It doth suddenly occur to me that I've omitted to "pen" my usual summary. I think I must have been overly excited about something, wonder what it was? :)
Anyway ...
We had made a very definite and conscious decision to keep this cruise relaxed and pressure free and so it proved to be once we arrived on board.
The first step in the chilling out strategy was not to rush to get away from home. Driving down on the Friday afternoon after finishing work at 6:00am is always tiring plus we then have to sort out the tender when we arrive at Fambridge so an unhurried departure on Saturday morning was planned.
The drive down was pants! Oh well, never mind because the trot boat was running so we didn't have to faff about with the tender and soon had Brigantia alongside and making ourselves comfortable. In kicked stage two of our cunning plan to take it easy - we took it so easy we didn't bother going anywhere until Sunday!
When we did get moving a short hop downriver to Burnham Yacht Harbour saw us take up residence there for two nights which allowed for a good explore around the town and the purchase of some bits for the boat toolkit which I've been after for a while, mainly a hand drill which are surprisingly rare items in DIY shops these days
Now it got, briefly, exciting as we voyaged over vast distances and wild seas ... oh all right, we popped around the corner into the Blackwater estuary and fetched up in Tollesbury Marina for another two night stop over! It got mildly choppy around the Spitway though!
The visit to Tollesbury would prove an expensive exercise but it was also once again a very nice place to be although we didn't tick all the planned boxes in that we failed to visit the Sailing Club. Nor did we go for a swim having forgotten our bathers (again). Oh well!
This stressful and manic period of inactivity was followed by one of the best days sailing Jane and I have enjoyed since we bought the boat. It was a very satisfying run from Tollesbury up to Shotley Marina from a technical perspective with the boat going extremely well. It was also very pleasant and enjoyable as we could relax in the cockpit in the warm summers sun in an all too rare spell of T-shirt weather
Worn out by this endeavour, we then spent two nights in Shotley! Very social nights they were too as we met up on both evenings with friends from the East Coast Forum. A visit aboard Ian and Jo's Sabre 27 "Apogee" and some lengthy chats with them helped greatly in making the decision to purchase "Erbas"
A gentle run upriver to Fox's marina on the outskirts of Ipswich led to a further meet with fellow forumites. A good look at their new boat was followed by a meal in the Yacht Club and a rare outing for me in musician mode joining in a session in the bar. As Jane said, we used to greatly enjoy the sessions that were a regular feature of canalside pubs "back in the day" and it was fun to get involved again without too many fluffs
If you're ploughing through this waiting for it to get epic, here it comes ...
Sunday was one of those grin and bear it days. Actually, by the end there wasn't much of a grin even on my face. The forecast was grim, griM I said, not grin and, ironically, we got what was forecast in spades for once. Bashing down the Wallet with a solid F5 on the nose and wind over tide generated chop to boot is never going to be nice and by the time we finally slogged our way into the Crouch I really was wishing there was an "off" button! It had to be done as Monday looked, if anything, worse and we needed to get back as quickly as possible (thus breaking the "no pressure this holiday" rule but for good reason)
And then we went and bought a bigger boat!!!
I won't put words into Janes mouth (she'll kill me if I do!) but my feeling is that this cruise finally hit a pattern that suited us both. From my point of view, it was relaxed, it was enjoyable and we spent a lot of time doing things together as a couple. I also enjoyed seeing Jane start to become more comfortable and familiar with tasks around the deck - I don't have to tell her which fenders to put where now, only which side we're coming in on (although "Port" and "Starboard" are about as much use as "Left" and "Right" it has to be said!) for example.
I also felt that both our own growing experience and conversations with other yachting couples have combined to convince Jane that it's all right to leave me to it when the conditions at sea aren't to her liking. I really don't mind! It perhaps limits the duration of trips we can undertake and the conditions we can take on but planning around those and all the other limitations is part of the challenge of skippering and navigating a small boat. And the challenge is part of the fun!
Domestically, we experimented very successfully with cooking proper meals with fresh ingredients purchased locally. We'd discussed this before we set out and thoroughly enjoyed both the preparation and the eating of the meals in question! Even with the limited facilities aboard "Brigantia" we turned out a couple of delicious meals and reckon much more could be done especially with the addition of the cool box to keep stuff fresh
All in all, a very successful cruise which achieved all its objectives and then some.
No comments:
Post a Comment