Apologies, dear reader, for the tardiness in updating the blog this trip. I just never seemed to have the time while we were away. So here's the rest of the trip summed up in one post
Saturday
Following our Friday blast to Bradwell, we had a relaxing start to Saturday as we only needed to head 45 minutes upriver to Marconi Sailing Club where we picked up a buoy.
We were joining with several friends from the East Coast Forum for an afternoon of man overboard recovery practice followed by an evening BBQ. For Jane and I it was also pick up a mooring with Pagan practice (first time, fairly successful) and dinghy ashore for the evening and return in the dark practice (first time, also successful)
The MoB recovery session was interesting, illuminating and good fun (even the volunteer men and women overboard seemed to enjoy it) and worthy of a separate write up which it shall receive in due course. The evening BBQ and beer was equally enjoyable in the company of good friends old and new. I was forced on pain of pain to get the travel guitar out too and entertained the company with a few songs which seemed to go down well (well, they didn't ALL leave the room!)
The dinghy ride back to the boat was uneventful although we were both glad of our new foulies which are simply superb at keeping the wet where it belongs, on the outside. I made a further excursion to check that one of the other boat's crew had made it back again when I got a call to say their outboard had failed and they were rowing back. As the tide was making quite hard I wanted to be sure they were OK which they were.
Apparently, there were some sleepless nights aboard other boats as it was slightly choppy in the Blackwater but aboard Pagan we slept like logs.
Sunday
We awoke on Sunday to a pleasant but windy autumn day. I'd not been long awake when the phone rang and I remembered with a sinking heart that I'd promised to do a crew swap by dinghy for SV Laurin. Frankly, I really didn't fancy it at all and I was mightily relived to hear that firstly lines had been crossed and it was Roger on Sabre who was supposed to be doing the dinghy work and that Karen and Lisa had decided that conditions were really not suitable and that they'd run down to Bradwell and do the crew swap there
After a light breakfast I made a call to the lock keeper at Heybridge Basin. Happily, they could accommodate us overnight and gave us a lock in time nigh on an hour earlier than I'd expected
That turned out to be a good thing because as the morning wore on it got choppier and choppier and by the time it was time to drop the mooring both Jane and I were starting to feel a little queasy. There was to be no pretence of going sailing today, it was a 45 minute run upriver again and done under motor.
Locking in went OK and we were soon alongside in a handy spot above the lock. We'd have been in the lock for the night but for the fact that they needed to drain it at low water in the morning. A pint ashore at the Ship was followed by a meal aboard before we wandered down to the Jolly Sailor for a couple of drinks in the evening.
My occasional stomach problems struck with a vengeance when we got back aboard and rather spoilt an otherwise pleasant evening. I'd made the mistake, yet again, of succumbing to the temptation of mopping up my lunchtime soup with a couple of slices of bread and I really ought to know better.
Usually, it just results in stomach cramps which clear after a few hours but on this occasion I was properly ill until the early hours of the morning. Hey ho, the problem is responding gradually to my much improved diet and I've just got to avoid temptation in future!
Monday
Yet another leisurely start as we would not be locking out until early afternoon. We needed essential supplies as whilst the No.1 Beer Hold, the Wine Store and the Spirit Locker were holding up well and the Galley Stores would feed us for a couple of months at least, the vital tobacco supply, without a daily ration of which the crew would be sure to mutiny (and the skipper too) was dangerously low.
A pleasant walk up the canal to the shops about a mile away procured an ample supply of this essential ingredient for a happy and contented Pagan crew
We then perused and pondered the weather forecasts with much discussion about what to do. The forecast for Tuesday looked fairly brisk wind wise. Some way short of "no go" territory but rather more than we'd ideally like. We therefore pondered on the possibility of heading straight round into the Crouch from Heybridge.
However, with an afternoon lock out, it would be an arrival in the dark at Burnham (we didn't fancy anchoring in the Brankfleet given the forecast and our ancient ground tackle) and we didn't much fancy that either. Not that we're bothered by night sailing, it was more that we didn't fancy the trip
So we stuck to our plan of bimbling down to the Pyefleet and picking up a buoy for the night. We made a bit of a hash of the first attempt at picking up the buoy but got it on the second attempt. Of course, we had an audience!
It was a glorious evening in one of those special places ....
Tuesday
We awoke to a not unpleasant morning and soon sorted ourselves out to get underway.
Motoring out of the Pyfleet dead into the wind we made all plain sail, an evolution we're still getting the hang of, and set off down the Colne at a fair old lick.
The wind was supposed to be a Northerly veering Easterly later. It had veered early and was bang on the nose when we cleared the Colne Bar and wanted to shape up for the Spitway. It was also unpleasantly lumpy in the outer Blackwater, not an unusual circumstance.
I was also having trouble getting the sails set to my satisfaction, frustrating because she'd sailed so well on Friday. So we rolled away the genoa, pinned in the main and mizzen, and motored up to the Wallet Spitway buoy.
We crossed the Spitway with a wary eye on the depth, which happily never dropped below 1.2m below the keel, and then it was off with the motor as we turned downwind long the Swallowtail channel.
I found to my delight that Pagan sailed along very easily under main and mizzen alone and in 16 to 20 knots of breeze was making more than adequate progress. So adequate in fact that the genoa stayed furled all the way upriver to Fambridge where we arrived alongside several hours before high water.
Our one remaining concern now was getting Pagan back into her berth at or shortly after high water. With a strong Easterly blowing upriver it would be far from easy and I arranged for some help ashore with the lads in the yard.
Steve duly came round at the appointed hour and took one look at the situation and didn't like it at all. That triggered one of my personal alarms - when someone doesn't like something you're proposing, the wise skipper stops and reconsiders. I duly reconsidered and (given that the wind would not moderate for several days) Pagan will be taking up temporary residence on the river pontoon until the next spring tides!
Jane and I dined ashore at the Ferry Boat to celebrate the end of our first trip out and about on Pagan.
I'll write about our conclusions in a separate post later
Saturday
Following our Friday blast to Bradwell, we had a relaxing start to Saturday as we only needed to head 45 minutes upriver to Marconi Sailing Club where we picked up a buoy.We were joining with several friends from the East Coast Forum for an afternoon of man overboard recovery practice followed by an evening BBQ. For Jane and I it was also pick up a mooring with Pagan practice (first time, fairly successful) and dinghy ashore for the evening and return in the dark practice (first time, also successful)
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| How many people can you get in a liferaft? |
The dinghy ride back to the boat was uneventful although we were both glad of our new foulies which are simply superb at keeping the wet where it belongs, on the outside. I made a further excursion to check that one of the other boat's crew had made it back again when I got a call to say their outboard had failed and they were rowing back. As the tide was making quite hard I wanted to be sure they were OK which they were.
Apparently, there were some sleepless nights aboard other boats as it was slightly choppy in the Blackwater but aboard Pagan we slept like logs.
Sunday
We awoke on Sunday to a pleasant but windy autumn day. I'd not been long awake when the phone rang and I remembered with a sinking heart that I'd promised to do a crew swap by dinghy for SV Laurin. Frankly, I really didn't fancy it at all and I was mightily relived to hear that firstly lines had been crossed and it was Roger on Sabre who was supposed to be doing the dinghy work and that Karen and Lisa had decided that conditions were really not suitable and that they'd run down to Bradwell and do the crew swap there
After a light breakfast I made a call to the lock keeper at Heybridge Basin. Happily, they could accommodate us overnight and gave us a lock in time nigh on an hour earlier than I'd expected
That turned out to be a good thing because as the morning wore on it got choppier and choppier and by the time it was time to drop the mooring both Jane and I were starting to feel a little queasy. There was to be no pretence of going sailing today, it was a 45 minute run upriver again and done under motor.
Locking in went OK and we were soon alongside in a handy spot above the lock. We'd have been in the lock for the night but for the fact that they needed to drain it at low water in the morning. A pint ashore at the Ship was followed by a meal aboard before we wandered down to the Jolly Sailor for a couple of drinks in the evening.My occasional stomach problems struck with a vengeance when we got back aboard and rather spoilt an otherwise pleasant evening. I'd made the mistake, yet again, of succumbing to the temptation of mopping up my lunchtime soup with a couple of slices of bread and I really ought to know better.
Usually, it just results in stomach cramps which clear after a few hours but on this occasion I was properly ill until the early hours of the morning. Hey ho, the problem is responding gradually to my much improved diet and I've just got to avoid temptation in future!
Monday
Yet another leisurely start as we would not be locking out until early afternoon. We needed essential supplies as whilst the No.1 Beer Hold, the Wine Store and the Spirit Locker were holding up well and the Galley Stores would feed us for a couple of months at least, the vital tobacco supply, without a daily ration of which the crew would be sure to mutiny (and the skipper too) was dangerously low.
A pleasant walk up the canal to the shops about a mile away procured an ample supply of this essential ingredient for a happy and contented Pagan crew
We then perused and pondered the weather forecasts with much discussion about what to do. The forecast for Tuesday looked fairly brisk wind wise. Some way short of "no go" territory but rather more than we'd ideally like. We therefore pondered on the possibility of heading straight round into the Crouch from Heybridge.
However, with an afternoon lock out, it would be an arrival in the dark at Burnham (we didn't fancy anchoring in the Brankfleet given the forecast and our ancient ground tackle) and we didn't much fancy that either. Not that we're bothered by night sailing, it was more that we didn't fancy the trip
So we stuck to our plan of bimbling down to the Pyefleet and picking up a buoy for the night. We made a bit of a hash of the first attempt at picking up the buoy but got it on the second attempt. Of course, we had an audience!
It was a glorious evening in one of those special places ....
Tuesday
We awoke to a not unpleasant morning and soon sorted ourselves out to get underway.
Motoring out of the Pyfleet dead into the wind we made all plain sail, an evolution we're still getting the hang of, and set off down the Colne at a fair old lick.
The wind was supposed to be a Northerly veering Easterly later. It had veered early and was bang on the nose when we cleared the Colne Bar and wanted to shape up for the Spitway. It was also unpleasantly lumpy in the outer Blackwater, not an unusual circumstance.
I was also having trouble getting the sails set to my satisfaction, frustrating because she'd sailed so well on Friday. So we rolled away the genoa, pinned in the main and mizzen, and motored up to the Wallet Spitway buoy.
We crossed the Spitway with a wary eye on the depth, which happily never dropped below 1.2m below the keel, and then it was off with the motor as we turned downwind long the Swallowtail channel.
I found to my delight that Pagan sailed along very easily under main and mizzen alone and in 16 to 20 knots of breeze was making more than adequate progress. So adequate in fact that the genoa stayed furled all the way upriver to Fambridge where we arrived alongside several hours before high water.
Our one remaining concern now was getting Pagan back into her berth at or shortly after high water. With a strong Easterly blowing upriver it would be far from easy and I arranged for some help ashore with the lads in the yard.
Steve duly came round at the appointed hour and took one look at the situation and didn't like it at all. That triggered one of my personal alarms - when someone doesn't like something you're proposing, the wise skipper stops and reconsiders. I duly reconsidered and (given that the wind would not moderate for several days) Pagan will be taking up temporary residence on the river pontoon until the next spring tides!
Jane and I dined ashore at the Ferry Boat to celebrate the end of our first trip out and about on Pagan.
I'll write about our conclusions in a separate post later
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