Sailing Goose Winged
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Patches of cloud covered the sky, and the air was slightly cooler with a breeze coming up from the west.
We motored out through the buoyed area on the Crouch, and once clear of these obstacles, we turned into the wind and hoisted the sails. The main sail proved difficult; something sticking in the slider perhaps.
Swin Spitway Buoy
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Wallet Spitway Buoy
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We then enjoyed a lovely sail, with yachts in front of and behind us, goose winged because the wind was directly behind us. Seals basked lazily on the Buxey Sand and Foulness Sand. Once past the Inner Whitaker and Whitaker buoys, we changed course for a reach down to the narrow channel linking the Swin Spitway and the Wallet Spitway. Then through the channel, we soon passed the Knoll cardinal buoy, and raced towards the Eagle buoy. Behind us stretched the expanse of the Gunfleet windfarm. To starboard lay Clacton, and the Blackwater estuary stretched out before us.
Rex in his Element
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We heard a couple of alert calls over the VHF. A fishing boat had pulled up some ordnance in its nets, and had gingerly returned it back to the sea bed with an orange buoy attached. The coordinates of the buoy were given, and a warning issued to all vessels to stay a minimum of 2 miles from the buoy.
Eventually we had to take the sails down, the sea was now quite lumpy, and yes, one of the sail sliders had got twisted, which explained the difficulty experienced hoisting the sail. A Dutch boat sailed past us, and we found ourselves waving to the same couple I had chatted with at Bradwell. They must have been on their way from Heybridge to Chatham.
Radio Caroline
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We enjoyed a spot of lunch on the move as we progressed up the Blackwater. We had time to spare, so a diversion up past the old Radio Caroline ship was most welcome. Then it was a return to the Nass, a convenient navigation point off the coast of Mersea Island, followed by a course change through shallow waters to take us to the South Channel where we moored to a waiting buoy. We bided our time until there was sufficient water to head off to
Duonita's berth. Of course, as soon as we released the boat from the waiting buoy, we found ourselves surrounded by quite a few Fellowship Afloat training boats.
But we persevered, and reached our berth. It was a struggle to get in since we required a tad more water. Ian was there to greet us and help us with our ropes, which was just as well since the wind was blowing us off the staging, making berthing a bit of challenge.
We shared stories with Ian for a while before getting down to the drudgery of packing our kit away, emptying the fridge and making good the boat prior to our departure. The end of these epic trips is always an anticlimax. Soon we had transported all our kit to the salting's car park, where Meryl joined us with the Davenport taxi. It was good to see her again, and the couple were delighted to be in each other's arms hugging each other again. Time for a catch up with Meryl, storytelling and good food.
