Friday 1st May Ref: 2015/5
These are the actual details of our cruise on 1st May 2015 from Ipswich to Great Yarmouth, which then was extended to complete the cruise up the River Yare to Brundall, where we moored once again at Broom Boats. This was undertaken early in the morning until late in the afternoon, a sea passage of over 10 hours at 6-8 knots through the water, with three of those hours manoeuvring in rivers and estuaries . It was started firstly against the flood tide off of Harwich as the breeze was from the north-east as expected at that time and so, even though both of these factors of wind and tide were against us, the two acting in concert minimised the waves to about 0.8m, which were 'smooth' seas. Later on the 2 knot tide will be with us but against the wind and waves rose to near 1m in seas still considered to be 'slight to moderate' in nautical parlance.
This complete passage took us around 72 nautical miles down the Orwell, past Harwich and then follows the coast of Suffolk and Norfolk, preferring the deeper water and avoiding the sandbanks until we enter the inshore waters of Lowestoft and then Great Yarmouth before cruising up the Port of Yarmouth to catch a pre-booked rise of the Haven Bridge at 4pm LT, after which we crossed Breydon Water and first stopped at Berney Arms to walk our patient dog Max and then carried on up to Brundall.
This cruise was due to be undertaken with fellow Broom Owners' Boats Moonbow and Escape II, with whom we had already cruised through Ipswich Dock lock and down the Orwell to moor up at Woolverstone for the night. Then, from 8.30am onwards we will continue with additional Brooms expected to join the convoy after a later start from Ipswich. However, Moonbow had family problems and had to leave Woolverstone in the night and Escape II was plagued with engine problems on one side which restricted their speed to 8 knots (days later, they discovered an eel had lodged itself in the inlet manifold!!)
The remainder of the cruise steamed on towards Lowestoft on an inshore passage and pulled well ahead of us but were troubled with the lobster and crab pots that populated that choice of route and kept their attention focussed on getting back in a 'bumpy' sea. We were happier in an offshore route via The Sledway and so were left to supervise Escape II safely back through Yarmouth and up to Reedham.
Weather 17degC→28degC→18degC ; RH 45→27→34%; 1010→1011mb steady ; smooth/slight/mod seas; good/visibility; light breeze fresh at times
