Sailing at night!
Brigantia still being several sessions short of being ready for the season, I grabbed at the opportunity to crew on a Moody 31 "Sabre" from Bradwell to Shotley this afternoon
Leaving Bradwell shy of five, we motored through the evening gloom with the wind heading us until we got North of Walton pier when we finally got just enough wind angle to shut off the engine and proceed on sail alone
Along the way, and despite the gas bottle running out at the worst possible moment, Sheila served up a welcome repast of garlic bread followed by home made smoked fish pie. It was delicious. It was just what the doctor ordered. It didn't hang around long!
Approaching Harwich in the dark was an interesting exercise to say the least but with more than a little judicious prompting from skipper Rog I felt reasonably confident on the helm. The navigation marks were nowhere near as hard to make out as I'd anticipated and we made steady progress along the edge of the shipping lane until the wind dropped and it was time to start the engine again
Roger called up Shotley Marina on the VHF and arranged our locking in and berth and then, to my relief if I'm being honest, took over on the helm for the final approach.
After locking up into the Marina and making fast, we partook of the hospitality of Steve and Heather on Mystique with red wine and nibbles being much to my liking :-)
Finally retired somewhat after midnight in the aft cabin of Sabre after a really good day
Brigantia still being several sessions short of being ready for the season, I grabbed at the opportunity to crew on a Moody 31 "Sabre" from Bradwell to Shotley this afternoon
Leaving Bradwell shy of five, we motored through the evening gloom with the wind heading us until we got North of Walton pier when we finally got just enough wind angle to shut off the engine and proceed on sail alone
Along the way, and despite the gas bottle running out at the worst possible moment, Sheila served up a welcome repast of garlic bread followed by home made smoked fish pie. It was delicious. It was just what the doctor ordered. It didn't hang around long!
Approaching Harwich in the dark was an interesting exercise to say the least but with more than a little judicious prompting from skipper Rog I felt reasonably confident on the helm. The navigation marks were nowhere near as hard to make out as I'd anticipated and we made steady progress along the edge of the shipping lane until the wind dropped and it was time to start the engine again
Roger called up Shotley Marina on the VHF and arranged our locking in and berth and then, to my relief if I'm being honest, took over on the helm for the final approach.
After locking up into the Marina and making fast, we partook of the hospitality of Steve and Heather on Mystique with red wine and nibbles being much to my liking :-)
Finally retired somewhat after midnight in the aft cabin of Sabre after a really good day
Brigantias first mate is currently land locked with a broken collarbone, and quitely going green reading about his skippers adventures...
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