Shakedown Cruise to Chatham 19th - 23rd April

My aim this year is to keep on top of the blog and get the posts out as soon as possible. How long these good intentions last is anyone's guess.

This year I choose the shakedown cruise and elected to go to Chatham. The logic for this was we are hoping to do some longish sails this year and I thought it would to get right into it. Plus the fact I like Chatham.

As it was the Easter weekend, the lovely ladies from the marina office came round the pontoons bearing gifts.

We started this journey with  quick trip down the Orwell to stay on a mooring buoy at the end of the river. It always gives us a head start in the morning if we have an early start and it is a lovely peaceful night. We went through the lock on free flow, which is always an added bonus. Saves jumping off the boat, tying up and waiting for the water to be at the right level. Once at the bottom of the river I realised I'd not charged up my camera so there are very few photos. However here is a view from the boat, you can see why we enjoy this mooring.

Saturday dawned bright although a bit on the chilly side. We were well wrapped up for our journey.

One day I am going to take a glamorous sailing shoot of me!

There was of course no wind so we had to motor sail. I was really pleased with my passage planning as we got the tides spot on and apart from the first and last hour never did less than 6 knots and we were over 7 knots for 4 hours of the journey. From dropping the lines to mooring up in Chatham took us 8 hours and 50 minutes. I was pleased with this as this also included the time to go through the lock at Chatham. The mileage was 53.97 nautical miles. We were a little worried as we went past the Naze as there were some very poorly marked lobster pots.

Chatham is a lovely marina and plenty to do round about. As we had tickets for the Maritime Museum (when you buy your ticket they last a year), we thought we'd go there on Easter Sunday. Sadly it was an event day (Steam Punk), this meant out annual pass was not valid and would have had to pay (a discounted price) to go in. We politely declined.

Rascal at Chatham

Easter Monday was time to come home. We knew we would have some night sailing because of the tides we didn't lock out of Chatham until 13.00hrs.  The tide was against us in the Medway, which we knew it would be as we wanted to catch the better tides in the Thames Estuary. Once on the Estuary it was wind against tide so it was quite bouncy. 

We went over the Swim Spitway before it got dark (which was planned), and darkness fell as we went up the Wallet. Again the tides were good here as we were hitting 7 knots, which was all tide as we never run the engine hard and there was no wind to sail. We also were sail slightly off the course I'd planned as we didn't want to run into the lobster pots we'd spied on the way there.

The conditions were perfect for the best display of phosphorescence we have ever seen. It was like we had two florescent lights attached to the side of the boat. However I spent less time look at the light display as I was on lobster pot look out. We did see some and I was able to alert John to turn quickly to starboard.

The log got messy and incomplete as I am unable to write in the dark and couldn't find my red light torch! So I'm not sure what time we were moored up by. But I was pleased to have hooked a mooring buoy in the dark and we were sat eating our meal by midnight. We felt the need for something hot.

After another restful night on the mooring we had a full English and headed back to the Marina. Once again we planned it well and managed to go back through the lock on freeflow.

Although it was a good weekend John has said he's choosing the destination of next year's shakedown cruise. 

By the way all was well with the boat apart from gremlins with the auto pilot.

We did 121 nm over a four day period. As we had a loyalty card with MLD Marinas we had a free night there. So paid only one night, however at £41, it's not a cheap marina.

2019 Season

Over the winter we did our normal jobs, engine service, cleaning sails etc etc. We also had to buy a new life raft and they only last bout 14 years and you can't have them serviced after that. So winter is usually a time of expense. It also is a time we use the boat as our caravan on water. So we had many trips down to Ipswich, not just for jobs but also for social events.

We are very lucky that the Suffolk section of the CA (Cruising Association) is a very active section and we attended many of their excellent talks (and meals) over the winter.

Our Marina also organises events and this year we managed to go on the lock tour. We were pleased to get on it as in the past, the dates have never worked out for us. That was an interesting couple of hours. We regularly go through the lock but have never been in the office area to see how it all works. It was interesting to see the lock from a different perspective. Sadly it was a dank and misty day otherwise the views would have been brilliant.

This propeller blade was found in Prince Phillip lock during dredging operations in March 2012. After extensive research it was found to be from a Focke-Wulf during a bombing raid on Ipswich 2nd June 1943. Many were killed that night including the 20 year old pilot. It is thought this blade was from his aircraft, the MOD were informed of the find and are happy for it to be displayed at ONS (Orwell Navigation Service).

John always feels that we can give hours of entertainment to anyone one passing as we put the sails back on the boat. We must be getting better as we achieved this task quite quickly this year.

Nothing says the end of winter like the dehumidifier going off the boat and back home.

A couple of views, one of our friend's boat Fleur on the hard standing. By chance she was placed just above us. So I had to take a photo. The other is our Marina, had to take this one as an ex colleague's facebook tag is Charlotte Rose.

Back to Ipswich 20th August 2018

Once again we were told by the lock keeper what time to lock out and the order we were to report to the lock. We were locked out by 7.50 and ready for our journey to Ipswich.

Like much of the summer there was no wind and it was quite a warm day. It was a very pleasant journey back to Ipswich.

The tides worked well and we were back in the River Orwell and passed Fagbury Buoy by 13.33. Another hour and we were under the Orwell Bridge however we had to wait a while for the lock so weren't moored up until  15.43.

A 40.6 mile journey and home safe and sound.

All in all a good season. For some reason the blog wasn't published till now so appears as May 2019 rather than August 2018. I will be better with the blog next year, though I said that last year.

Heybridge Basin

We had heard of Heybridge Basin and thought we'd give it a whirl. You have to book in as there is limited mooring and you can only get in the lock at high tide. The lock keeper will tell you what time to arrive for your lock in.

It was only a hop, skip and a jump from Bradwell but we decided to stop en route at Osea Island, where we anchored and had lunch. On the way we passed by Radio Caroline, very cheesy I know but I did have Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline at full blast as we went by.

The route in to Heybridge Basin is one that has to be approached with care, you need to follow the withies in to make sure you are in the channel. There isn't a lot of water in this area.

The whole process of getting in the lock is quite straight forward. The lock keeper tells you what time to arrive and when you are in the area you radio in, he calls the boats in the order he wants. Experience lets him fill the lock exactly, in front of us was a huge catamaran and alongside was a slightly smaller yacht with the lovely Maggie. There are also people along side the lock taking the ropes. The only down side was me getting my chain caught on a rope, not sure how, I caught the chain but my gold anchor was lost to the depths. You are also told exactly where to moor.

Heybridge Basin is very pleasant, clean shower block. There was a lot of weed, John had to rescue a spaniel who mistook the weed for solid land and then could not get out again.

Un this picture you can see the withies and just make out the channel that we travelled up to enter the lock. As you can see a lot of mudbanks to run a ground on if you don't stick to the channel.

At Heybridge there were the most unusual garden ornaments! They certainly beat your standard garden gnomes.

Chatham to Bradwell

14th August 2018

Across the Thames Estuary towards Bradwell and this turned out to be the best sail of the season. There was another boat of similar size and somehow we left it standing. After about an hour we decided to put a reef in, once again the 1st reef was still a bit dodgy. We had thought we'd solved the problem earlier in the season, but obviously not. So we put in the second reef. The boat we'd whizzed passed earlier caught us up, however once we sorted the sails out off we went again. We weren't trying to race it but for some reason we were flying.

It really was a brilliant sail, we went across the Spitway at 7 knots, a real yeeha moment. Showed how much our confidence has grown over the years. As at one stage we would have crawled across checking constantly. Now we had confidence in our equipment and navigation skills.

The only downside was when we were nearing Bradwell we were told there was no room at the inn! I had rung up the day before to be told we couldn't book but there wouldn't be a problem. I must have sounded really pathetic on the radio as the marina manager said we could moor up on the fuel berth the only snag was we couldn't do that till after the fuel berth closed at 5 pm. I found a mooring buoy and stayed there until we were able to go in.

We had a very comfortable night on the fuel berth and were moved along early doors by a fishing boat going out as we were in their way. They told us we shouldn't have moored there but I did inform them that's where we'd been told to go by the Marina Manager.  Later in the morning we did get a berth. The boats they'd expected to leave the pervious day hadn't left because of the weather.

Bradwell is definitely as marina that has tide constraints.

Once again we had a good couple of days at Bradwell. We took the wall along the coast to St Peter's church. It is an amazing place. Part of the church is built out of a wall from a Roman Gatehouse. The church is still in use despite being isolated and having no electricity. It is well worth a visit.

On the walk back we found that a pub that had a bad fire a few years previously had just reopened and it was Steak Night, it would have been rude not to have booked in. The food was excellent in fact there was so much we couldn't manage a pudding.

In the village there was a scarecrow competition and I enjoyed looking at all the different entries. People's imagination never fails to amaze me.

This was an area that was very much part of the war. There was a squadron of spitfires and hurricanes, however on the memorial it is a Mosquito. But I do like this memorial, it is also a reminder that it wasn't just the British that fought to protect the UK.

A slightly shaky evening view.

Sailing information
Chatham to Bradwell - 44.8 NM
Time taken  - 8 hours

Ramsgate

2nd August 2018

An uneventful sail to Ramsgate, I say sail but it was one of those days that the engine was off and back on frequently. All in all in an 8 hour journey we had 1 1/2 hours of sailing. True to form just as we were approaching Ramsgate it got quite bouncy as the wind was against tide.

We had won some free nights at Ramsgate so were definitely staying for the two nights. It was very hot during our time at Ramsgate. Which was different to the pouring rain we had last year. Whilst there we took the bus to Margate. Maybe because it was such a hot day, but I wasn't overly impressed with Margate. I had particularly wanted to go an see the Turner Gallery there. From Margate we took the bus to Broadstairs and walked back to Ramsgate via the beach. although hot it was an enjoyable walk.

Another tourist place we went to was Sandwich. We travelled here by train (making the most of our two together cards). It really is a delightful little town, lots of Medieval buildings, and is worth a visit. The trains from Ramsgate are very frequent.

The plan had to then go over to Dunkirk and then work our way up to Holland. The weather wasn't right on the day we planned to go so stayed put a bit longer. However looking at the long term forecast we decided not to cross the channel but make our way back to Chatham.

6th August

Ramsgate to Chatham

After much discussion, we decided that from Ramsgate we would go back to Chatham and hopefully go to the places we'd planned to go in June, but were prevented by the weather.

Next was the passage planning! A choice of three routes one being very shallow. We decided to plump This was the middle of the three routes and although not as shallow as the first route, it was one to be approached on a rising tide as there were shallow bits. It also would take a lot of concentration as there were no real features to look at, just sea and you cant always tell what is deep and what is shallow.

There were several ways we could have tackled this journey. The deeper route was via the Princes Channel, but armed with our trusty copy of Crossing the Thames Estuary and knowing we were on a rising tide we took the route passing near Margate Sands.  This was for the Queen's channel and Kentish Flats route to the Medway. I was pleased we did this as there were lots of seals sunbathing on the Sands. Sadly there was no wind and it was very hot. So it was a gentle but long trip, nearly 9 hours.

Leaving Ramsgate

We walked along here many times.

Believe it or not there were loads of seals on the sandbank. Unfortunately I didn't have the telephoto lens and obviously we didn't go too close. (shallows)

As mentioned before we like Chatham Marina and there is plenty to do in the area. We had a nice walk we could do each night.

Whilst there we went to the Royal Engineers Museum. It was interesting and they did have a tank there that had been build at ROF Leeds. To be more ROF Barnbow, which was based in Crossgates. A place close to my heart as it was where my parents met.

We also paid another visit to the Maritime Museum as the tickets we bought on the last visit were valid for 12 months. Its worth going back as there is so much to see there.

Sailing information
Harwich Pier to Ramsgate 44.1 nm   Passage time 8 hours
Ramsgate to Chatham 49.4 nm.   Passage time 7 hours 27 minutes.