Blockage cleared

The mission to purchase a replacement pump turned out to be easier than I had at first feared, I only located replacements in Dunfermline and Felixstowe but I finally found a replacement in Portsmouth. This just (only?) required a drive and a substantial payment. Installing the pump the next day confirmed that there was, indeed, a blockage requiring further dismantling. The offending article turned out to be a large wipe which was sufficiently strong to be teased out of the pipework in one piece!

This despite my lecture in the car about only flushing one piece of toilet paper!

With the problem sorted, Paula and I attempted to drive back to Sunningdale but, with London compromised by Palestinian demonstrations, it took us 3 ½ hours… Not a great weekend. And that’s enough whingeing!

Our original crew of me, David and Richard made our way back up to SKD on the train, in time to victual and lock out into the Thames along with several foreign yachts.

We carried the ebb and made good time, but I was reminded that to ‘push on’ was contrary to my previously expounded mantra of ‘slow down and take the time to enjoy’.

Late afternoon, we sought to slip into Ray Gut, off Southend, behind the shelter of the drying sands, but we were late on the tide and, although we should have had sufficient depth, we touched with the keel not quite fully raised and I ‘bottled out’.  We turned around and anchored inside Southend Pier for the night – again.

This is more for the sailors amongst the readership (such as it is) but we were alternately ‘wind rode’, then ‘tide rode’ as the strength of the influences fluctuated. (we did experiment with raising the keel, but with little improvement.) I had assumed that we would be wind rode and opened the portlight over my bed head for ventilation, not a wise move as, when Hejira turned, serval ‘slops’ came in – imagine someone throwing a bucketful of water over your pillows… This combined with the wash from the regular ships that passed up to the docks, it didn’t make for a comfortable night.

In the morning, we discovered low battery voltage, which was inexplicable, particularly with the capacity still showing 85%. We had used the windlass, raised and lowered the keel but, having been under engine all day, it was a puzzle, the AGM batteries are only 2 years old… Running the generator restored an acceptable charge but it is now a situation under review.

It was with some relief that we lifted the anchor and resumed our passage in another fresh wind over the stern. Our multiple course changes to avoid the many banks and shallows meant that, to avoid multiple mainsail gybes, we only flew the easily managed jib. We made good time and entered the Orwell River between Felixstowe and Harwich. We berthed in the Woolverstone Marina which is also part of the MDL group, so it cost no extra, which was popular with the crew.

The much-acclaimed Monimar Restaurant in the marina was closed on a Tuesday so we took what turned out to be a lovely walk, to Pin Mill and the traditional waterside ‘Butt and Oyster’ pub. They provided excellent food and beer and we wandered back for an early night, replete, and a welcome 9 ½ hours of sleep, having decided to stay put the next day and catch up on jobs.

We had considered sailing beyond Lowestoft to Wells-next-the -Sea (I have been there before in Hejira) and even on to Brancaster Staithe (where I used to sail and still retain a mooring) but the weather and timings suggested this would have been unpleasant. With our wives booked on flights to Holland, prudence, unusually, carried the day and we will sail up to Lowestoft and moor in the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club marina. We will tackle the 120-mile passage to Den Helder overnight and hopefully, enter the canal system.

There are specific canal routes through Holland which allow transit with the ‘mast up’ but we had learnt in the SKD lock from a Belgian yacht that there are a number of bridge closures and that some routes are impassable. They kindly Emailed me a web site which lists the up to date status of the bridges, with the planned closures, but this doesn’t account for spontaneous failure of course, which apparently happens frequently. I have passed this on to Richard and tasked him with evaluating the routes, so any issues will be his fault. No pressure Richard!

Richard writes:

The phrase; ‘slow down and take time to enjoy’ penned by Nick needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Although I’m sure he means well, his brain works at a hundred miles an hour with non-stop planning, and lists. Victualling lists (the one in front of me starts; vodka and milk – priorities!) and job lists. Very long job lists! This one starts; bilge and forward heads. I wonder who will get those two?

Working out whether any of the bridges on our planned ‘mast up’ route through the Dutch canals will be closed, is no mean task. There are 29 of them, just to get to Haarlem, where we are meeting our wives. It means sifting through an extensive spreadsheet of planned maintenance works and some closures due to the NATO summit, although this will be over by the time we get there. Imagine getting to bridge number 28 and it’s closed.

Leaving London was almost as special as arriving. The views from the river are spectacular and continuously changing, revealing some of London’s most remarkable sights and architecture, although this ends when you reach the Thames barrier and things become much more industrialised.

Anchoring off Southend Pier was interesting. Firstly, going aground in Ray Gut on a falling tide and then a night of terror! Imagine being constantly rolled and pitched, with the screaming of the wind in the rigging, hanging onto your bunk for fear of falling out, and this for eight hours. Not the best night’s sleep for the crew. But it was reassuring, and quite pleasing, to know that Nick’s wide, comfortable, double bed was wet!