Thursday, 20th June, 2019
We finally made it on to the boat at Ipswich around lunchtime and after a walk into town to get some Euros and last minute bits, we had an early supper and headed up the river to pick up a mooring buoy for the night. We got ourselves organised for an early start, then turned in for the night, our alarms set for 4.50 a.m.
Friday, 21st June, 2019
We had no problem getting out of our bunks and quickly washed, dressed and slipped our lines and got underway under engine. While Chris took the boat past the Felixstowe cranes, Carole made tea and prepared food for our journey across the North Sea to Ostend.
We could see a few other yachts leaving from Suffolk Yacht Harbour and Shotley which appeared to be going in our direction. Our passage plan was Cork Sands to Long Sand Head then through the Sunk TSS towards the south of the West Hinder. The wind was mostly SW F3-4. Over the VHF Radio we heard a yacht call Dover Coast Guard with its passage plan to Ostend together with several others on a club jolly. We could see some yachts about 3 miles ahead and more about 4 miles behind, but were not sure who was who. Anyway, it was not really a race but we needed to be there before them. We were making good progress but the wind went a bit light so the engine assisted now and again. We let the tide push us further south in the hope that when the tide turned it would bring us up to Ostend with a favourable tide. The other yachts were making a more direct approach, which benefited us and kept us ahead of most of them. As we passed the West Hinder we heard one of the yachts had engine trouble and was being towed by one of their club members.
Our intention was to go to the Royal Ostend Yacht Club but we had received an email that they had building works and may not have space for us. We therefore opted to go to the North Sea Yacht Club. Carole called the club via a mobile number and a very helpful Harbour Master said that he would guide us in and help us to moor up before he went off for the night. On our approach we found an active Dredger in the area just outside the channel. We radioed Ostend Port Control and were given permission to enter. We were further advised that the dredger would not be coming into the port, but 10 minutes later it had turned, effectively blocking our entrance. The Dredger then called us up to say that we should pass him Green to Green and they would keep south to let us in. Once inside the harbour we could see the Harbour Master waving to us and directing us in. Once in we rafted up to a Belgian boat with no problems. The very friendly Harbour Master came and shook hands and introduced himself as Simon. We found two other UK yachts who were in the yacht club party waiting for the others, who were a long way back! Later, the other club yachts arrived with the disabled yacht. The Harbour Master arranged for a diver to check out the problem on the yacht, which turned out to be part of a hand fishing net which was wrapped around the propeller.
We had a good shower to refresh ourselves and had a supper of home made Spaghetti Bolognese with a nice glass of wine. After a long day, we were happy to get into our beds at a reasonable hour. Tomorrow we would be on our way to Middelburg via Vlissengen.
Trip Summary:
Passage Time 13 Hrs
Distance: 72M
Wind: SW F3-F4 Max 18knt
Max Speed 7.2 knt