RAMSGATE – 17th and 18th August, 2018
We would have liked to have returned to Ipswich today, but with the forecast including a wind of F5-6 with the possibility of a F7, we decided it would be prudent to stop an extra night. We had quite a bumpy night, in both fore and aft cabins, despite the wind dropping a little during the night. We find there is always a bit of a swell coming in from the Channel here, so note for next visit, if possible, get a berth further in, i.e. the pontoon F is fine but instead of, say 19, try to get a much lower number, say lower than 10. It might make for a more peaceful night.
We had breakfast and showered on the boat as the shower block here is pretty basic and we also wanted to use up and refill one of our water tanks. It also gave Carole an opportunity to wash out the whole wet room properly after we had showered. We took a stroll up the hill into town and decided to try a different fish and chip shop for lunch. One large piece of fish and a standard bag of chips is plenty for the two of us now, so this we ordered and sat and waited for it to be freshly cooked. When it came, we received an apology that we had had to wait and also that there was no large rock but we had been given two small pieces. When we got outside and found an empty bench, we opened our packages and wondered on other people’s perception of “small”. However, for the most part, what Carole couldn’t eat Chris could, so it wasn’t wasted! We strolled on round the town and found the local Iceland where we bought milk and rolls to keep us going back into Ipswich the next day. We then walked round the inner harbour seeing if we recognised any boats that had been here on previous visits. We couldn’t see Timothy and Shane Spall’s boat “Matilda” and wondered where she was now. Later Carole searched online and couldn’t find any recent mention of her. We returned to the boat and enjoyed a lazy afternoon, interrupted only by Chris refilling the water tanks and Carole sorting out the dirty laundry ready to return home the next day. We had a light supper, enjoyed a short game of cards and headed to our beds by 22:00 hoping to get a good night’s sleep ready for our early start the next morning.
RAMSGATE TO IPSWICH – 19th August, 2018
Carole was awake before her alarm went off at 05:00 and after a first cuppa and biscuit, got washed and dressed and made refreshments for the journey back to Ipswich. On the 06:00 forecast the wind was SW F5-6, so we were good to go and we heard the engines of a few other boats as they left harbour, so that made us feel better, too. We slipped our lines at 06:00 without problem and Carole put away all the fenders before we left the outer harbour. The sails went up straight away and we put a 1st Reef in the mainsail. The sun was shining which always makes it feel good. Before long the wind had increased to 20 knots heading for the wind farm. Carole went forward to the mast and brought in the mainsail to a 2nd Reef. As we were about to enter the wind had increased to 25 knots as expected. Our boat speed was now 7.5 knots. Once we were out of the wind farm Chris decided to route us to the Sunk Head Tower as going over the Sunk Sands could be dangerous as we only had 2 metres under our keel in a large swell. Not long after, Dover Coastguard sent out an urgent safety message to all ships in sea areas Thames and Dover “GALE F8 IMMINENT”. This is not something you want to hear when you are 20 miles offshore. We reefed our mainsail in a bit more and our genoa and we put on our safety lines, making sure that we were always clipped on. It certainly got a bit lively but the wind did not exceed 32 knots. I expect the wind was stronger south of us, but we were certainly glad when the Felixstowe cranes got closer. We continued on via the Medusa channel to Harwich, with the wind slowly reducing.
We could hear a yacht in the distance receiving help from our local rescue boat “Volunteer”. The yacht had engine trouble and was heading from the north to Suffolk Yacht Harbour. Volunteer had some trouble finding them but when volunteer offered to tow them in, the skipper declined as he wanted to sail to Harwich then have a tow from there! Volunteer very gallantly motored close by, which couldn’t have been pleasant for the crew out there. Our thoughts were that the yacht’s master was quite selfish by his actions, but hopefully, if another vessel had been in trouble, Volunteer would have been able to leave to assist someone who would have been more appreciative of the assistance.
As usual, we experienced the full force of the “Harwich Blow” as we like to call it, which didn’t abate until we were into the River Orwell. Once past Suffolk Yacht Harbour, we had to turn more or less into the wind, so we decided to thank the sails for their hard work during the day and give them a rest. The engine was switched on, which together with a nice push from the tide took us quite quickly up to the Lock Gates. We had a short wait to lock through, so took a turn on the waiting pontoon with another boat just up from Woolverstone, who fancied a change of scenery. Chris got chatting with them and inviting them to take a look at Seaduction below decks. They were impressed with how roomy the Bavaria 38 is. Within a few minutes we were joined by Thames Barge, Centaur and the restaurant boat, Allen Gardiner, both of which entered the lock before us and both got caught out by the wind following them into the lock. When we entered, Carole jumped off onto the pontoon with her spring line, enabling us to get tied up safely without problem. Once the lock gates closed, the lock keeper filled the lock at full speed to enable the commercial boats to pass through as swiftly as possible, which benefited us, too. We were first out of the lock and by the time the two commercials passed us, we were safely and securely tied on our berth – glad to be back home. All in all, we had enjoyed a good trip. As usual we had had the good, the bad and the ugly!