Voyage Logs Archives

Some sailing in August

by Chris | Aug 20, 2024 | Voyage Logs

I drove down to Pin mIll in the afternoon and after prepping and launching the dinghy I had a welcome half pint of Mosiac at the Butt and Oyster before rowing out to Sea Bear and boarding early eve. Time for a cuppa and cook some tea. It had been and hot and sunny day but it clouded over later and there where was a few spots of rain

Some more rain overnight but it had cleared by morning which I spent swabbing down the cockpit and decks to clear the bird droppings. Midday saw me making sail and running down the river with a very light breeze. In long reach we were becalmed so on with the engine after a while, Breeze back by Collimer so tacked down to the Orwell bouy and there turned around and ran back up the river under a 10k SE and so back to the mooring.

Next day was sunny but with a strong SW, about F6. Somehow I didn’t fancy battling the wind so pottered about the boat tidying and sorting. Always worth delving into the deepest depths of the lockers to refresh the memory of what and where you have aboard. I know some do this with lists.

In the night there was strong winds and rain with the wind veering to the NW. By morning it had eased so slipped the mooring, We ran down to Collimer where the wind deserted us. Motored out towards Harwich Shelf, wind returned and now with main, yankee and staysail set headed out past the Pitching Ground. Here I turned around, back in past Harwich and turned up the Stour. Here I anchored in Copperas Bay opposite the wood in about 5 m. I love this spot to anchor, wooded and peaceful and compared to the Orwell very little traffic.

In the night I heard some splashing, venturing on deck there was a seal in the dinghy. Damm that means it will be swamped in the morning. That dawned sunny and windless. Amazing how many buckets of water the dinghy holds and hard work lowering the bucket on a rope, hoisting and emptying. Once the water level is some way down I could carefully lower myself into the dinghy and finishing bailing out, but still half full of water it is pretty unstable and would be so easy to dip a gunwale under.

It was calm, hot and sunny all day, there was a little breeze late afternoon for a while but decided to stay put. I wasn’t in the mood for motoring.That evening, not fancying a return visit of the seal I hoisted the cub out of the water and set it on deck. Not too hard a task using the main halyard and the mast mounted winch. Actually it is another point in favour of having the the main hoist at the mast rather than led into the cockpit so it can be used for tasks such as this.

With a light breeze the next day I set sail, slow progress down past Harwich and out towards Medussa. Somewhat sort of this we were becalmed so I turned around and headed for home. It was a mixture of motoring, motorsailing, and some sailing with many tacks eventually saw us back up the Orwell and on the mooring.

The cub hoisted on deck

A trip to the Roach

by Chris | Aug 1, 2024 | Voyage Logs

Up early to catch the ebb and motored off down the river, no wind at first but the boat felt livelier after the scrub. Hoisted the main by Orwell buoy and by Harwich Shelf we had yankee and staysail set and the engine was off. By and by we were past Walton pier, out to the Wallet buoys and our first tack of the day. The sun was out the winds light, all very pleasant and the tide about to turn in my favour. Sometime later just short of the Spitway the wind died so back to motoring but not for long, crossing the Spitway the wind returned and more strongly 17 to 18 knots. Somehow I let my attention slip, no excuse really but it was windy and bouncy, I should have put a reef in, slowed things down, took more care. I missed the turn down to the Whitaker and found myself by Maplin entrance, oops. Mistake rectified by a little backtracking and off down the Whitaker channel. This was hard going hard on the wind and had to pinch at times to keep in the channel. Eventually we were in the Crouch and then I turned into the Roach and dropped anchor in Quay reach. 44 nmiles and 10 hours.

Quay reach anchorage R Roach

Perhaps not surprisingly next day I felt tired. I had a late breakfast of bacon and eggs and then fell asleep in the cockpit. A sign to take it easy so I did remaining at anchor all day. Next day dawned sunny and fine again but little wind so I motored up the river to Paglesham. Here I picked up a vacant mooring, inflated the dinghy and rowed ashore by Shuttlewood’s boatyard. The old black timber shed is now gone, damaged beyond repair by winters gales. A walk along an unmade lane soon took me the fine old weatherboarded pub of the Plough and Sail. Very pleasant to sit in the sun and sample some good ale, Wallasea Wench brewed by George’s was particularly fine as was Malden Gold from the Mighty Oak Brewery. The inner man satisfied I returned to the boat to enjoy the peace and serenity of this spot up the river.

Plough & Sail

The following day back down the Roach and I turned up the Crouch running under just the yankee. The Crouch was almost eerily quiet, hardly any boats moving and so many vacant mooring buoys opposite Burnham. I ran up as far as Cliff Foot where I anchored awhile deciding to proceed no further. Later I returned to the Roach and anchored in Quay reach, this time across the other side as the wind was from the NE.

Sod’s law of course meant that the wind had switched to the NE for my journey back up the Whitaker. I left early and at hour there was just a breath of wind so motoring with it on the nose was not so bad. Passing Whitaker no5 I headed over to the Swallowtail and followed this up to the Spitway. The wind had gradually built to about 12 – 15 knots so at last I could sail. Abeam wind across the Spitway then tacking up the Wallet, at least it is wide so long tacks. By Stone Banks the wind had increased to 17- 20 knots. Closing in on Felixstowe I dowsed the staysail, partly for control, partly for better visibility forward in these crowded waters. One of the benefits of the yankee is its high cut foot much easier to see under than a genoa. The wind past the docks is always fickle and suddenly it went from 20 knots to none. On with the engine but then there was the shriek of the water alarm from the engine so I stopped the engine. Fortunately or well timed arrival meant a flood tide up the river so after it carried us pass the Orwell Buoy I headed towards the bank and dropped the anchor. I quick prod cleared any blockage in the water inlet but I thought to check the impellor whilst at it and yes cracks in the vanes so I replaced that with my last spare. I sailed back to the mooring just using the engine for the last manoeuvre to pick up the mooring. Put the boat to bed and next morning rowed ashore and went home.

A scrub for Sea Bear

by Chris | Jul 25, 2024 | Fitting out & maintenance, Voyage Logs

Sea Bear on scubbing posts

An early morning drive followed by a row out in the cub took me out to the boat. Fouling seemed particularly bad this year and Sea Bear had been very sluggish on the last trip. I thought it was time for a bottom scrub. I had originally planed to do this via a swim but two things persuaded me against the idea. Firstly the water was quite choppy in the afternoon and past experience had showed me this made the task difficult and unpleasant or should I say even more difficult and unpleasant. Secondly the water in the Orwell is so murky that you cannot see what you are doing. Ok only thing then was to utilise the scrubbing post on Pin Mill hard. Accordingly just before high water next day find me manoeuvering alongside the posts and making secure, a tricky business single handed but we managed. Then come the nervous wait for the tide to ebb, adjusting the lines and ensuring that the boat sits upright on her keel, ideally with a very slight lean into the posts. As soon as the water was low enough, on with the wet suit and overboard to start the scrub. It is best to have water to brush off as you scrub still it is a bit of a race to get it all down before you are left high and dry. Surprisingly the weed wasn’t too bad but there were lots of small barnacles and the prop was very badly fouled with barnacles and growth. Looked liked the antifoul hadn’t worked on that at all. Job done time, for tea and dinner and then a little nap waiting for the tide to return. It was around 3.15 am when we were afloat again, time to free the boat for its multitude of securing lines and motor back out the mooring. It was a very dark night so great care needed to avoid all the other moored boats and spot the pick up buoy. I always prefer to do this without a torch which I find spoils one’s night vision but it does make it tricky. Safely done and so to bed.

June sailing

by Chris | Jul 7, 2024 | Voyage Logs

At long last it looked like some good weather was on the way so I headed off down to the boat. High water was around 10pm. I took advantage after readying the dinghy and parking the car by having a nice pint of Adnams Ghost Ship at the Butt & Oyster before rowing out to Sea Bear with the last of the light. There is always some relief when you arrive and find all well with the boat.

A beer at the Butt & Oyster

Tide times and light at times almost non existent winds precluded any plans for going far so a couple of sorties down the Orwell and back. At least it was warm, and relaxing. Then one day after endless tacking down to the docks at Felixstowe the clouds arrived and the rain poured down and the wind disappeared. On with the engine and motored down to anchor at Copperas Bay. At least the rain. stopped and I could dry out. Next day although I tried to sail but no wind so motored down past Harwich and then with a little wind could sail to Pye End with a couple of tacks. Down the Pye channel to the Backwaters it was touch and go hard on the wind. Then glancing over my shoulder a coaster that goes to the explosives factory up Oakley Creek steaming up the channel. It is a narrow channel but just before high water so plenty of room to move over and for it to pass no problem. And so to anchor in Hamford water.

Gaffer at Hampton water

Out next day a run out down the channel under main and yankee. Out by Pye End I turned and sailed towards Stone Bank. Slow going with a light wind and against the ebb but relaxing. By the buoy I turned for home. Lost the wind closing into Harwich so finished under engine. The forecast remained for very light winds so although it had been a few pleasant warm days (apart from the afternoon of rain) the lack of wind was frustrating and too much motoring needed so headed off home.

When will summer come?

by Chris | Jun 13, 2024 | Voyage Logs

Latish in May I was back out to the boat. After the drive down I launched the cub and rowed out to Sea Bear on her mooring. As it was dry I decided to tackle the leaky dorade box. After taking out all the screws I carefully used a slim scraper to break the old sealant and lift off the dorade box. At first I couldn’t spot any obvious leakage spot but on a good clean up I saw a hole apparently drilled through the deck near by the standup pipe. What! I thought, anyway that would be easy to fill. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning off the box itself and getting ready to refit. thought I would leave that until the morning.

Now normally I lift off the outboard and take the oars from the dinghy before the night. By a combination of a crick in my back, laziness and just stupidity I didn’t. Woke in the night by splashing. Sammy the seal had decided to visit and climbing into the dinghy had upset the oars for one to go off drifting in the darkness never to be seen again. Drat.

In the morning I refitted the dorade box, bedding it on some fresh sealant. Then it was time to bail out the dinghy. I decided I needed a new oar, I did have a set of old ones from an inflatable but they wouldn’t be very useful. It being near high water, off to the pontoon and thence ashore and a nip to Fox’s. At least I didn’t have to buy a pair. That was enough excitement for the day.

Next day dawned, misty and drizzly with hardly any wind but I set off down the Orwell under sail making very slow progress, still what was the rush? I lost track of time but eventually an empty belly prompted a time check. Blimey 12.30 and I was only just as far as Orwell buoy. OK so engine on and make for Pye End buoy. I was just about to turn towards the channel to the backwaters when there was a change in engine note, a quick look behind and white steam from the exhaust shortly followed by the water alarm on the engine. So engine off, no wind but at least plenty of searoom. First I checked that the inlet was not blocked, no that was clear ok the impellor. Now on a Yanmar 2GM, it is not the brightest design, as you have to take off the water pump and associated plumbing to get access. Still I have had a bit of practise at this and tools at hand, some done revealing a shredded impellor. In with a new one, pump reassemled and refitted and we were back in business. A little later we dropped anchor in Hamford water and the sun was finally out.

Rain overnight finally cleared. A lazy day at anchor with strong winds and choppy seas making me forgoing any plans to explore up the creeks in the dinghy. Surprisingly few boats around.

I left the next day just before high water running down the channel under Yankee alone with a strong SW’rly of about 15 knots. This increased to around 20 knots and it was a little rolly run back up to and past Felixstowe and so back to the mooring. It was bank holiday monday so I suppose you shouldn’t expect good weather.

Very overcast in the morning, windy too. It soon started raining. A pretty gloomy day and not warm either. When will summer come? The forecast spoke of a complex low centered on the North Sea, strong NW winds. I had had enough so headed off home.

May shakedown cruise

by Chris | May 30, 2024 | Voyage Logs

At the end of April Sea Bear was put back on her mooring by the boatyard, so on the last day of the month I loaded the cub on the trailer and drove down. After loading the cub then parking up the car and trailor I rowed out to the boat. It was a bit windy and the water choppy but at least it was sunny and it wasn’t cold. First things first , a cup of tea then provisions stored in the lockers then time to cook tea.

Next morning there were a few jobs left over from fitting out, spray dodgers to fit, jackstays, the running back stays and self steering lines all taken at a leisurely pace. The morning sun was lost as it clouded over and there was rain in the eve.

The following day brought a flat calm but by mid morning a very light breeze had filled in. I slipped the mooring and motored down river as far as Colimer before there was sufficient wind to sail. Out past Harwich shelf cardinal which I noted was a new and out to Outer Ridge buouy . Here I turned around and sailed back to the mooring. A nice shakedown cruise with pleasant weather.

The next 2 days were a bit of a washout, thunder and lightening overnight which cleared in the morning but no wind and then it was persistent rain. This revealed a leak above the chart table, taking down the headlining panel showed a leaky dorade fitting.

Saturday the weather was better and with a decent SE of about 8 – 10 knots breeze we set off. Down the river, and tacking out through the harbour and once clear could set a course for the Wallet. A relaxing gentle sail, only difficulty was a haze which made picking out the north Eagle cardinal difficult. Never mind later we set the anchor in Pyefleet, quite a few other boats here.

There was very thick mist in the morning but it did burn off later. Had a lazy day, I had thought to row the dinghy across to Brightlingsea but decided it was a bit choppy for that.

May day bank holiday and as the tide was about to turn I weighed anchor. Weather didn’t look too promising, rain was forecast and it was misty. Out down the channel and with wind from NE I decided to take a course past Eagle and Knoll. One long tack out past Swin to Gunfleet and the tack towards Clacton then back out. By Midday the rain started but with the self steering working I could spend most of the time sheltering under the sprayhood. Several tacks later we were passing Walton pier then out towards Medusa before turning towards Felixstow. The wind was picking up to around 20 knots so a reef tucked in the main and a roll or two on the Yankee. Later we were safely back on the mooring. Rather strangely, despite the rain, poor visibility the wind and the tacking it had been and enjoyable and satisfying sail

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