Monday 17th August 2020 - Woolverstone Marina and Pin Mill

After our rest day we were now actively looking for a weather window to get us south once more. We were really hankering after another trip to the Rosebud in Brightlingsea but the continuous forecast for South or Southwesterly strong winds was a little frustrating. As it happened we also awoke to a thick blanket of fog!

 Eventually we realised that there might be a weather window that evening, and we could just about get into Brightlinsea before the harbourmaster went home. However I was feeling a little conflicted as although we needed to head south, I really wanted to explore a little more of the Orwell with the kids as we are reading "We didn't mean to go to sea" which is set in this area. We finally decided to head up to Woolverstone for lunch so we could at least sail past the famous Pin Mill where John, Susan, Titty and Roger continued their sailing adventures. We then needed to leave by ideally 3pm but definitely 4pm to make best use of the tide to Shotley.

In the end we were a little delayed setting off, the sail was a little too lovely to motor for too much of it and we didn't arrive unti 2:30pm. The marina restaurant was on the "Eat out to help out" deal and had a lovely menu, and the prospect of an evening stroll to Pin Mill meant an easy decision to delay our trip to Brightlingsea.

A really pleasant evening of walking, rope swings, tree climbing, drinking and ice creams followed and Patrick and I headed to bed with alarms set stupidly early to check weather and consider a dash south.

 

Sunday 16th August 2020 - Another day in Shotley

The morning's excitement was the arrival of Esmé's new roller blades. She'd been playing on Clara's under the watchful eye of experienced skater Dave and so decided to buy some with the remainder of last years birthday money. We had managed to get a speedy delivery to Shotley and she was delighted to see David walking up the pontoon with a huge box!

 After lots of fun trying them out AJ cooked lunch for his friends and we enjoyed a chilled out day including a skate down to the Bristol Arms for ice cream before I cooked prawn thai green curry for us all for dinner.

 

15th August 2020 - Lowestoft to Shotley

As low water wasn't until mind afternoon and we didn't want to punch tide for too long on the trip south to Shotley we didn't plan to leave unti about 1pm. I was looking forward to making the most of our last morning in Lowestoft but in the end just pootled round the boat making things ship shape for our journey... it's amazing how much the boat turns into house when you stay in one place for a few days.

The forecast for the forseable future held lots of southerly winds so we took the lightest forecast for the trip south as beating into wind against tide is not comfortable. The result was a pretty long and boring motor... with the added bonus of rain. Not quite the sailing holiday on a luxuary yacht I'm sure some of my friends imagine!

The rest of the trip passed in a lazy blur of bubbles, cards and Heinz beans and sausages with Esmé finally getting dressed and turning into a helpful crew member for mooring up at Shotley.

 

12/13/14th August - Chilling out, eating out to help out in Lowestoft

Not going to bother splitting it into days. The last 3 have blurred into a haze of cheap eating, beach life, swimming, paddleboarding, crabbing and chilling on board. Finally feel relaxed!
(Feel free to use Esmé's photos wearing your gorgeous kit Tiffany Rose)

 And some more courtesy of our friends on Free Wheel:

Tuesday 11th August 2020 - Shotley to Lowestoft

Tuesday 

A 4am alarm in order to be ready to lock out at 4:30 didn't feel too bad, particularly with the prospect of a 7+ hour passage to catch up on sleep once we were on our way. I always love the early starts to take advantage of tide and this was no different. We pottered about getting ready and then put our nav lights on to show we were ready, Free Wheel's were on too. We heard the lock keeper respond to Free Wheel's request to lock out and radioed to let him know that we would be joining them. An easy exit from our berth in the still of the early morning and then a small drop in the lock before following Free Wheel out of Harwich, the sky turning red with the sunrise as we motored past the cranes at Felixtowe.

 
In the end the passage was a little frustrating. With a little too much north in the wind and not quite enough of it to sail efficiently we motored in the rolly swell. Free Wheel tried to sail and tacked offshore but we don't point very well so I chose to motor at least until Orford Ness where our weather app "Windy" suggested the wind would become a little more easterly, and we would change course, both of which would improve our wind angle. Patrick was catching up on sleep down below... I still didn't have my sea legs yet so stayed on deck. I get seasick  but manage it pretty well, however lockdown has meant that I haven't been at sea since this time last year and the swell was making me feel uncomfortable enough that I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway. 

Once we got to Orford Ness I slowed us down, changed course and looked at the wind angle... maybe we could sail. Patrick came on deck and put the main and mizzen up and we gave it a go. The motion of the boat improved a little but we couldn't make anywhere near a sensible course so we motor sailed for a while and i got my head down for an hour or so.

The kids had arranged to try contact each other on their little PMR radios and Esmé tried to contact her friends however I think they were a little to far away to be in range. As we approached Lowestoft we were again hoping for a litte sail however by now the tide was starting to turn and this in turn meant that our wind angle was not good for a sail. By now Free Wheel had caught us up and overtaken us, radioing Lowestoft Port Control asking permission to enter and we followed suit.





AJ then radioed the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht club where we were booked in to let them know we were approaching and we were greeted by the crew of Free Wheel offering to take our lines.

David and Marika had not managed to get any additional sleep so we offered to take all the kids for a walk in the afternoon. We walked a little way to the second pier in the heat of the day before buying slushies/ice cream and bodyboards and retreating to the beach for a couple of hours!

On our return David and Marika weren't back from their post sleep walk so we bought some crabbing lines and the kids spent a happy half hour catching enormous crabs.

All tired from a long day we decided to take advantage of "Eat Out to Help Out" again and had tea at "The Harbour Inn" which was close by having not managed to secure a table at the Yacht Club until the next day.

 

Monday 10th August 2020 - Jobs day and plans

Today was about catching up on sleep and jobs, and making plans for the next few days.The engine hadn't been starting quite as quickly as normal (unusual as we re-engined in 2015 and have been enjoying the reliability) and when we decided to move quickly due to anchor chaos in the Walton Backwaters she definitely took long enough to make me wonder if she was actually going to start at all. The obvious place to start looking was battery power and we contemplated swapping in one of our domestic bank to confirm our suspicions. However, on reflection we realised that although we replaced our domestic bank last year, the engine starter battery has been on the boat since we bought her 9 years ago so clearly didn't owe us anything. Time was tight for finding a replacement so we decided to go online shopping for a next day delivery. At this point, David our new friend from the Yacht Free Wheel rang up offering to take Patrick for petrol (we had used nearly all ours on our multiple outboard journeys at Stone Point). Shotley is Free Wheel's home port so David had his car there and on hearing our need for a battery, very kindly offered to take Patrick battery shopping too! 

Marika, David's wife offered to take the kids for a walk/skate and so I was left alone to deal with the huge pile of laundry we seemed to have generated. Unfortunately the laundry was only open during Shipwreck opening hours and so at 10am I pushed a trolley load full of washing the length of the marina to start my washing marathon only to be told they wouldn't be opening the laundry until 11 as they were too busy unloading beer!

Eventually the laundry was done, battery was fitted and we started to finalise plans for the next few days. Free Wheel was keen to try Brightlingsea (particularly given the north winds forecast) but we had just come from there and I was hoping for heading north... perhaps Aldborough as AJ loves swimming in waves. In the end the forecast had changed slightly to put enought east in the wind to facilitate heading north and David was quite keen to get to Lowestoft. It has a good beach and seemed to have a few poor weather options for the kids if the forecast thunderstorms materialised later in the week. We all agreed that it would be the best place to get stuck for a few days if the weather did turn so planned a 4:30am lock out to make the best of the tide.

That sorted we had a little more time for boat jobs before meeting up for a BBQ on the small beach. The kids enjoyed playing whilst the adults chatted (and I was somewhat amused by the COBB logo imprinted on the halloumi). All too soon it was time to pack up and prepare for the Tesco delivery I had managed to arrange at short notice and we were all pleased that it arrived early. We quickly sorted it out into trolleys for the respective boats and headed back to stow the goodies and get to bed ready for our early start.