An early start was followed by a cracking sail all the way to Harwich!
En route there was much deliberation about whether Pirates would go ahead or if it was more prudent to meet at Shotley and have a meal together given the forecast was for patchy rain and possible thunderstorms. In the end Dave decided we should go for it so we hung around the Pie End Buoy until there was enough water for us to enter the Walton Backwaters.
By then we could see Freewheel on the AIS so we hung around a little longer so the kids could wave at their friends.
As it was still pretty windy and we felt a little sleep deprived we decided to pick up a mooring rather than anchor. I went ashore with Pirate Dave to bury some treasure whilst Patrick pumped up the dinghy... always a little tricky as it doesn't really fit on our foredeck so we end up hanging it from a halyard over the side of the boat to finish pumping it up. With impending dark clouds we discussed getting the kids ashore as quickly as possible and only taking snacks rather than full on BBQ as we strongly anticipated a hurried dinghy ride back to boats in pouring rain. Dave took our kids whilst Patrick and I got some things ready. Patrick was already concerned that he could hear air escaping so we put the pump in the dinghy just in case. It seemed to be staying up so I wasn't too concerned. Next up was to get the outboard on the boat. We padlock it to Laurin when we are not there with a combination lock which had now seized. No amount of WD40, pliers, spanners etc would shift it and tempers were now fraying. Dave said he had an angle grinder on his boat but I didn't fancy using it in the middle of nowhere from a safety point of view. I then suggested the bolt croppers so out they came... it did seem a long shot but rather than cut through it suddenly the lock just popped open. OK, back in business, we got the engine on the dinghy, Patrick started it up and then we realised we didn't have the oars so I went back. The engine stopped and refused to start again. By this time Patrick was loosing the will to live. His idea of a ice time on a mooring is to sit in peace rather than pump up a dingy, fix a broken outboard and shuttle kit and kids ashore, only to do the reverse with the addition of bucket loads of sand to decorate Laurin with. We decided that he would stay on the boat and I would get a lift with Dave... in the end it was a tow!
Once ashore, and having settled the kids who were waiting (not so patiently) for swim gear, normal pirating ensued. There was clearly a miscommunication as David and Marika had brought BBQ stuff but luckily had enough to share. A great evening was had by all and the rain pretty much held off.
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