The Six P's

a.k.a. Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance!

Less than a fortnight to go now to the BIG SUMMER CRUISE!

Two whole weeks, three keen if inexperienced crew and a small boat - and the question we're asking is "how far can we get in a week ... and then get back again?"

Obviously, the first really big question mark is the weather. Lets face it, it has been pretty pants so far this summer. No, I'll rephrase that, it's been totally pants. If it hasn't been chucking it down with rain, it's been blowing a gale. Often both at the same time.

However, there is a glimmer of hope. The consensus amongst the weather gurus is that the jet stream is going to move North towards the end of this month and we should start to see somewhat more typical weather for the time of year.

Looking at the GFS model runs, all one can say is that things are unpredictable! The surface wind forecast for the first part of our cruise has changed drastically on each of the last three runs (the model is run every six hours) which basically means that it is a low confidence forecast.

The one thing all three runs seem to agree on is that we should be looking at F3/4 maybe F5 and two of the three runs predict winds from a generally Westerly direction which would be good!

So, if we suppose (and I freely admit that this is a case of hope and optimism triumphing over realism and experience) that we get F3/4 from the West or South West what might we be able to do with it?

Outward Leg

Plan here is to arrive at the boat on Friday afternoon, get on the pontoon and load up. We'll spend the night on the pontoon mainly to juice up the batteries to the max with both batteries on seperate chargers. Then we'll make an early start on Saturday morning - high water is around 07:00UTC but it's neap tides so there's nothing to be said against and lots to be said in favour of making an earlier start.

Once we're on our way, we don't stop unless wind or waves make continuing unwise! Even at a lowly 3 knots (which we can be reasonably certain of averaging), three nights at sea sees us to Sunderland by Tuesday evening. OK, that is a lot of sea time and a long haul but it's also a worst case scenario - if we can get our average SoG (Speed over the Ground) up above 4 knots and a bit, we could make Sunderland by Monday evening, a whole day earlier.

And a 4+ knot SoG is very achievable with an F3/4 breeze from the West or South West. In such a breeze on a reach Brigantia readily hits in excess of 5 knots

Of course, this would mean three nights and four days at sea. That begs a whole host of questions.

Taking into account my well proven ability to function almost indefinitely on relatively little sleep (I rarely sleep more than 5 or 6 hours a day, usually in two or three segments, anyway) and Marks' tendency to owlishness (he sleeps all day and plays all night when he's not working) and given that Rik likes his kip I've come up with a watch system that I think fits the bill rather well ...

OK, so that's two systems! The top system, "Sevens and Fives", is what we've agreed will work well under normal circumstances where we only need one person "on watch" most of the time. So in the sort of conditions where we'd plan to be out overnight, Rik (1st Mate) and Mark (2nd Mate) would share the watches between them. I'd surface every few hours to relieve them for an hour or so mid-watch and otherwise when necessary to carry out navigational duties etc. and the rest of the time I'd be "on call" if needed.

However, if we found ourselves caught out in conditions where the tiller pilot was unable to cope and/or the helmsman needed more frequent relief, we'd switch to "Threes and Twos" where there'd effectively always be two out of the three crew on watch. Obviously, the lack of decent rest this would entail would make it a chore rather than a pleasure but it's a strategy we would only adopt if it was unavoidable and we'd be making for the nearest available shelter in any case!

Talking of the tiller pilot, it obviously makes long spells of a single watchkeeper feasible because they can nip down below to pop the kettle on or use the heads without the boat heading off onto whatever course she sees fit. However, certainly whilst under sail we won't be using it continuously because the batteries won't stand for it. I'd estimate maybe 20 to 30 hours of use is available before battery 2, to which it is wired, would need recharging. On the outward leg of the journey, that means maybe an hour in each watch can be steered with the tiller pilot. Of course, that's based on the "worst case" consumption scenario and with the boat properly trimmed in decent conditions we may be able to get much more than that out of the setup. We shall see but once battery 2 is flat that's it with the tiller pilot until we can get it recharged - and from fully discharged the on board charger will take some time to do that and the engine even longer!

And talking also of running the engine, we'll have fuel on board for about 24 hours running under motor so any thoughts of motoring the whole way there or back go right out of the window! Apart from the cost, it wouldn't be my idea of fun anyway. That said, enough fuel to motor any one leg between available ports is a must and that's what we shall have - and if it's used it'll need to be topped up no matter how inconvenient that may be.

So in the extremely unlikely event that we make it all the way North to the town (sorry, city now) of my birth, what do we do next? ...

We come back again!

This time however we port hop back down the coast calling in at Scarborough, and taking a day off there while we're at it then Wells-next-the-Sea.

Scarborough to Wells involved a single night at sea - going into Grimsby would be feasible but would potentially leave us short of time later in the trip.

From Wells, we take a diversion, and spend another night at sea, to head out to the approximate location of the wreck of the SS Joseph Swan

If you've read this blog thoroughly, you'll know that my uncle was Chief Engineer of the Joseph Swan and died when she was torpedoed in WW2.

We complete the journey via Lowestoft, Hamford Water (or possible Shotley Marina), Heybridge (where my maternal ancestors originated) and finally back to our home mooring in Fambridge

All told, if achieved, we'd cover some 600 nautical miles and spend five nights and 12 days at sea

It is do-able although to be honest I'll be happy if we get as far North as Wells-next-the-Sea!