The Last Two Legs

Friday 6th and Saturday 7th of January 2017

Up at midnight Friday - all my warmest gear on - 5 layers ! + a hot water bottle inside my one piece suit !!
Set off before 1am - called the lock keeper - straight into the massive lock - nicely floodlit.
The routine for handing in the gate key fob was to put it into a box at one end of the floating pontoon - which end did I tie up to ? - the other end !!
I had to walk the full length of a  frosty wooden pontoon without handrails as the lock emptied - tiny steps and slowly !!
I made it and set off in the pitch black night for Ramsgate.

The visibility was good - no traffic - just cold.
I set the genoa and we were doing well with the tide pushing us along nicely along a route well out to sea but about a mile outside the shipping lanes, which were busy - lots of shipping.

The reason for the big distance off is the Dungeness headland  which can have rough seas close in - like last time I did this trip and a big wave broke my tiller pilot - but today - not bad.

Daylight crept in from 6 am and the tide still pushing - great - the daylight helped to sort out all the ferry's - going in and out of Dover - I had to change course to avoid one - no problem.

After Dover we headed for the Goodwin sands near Deal in Kent - a big sandbank that has claimed the lives of hundreds of sailors over the years - that's why I like having two navigation plotters plus a separate GPS plus paper charts and compasses - a belt and three pairs of braces !!

The route up inside the Goodwins is well buoyed  which makes it easy.

We arrived in Ramsgate at 13.30 - twelve and a half hours not bad.

The visitors berths were empty apart from one other boat - no one in the office - I don't like Ramsgate !
I tidied up and then straight to bed.

I checked the weather and Saturday looked good with ideal wind and no rain - but Sunday was high winds - so I decided to set off on Saturday about 10 am to get sufficient depth of water over the sandbank that I cross to save a lot of miles.

Saturday - set off in misty weather with visibility of about one mile - the AIS working well.
Up past North Foreland and out across the Thames estuary.
My plotter showed us passing the UK's biggest wind farm - The London Array - but I never saw it in the mist.
After the wind farm we crossed a major shipping lane with traffic - the AIS saw it all including  one heading straight for me about a mile away at 19 knots. !!!
I usually turn around when this happens but this time I grabbed the VHF radio and called him - the AIS gave the ships name.
I calmly asked if he had seen me and he said that they have me on radar but could not visually see me.
He must have then checked his AIS and seemed concerned that it showed a collision was indicated.
He said that we should both turn to starboard - which we did and he passed behind me - not even close!

After that, I negotiated  an anchored Gas Transporter and headed for a passage through the sand banks called Fisherman's Gat and another wind farm - we were making good speed with the genoa set and I double checked the depth of water over my sand bank short cut - 2 metres plus the charted depth of 1.6 metres - plenty - Blazer only draws 1 metre.

We started crossing and the depth instrument showed the correct depths as we passed over - then as we were almost over the depth started dropping  - 4 metres then 3 metres then 2 METRES !!!!!!!
The water surface changed to agitated as though it was very shallow - only 3 feet under the keels.!!!

Then gradually the depth increased and we were over - PHEW !! - very close.
The far side of the sandbank had changed since the chart was drawn - probably by a gale.
I will cross it at higher tide next time - WOW .

It gradually got dark but the mist had lifted and it was easy to see the buoys in the Whitaker Channel past yet another wind farm and into the river Crouch.
I turned into the river Roach and stopped in the Quay Reach anchorage - I set the anchor in 7 metres of water - I payed out 30 metres of chain and dug the anchor in well - lovely.
It is no good trying to navigate the river Crouch in the dark - the upper reaches has buoys that are not lit - better to do the last 10 miles in daylight.

I set the anchor ball to show other boats that I am anchored plus my LED anchor light all strung up half way up the mast at the bow.
I had a peaceful night and woke to a lovely calm morning- prepared a huge stew for lunch so that it could be slow cooking while we are sailing up to Fambridge - then spotted a seal bobbing around at the back of Blazer - lovely.

I raised the anchor and it came up with a big lump of mud stuck to it - it was well dug in - great.
On the run up to Fambridge I saw lots of birds that you never see in France - Oyster catchers - Greebs - and a sky full of geese - wonderful.
I tied up on the visitors pontoon at 1 pm - TRIP OVER - Approx 300 miles in  12 days.
A big tidy up - pack - and then home to Derby by train on Tuesday.

Back to working on the workshop as funds allow - so - no blog for a week or so.

All for now - Mike.