Small Boat to Chichester - Day 14

Cripes, fourteen days on board. And no blood spilt (yet).

Typically, today dawned with sunshine and warmth. Ah yes, warmth. What a welcome diversion from the blasted wintry icy blast we've come to know and ... know over the last fortnight.

A short hop of a couple of hours upriver was all that today had in store and there being no rush and little point in bashing the tide, we set off at lunchtime.

As soon as we could, it was sails up and engine off and away we went tacking upriver merrily having fun in the sun.

It was bound to go wrong I suppose and shortly after taking the tiller Rik reported that something was awry in the steering department. Sure enough, we discovered that the tiller had broken at the base and only the brass strap was keeping out from coming apart completely.

Away went the sails and we proceeded utilising the emergency steering gear. This is a cunning arrangement that involves turning the outboard from side to side. Of course, the downside is that it only works when motoring but the key point is that it does work.

Back at Fambridge, we offloaded everything that could be offloaded, refueled and generally sorted out before heading to the pub for some beer and a last meal.