was a child and have no memories of it but was really surprised by how narrow it is. I know it is a popular powerboat racing spot and there must be some tight turns in places! Some very expensive and interesting waterfront properties here too – definitely a place to play ‘I wonder what job you have to do to earn that?’

It was here that my son was given the freedom to indulge himself on the helm (pretty much for the first time since we crossed Barton Broad on Saturday). Onlookers either thought we were mad or worked out that a child was in charge – we weaved and span all over the place. In fairness, I think this does more to give him a true feel for the helm than my instructions on the rivers – he has plenty of space to experiment and see what happens.

The sun continued to shine down as we continued back down the Waveney. I noticed chimneys in the distance just after we left Oulton Dyke but couldn’t work out what they were. Scanning the horizon with my binoculars, I realized they were part of the works at Cantley (later worked out to be 15km distant using my OS map). I know Norfolk is flat but that is still some distance to see over!

As we approached Somerleyton, my thoughts turned to the swing bridge: the tide was well on the way up by now so I wondered whether we would see the bridge open for us. As it turned out, about 7’10 showed on the board and I reckon that is pretty accurate. It felt like there was only inches to spare above us! It was at this point, I realised a grave error that I had made when replanning our route last week.

Originally, we planned to go to Beccles before Norwich but changed this so that we could meet up with family. I had checked the running times and it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. But, as I am less familiar with the South (especially the Waveney), I had neglected to check the tide state (and thus bridge height) for St. Olaves. As we passed Herringfleet, I did the maths and knew the inevitable conclusion. We approached St. Olaves (with high river levels and the tide still rising) to see only 7ft of clearance (we need 7’08). It would be four if not five hours before we could even attempt a passage and we wanted to play crazy golf on Yarmouth seafront. We turned around and made our way back along the Haddiscoe Cut (which was considerably easier than with yesterday’s crosswind).

‘So what?’ I hear you muse. It’s really only a 40 minute or so detour and would have the added advantage of giving more time after hide tide to get under Yarmouth Vauxhall bridge. Well, this miscalculation has ended my agenda of covering all of the Broads’ waterways below low bridges within the week. We have had to miss the lower Waveney past Burgh Castle. Darn. It’s not like there’s a medal or anything but I thought it would have been a cool thing to achieve (and one that I didn’t think was entirely possible).

We arrived at Berney Arms about 1pm with the intention of a stop for lunch whilst I called the Yarmouth Yacht Station for the bridge height. As it happened, Spirit of Breydon (the ranger launch) had just moored up and even tied up our mooring lines for us (lovely guys). They told me they patrol the entrance to Breydon whenever the clearance below Yarmouth Vauxhall drops below 7’02. We also had a chat about their patrol area (around the ‘island’ as he called it and up the lower Bure, home moorings at Burgh Castle if you are interested) and I was amused by the ranger’s disdain for Spirit of Breydon’s poor handling characteristics compared with the twin screw lifeboats he had helmed in the past (they also have an air draft of 9ft for anyone that’s interested too). This chat aside, they said they were going to mow the grass whilst they were here but would let us know when we had enough clearance which was lovely of them.

They have a direct link to a digital gauge at the bridge (which made me wonder why the public can’t access this information in the age of the Internet – maybe we can and I just don’t know) and said the levels had risen very quickly and expected them to fall just as soon. Sure enough, within about 40 minutes (a perfect lunch break), the ranger told me there was 7’10 clearance. I don’t know how often the gauge updates because it hadn’t long been 7’02 on their gauge? Another point of interest is the height gauge at Berney gave the clearance as just 7ft (10 inches less than the ranger’s digital gauge report) – I guess this makes sense if you were considering a crossing on a rising tide and the length of a crossing could well provide that difference if not more.

It was a much speedier crossing than the battle against the wind a few days ago. Instead of struggling to attain 3.5mph, we had both the wind and tide with us giving us almost 10mph at one point (GPS indicated speed over ground)! I’m not sure I’ve ever travelled so fast on a Broads cruiser! Needless to say, we were assisted to moor up at Yarmouth Yacht Station in the blink of an eye. It was an interesting turn up the Bure though with the speed of the water rushing through!

We were quick to secure the boat so we could get down the seafront. Typically, the lovely weather ran away and hid behind clouds so that we even had the odd spot of rain during our round of crazy golf. My wife loves piers and 2p machines but I was gutted for her not getting the glorious weather to match the pleasant seafront. Having said that, the walk to the seafront was quite an experience. I can’t believe there wasn’t a single chain store between the bus station and the front (something I think should be admired). Also, it was clear that the town had invested in regenerating the main high street and the promenade but appears to have neglected the bit in the middle.

We returned to the moorings with the traditional fish and chips for dinner (very good actually – we used the one nearest to the moorings just the other side of the underpass). My son was in for a shock – the boat had ‘sunk’. To be fair, I had forgotten just how drastic the tidal range here was. Arriving back at almost exactly low tide, the quayside was nearly above Melody’s canopy. As my mum said on WhatsApp – we needed a parachute to get back aboard! Certainly it was quite the trick getting my mobility scooter back on board.

Well, that’s another day done. Just a few bits of housekeeping to finish the post. I neglected to mention heron on my list of birds seen the other day (we saw a new bird of prey with really bright red leading edges on it’s wings today). Broads01 had commented on our cruising distance; as we left Beccles this morning, the GPS odometer went over 88 (I wondered if we were about to travel through time…) and I think we are now at 115. Still annoyed not to have ticked off the lower Waveney though…

Here is a link to the Project Troll website.  According to their aspirations, they are installing electronic measuring at all Broadland bridges, but at the moment, only a few are covered, including the ones at Yarmouth.

https://www.bridgeheight.com/index.html

[YnysMon]

4 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

Here is a link to the Project Troll website.  According to their aspirations, they are installing electronic measuring at all Broadland bridges, but at the moment, only a few are covered, including the ones at Yarmouth.

https://www.bridgeheight.com/index.html

We made use that that on our last trip, and very useful it was too.

[catcouk]

9 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

Here is a link to the Project Troll website.  According to their aspirations, they are installing electronic measuring at all Broadland bridges, but at the moment, only a few are covered, including the ones at Yarmouth.

https://www.bridgeheight.com/index.html

LOVE this. Fascinating to look at the data over time as well. Ludham Bridge would be very useful (and, given my day, St. Olaves too).

[dom]

1 hour ago, catcouk said:

‘So what?’ I hear you muse. It’s really only a 40 minute or so detour and would have the added advantage of giving more time after hide tide to get under Yarmouth Vauxhall bridge. Well, this miscalculation has ended my agenda of covering all of the Broads’ waterways below low bridges within the week. We have had to miss the lower Waveney past Burgh Castle. Darn. It’s not like there’s a medal or anything but I thought it would have been a cool thing to achieve (and one that I didn’t think was entirely possible).

Every cloud... At least you've got an excuse to come back again now

If you happen to come back again a bit later in the year, it's worth trying to be at Oulton on a Thursday evening when they're racing. I suspect your lad would love it.

[Broads01]

Fear not, your chance to cover the entire navigation hasn't passed. You can still go back south tomorrow as far as St Olaves Bridge and then that's the south Broads done. How about it?😄

[marshman]

Catcouk - don't worry too much about the twelfths rule on the Broads as it doesn't really apply!!!!! Too many other factors involved and indeed when I passage plan, I work on, in normal conditions, 5hours of food and 7 of ebb. Having said that there are many variations on the theme, but unless you are near Yarmouth, its all fairly incidental!

[marshman]

And yes, I think it was a marsh harrier - whereabouts was it?

[grendel]

10 hours ago, catcouk said:

They have a direct link to a digital gauge at the bridge (which made me wonder why the public can’t access this information in the age of the Internet – maybe we can and I just don’t know)

Look up project Troll - this gives certain bridge heights, Gt Yarmouth being one of them

https://www.bridgeheight.com/

[grendel]

the bridge height can rise or fall by a foot easily, while you are crossing Breydon, I once passed Burgh castle showing 8 foot on the gauge, and by the time I got there , it was under 7 foot and still rising- and that was only about 1 hour after slack. (it doesnt usually worry me as I only need 6 foot)

[catcouk]

10 hours ago, dom said:

Every cloud... At least you've got an excuse to come back again now

If you happen to come back again a bit later in the year, it's worth trying to be at Oulton on a Thursday evening when they're racing. I suspect your lad would love it.

I think I'd love it too. Sadly, the costs spiral up after the Easter holidays.

[catcouk]

7 hours ago, marshman said:

And yes, I think it was a marsh harrier - whereabouts was it?

Between Polkeys Mill and Berney Arms.

[SwanR]

10 hours ago, marshman said:

5hours of food and 7 of ebb

I love my food but I think I might struggle with that.  

[catcouk]

Change of plan. Wroxham was fit to burst tonight with both NBD and Brinks full of their own craft. We managed to squeeze into a ridiculously tight spot in Brinks' marina so we could visit Roy's and Wroxham Miniature Worlds. However, hearing it was turn around day and being stuck in a yard felt a bit naff. So...

For the first time ever, we are attempting an overnight mud weight on Salhouse Broad! The signal isn't great here but I'll try to post later. Here's hoping we don't slip and end up in a hedge!

[SwanR]

Wroxham felt much busier when I was there at lunchtime. More traffic, more people, and more boats. 

[catcouk]

It was a bumpy ol’ night at Yarmouth YS (facilitated by the necessary loose mooring lines). We woke up to an overcast and grey morning which seemed to match the surroundings. The staff there were very friendly but, honestly, if we wanted to visit again, I’d probably advocate mooring at Reedham or somewhere else close to a railway station and just take the train! It was fascinating watching the speed that the bridge gauge climbed with the tide though. Every time I looked at it (as we were moored opposite) I swear another three inch marker disappeared. Probably a whole foot in less than 45 minutes!

We set off at a leisurely 8.20, heading up the Bure with Wroxham being the target. As we left the Great Yarmouth 5mph speed limit, the weather seemed to be tuned to the natural beauty of the emerging surroundings. By the time we were at Scare Gap, it was so hot and sunny, I almost put shorts on! Almost…

It feels like it has been a holiday of spotting things from a distance. To be fair, the last time I was this far down the Bure, it was pretty foggy. I was amazed (again) to spot Cantley peeping at me over the horizon from just below Scare Gap. In my mind, the North and South are totally separate worlds – seeing a landmark from the South was quite jarring!

The chug up to Acle was unremarkable (except that, again, we could have moored at Stokesby but a new Lego model was captivating the boy this morning so the park didn’t stand a chance). Up to this point, I had practically forgotten that we have to share the rivers with anyone else. Over the past few days it had become the norm to pass only a handful of other boats on the Southern rivers (and the occasional kraken, of course!). But this little world view came crashing down as we passed Acle bridge. We entered the moorings alone but had a flotilla of four following us as we left. It makes sense why so many people would stay above Acle as there really aren’t any tides to consider but the change was so drastic!

Whilst we skipped past Upton Dyke (I’m considering small dykes like that ticked off just be passing them) but chose to go onto Malthouse Broad. I was pleased that no one else followed us so it almost felt like we were on our own again. The moorings were pretty much full on the staithe (has anything come from anyone arguing the mooring fees there?). We had a quick look around but moved on.

I always love cruising through Horning and have since I was a child. It feels like a village was built on the river and they have all chosen to use the river and boats instead of cars. Some places even have a small dyke and boathouse where the rest of the world might have a driveway and garage. I know they all have road access on the other side but I prefer the fantasy version I have in my head!

My son was impressed by the sight of the Southern Comfort paddle ‘steamer’. The magic of seeing that boat was lost for me when I realised the paddles barely touch the water so I assume they are for show? After that though, I was in for a right shock – there was an actual free mooring space on the BA’s Horning moorings!!! I have never seen this rare sight and even took a photo for posterity! (Full disclosure: I saw the boat leave the mooring and I think our friends from the evening at Beccles were turning  around to take the space so it was empty for a matter of minutes.)

We chugged on enjoying some sandwiches as we approached Salhouse Broad. I was pretty sure we would need to stop when we got to the spit and, sure enough, there it was. The fabled ice cream boat! It really is a tourist trap novelty but they do serve good ice cream!

In keeping with the ‘grand tour’ agenda, I kept to the Bure past Wroxham Broad (not sure I’ve done that before) and we passed one of NBD’s ‘paddle steamers’ at the upper entrance to the Broad (are those paddles actually functional?). I was surprised to see a sign informing me that there was a £5 charge for mud weighting overnight on Wroxham Broad. Firstly, how is that possible – can you own a body of water? Secondly, how do they enforce that?

Just like with Horning, we chugged past the mythical river villages on the banks of Hoveton and Wroxham and followed the river up to the bridge. Given our air draft, we were never going to pass the bridge so I intended to moor at NBD. Not a chance – the place was packed full. I’d already passed a pretty full looking Brinks so started checking my captain’s manual for the location of Summercraft. However, I spotted a tight stern mooring place in Brinks’ marina. I have never performed such a tight stern mooring (it almost doesn’t look possible given how close the boats are) but, with a very slight fend off from a Rexmore, we gently moored up in the exactly form fitting space. I genuinely surprised myself!

As my son and I both love trains, we went and had a look around Wroxham Miniature Worlds. I swear that place was formed just because a load of blokes were told to take their toys out of the house by their wives! Naturally, my son absolutely loved it and almost squealed with excitement each time he moved his stall and ran to the next thing to look at. The ‘Lego room’ is quite something to behold – Mrs Catcouk commented on the sheer value that must be within that room.

After a drink in McDonalds and a food top up at Roys, we were back at the boat by about 4.30. The boy and I had a wonder around the marina looking at all the lovely hire boats we couldn’t afford. When we got back, the wife commented that we really should be doing something with the sunshine and that this boatyard was a bit depressing. Looking at the time, we talked through a few options and decided to head (as already reported) for Salhouse Broad. Leaving the mooring (which was now completely full) was an even bigger challenged than the mooring. Honestly, I don't know how the bigger craft leave there (although, thinking about it, they all have bow thrusters, don't they?). Anyway, my wife said that her observation had made it look effortless - thanks, Love!

Of course, this time, we cruised through Wroxham Broad so, once again, the boy was given the helm. Whilst the wife supervised, I decided to go ‘tank commander’ and pop my head up through the sunroof. Melody has these awesome bench seats that allow crew to look out the front with the same view as the helm – why don’t more boats have this? – but also provided a great standing point to get an elevated view. The sun and the gentle breeze were amazing!

As we entered Salhouse, we were treated to a flock of geese with some goslings (very cute indeed). We had to spin the boat round a few times to afford my wife the opportunity to get some good photos. As expected, the stern moorings of the broad were very busy and I began to consider our alternative of Cockshoot Broad (but that was a risk being an hour away). I did spot a tight spot we could have used but realised this was only marginally better than the boatyard but that we would have to pay £12 for the privilege. That was when the mad idea struck me.

There were already three other cruisers on mud weights that looked pretty settled for the night. The weather is calm and lovely. So I suggested our first ever overnight mud weight. Now, I see this as a similar exercise to laying at anchor. We’ve done this a few times over lunch but I have always been nervous to do it overnight. I have anchored as part of a yacht crew on the Solent overnight but we had to take it in turns to sit watch to make sure we didn’t go anywhere! But, with others doing the same, I decided we’d give it a go. And…

So far, we are loving it! We actually had dinner on the foredeck in the setting sun. Using the emergency escape hatch from the forward cabin as a serving hatch, all three of us sat there, bobbing around in almost perfect peace. The wife commented that this felt so special that it could almost be our last night and I know what she meant.

Being worried about the mud weight, I picked a couple of ‘transit’ points I’d could keep an eye on and, nearly three hours after arriving, we really haven’t moved (aside from a bit of swinging around due to wind direction changes). I don’t know how soundly I will sleep tonight with the slight niggle in the back of my mind that we are relying on the mud weight and no one is keeping watch. However, this is proving to be an amazing new experience and certainly a massive upgrade on the Yarmouth Yacht Station…

[Signal here is terrible but will attempt to upload photos in a bit]