East Coast Diary

[Antares_9]

That night the wind really got up and despite being in the sheltered marina at Bradwell, it was fairly uncomfortable.

Tuesday came and the wind was increasing. So we decided that we would stay at Bradwell rather than join some of the club boats that were sailing to Brightlingsea - it can get pretty unpleasant around the Colne Bar as we've found from previous experience and even some of the big, heavy yachts that went off that evening ended up motoring all the way in lumpy seas.

It was one of those weeks where you end up spending considerable time watching the weather and trying to find windows. Another forumite was also keeping an eye on the weather for us and just in case our anticipated Friday window failed to materialise, he had very kindly offered to come and collect us if we had to leave the boat.

We had another couple of sunny (if excessively windy days) and walked around Bradwell and along the sea wall - it's a very pretty village. On Thursday evening some of the other club boats returned to Bradwell after having a couple of days in Heybridge and we all had dinner in the Bradwell marina club restaurant (we can recommend the steaks), played pool, watched the sun go down (a great omen for the next day's weather as the wind was also abating - see photo below) and we all had an early night to make the most of a perceived weather window.

At 5.00 am on Friday us (the only motorboat) and four yachts left Bradwell (at HW) and joined up with two yachts also leaving Brightlingsea. (Other club yachts had variously returned on Wednesday and Thursday in rough conditions of ENE7 all the way with wind over tide!) As we got to the Colne Bar and the Eagle we expected that the conditions would worsen (as is usual), but they didn't and we had an enjoyable if testing journey back in a NE3-5 with a bit of a confused sea off the Naze - at least there weren't many pots out as a result of the weather. Some of the yachts in our group said they put reefs in and prepared for a difficult journey, but were pleased to find the conditions were much better than expected. By 10.00 am the last of the yachts were back on their berths at Shotley.

We went straight out to Foxs's and bought a Navtex and Weatherman which I have now to fit - it will save Rachel having to spend hour after hour on her Blackberry looking at every available weather resource.

That evening the yachts that returned in the very windy conditions in the middle of the week regaled us with their horror stories over a beer or two. The Wallet is well-known as an unpleasant bit of water and whenever we go down there the weather seems to change very quickly. As one of the yachts that we went away with said: "If you have one decent journey down the Wallet, then you always know the other one will be awful."

Still it turned out to be a good week - plenty of sun, good food, company and a few challenging , but enjoyable passages. The only downside was that our planned club BBQ at Wrabness was scuppered by Saturday's rain and wind, but we had a very nice dinner cooked on our ships with Perry & Tina before packing up and coming home.

[pks1702]

Thanks for keeping this thread rolling David sounds an interesting trip and proves yet again that whatever the forecast says it will be ain't always the case. Plan A-Z required as back up's.

I see you blew the dust off that camera some very nice shots there

[senator]

Hi David, lovely shots, glad you managed to get out in some form or other but as Perry says it does show the vagaries of coastal cruising.

We will be making our first passage across the Wallet in August so your information on the stretch of water is all the more pertinent. What is your opinion of Bradwell as a stop? is it worthy of more than one night or a nice place to pop in, see, and then pop back out again?

Will be calling in here then leaving on route to Chatham, is there anything notable about the passage? The intention is to pass over the spit into Middle Deep, assuming we leave Bradwell LW+1.5, working on the assumption that we will carry the flood down to the Medway, there appears to be plenty of water, are there any particularly nasty bits to be avoided on the route down that are not evident from the chart?

Ian

[Antares_9]

Credit for the photo’s go to SWMBO Ian, it’s not something I do unless taking shots of wiring and disassembly stages as an aide memoire.

Bradwell is a nice place to be but like Titchmarsh it has cheese graters for pontoons, though they are much more stable and very long, also they have proper cleats instead of those bloody silly croquet hoops. There can be approaching 12 feet rise and fall inside the marina. I have been in at absolute low tide but it’s not something I would recommend or even suggest. There are a number of small commercial fishermen and charter angling skippers that can be an invaluable source if approached in the right way (that is by buying them a beer). The fuel pontoon is pretty dodgy at anything under half tide so allow being there at least over a tide to conveniently refuel. It’s obviously subjective as far as what the place is like but I didn’t worry about being there for three days, they are very accommodating and the facilities and club house are good. There’s a couple of historic interest places close by if that interests you and the Green Man is always a good place to eat and drink. The nearest village is a decent walk away and has another good pub and community store also bus services to local towns go from the top of the lane near the marina.

As for passage planning from there on and extra information, I've not hit the bottom where it said I shouldn't or any such anomily I recall Perry posted a couple of good pieces of advice on another thread and I could not add any more or even equal as much as he posted, it’s his local stamping ground after all. Usual caveat, skipper responsible for own planning, checking chart updates, NOM etc.

[pks1702]

Can't pass on much more advice than so far but this is probably the best background to crossing the Thames I have seen. But Crossing The Thames Estuary is an excellent publication.

http://www.visitmyharbour.com/harbours/ ... panded.asp

Salutary passage:

Any kind of passage making within the Thames estuary needs to be taken very seriously indeed, this is not the place for a jolly little jaunt up the coast. A passage plan taking into account tides and times of expected arrivals need to be worked up carefully. Sets of carefully selected (and thoroughly checked) waypoints can be used to take you through the channels (or across them if necessary). If crossing channels, always be aware of the tide, and make sure you are following the track on the GPS.

Trust your GPS positions, and treat any buoyage that you see as very suspicious unless it is exactly in the place you are expecting it. Tick off the buoyage as you positively identify it and pass it. Assume nothing. In many ways sailing at night in this area is easier, as the buoyage can be identified positively from a greater distance by the light characteristics.

Not for one minute am I suggesting anyone would view their passage as a jolly but it can be confusing and in area's the room for error is small.

Plan it well, have decent weather and you will wonder what the fuss is about.

Even Dylan got a little confused

http://www.youtube.com/user/KeepTurningLeft#p/c/A5EAE2674C9E2321/10/5-CDtoqZzK0

[jillR]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-CDtoqZzK0&feature=related

[pks1702]

Thanks Jill

For some reason the You Tube link does not seem to work for me.

Second time you have had to come to the rescue

[jillR]

my pleasure

just kicking around waiting for a some spam

jill

[pks1702]

just kicking around waiting for a some spam

You need your Dinner Jill

[pks1702]

A most enjoyable weekend with the weather at last playing ball.

Saturday saw us head up to Wrabness for the Beneteau Owners club BBQ. Yes I do realise we don't have a Benny but I know a man that does We didn't gate crash and were made very welcome.

The slight Easterly Breeze had strengthened through the day and we were being bounced around on the buoy quite well as the wind had the full fetch of the Stour. I was very impressed by David trying to repair his errant Outboard while sitting in his Walker Bay doing an impression of riding the bucking bronco.

The moorings at Wrabness are quite close to the channel used by Coasters going up to Mistly and if on an outside buoy it can seem a little worrying as they head for the moorings and then turn to follow the channel.

Coming Through

Kingfisher on the Left

The ebbing tide and increasing Sea Breeze meant our ships were bouncing around, we had intended to stay overnight but it was clear that it was going to be uncomfortable for some while until the wind eased back so we decided to head back to the marina early evening. Coming back down the Stour saw as impressive wind over tide as I have seen on this relatively benign river both Kingfisher and Kiki were throwing spray everywhere.

Fill her up Landlord!

A pleasant evening blowing the froth of a couple was followed by Sunday morning David stripping down his outboard and getting it running and clearing the salt from our ships. Rachel went off for a play in one of the club members flappy things as part of the preparation for next weeks fun day challenge, Rachel is part of an all female crew sailing against a team of others while David will be introducing a few yotties to a Motor Boat.... watch them with the throttle David. SWMBO will be in hospital from next Thursday so we will miss out but hopefully we are at the end of the current journey.

Martin in the picture below did the ARC last year so the ladies were in good hands - heck it will even be his ship they use !

We had a very pleasant surprise when Merlyn & Lorraine came round to introduce themselves they had been around London and Shotley was a port of call on the way back to Yarmouth. We enjoyed our chat, very nice people they are too.

We gave them a Shotley send off around mid day and they headed off for the 1500 Yarmouth bridge lift bound for Brundall Bay.

[pks1702]

The first line of my post above should say 'playing ball'

Sadly I can't edit it

[Antares_9]

The first line of my post above should say 'playing ball'

Sadly I can't edit it

I can, and I have.

[pks1702]

Thanks David

[mbird]

I thought "Playing Paul" was some sort of yoofamism

[pks1702]

[senator]

Did anyone notice Adams ship had been watered enough to grow a lot go rusty and is now moored in Brightlingsea?

Looks like you had a good weekend Perry, sorry to hear Tina is in Hospital again, hope it is all good news.

Good luck to Rachel in her latest flappy challenge.

[pks1702]

Thanks Ian, hopefully this is the last large operation, she needs to be fit for mooring duties by the end of July as our holiday is planned then

Yes a very good weekend thanks.

[Guest]

Hi Perry,Tina,David@ Rachel

Good to meet you all,great pictures Perry,We had a very smooth trip back to Gt.Yarmouth,a little differant from the day before,comming back from the thames,wind over tide and some very choppy sea's,completly missread it,next time down will make sure time for a bear,the bridges at Gt.yarmouth are becomming a pain,as we were due in at shotly friday,but due to a eletrical fault had to abort and return to limehouse marina for repair's,the marina there are great ,got us back in no fuss,we allso thought shotly was very good,and will be calling in again,hope all go's well for Tina

merlyn @ lorraine

[Antares_9]

Good to see you too Merlyn @ Lorraine, pleased to hear you had a good trip back. Shame it was a flying visit, still, next time...

[pks1702]

Glad you enjoyed your trip round to the Thames Merlyn & Lorraine.

All that debris sharpens you up for East Coast Pot spotting

Glad you enjoyed your brief stay at Shotley if you are down again give us a shout for a beer.

Thanks for your thoughts re Tina we will have to make do with the Shotley Webcam from the hospital this weekend

[jillR]

hi perry

my best wishes for tina

jill

[pks1702]

Thanks Jill

[pks1702]

A pretty lazy weekend given the heat and SWMBO being in recuperation from her surgery, the first mate had no chance of much boating given her operation, but just being ship board seems to aid her recovery.

I had intended to service Kiki's engine but the thought of a hot engine room on a day with 30c plus temperatures was not attractive

David busied himself by starting to turn Kingfisher into a Russian Trawler; before and after photo's to follow

Saturday evening saw the crew's of Kingfisher and Tamara attend a Last Night at the Proms event in Ipswich. This was unplanned but given the weather Ian & Liz suggested it might be of interest and as it turned out it was a most enjoyable experience.

http://www.suffolkproms.com/Suffolk_Proms/Home.html

On Saturday I thought I caught sight of Brigid Mary heading up towards Wrabness and when we heard the lock communicating with Paul in the evening this was confirmed. It was good to meet Paul on Sunday when he popped round albeit fleetingly as he had a tide to catch. Perhaps catch up for a pint soon Paul.

[pks1702]

It's a while since I updated this

Given the grim forecast over Bank Holiday we aborted a run up to the Broads and settled on that old all weather standby Ipswich.

The weekend was made better by a great Sunday lunch at the Salt House http://www.salthouseharbour.co.uk/eaterie/sample-menus

Merlyn & Lorraine popped around to see us as they were down to sort out their mooring at Neptune - Guys you will be spoilt on the food front - look forward to catching up soon.

The run back to Shotley was interesting with a lock escapade - see here: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=9263&p=112165&hilit=lock#p112165

[pks1702]

A better weekend forecast although our foe on this coast Mr Easterly was forecast to be around on Sunday.

We had a run around to Titchmarsh moored up and in the afternoon had a run in the tenders. Unfortunately the tides were early mornings/evenings which meant that there was not enough water to get around the back way to Hamford Water. Plenty of big skies and fresh air though which gave us an appetite for dinner.

Wonder where these will be built now C&J Broom are no more

Hamilton Drives - Great for Ditch Crawling

'Tit Marsh' as the locals call it

We thought about going to Walton & Frinton YC for dinner but as our Yacht club are going there next week we decided to dinner at Titchmarsh. It was acceptable but the Romford Navy was very much in evidence

Big Skies

Getting quieter as summer draws to a close

Handy

Where is the drool emoticon.... Dale Nelson 45 Classic all 750k's worth

Left Titchmarsh on the HW this morning (Neaps) as we passed Stone Point what we half expected materialised and proved why an Easterly not that much is the worst weather direction for East Coast boating there is. A 3-4 blowing for the last 12 hours gave a good beam sea all the way out of the channel towards Pye End; much Red Wine would have been spilt if not rigged for sea Only 12 feet under you and an Easterly breeze soon wakes you from a slumber............... As we anticipated as soon as we hit deeper water after crossing the Pye End 'plain' everything flattened off.