Monday
A bit of a weird weather window..... calm seas, and a wind strength of 10-15 knots but the various different meteorological models that we look at seemed to disagree considerably on direction. We much prefer it when all the models agree but it was the only obvious weather window this week so we set our alarms for 1:30 with the intention of leaving at 2am. We usually leave Burnham at high water but this time chose to leave a little earlier to ensure we would arrive in Oostende in daylight. As usual the kids opted to stay asleep for as long as possible which left Patrick and I alone on deck. Although we are both capable of standing night watches alone, on passages that aren't a full overnighter we choose to get an early night the day before and then both stay up on deck until daybreak before taking it in turns to catch up on sleep. Dawn came with an all too familiar view of the windfarm on Gunfleet Sands.
Patience got the better of us adults and we didn't manage to wait for AJ to wake up before I was digging the bacon out of the fridge and making sandwiches en route.... a far cry from the last trip where it was too rough to cook at all.
Both kids flitted between being up on deck and chilling out in their cabin down below. On one occasion whilst I was alone on deck I spotted the recently refitted liferaft had worked its way a little loose. I went back aft to sort it out, a temporary solution as it would really need to be lifted off its cradle to adjust the strap, when suddenly an alarm went off. Hands full of liferaft I didn't respond kindly to Patrick sticking his head up and asking me what was going on. Once the liferaft was secure I turned my attention to the high pitched squeal and realised it must be the bilge alarm. Patrick was quick to lift the floorboards to see rather more water than is normal, switched the automatic bilge pump to manual and pumped the sump dry. No more water coming in, good news! We have a very clever bilge panel which was an absolute pig to install. Our sump only has space for one bilge pump and float switch in the bottom which can be a problem as float switches are prone to getting jammed. Our solution was a £20 bilge panel from Force 4 and a second "Water Witch"sensor which is positioned about a foot further up the sump. If the float switch fails and water gets to the Water Witch then the alarm sounds and supposedly the bilge pump operates. We weren't sure what was quite going on but checked the bilges frequently for the rest of the journey. Some water always gets in through the stern gland and so the bilge pump keeps this in check.
An hour or so outside Oostende we picked up phone signal again much to the kids delight and I phoned the Royal North Sea Yacht Club harbourmaster to let him know we were on our way. He said he could fit us in which is always a great relief despite there ALWAYS being room. On entering the marina we were gobsmacked at the amount of boats. I've never seen it so full with boats rafted so deep you could almost walk from one pontoon to the other. We were directed to a tiny space 3 boats out and felt decidedly precarious. We were extremely tired and decided we would be fine for the night and we would re-assess in the morning. We decided to walk to eat then walk to the Port Police so that we would be free to either stay on the boat or move in the morning if need be.
Despite being told that the Port Police would be open 24/7 last time we were there, there was no sign of life. Patrick and AJ went for a walk round the railway station to see if they could find another entrance whilst I hunted for a phone number. Eventually I got through and a pleasant gentleman came to let us in. We then sat in the dark whilst he took our passports away and rebooted his Schengen system.
No waffles could be found at this late hour so back to the boat for a nightcap and bed.
Tuesday
A walk to the bakery, fresh pastries and bread followed by a lazy morning and eventually moving Laurin to the outside pontoon which would be more rocky but safer. Patrick decided to take a look at the bilge pump float switch and very quickly decided it was an electrical problem. My turn!
Taught AJ about continuity checks whilst checking that the float switch worked. Next easiest thing to look at was the Water Witch sensor. Unscrewed it and submerged it in water. Alarm went off and bilge pump pumped. Well at least that part worked. On reflection realised there was a short somewhere closer to the Force 4 magic box of tricks. Opened the spaghetti filled junction box and started to pull things out. All the self amalgamating tape I had painstakingly covered each connection with had self amalgamated together. As I pulled it apart I saw some shiny bare metal. Hmmmm. With everything pulled apart the bilge pump worked as it should. Taped everything up again with electrical tape and shoehorned it back in the junction box, squeezed the lid on. Everything still worked. That'll do for now!
AJ was feeling a bit out of sorts but we dragged him out for a waffle lunch... this time trying the take away option to save a few pennies. It was delicious but VERY messy. AJ and Patrick took great delight in laughing at me making as much mess as Esmé.
Back to the boat for a siesta, planning to head to the beach early evening for a swim. It was too hot in the middle of the day for us. After a lovely sleep I put a small gammon joint in the thermal cooker and we prepared for the beach when suddenly a boat sped by and the boat rocked violently from the wash. We were all grabbing items around the boat to stop them from going flying. This was significantly worse than being at sea. Things calmed down and then it happened again, only this time Patrick saw that it was a coastguard boat. Then the sirens started.
We were pretty much ready for the beach so started to walk towards the sand only to hear a helicopter approaching. It was clear by now that something was very wrong. We spent a fair while watching and waiting. Multiple agencies were clearly looking for someone in the water. We watched while ribs big and small got as close as they could to the harbour wall and lifeguards joined hands and "dredged" the sea for as far as they could reach. After about an hour of searching we're almost certain nothing was found and they all went home. We're hoping that perhaps somebody mistakenly thought they spotted someone in trouble rather than some poor family going home without a loved one. We watched our kids even more closely than usual whilst they played in the waves until exhausted, Esmé catching her first ever wave on the bodyboard.
Back to the boat for dinner and then bed.
Wednesday
Another bakery breakfast followed by Patrick and I giving Laurin's decks a good old wash down. AJ then drove us off the pontoon. I was still trying to make sandwiches when we were overtaken by a big boat causing considerable wash, and then when we exited the harbour there was rather more swell than expected and rather less wind! Next time I'll make lunch BEFORE leaving. In the end it was a pleasant motor sail up to Vlissingen, crossing the entrance to Zeebrugge wasn't too bad but as we approached Vlissingen it got very busy and it took both Patrick and I working together to get us across the busy channel safely. The AIS on the chartplotter is ok but we still both prefer INavX on the aging iPad.
On into our first lock in a long time and AJ proved that he has still got lassoing skills when it absolutely mattered. Happily the little marina on the right just before the first bridge had space for us and we negotiated our first box mooring for 6 years. Kids happy with excellent wifi and all of us happy with the very reasonably priced food. Delicious Mussels, ribs and chicken nuggets, 2 deserts to share and 2 rounds of drinks for 68 Euros.
Back to the boat for blog writing and a final photo from Esmé.
Great start to the holiday, I'm really interested to hear about Vlissingen
ReplyDelete