Category: Trips

Into the canals

We made a 4.30am start from Blankenburg, leaving the port in the darkness with the bright lights of Zeebrugge port ahead. It was a very calm morning and we motored down tied with just the staysail to stabilise us. Despite being a neap tide, the current was very strong and we were making over 6kt as Zeeland hove into view. We had to wait for a large container ship to pass before turning across the Westerschelde to enter Vlissingen. There were a number of other boats waiting for the ship lock into the canal, as apparently there had been a problem with the lock. We passed through a few minutes after the time for the “blue wave”, where a convoy of boats passes through the bridges opening in sequence.

Our destination was just a few miles up in the historic city of Middleburg. Before we could relax and have a kip after our early start, we were introduced to box moorings. I’m sure we entertained the onlookers but with help, managed to get settled.

Molly motoring up to Middleburg (photo courtesy of E. Frenks)

Cruising along Belgium

Saturday sound Molly of Mylor, Puffin Bach, Plum and Moon River in Nieuwport. We had a morning to available to explore before moving on to Blankenburg with the afternoon tide.

The impressive West Front museum. Nieuwpoort was totally destroyed during the Great War and this museum has many artefacts from that time and focusses on the regeneration of the town after the conflict. The walkway around the top of the museum provides and excellent view of the old town.

The “Goose’s Foot” – the river feeds six canals. Early in WW1, and attempt was made to stop the advancing Germans by opening all the gates and flooding the land with seawater. This was only partially successful. The largest canal has a lock which leads to Bruges and beyond.

The ketch Catherina crossing the bows of Plum off Oostende

Molly and Plum moored at Blankenburg with Puffin and Moon river behind

Dinner and planning for the next day’s entry to the Zeeland canals aboard Molly

Channel Crossing

This summer’s main event is to attend the NL OGA 20th anniversary rally in the centre of The Netherlands.

The first leg was a night departure from Gosport, to Eastbourne. After a couple of days visiting my parents, this was followed by a passage to Dover in the company of my father. At Dover, I was joined by my friend Ben, ready for the Channel crossing itself.

We slipped our lines just after 5am and were cleared by VTS through the Eastern entrance. We motored to SW Goodwin and then turned towards France and crossed into the shipping lanes. AIS makes it much easier to judge when to cross.

By the time we had cleared both lanes, the tide had turned against us. The wind was dead astern and we made good boat speed along the French coast but our speed over the ground slowed to just below 3kt at worst. Eventually the tide turned back in our favour, so the last 15M of coastline passed at 5-6kt and we gratefully entered the river leading up to Nieuwpoort harbour about 13 hours after leaving Dover.

Video: Gosport to Eastbourne

Drills on the river

Less than favourable weather made a trip out of the harbour an unattractive prospect today. Nevertheless Niki and I spent the day gainfully employed in the harbour calibrating the log, some drills up at the Wicor pontoons and a lovely downwind sail back to our berth.

The millennium bridge raised at low tide

Dramatic sky over Portsmouth (we were in the pub by this time!)

Bank holiday ramble

A busy bank holiday at Portsmouth harbour entrance

Looking for a relaxing way to enjoy some slightly mixed bank holiday weather, we arranged to meet Puffin Bach and her skipper Brian (with whom we cruised to Suffolk last summer) at The Folly Inn on the Medina. We had a very pleasant downwind sail from Portsmouth to Cowes and motored up the river to arrive not long after Puffin and were directed to raft alongside on the mid-stream pontoon.

Molly and Puffin rafted at The Folly Inn

Having enjoyed a sunny afternoon with a few drinks in the cockpit, we elected to have some exercise. The water taxi took us ashore and we followed the riverside footpath past Island Harbour into the island’s county town for a curry at Tamarind.

We had decided to visit our friends Grant and Amanda whose boat Meagan is moored on the Beaulieu river. This was both upwind and uptide, so Molly and Puffin motored across from Cowes and then up the beautiful river. We both easily found visitor moorings and Grant graciously picked us up in his tender. We spent a lovely afternoon chatting in the sun and enjoying the fizz we intended to drink during the OGA60 rally last summer, but which was rather precluded by the deluge during the parade of sail.

Brian joined niki and I aboard Molly for supper, after which I rowed Brian back to Puffin. The river is such a peaceful place to spend the night and I enjoyed the range of woodland and coastal bird calls to greet us on the following morning.

Just after low water we dropped the mooring and trickled down a peaceful river to its mouth and then back out into the Solent. The fair tide and and gentle breeze carried us back to Portsmouth and our home berth.

Contessa 32 rally fleet at Buckler’s Hard

Fellow Cornish Crabber 26 going great guns off Cowes

Afloat for the new season

Molly has been ashore for the winter, giving me a chance to more easily carry out some maintenance. When people ask me if I had much to do, I’d reply that I didn’t, but I kept a list and it seems pretty long in hindsight. Most of it was normal maintenance but a couple of things were significant- I have fixed the holding tank pump and I also stripped the spars back to bare wood and varnished them to match the mast, restored last winter.

Molly spent the winter with mast down, sporting a mast cover which Niki made, so was well protected from the elements. The varnish stood up well during a very active sailing season last year and only needed touching up in a couple of places. Raising the mast went very smoothly – it was certainly easier doing this whilst ashore, rather than afloat!

With Molly on her new berth for this season, I spent a day cleaning the topsides and bending the sails back on. To my relief, I had not made any mistakes in my preparation and all went remarkably easily, except for dropping a main sheet shackle in the drink!

Hanging a spanner from the pennant halyard to check mast rake (as nearly vertical as possible)

Easter Monday saw Niki and I take Molly out for a shake down sail. We popped out into the Solent and beat out to the Spitbank Fort on first reef before running back into harbour and sailing up to Fareham, trying second reef and both jibs. To our amazement, all the rigging had been assembled correctly (or at least the same as last year).

Obligatory “first sail of the season” photo. First reef not looking especially tidy.

The only exception was perhaps a change needed to the arrangement of the reefing lines. We also had a chance to practice man overboard drills. Fred Fender was quite happy to be the victim for this task and was successfully retrieved on multiple occasions – we’re not expecting to lose any crew, but thought we’d better practice, ahead of our forthcoming ICC assessment.

Scrambled eggs for brunch in the cockpit

Winter jobs completed

Y Make mast crutches x2

Y Service then winterise engine (oil, filter, impeller, fuel filter, gearbox oil)

Y Fix holding tank pump

Y Clean undersides, sand copper coat

Y Lower rudder bolts

Y Check centre plate wire

Y Check prop shaft for play

Y Check/Replace anodes

Y Lube prop

Y Make mast cover

Y Strip and varnish spars

Y Repair spray hood

Y Fit suppressor to VHF – suppressor fitted

Y Chart locker

Y Water tank lid seal

Y Fit pictures and OGA plate in saloon

Y Change water filter+improve plumbing to cure small leak

Y fix Eberspacher

Y Main sail rings in reef points

Return to the Solent

Having escaped from Chatham marina and made it around the corner of Kent, to Ramsgate, I only had two days to get home to Gosport. This meant two more long days in quick succession for John and I

After a late arrival in Ramsgate (and a short but pleasant evening), we made an early departure the following morning for Eastbourne, again in company with Brian of Puffin Bach.

We had spring tides and wanted to use them to best effect, though the timing was not too convenient. The main tidal gate was Dungeness, but without a particularly early reveille we could not make that with a fair tide. Puffin and Molly managed to leave before 7am and carry the fair tide down the coast past Dover. I put the main sail up, but it was not doing much and we didn’t bother with a jib.

When I arrived at a point two miles from Dover harbour, I radioed VTS to ask for permission to cross, and was told to pass at least a mile outside the harbour. I could see at least five cross channel ferries visually and on the AIS. The latter was really useful for deciding whether I would cross their track safely (ie behind them) and I changed course to ensure this. Evidently my judgement was not accurate enough for VTS, as they called me up and warned me that I would not pass far enough away from harbour, so I duly diverted further around. I did notice a small motor boat pass across the harbour only a few hundred metres out without radio contact, causing VTS to warn every vessel passing in or out, which made me feel better about my misjudgement! My lesson learned was that there is no point in passing close to South Foreland, due to the offing needed for Dover.

As we continued westward, the fair tide decreased and then turned against us. My plan was to pass close inshore after Folkestone, to minimise the foul tide, round Dungeness as close to the beach as possible and then continue in Rye bay out of the flood. It was a hot sunny day and the sea breeze began to fill in, giving us a reach and with the benefit of all sail as well as the iron topsail, we passed about 20m from the anglers on the shore and in nearly 20m of water. I hope we made an impressive sight!

Traversing the low-lying shore off Pett Level, the sedimentary cliffs rose up, leading to Fairlight and then Hastings and Bexhill. My wish to view the sea fronts of those familiar places was fulfilled this time, having been thwarted by poor visibility and rain on the outbound journey.

We reached Eastbourne’s Sovereign harbour almost exactly 12 hours after our departure from Ramsgate, at low tide. The evening was almost completely windless, with three optimistic yachts drifting on the bay. Approaching from the East with the evening sun in our eyes, the safe water mark and isolated danger marks could easily be confused by the unwary. Fortunately, being able to see the boilers of the Barn Hill wreck breaking the surface, the hazard was clear.

After what felt like a very long lock cycle (perhaps a little over sensitive after our experience at Chatham), followed by a stop at the fuel berth, we were no sooner moored, than Brian turned up. Once he was safely tied up, we made straight for the eateries and enjoyed a very nice Thai meal together. This was to be the parting of the ways, as Brian was intending to have a late start, whereas I had opted for a very early start in order to reach Gosport and home the following day.

We took the 0500 lock out and found an easterly breeze already blowing. I had timed our departure to catch the last of the ebb past Beachy Head; we made excellent time round our penultimate headland and set a course to pass just inside the Rampion wind farm off Brighton, towards Selsey Bill. This track was very deep downwind and we were not able to fly the jib, especially with the roll of the gentle swell. Molly got most of the way across Rye bay under engine and main before the tide began to turn back in our favour, and we gave the motor a rest on our approach to our last headland of the journey, Selsey Bill.

Molly passed through the Looe channel under sail, with the wind behind her and the full ebb of a spring tide, at about 7kt and entered her home waters of the Solent again. Passing the familiar landmarks of Chichester and Langstone harbour entrances, I couldn’t resist bearing off and gybing the last few miles with full sail, after all that time dead downwind. Meanwhile, we heard that High Barbaree, after various travails, had left Brighton that afternoon and would arrive in Gosport not long after us.

Molly arrived back on her home berth in the warm evening sun, after 65nm, a little over twelve hours after our departure from Eastbourne, 180 miles from the end of the rally in Chatham and almost 500 miles after last leaving Gosport. So it was John and I enjoyed a celebratory meal at the light ship in Gosport with Liz and Tim before putting Molly to bed for a rest, awaiting hopefully one or two more outings before winter ashore.

Westbound again

Following the OGA60 party and the East Coast cruise, Molly found herself in Chatham Martime Marina, on its heritage pontoon and with almost 200 miles to travel home. I had allowed 6 days for this passage, but circumstances intervened.

We had a sense that all was not well when we locked in to Chatham. We were given conflicting instructions by lock control, the lock was not operated efficiently (ie not full and boats waiting) and on one cycle, both sets of doors were opened at once, allowing a torrent to flow out of the lagoon.

The lock gates broke down on Friday, but we only learned of this when we tried to leave on Saturday. A sorry series of events ensued, during which the marina staff did not cover themselves in glory or demonstrate any particular urgency. We ended up contacting MDL’s head office, which seemed to stimulate events a little and, to cut a long story short, after four days trapped in Chatham marina, the lock gates were fixed and the fleet was able to escape on Tuesday. Suffice it to say that I will avoid MDL marinas in future.

The train of depressions, which the jet stream has been bowling us, had come to an end and we left the Medway with very welcome hot, sunny weather and light winds (ie finally, we started having August weather!). The forecast was for declining winds and I only had three days to compete Molly’s passage home to Gosport. I had been joined for this section by John Frampton, a fellow Cornish Crabber owner (Shrimper 21 to be precise).

Before we could travel West, we needed first to travel East. As we left the Medway, we were treated to flat seas and a steady southwesterly. John and I opted, rather than hugging the shore, to enjoy a good sail and visit some of the landmarks in the estuary.

We had a fair tide to carry us East, so we made for the main Princes Channel, taking in our first point of interest, which was the Red Sand Forts. These are steel structures were observation posts on legs attached to sunken barges, dating from WWII. They are one of a number of “Maunsell forts” (after their designer) whose original purpose was to provide warning of incoming aircraft and deter mine laying in the important Thames estuary. They continued to operate post-war and since their decommissioning have been sometime pirate radio stations.

Nowadays they make a striking but rather eerie and forlorn sight and appear to be deteriorating rapidly. There are moves to preserve them and I hope it comes to pass, as they are a unusual historical feature. Evidently they are a tourist attraction, as we could see visiting motor boats (in addition to yachts sailing close by).

During our tacks down the Thames estuary, we saw another set of Maunsell forts on the intruigingly named Shivering Sands, as well as skimming the edge of yet another array of wind turbines at Kentish Flats.

We passed along the outside of Margate sands at low tide, and could see groups of basking seals, though we dared not approach too closely in these very shallow waters.

Nearing North Foreland, as we lost the shelter of the land, the wind strength increased and the sea grew more choppy. Having passed this iconic corner and we were westbound again and, as John pointed out, we had the whole sea area from North Foreland to Selsey Bill to cover.

The wind was right on the nose, so we motored on main only into Ramsgate. We were followed by Puffin Bach and all of us rapidly decamped into town for some lovely fresh fish and chips, followed by a pint in the very friendly bar of Royal Temple Yacht Club.

Sailing to the East Coast 2: Dover, Sandwich and Ramsgate

Having reached Dover, and with a couple of days of bad weather approaching, I made for Sandwich. When I was planning this trip, I particularly wanted to visit because of the cruise up the creek. This particular river, the Stour, shares its name with my home town, Stourbridge, as well as a counterpart in Suffolk we were on our way to visit.

*Molly* and *Delphyn*, a Contessa leaving Dover

I left Dover with a Dutch Contessa yacht that I would meet again further down the line. We both followed port control instructions to leave via the busy eastern entrance to the harbour. With strong winds and a foul tide, I used engine and staysail to pass the famous white cliffs and along the shore of the low-lying land north of Deal.

The entrance to the river Stour was easy enough to find and the channel well buoyed. I had timed my arrival for an hour before high tide and this gave me plenty of time and depth to get into the river proper. The least depth I saw in the entrance was around 3m, though the main channel in the river was at least 4m.

I’m sure the channel buoy shouldn’t be like that!

I motored past argumentative terns with young, several large groups of seals and many species of wetland birds. The town of sandwich is about 2 miles inland, reached by nearly 5 miles of winding river. I passed two large boat yards and the huge Pfizer pharmaceutical complex, eventually arriving at the lovely town of Sandwich.

The town quay is lined with wooden posts, against which visitors lie, and gives easy access to the town. Sandwich is a very historic place with many buildings dating back to medieval, Norman or Saxon times. I enjoyed a lazy couple of wet and windy days here, exploring the narrow streets. I particularly enjoyed a visit the the small independent cinema, a family run enterprise.

Aptly named street name, given the weather!

The tides are odd here, with the water continuing to flow in for some time after high water, indicating Thanet is still an island, even though the river is much silted up. The friendly harbour master recommended leaving “when you can see the water has just stopped ebbing”. That’s only two and a half hours before high water. In the event, when I left, the water had started to flow in and to turn Molly around, I gently motored her bow into the reeds on the opposite bank and let the flow turn her. I was then able to motor away.

What sort of terns are these? Sandwich terns!

My next leg was a short hop down to Ramsgate to meet two other gaffers heading East from the Solent for the OGA party in Ipswich. The forecast was not looking good and we were waiting for a gap in the weather to make a break across the Thames estuary.

One of the boats, High Barbaree, I’d sailed aboard previously. She’s a Cornish Crabber Pilot Cutter 30, owned by Tim and Liz. The other was unfamiliar to me – a Tamarisk 24 called Puffin Bach. Skipper Brian appeared just at the right time as I entered harbour and took a line for me; I was also cordially greeted by Barbara from Delphyn, the Dutch Contessa that had left Dover at the same time as Molly and who were also waiting for a gap in the weather.

Meanwhile Huw arrived; he had come to sail the next leg with me,. The Solent Crew had a pleasant lunch aboard High Barbaree, during which I invited invited everyone for dinner aboard Molly.

Dinner (well, dessert at that stage) aboard *Molly*

A second very windy day was passed, followed by a very entertaining evening aboard Puffin Bach, with Brian at the Primus stove.

Sailing to the East Coast 1: Eastbourne

Our much anticipated cruise to the East coast, to attend the OGA diamond anniversary party in Ipswich, began a few days early. A forecast for bad weather caused the demise of our planned cross-channel trip, but one good day allowed Niki and I to set off on the first leg of our cruise instead.

It was was a glorious morning to set off, sunny but no wind. We made good time with tide and engine; the wind filled in later and we were able to sail the last few hours of our passage.

After a spirited run past the iconic Beachy Head, we arrived at Sovereign Harbour after 62nm and averaging 5.5kt, about an hour sooner than I had expected!