Sailing Adventures: Part 1

The time had come to set off on an adventure.

We had planned to leave the UK in May and head for the sunny climes of Spain and Portugal. By now, we should have been in the Canaries preparing to head off across the Atlantic. Unfortunately, like most people, our plans have changed – postponed, not cancelled.

We have used our additional time wisely, continuing to prepare Escapade for ocean cruising. The next step was to go sailing.

After four years in Fox’s Marina, Monday 7th September was set as the date to leave.

The idea of the trip was to practise and improve our sailing skills in new places. We wanted to use it to try out new things and develop our experiences and understanding of our boat.

This started on the day that we left…

We left the marina in the early evening, but as the nights were drawing in, our trip down the River Orwell to Harwich and the River Stour was completed in the dark. This was the first time that we had navigated our way around the busy port in the dark; much fun was had identifying the buoys and cardinals by their light sequences.

We also kept our eyes open for vessels, checking their lights to see whether they were motoring, sailing, at anchor or moored. We did really well, apart from only just missing a yacht moored to a buoy in the middle of the channel!!

The final challenge was anchoring in the dark. My head torch came in useful for this!

Day 2 saw us up bright and early to set off for Ramsgate. This was a 50 mile trip and would take us between 7 and 10 hours depending on the winds and tides. Having studied the weather and tides for the day, we were hoping  on about 9 hours, but there is never a guarantee that the forecasts will be right.

The day started well with Force 4 (11-16 knots) South Westerly winds.  These were ideal for sailing from Harwich across to Black Deep and we managed speeds of up to 8 knots. Escapade was loving it!

Travelling down Back Deep, we had wind against tide, so things were less comfortable. However, we still managed to practised our boat handling as we had to tack several times in order to sail right down to Fisherman’s Gat.

Once through the Gat, the wind died down completely. We were crossing the main channel in and out of the Thames, crossing the paths of many large vessels. This was not a time to be bobbing around, so away went the sails and on come the motor.

Suffolk disappeared and the coast of Kent could be seen in the distance. We were heading to North Foreland, planning to be there so the tidal flow would be with us for the last few miles down to Ramsgate.

The early start (and planning) paid off; we caught the flow. This made the trip down past North Foreland very pleasant; the sun shining on the steep white cliffs.

The day ended with the wind picking up again – Force 5 (17-20 knots). This resulted in an unexpected brisk sail down to Ramsgate. Before we knew it, we were safely moored up in the marina, sipping a well deserved gin and tonic!

A brilliant day and definitely lots of practising.