 Duonita Standing Proud in Tollesbury Saltings |
By 17:00 there was sufficient water to cast off our mooring lines. As we headed out along the South Channel, Rex pointed out a yacht stranded on the cob to our port side. "That yacht had been moored in the channel. During a strong wind last April the rope binding her to her mooring line had parted. Unfortunately there had been a very high tide at the same time, resulting in the yacht being deposited onto the top of the cob. It will have to stay there until an equally high tide can float her off, or the owners dig her out - not a pleasant prospect."
We busied ourselves checking all the systems on the boat. Normally we would undertake a shake-down trip at the start of the season to identify any problems that may have arisen while the boat has been out of the water during the winter lay-up. However, a major problem did occur when we launched the boat earlier on. The heat exchanger had badly corroded away and needed to be replaced. Barry, the local marine engineer, managed to obtain a generic heat exchanger, and with some modifications, was able to install it and prove it out the week before departure. Just in time engineering at its very best. We like to live dangerous - at times.
Like many times before, we motored out past the Nass, then glided past a series of navigational buoys with fairy tale names such as Bench Head, Eagle and Knoll. There was hardly any other craft on the estuary. Were we missing something? Hugging the Wallet Spitway buoy, we crept through a narrow channel as we passed the Buxey Sand towards the Swin Spitway. Steering to a north easterly course, we skirted the Gunfleet Windfarm to our port side. It made a pleasant change to be on the other side of this windfarm rather than gazing at it from the East Anglian coast.
As we headed up the King's Channel, the London Array Windfarm stretched like a forest to starboard. We were now encountering cargo and container ships running up the channel. It had been three years since we last sailed these waters on a long trip to the Netherlands. We discussed fond memories of trips from years gone across the North Sea. The excitement of crossing the North Sea was still as fresh as the first time we crossed it.
I undertook the first watch, 20:00 - 00:00. I had the whole world to myself and for the first time in ages became besotted by that marvellous moment when the glowing red sun sinks below the horizon; always truly magical at sea. A pale purple smudge on the horizon betrayed the location of Felixstowe docks; no land visible, just the tops of the towering cranes.
Weaving through anchored ships soon we were passing the large Galloper Windfarm. Rex took over at midnight.
 Looking at the Essex Coastline from Behind Gunfleet Windfarm |