Autumn Cruise - Day 7

02:30 Anchor watch "on deck" (Bru). Very breezy from SE, quite uncomfortable on board.
02:50 Lying OK after the tide turned but beam on to channel due to strong wind. Back to bed!

Plan this morning is for Rik to have a lie in whilst the skipper gets her under way. I can then have a watch below later on (good plan in theory!). Hit the deck at 06:00, under way at 06:40 on the engine.

Very choppy out of the backwaters and into the Medusa channel. By 08:00 the watch below had given up and become the watch on deck! Hoisted the main and motor sailed which helped to steady the motion a bit but still very rock and roll. Passed Stone Bank at 08:07 making 3.5 knots.

At 08:41 abeam Medusa buoy we turned South and five minutes later we were under sail with the engine off making 5 to 6 knots with one reef in the main and about 2/3 of the genoa out! On the wind we fetched the Wallet Spitway buoy without a tack and made to cut across the Spitway.

My inexperience as a navigator and local pilot caught us out here - everybody behind us (and yes, for once, we were not being overtaken by all and sundry!) cut across much sooner as soon as they were clear of the Gunfleet windfarm and now we found out why as the tide swept us down towards the Buxey Sands and we could hardly make any progress beating across the Spitway.

Nothing else for it, on with the noise machine, in with the genoa and 20 minutes of motoring got us back where we should be at the Swin Spitway buoy which we rounded at 11:30.



 Now it was off with the engine and out with the full genoa blasting up the Whitaker at up to 6 knots still with a fair tide.By 13:05 we were passed the Inner Crouch and luffed up to shake out the reef in the main. Struggled to get the bullets to run up the luff groove but after a couple of minutes faffing about we got her all the way up and were back on course.

After a brief look at the Brankfleet we decided, for once, that it didn't look too comfortable so pressed on up the Crouch with the wind from the East. Considered dropping the hook at Cliff Reach but it was such nice sailing, for once, we carried on going until we picked up our own mooring buoy at 15:20.

After a couple of hours rest, we decided to move up onto the pontoon for the night as the water in the moorings was getting a bit choppy. Discovered that the main tank was all but dry and transfered the contents of the jerry can into it before motoring the 100 yards or so up to the pontoon at 17:40.

Spent the evening on board, hit our bunks by not much after 9:00pm