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- Category: East Coast Cruises 2019
- Hits: 2898
Tuesday 11th June Ref: 2019/1
A trip to locate Lady Martina at the Breydon Water tidal pontoon ready for the following day's first trial sea trip to Lowestoft. a very damp and late culmination to the voyage with Low Water at Neap Tides meaning that light was fading as we finally moored for the night and dried. Lady Martina behaving well, but a failure of our Bridge monitor and key issues with the MLR satnav were issues needing to be dealt with even though I had deployed other boat instruments to make our sea trip for tomorrow safe.
This was a day of heavy rain showers, which we could have done without, as we had to pass through Great Yarmouth, and under the Bure Bridges with our canopy, mast and all of our equipment lowered. To make it worse, we had to choose this late evening’s low tide out of several alternatives, as we are experiencing neap tides and the others would not give us enough headroom under the bridges. Even so, I contacted the Great Yarmouth Yacht Station to warn them of our approach and had booked a Haven Bridge lift for the following morning to allow passage onwards to Lowestoft. It had been my plan throughout to moor overnight at the pontoon situated between Breydon Bridge and the Haven Bridge, which is something I had done on several occasions in the past.
We started Lady Martina’s engines in late morning and then set off downstream in a day of rain showers but light winds, eventually mooring at Acle Bridge in order to lower the canopy and mast as well as removing the flag staff and winch to get under the 11’9” headroom that was indicated on the height gauge. At least we did not have to lower the windscreens, and, by this time, we had put all the mats, furnishings and any other vulnerable items inside, anticipating a very damp experience. I was in telephone contact with the Great Yarmouth Yacht Station staff, and they were quite happy for us to arrive early and be accommodated there without charge until we were able to move on and under the Bure Bridges late in the evening. By this time the heavy rain had finished but the air was still very damp, and it was almost like being in low cloud and this meant that the daylight soon failed much earlier than the publicised sunset times.
Once safely moored up at Great Yarmouth Yacht Station, I was constantly walking backwards and forwards to the bridges looking at the height gauges to ascertain when our 10’3” minimum bridging height could be accommodated. By 9pm in the evening, it was really getting quite dark and, with the gauges showing just that level, I opted to set off. It was still a couple of hours before low water and there was still a large following ebb tide and so there’s not much that can be done after making the decision to approach the bridges. It was probably as close as we have managed in the past, but we squeezed under.
In the failing light, we cruised around the navigation markers and managed to get a rope on to one of the pontoon stanchions despite the strong tide and then got three more ropes on eventually to moor safely for an overnight stay. There then followed the long process of raising the windscreens and mast, erecting the canopy and adding the side screens and rear screens such that it was approaching midnight by the time we had mopped up the damp and put Lady Martina in good shape for the night. I had planned our sea passage for tomorrow and had already checked Lady Martina for seaworthiness and preparation ready for our 10.30am, Haven Bridge lift in the morning
11-17degC (in sun); RH 75→77%; 1011mb steady ; calm with 6-11kn breeze; good visibility; light breeze, misty rain
- Details
- Category: East Coast Cruises 2019
- Hits: 2613
Wednesday 12th June Ref: 2019/2
Moving Lady Martina from Great Yarmouth to Lowestoft for its first sea passage in two years on another damp, dull and drizzly and day, but with calm seas. Getting everything ready for a 10.30am Haven Bridge lift and then a simple calm passage undertaken as a sea trial and, apart from the bridge screen and MLR satnav buttons not working, all else was fine.
The Haven Bridge time of 10:30am this morning was convenient as it gave us time to prepare and be absolutely ready. Even so, being out of practice, I worked with Kathleen, intervening to make sure all the windows were tightly closed, the grab bag was situated on the bridge, bungee clips we used to secure anything that might move and everything else was ready for the forthcoming cruise.
With about half an hour to go, I radioed the bridge to make sure they were ready and then cast off and Kathleen continued storing the ropes and fenders as we waited for the Haven Bridge to lift. We were joined by two pilot boats, which went first, and we made our way through the inner harbour and out to sea. To begin with, we cruised quite slowly, around 6 to 7 kn, as I checked out the autopilot and other equipment was working and then I increased speed to 1300 rpm, which was 8 kn through the water, as we made our way south down through Corton Road until we got to the Lowestoft harbour entrance where I radioed on Ch14 for permission to enter. All the way, we were against a tide that started off around 2 kn and went down to about 1.3kn and there were constant rain showers, but the sea was slight to smooth so it was a very satisfactory trial for our first cruise.
After getting our ropes and fenders deployed and getting permission to enter the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk marina on channel 80, we cruised inside and made for the fuel berth but, unfortunately, somebody had moored a rigid inflatable boat there and we had to radio and asked for it to be moved before we could tie up. Eventually after a 10-minute wait, the duty officer arrived and passed down the red diesel hose and I put a total of 480 L of fuel in the cost of some £513.54 p, which represented a cost of £1.06 p per litre. This compared with some 90p a litre last year, so costs continue to rise insidiously. I had calculated that we would need about 350 L and so this was 130L extra, some of which can be accounted for by use of the heating generator during the two years that the boat has not been navigating. After the fuelling, I move lady Martina to an inside berth, as a Marina manager told us that the dredger was coming later in the week to dredge the visitor moorings.
Just as we did so, I had a call from Charity and Taylor of Lowestoft, who told me that my 15-inch monitor had arrived and was ready for collection. I set off between very heavy rain showers to arrive and collect the screen from their office, paying them in the process, and then made my way back to Lady Martina and sought to commission it. At least it was dry under my canopy but I soon found that the control buttons on the screen were not working and so, despite much research and many phone calls, I concluded that the screen was faulty and arranged for Charity and Taylor to come the following morning with their stock 19-inch screen to investigate the issue. We ended up taking that instead and modifying Lady Martina’s bridge to accommodate it!
21-26degC; RH 53→50%; 1009mb steady ; smooth with 6-10kn cylconic breeze; good visibility; very damp and drizzly
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- Category: East Coast Cruises 2019
- Hits: 2551
Saturday 15th June Ref: 2019/3
A very early cruise taking advantage of the better first half of the day of weather and also carrying the tide all of the way down the coast from Lowestoft and up to Orwell river to Ipswich taking advantage of a good first half day of calm weather to carry all the time away down the coast and up the Orwell to arrive at Ipswich dock just in time before the end of free flow and then mooring in the Haven Marina close to the office for a good Wi-Fi signal.
I had persuaded Kathleen that we should leave very early this morning to take advantage of some calm bright weather to cruise down the coast from Lowestoft past Harwich and up the River Orwell to Ipswich where we moored at the Ipswich Haven Marina. This was a masterpiece of planning, as this early departure time not only took advantage of the calm weather (with a gentle breeze of 3-7 knots ) but also was timed to take advantage of the flood tide carrying us over two knots faster than our speed through the water such that we only had to cruise 31 miles against the 43 needed to get there! This timing also enabled us to cruise straight through the Ipswich dock lock, albeit being the last craft to do so before high tide.
We could also then enjoy a fine afternoon sitting and working in the sunshine before the weather became damp and blustery again this evening. I spent a long time writing up my ship’s log, uploading articles to my web sites and planning our cruises for the next few days.
16-32degC; RH 77→32%; 1011mb steady ; smooth/slight seas with light and variable 4-7 knot cyclonic breeze, mainly SWly; good visibility
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- Category: East Coast Cruises 2019
- Hits: 2736
Monday 17th June Ref: 2019/4
The day of a well-timed cruise short notice on a fine and sunny day from Ipswich via the Rivers Orwell and Deben to the Woodbridge Tide Mill after the alternative of a visit to Southwold could not be managed in the available time. A steady cruise against the flood tide down the Orwell after a quick lock exit from Ipswich and then taking advantage of a following tide the Woodbridge Tide Mill arriving almost exactly at the ideal time of high water
After reviewing the weather and cruising alternatives for the next few days, I concluded that it was not practicable to leave Ipswich, pass through the lock and cruise down the Orwell and then down the coast to enter the Southwold harbour in one cruise safely. The advice is to enter Southwold just before or a little while after high water and that would not be possible or practicable. On the other hand, the tides would work out well for cruising up the Deben and passing over the barrier to enter the Woodbridge Tide Mill and so, when I woke Kathleen around 8:45 AM, I advised her of this new plan.
I just had to add a few waypoints to our cruising plan as the rest of the boat had been prepared for our original venture and, because the first hour or two would be spent cruising down river, we could make the rest of our preparations, eat our breakfast and stow the ropes-fenders etc. once we had cast off. I radioed the Ipswich lock-keeper and he set lock for our arrival once we were ready to leave half an hour later and we were soon cruising down the Orwell, eating toast and marmalade and drinking tea!
The weather was sunny and warm today, the breeze gentle in a South/south-westerly direction and the seas were smooth to slight and so it was a pleasant cruise with just a slight ‘chop’ as we passed Harwich. As the tide was making all of the while, I was able to take the ‘short-cut’ across the ‘Platters’ sandbank , but we never had less than 5 m of water under us. As we left the ‘Platters’ sandbank and approached the Woodbridge fairway buoy, we had to dodge a variety of fishing marks, which was no problem in the smooth seas and then we took the latest chart-let advice and instructions to pass safely through the shallow and tricky Woodbridge channel entrance and made our way upstream. This part of the passage, particularly on the upper reaches of the Deben as you approach the Woodbridge Tide Mill, is very easy to get wrong as the channel twists backwards and forwards with access only possible at high water.
My passage plan had allowed us to arrive at the Woodbridge Tide Mill Marina at exactly high water, and being 'Spring' tides. this was perfect and allowed the occasional navigational mistake when we did not keep to the centre of the channel. Upon radioing the harbourmaster on VHF channel 80, he was available to welcome us into a berth immediately opposite the tidal entrance and, after mooring securely and connecting up electricity, we could watch the tide gauge as the water ebbed out of the Marina until the tidal barrier isolated the safer moorings with passage no longer possible.
Considering the limited time available for organising this trip, it went very well which was a tribute to my former experience and expertise as well as the fact that I have again become familiar with the Lady Martina electronics and navigational systems. We left Lady Martina closed up with the air conditioning keeping the interior cool on what had become a very warm and sunny day and used the adjacent water hose to thoroughly clean off the accumulated salt from Lady Martina’s superstructure.
Later on, I wrote up my log entries at the end of a very successful day’s cruising and helped Kathleen as she successfully removed the large black rubber mark that had been despoiling the starboard bow after our mooring challenge at the Breydon Water tidal pontoon a few days ago. She wanted to stay in Woodbridge for longer and so I worked out some passage plans this evening which would make this possible, providing the weather was suitable and I then showed her the animations on my MaxSea Time Zero computerised navigation software, which showed the weather and tide implications for our next two planned cruises; the first onward from Woodbridge to Lowestoft and the second across the North Sea to IJmuiden, which parameters were automatically updated every time I downloaded a new weather file.
This evening, we walked to the Tide Mill and bought a bag of fine home-milled wholemeal flour with which Kathleen made some fine pancakes for our desert later in the evening.
19-27degC; RH 69→38%; 1017→1016mb falling slowly; smooth/slight seas with light 6-10 knot breeze, Sly veering SWly and backing SEly; good visibility
- Details
- Category: East Coast Cruises 2019
- Hits: 2790
Wednesday 19th June Ref: 2019/5
A steady cruise leaving Woodbridge Tide Mill with around 1.3m depth on their tide gauge and then taking care to cruise down the upper reaches of the Deben, following the twisty channel and confusing buoys against an adverse one knot tide and then emerging at the mouth of the estuary and across the sand banks about an hour before high tide with some 5 m of water under us. Then cruising north along the coast in the light breeze of 5 to 10 kn with a two knot following tide until we arrived in Lowestoft in the rain
I had decided that we were going to leave Woodbridge Tide Mill today and make our way back to Lowestoft, as we had heard from Chris and Maggie Cole on Ikon that their boat had finished its servicing at Broom Boats and they were also going to make their way there today. This would give us the option of cruising to Holland on several successive days, depending upon which day delivered the better weather forecast.
We had time this morning to have some relaxation in bed before getting up as the tide and river depth was not returning until late morning, by which time I had paid the outstanding mooring fee, retrieved the electricity cable and checked the boat ready for our forthcoming cruise. In the end, I decided to cruise over the barrier with some 1.3 m indicated on their tide gauge and this gave us an hour or so of a making flood tide to gradually give us a reasonable depth through the twisting and narrow channel that characterises the upper, drying, reaches of the River Deben.
We then emerged at the mouth of the river in the estuary with shallow sand bars requiring careful navigation but, because of this timing and planning, we had some 5 m of depth most of the time which was very safe. As we turn north along the east coast, we took advantage of a 2 kn following tide which helped us on our way to Lowestoft. It still remained a cruise of nearly 6 hours, which was quite arduous, but it all went to plan and we pulled into the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club to find Chris and Maggie Cole on Ikon already arrived and moored up who we joined after visiting the fuel berth to take on another 230 L of diesel; the quantity that we had expended at the cost of some £245 for our recent passages.
By this time, it was pouring with rain, which continued for most of the evening, but it did mean that we did not have to wash down the boat! After checking the weather forecast, I concluded that, whilst tomorrow would be perfectly manageable, the following day would be even better and would provide us with a day of rest between passages, which is always to be preferred.
Having shared this information with our colleagues, we agreed this as a plan and treated ourselves to a dinner at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club this evening with a chance for a good chat and catch up about our recent experiences.
22-28degC; RH 71→60%; 1015→1016mb→1015mb fairly steady; smooth/slight seas with light 5-10 knot breeze, mainly SWly; fair visibility
