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