Wednesday, 11th July
We slipped our lines at 17:00 from Ipswich and made our way out through the lock. Our place for the night was a mooring buoy off Levington for the night. This saved us from having to get up at “silly o’clock” but more importantly, we could watch the England v. Croatia game. As it turned out, we didn’t win, but our team did us proud and it was a good game.
Thursday, 12th July
Our alarms went off at 04:45 and we were up and ready to slip off by 05.20. The morning was a bit grey but the forecast said it would be brighter later. As we approached Harwich we had put everything away that was not needed for the trip. The wind was too light to sail that time in the morning so we were on engine for the first few hours, making our way to the Cork Sands and onwards to the Sunk Area (Big ships roundabout). We had to follow the regulations and cross the TSS at right angles. The wind started to build and the sails were filling pushing towards Europe. Our boat speed was starting to pick up and making 6.5 – 7kn. As usual, Carole was sorting out refreshments during the trip, but with the sea being a bit bumpy and rolly with a moderate swell, when below decks, she appeared to be a moving part in a pinball game as she bounced from side to side. I had checked the sea temperature when we left as Carole keeps trying to get me to swim in the sea but I need the water to be at least 24 C for me to get in. I thought the water was warming up nicely to 22 C but then Carole said she had changed the read-out from sea temperature to sea log!
As we approached the main TSS we could see that two ships would give us a problem so we adjusted our speed to ensure they didn’t. The wind kept us moving through the TSS. Soon we were approaching the West Hinder where we changed course towards Ostend, still sailing 7 kn. As we turned into the approach channel we took down the sails and readied the boat for the marina berth, but just as we were entering the port Chris realised that he had given Carole the Dutch courtesy flag, so Carole went to change this to the Belgian flag. At this moment a Police Patrol Boat came over and one of the officers was calling out Verboten – Verboten. Carole thought he had said broken, meaning the flag, but this was not about the flag it was because I had missed seeing the red signal stopping us from entering the harbour as a large ship was coming out. I quickly turned away and kept clear. After a brief conversation of apology to Port Control, the large ship came out, the lights changed to green and we entered the harbour. We then called the Royal Ostend Club Marina on our mobile phone and the Harbourmaster came and helped us into our berth.
Remembering Ostend from a trip a few years ago, we noted that not much had changed. The climb up the 36 steps from pontoons to Harbour Master’s Office is still as steep at low water and the work boats are still as noisy at 06:00 as they ready themselves for a day’s work out at sea. As we arrived late on the Thursday after a long day, we decided to stay for two nights, rewarding ourselves with lunch at the Marina Club after spending the morning cleaning the boat above and below decks.