As you'll recall, our intrepid crew were last seen planning an escape from Haslar Marine, Portsmouth early on Friday morning having lost a day due to gales in the channel.
Escape we did departing Portsmouth at 04:40BST, forty minutes later than we'd planned (although the plan had been to depart as soon after 4am as possible and definitely by 5am so we weren't actually late away)
Conditions out in the Solent were not too bad so on we pressed heading for Brighton. "Pagan" has a reasonably large plastic diesel tank of unstated size which I estimated to be around 90 to 100 litres. When we took the boat over it was about a third full (you can, usefully, see through the plastic as there is no fuel gauge). I'd contemplated filling up at Port Hamble and again thought about it at Haslar but then realised that at my best guess on likely consumption under motor (3 litres an hour) we'd be very marginal on fuel if we had to motor all the way from Haslar to Fox's.
So I decided that losing a bit of time on the passage by diving into Brighton for a pit stop was the only option. From Brighton we would have enough fuel with a margin for safety (and a further margin because we'd got 25l of diesel in cans)
With a fair tide we absolutely flew along the South Coast arriving at Brighton at about 10:40BST an hour and twenty minutes ahead of schedule
Forty minutes later we were on our way again with a full diesel tank and a considerably lighter wallet!
Up to this point, our friends and followers had been keeping track of us via the AIS transponder that is part of the existing instrument fit on "Pagan". However, from Brighton onwards we were only being picked up by the shore stations intermittently, if at all. Several people sent me texts to say we'd disappeared! So I fired up the Boatbeacon android app which sends positions over the mobile phone data network (the reason for the AIS transponder failure will become evident later)
The tide had now turned and we went from flying along at 8 or 9 knots over the ground to crawling along at around 4 knots. We were going to have to take at least one foul tide somewhere on the passage and the leg from Beachy Head to Dungeness was it. That was the least worst option overall but boy was it a slog!
We seemed to be staring at the unlovely vista of Dungeness Nuclear Power Station for half a lifetime and matters, slightly to my surprise, didn't improve when we finally crawled past Dungeness Lighthouse. The tide remained foul until we were an hour or so shy of Dover when it finally turned and our speed over the ground shot back up to well over 6 knots.
Approaching Dover was a key decision point. By now, of course, it was dark. It was also cold. And we wee rolling awkwardly in the usual channel swell enhanced by the gales of the previous day and a fairly stiff tail wind. The vote was proposed - press on or stop? The unanimous decision was to press on.
We were now making good speed at last and neither of us felt inclined to waste a fair tide. Nor were we excessively tired having both managed to grab some rest during the day. And critically the cheap gas cartridge heater I'd bought in anticipation of it being cold was proving to be a Godsend.
Although it would have been lethally unsafe to leave the thing burning unattended, we'd found that a few minutes hunched over it in the saloon was sufficient to get warmed up again and that was to prove crucial through the coming night
Rik had suggested, and I had agreed with enthusiasm, that rather than adopt some sort of formal watch system we should simply take turns at the helm and swap whenever the helmsman had had enough. It might not work on an ocean voyage but we found it worked perfectly for our purposes.
We flew past Dover a couple of miles offshore making 9 knots over the ground and fully two hours ahead of schedule (the schedule had been planned at an average speed of 5 knots by the way!). A handy gap in the ferry traffic opened up at just the right moment and on we went
We were abeam Ramsgate less than two hours later with Rik off watch below and I had to disturb his slumbers as this was the critical decision time.
If we pressed on now, we would be committing ourselves to at least another 8 hours at sea, quite possibly more, before we would have the choice of stopping again. However, once again those pesky tides reared their awkward heads. We had a fair tide and if my nefarious calculations were right and if we could keep up the speed over the ground we had a very good chance of keeping a fair tide all the way to our destination.
As before, we both felt OK and inclined to carry on. So on we went!
We simply flew up the North Sea between North Foreland and Long Sand. The starscape overhead was awesome despite the whole of the North Sea being lit up by the numerous wind farms that continue to expand all over the place. I'm not sure why they need to have bright lights on every turbine at night, it seems like a waste of electricity to me!
Reaching Fishermans Gat, a short cut that cuts through the aptly named Long Sand, I reached the end of my endurance and called for Rik to take over. I often claim to be like the Duracell Bunny because I just go on and on and on but the bunnie's battery had run flat in spectacular style!
We went through our now practised handover procedure. Rik crawled out of the passage berth we'd made up on the starboard saloon settee, sparked up the gas heater, warmed up and togged up and then we swapped over. I sat hunched over the heater until I stopped shivering (it was the cold as much as fatigue that had caught up with me), removed the outer layers of my deck gear, warmed up a bit more and the turned the heater off and dived into the berth
Rik now had the helm until Cork Sand unless he ran out of steam - I gave a skippery instruction that I was to be called on the approach to Cork Sand if I wasn't already on deck as the approaches to Harwich are, whilst not especially tricky, not to be taken lightly
My internal alarm clock woke me at just the right moment and I togged up and emerged on deck into the cold light of day at just the right moment. We rounded the Cork Sand Yacht Beacon, made our way into Harwich and then on upriver towards Ipswich
We arrived alongside at Fox's Marina in Ipswich and stopped the engine at 09:55BST an astonishing six hours ahead of schedule! We were greeted by a welcoming committee of fellow East Coast Forum members who helped us tie up which was really nice and appreciated
There was only one thing to do now - a Full English breakfast apiece in the Yacht Club!
That put both of us to sleep pretty damn quick and we hit our berths for a few hours. We were duly disturbed by the arrival of Tony after he finished work.
What a passage!
Apart from having popped the genoa out for a few hours to give us a bit more boat speed, we hadn't had the wind or the conditions to make hoisting the main and mizzen worthwhile so we motored the whole way (which I'd anticipated hence the cogitations over fuel). That was fine, this was a delivery trip not a pleasure cruise and it was not the conditions for messing about
We covered about 170 miles in just over 29 hours at an average speed of about 6 knots
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| The Epic Passage - Portsmouth to Ipswich non-stop |
Then it was time for bed but our adventure continues in the morning ...
Our First Sail
I'll keep this fairly brief! Tony ran Rik up to the railway station and then we set off a bit later than planned but not too late.
We motored down the Orwell and out of Harwich Harbour then, for the very first time, set all sail and switched off the motor.
We were just able to lay the course down the Wallet for the Spitway hard on the wind and, despite a few niggles with the set of the sails which I'll iron out with experience, we simply flew along!
Across the Spitway and around the North side of the Swallowtail bank, we breezed into the Crouch with the now rising wind astern. Goosewinging and gybing our way upriver we rapidly came in sight of our home port.
Dropping the sails was, frankly, a right mess! It's going to take practice to get these evolutions sorted out on a new, and considerably bigger, boat. Lazy jacks have just shot up my wish list and I think we'll probably go the whole hog and get stack packs made for the main and mizzen
I nearly made a disastrous hash of coming alongside the inside of the river pontoon. A deal of cursing and to-ing and fro-ing and I somehow straightened things out without hitting anything but it was a bad moment which left me shaken. (Foolishly, I'd tried to do something that "Erbas" would have handled with ease but which "Pagan" simply won't do which is to power round in a tight space against both wind and tide. I now know better than to try that again!)
After I'd calmed down with a mug of coffee, we sorted out the sail stowage and generally made things ship-shape.
By now the Easterly wind had blown up to a full F6 plus and big waves were rolling up the river. "Pagan" was being thrown around hard against her mooring lines which I didn't like one little bit but there was nothing to be done other than grit my teeth and hope nothing broke.
So here we are at home ...
The next mission is to get "Erbas" ready for sale and move her to Burnham and then the fun job of digging out the berth to accommodate "Pagan".
Conclusions...
"Pagan" motors well and her 38 year old Mercedes trogs along without a murmur of complaint nicely. She used about 3.3litres of diesel an hour, a little more than I'd hoped but we did have the hammer down a bit.
I suspect the blade pitch on the feathering prop is set slightly too fine. She feels a bit like driving a car in third gear - loads of acceleration up to a point but no grunt. That's easily sorted
She sails beautifully and she feels quick, at least to me used to plodding bilge keelers anyway! The sails seem to set well with good shape to them so I don't think new canvas is on the agenda anytime soon
There's a few extra jobs for the "to-do" list ...
The fridge is barely working. I suspect it needs re-gassing.
The AIS transponder is working but we finally spotted the brief error message that had occasionally flashed up on the plotter screen and it seems the AIS antenna is duff. That's a few quid, no big deal
And the autohelm struggled badly needing constant assistance to keep on course. The steering is heavy due to the dodgy bottom bearing on the rudder (which is scheduled to be replaced when she comes out this summer) but even so I suspect the steering motor is tired. I want to replace it anyway, it's simply a matter of priorities
Overall, I am deeply satisfied that she's the right boat for us. A lot of work to do but we knew that and at the end of it she will be the boat we wanted from the start - a bigger and better "Erbas" with an annex!
Bravo the Pagans! :o)
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