Eastbourne, squalls, and a view of France

We left our berth at 08-30, and cleared the harbour by 08-40, on a course to pass inside the Goodwin Sands. At 09-30 we got our first view of the French coast whilst making for Dover. From about 5 miles out, Dover looked pretty intimidating, with a whole stream of cross channel ferries coming in and out. A quick call to Dover port authority on the VHF intsructed us to stay 1NM off the entrance, and come across, which we did without incident.

Once past Dover the course took us close to Dungeness Head, with a good view of the old nuclear power station. It was at this point that we started to see some very dark shower clouds, and for most of the rest of the passage we were reefing and un-reefing regularly, with squalls hitting us at up to 40Kts.

 We made Sovereign Fairway buoy at 18-40, and were moored in the marina by 19-20. And, what a marina it was ! Sovereign Harbour is a whole complex of connected marinas, and small cuts into residential areas with private  moorings - very impressive.

 We had two nights in the marina to allow laundry, food shopping, and planning the next leg.

Thames crossing and Ramsgate

The Thames estuary seems to be becoming one big wind farm, with all the local ports cashing in with support services, and dozens of fast power cats moving supplies and people to and from the farm sites. Talking to one of the boat owners at Shotley informed us that on of the main channels through the sand banks in the middle of the estuary, Foulger's Gat, was closed to shipping, as a power cable was being laid. This didn't turn out to much of an issue, and a small detour through Fisherman's Gat sorted us out.

 The wind refused to play ball all day, so whilst fairly strong at times, it always seemed to be just too on the nose to sail. The weather was fair though, with good visibility, if a bit cold. As we rounded North Foreland, the sun was on the lighthouse, and the view was wonderful.

The last hour seemed to last forever, with steep seas, and contrary tide, but eventually we were secured in the West Marina, within Ramsgate harbour. Again we booked two nights, so we could spend a day haveing a look around Ramsgate, and stocking up on supplies.

The town was very pleasant, with a very impressive Victorian backdrop to the harbour which I think was part of the railway system. Tomorrow the wind is forecast to veer to the North, so we are making plans to head off to Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne, a distance of some 60NM, so a full day at sea, but hopefully we will be able to sail rather than motor.

Shotley and Nightingales

The winds were forecast to be quite stiff, so we decided to put on the smaller ( 105% ) genoa, which was a good thing on reflection. After taking the dinghy ashore to post cards and pick up a few more bits & pieces, we finally left the mooring at 13-03 and motored hard towards the entrance into the strong current, making 3.5 - 5 knots. Once clear of the bar, a course was set for the Woodbridge Haven FWB, and then on to cross the Felixstowe approach channel, and pick up the yacht track into Harwich harbour. The wind built up as we progressed with 30kts apparent showing at one point - so a proper vigorous sail - the first of the journey so far.

Shotley Marina is on a small peninsular between the rivers Orwell, and Stour. It is a very modern, clean place which we liked very much, the natives were also very friendly ! Nightingales were reported to sing in the woods behind Shotley, so two nights were booked, to give us the chance to do some laundry, and have a walk in the evening. In the event there was no sign ( or sound ! ) of the elusive birds while we walked, but at one o'clock in the morning they were in full song, and continued for the rest of the night.

During our evening walk, we saw a few interesting nautical manoeuvres with large ships in close proximity, and this David and Goliath situation - power gives way to sail ? I don't think so !!

There seem to be so many places to explore in this area that you could spend a whole summer delving into every nook and cranny, so we decided to log this for a future visit, when we could do it justice, and push on across the Thames to Ramsgate. We left the lock at 09-10, and headed out to navigate the banks and gats of the Thames estuary.

Orford

Gosh, that was an exciting entance ! It had been quite misty all the way from Lowestoft, but all of a sudden the visibility really dropped - to about 50m at times. It was a good job that we had downloaded the most recent information for the entrance from eastcoastrivers.com, as we wouldn't have found the Fairway buoy, and would have had to abandon our attempt to visit Orford. 

 As it was, the buoy loomed out of the mist bang on the bow, but it was several seconds before Sue could see it after I called it out from the bow !

Once we had found the FWB, the other two approach buoys ( Oxley and Weir ) were found without major incident ( again, at the positions given on the web site ), and we were in the river Ore. Once in the river the visibility improved somewhat ( at least we could see both banks ! ). A quick phone call to the Harbour Master informed us that he would be waiting  near the village to show us our mooring, and once safely attached we paid him, found out what facilities were available, and bade him farewell. A little later we used the dinghy to go ashore to have a look around, and buy a few provisions. The following morning we decided to go ashore again to have lunch, and a more detailed exploration. The Norman castle keep is in remarkably good condition, and is maintained by English Heritage. The audio guide was quite entertaining, and we certainly got to find out what every part of the castle was used for.

The view from the top was absolutely fantastic !

We had a very pleasant lunch in a cafe attached to the local Post Office / General Store, then had a look at the rather magnificent church. The whole village had a pleasant 'picture postcard' look to it - we like Orford.

Tomorrow we will go ashore again in the morning to post postcards, then make our way towards the mouth of the river for two hours before HW, then follow a planned route towards Harwich, along the 'recommended track for yachts' on the chart, which avoids the deep water channel for the busiest container port in the country - Felixstowe. Our destination is Shotley Marina - we have been told that Nightingales sing in the nearby woods at this time of year, so that would be a real treat.

Lowestoft : The first major turning point

We had a good mixture of sailing and motor sailing down to Lowestoft, with a fair tide as far as Happisburgh. When we visited a few years ago in Shimry we used the marina run by the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club, but were aware of a new small marina in the north of the dock area called Hamilton Dock. This is run by ABP remotely from the main Lowestoft Haven Marina which is a few miles upstream, just before entering the 'Broads'. We moored up securely, but it did take a little while to contact the marina staff to pay our dues. The Hamilton Dock Marina has all the facilities of the RNSYC with the exception of a fuel berth, but it is very quiet, and almost as close to the high street shops.

Lowestoft is the most Easterly point of Britain, so represents the first major turning point - all points West now for some time ! This compass rose is on Lowestoft Ness itself.

The winds are in the South tomorrow ( Tuesday ), but I need to pick up some spare parts for the autopilot, so we will have a second day in Lowestoft, and then head South again on Wednesday. The current plan is to go to Orford, inside Orford Ness, a little over 30NM, but need to ensure that we arrive a couple of hours before HW to ensure that we get sucked in ! So, another fairly early start; at least the tides will be favourable.

Wells-Next-The-Sea

We ended up staying in Wells for four days, a very pleasant place with lots to see and do. The town itself is has quite a range of shops for a town of about 3,000, including 2 chandlers !! The tide is building towards springs at the moment, and the amount of salt marsh covering at high water is quite impressive, on the other hand, there isn't much water at all at low water. We made up a lead line to check clearance, and on 4th May we had about 6" water under us with the keel raised completely.

The approach channel is dredged continuously to maintain access, and a new outer harbour has been created to support the development of a large wind farm just offshore. 

Moored against the town quay is steel hulled Dutch cargo clipper 'Albatros', this was the last sail clipper to carry a commercial cargo. In latter years she was used for sailing trips untill the cost of insurance made this unviable. Nowadays she is being used as a floating bar / cafe, which we made use of on 4th, Sue having a braised pear, cinnamon, advocaat, and cream crepe, and I had a bowl of rather good Dutch pea soup       

( although some swaps were made ! ). 

Also on the 4th, we had a walk along the edge of the salt marshes towards Blakeney harbour; quite an interesting landscape, with deep creeks cut into the mud, all held back by significant sea defences. On the way back into Wells we had a good view of the town quay, with our pontoon, and the harbour masters office in the distance. 

Have to go now, we have set alarms for 04-30 to catch as much fair tide as possible on a 56NM passage to Lowestoft, and from there we are into unexplored territory as far as we are concerned.

Actual Sailing !

The winds are forecast from the NE at force 4/5 occaisionally 6, and a 'moderate' sea state, so we have decided to have a good passage making day, and move 'NJ' to Spurn Head. Good progress was made for most of the day with winds in the range 15 - 25 knots, taking a single reef in the main sail, and adjusting the genoa from time to time. Tide turned foul around 17-00 making the last few miles fairly hard work, motoring hard into a 3Kt tide into the Humber. We only had a cluster of pilot boats and the lifeboat for company in the anchorage ( Spurn Head has the only permanently manned lifeboat station in the country, as it is so remote ). We grabbed a quick bite to eat, tidied up a little and then went to bed early. We were up at 5-00am, and decided that we didn't want to get stuck in Grimsby, and the Spurn Head anchorage has little to commend it on a cold, breezy, and somewhat misty morning.

So, could we make Wells-Next-The-Sea in time to meet the tidal gate ? It looked like this was the way to go, so we got ourselves together quickly and left the anchorage at 6-30. We motored hard to cross the traffic separation zone at the mouth of the Humber, then sailed east, following the main shipping channel before turning to the south east past the Donna Nook firing range. From Donna Nook the course was generally SE or SSE, passing close to Dowsing and S Race cardinals before turning due south to the Wells entrance. We had tried to contact the harbour master by phone ( no signal ) and VHF ( got the channel dredger but not the harbour office ) so it was not untill we were on final approach that we were able to secure a berth ( sigh of relief ! ). The harbour staff were extremely helpful, and the harbour master even came out to the entrance to guide us in through the tortuous approach channel, which was a big relief. Wells was one of the places I really wanted to visit, as it wasn't very practical in 'Shimry' our previous boat. The Southerly is ideal for places like Wells, as with the keel up she only draws 0,72m. We were quite suprised when we arrived at the pontoon and saw a Southerly 35RS ( same hull as 'NJ', but a different interior layout ) with the same light blue hull as 'NJ', along with two more older Southerlies - obviously good territory ! We will stay in Wells for a couple of days to recharge our batteries ( our's not the boat's ).