Weather forecasts remained consistent for today, with winds of force 3-4 predicted, reducing 2-3 during the day, making good conditions for our long sea passage. From Seaport Marina its a very easy route out to sea, and we were clear of the harbour wall almost too quick for me to get the fenders stowed. As we passed the pierheads we had moderate visibility of about 1 mile, and switched our VHF to foghorn as a precaution. Six miles off the entrance, a tanker loomed up out of the fog dead ahead and we were pleased to have our trusty old radar to help us keep a good watch. It's an unbelievably straight 96 mile leg from the IJmuiden fairway buoy to the South Corton South Cardinal Mark at the entrance to the Holm Channel of Great Yarmouth, probably one of the most straightforward passages we have ever done.

20 miles offshore the visibility closed in to less than a quarter of a mile and we had to reduce speed to 10 knots to give us time to react to any vessels which might cross our path. Worse still we had to stop watching Monty Python's Life of Brian which we had been enjoying immensely. With one of our plotter windows set to 1:1 million we could see both coastlines and our only consolation was to watch our onscreen boat crawl gradually closer to home. Fortunately the fog didn't last long and the captain soon switched off the seat belt signs and restarted the in-flight entertainment.

Our passage was timed to arrive at Great Yarmouth at low water, so that we would have the option of cruising under the low bridges and continuing on to Horning. Our enforced speed reduction put this timing in jeopardy and once the visibility was clear we had to push on in order to get there in time. Being neap tides, we would only have a short window to get under the bridge, and with only half full fuel and water tanks we would be slightly higher in the water than we might otherwise be. We spent the remainder of the passage trying to remember how to calculate tidal heights and working out the clearance under the bridge at various states of the tide. We didn't have much spare time and so we had to use the two miles of river between the Gorleston entrance and the Haven bridge to dismantle our canopy and radar arch whilst going along. Of course nature does not always do as is predicted and when we arrived at the appointed hour the tide was still ebbing. At the second attempt, and with just two inches to spare we squeezed under the bridge, although we had to forego our height gauge as we could not afford the safety margin that we had designed into it.

The weather remained bright and sunny for our cruise upriver to Horning and it was nice to see all the familiar riverside sights that make Norfolk feel like home. There was even a trio of sailing yachts in full flight on the river, led by our old sailing boat, Cirrus (with the red sails).

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 123 nm

Total to date: 1570 nm

Avg Speed: 11 knots

Duration: 11:00 hours

Diesel: 664 litres

Wind: SW 2-3

Bridges

Vauxhall footbridge (3.2m)

Vauxhall road (3.3m)

Charts

1801.9

AC2322

AC1504

AC1543

AC1536