Blockage

It was to be a 50mile, one day passage from Chatham, up the Thames to St. Katharine’s Dock at Tower Bridge. Lisa from the office, generously offered to drive the ‘bus’ back and we arrived in time to ‘lock out’ at the optimum 10am for the tide. The help of the ebb out of the Medway and the flood up the Thames meant that we could gently ‘bimble’ along, under engine towards our window to lock into St. Kat’s.

We did indulge ourselves in a short, slow sail under the jib alone when the light wind swung briefly from astern, but this was the only interlude in what was a pleasant ‘slog’ up to Tower Bridge under a cloudless sky but under engine.

Locking in, we were given a tight berth in the West Basin but with no wind, we managed to dock with aplomb under the scrutiny of the assembled throng, and we soon adjourned to a restaurant for a welcome meal.

Two of our crew were from the company, Dominica and Rob. Rob goes back with us for decades and had enjoyed staying on my previous yacht with his family when it was based in Barcelona, but he had always wanted to make a passage. Over dinner, he was so effusive about the experience, that he insisted on paying the bill for all 6 of us! I was overcome by his generosity and tried to give him my portion of the bill. He vehemently refused and I only subsequently learnt that he had actually paid for the meal on a Company Credit Card… It was team building I suppose… I chuckled thinking what a better story it would have been if he had pocketed the cash donation for my share, and then I subsequently found out that Atom had paid!

It was only the following day that I discovered that the forward heads were completely blocked. Pumping only sprayed water into the bilge and despite several rebuilds, the situation did not recover, so this was to be another headache. The pump was now buggered but was this collateral damage from a blockage? With my wife and her friends arriving, I had to break the news to her when handing her the gate pass as our ships crossed at Waterloo, that the forward heads were out of action, but I did, thoughtfully, provide them with a bucket…

It will HAVE to be fixed before we can embark on the next part of this summers’ adventure – there is work to do, and I know from experience, blocked heads are not a pleasant project.

Dominica writes:

Hey Nick,

Thank you for such an amazing time yesterday! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I loved every minute! Thank you for inviting me. I’m honoured, and it was great to see Hejira, so splendid. You have it all very well organised. I took tips! You are a fantastic host and Skipper which is proven by the smooth passage. I’m sure everyone had a great time too. We saw wonderful sights from a different perspective which is amazing in itself.

Toad writes:

As always Nick has a very positive view of things, whilst the reality is somewhat different; he drove us to Chatham, badly, which took over 2 hours by which time most of us were already travel sick.  That may have been assisted by Rob’s bottle of rum which he was happy to share as we were all ‘pirates’.

Rob also bought all his possessions and overnight gear in a ‘bin bag’ which split as soon as we put it in the van, as did his trousers when he tried to step aboard.  This, combined with his waving at anyone he saw, made him a latter-day Jimmy Saville showing his class to the World.

What Nick also fails to mention is that the air conditioning was buggered; it was like an episode of ‘Tenko’, for those old enough to remember it; 35 degrees, no toilet and no escape…….future crew beware…….and I hope he shares the photo of our trip home on South Western trains, Nick at his finest !!!!!!!