Thursday, 31 October 2013
Come on over ...
... to sverbas.blogspot.co.uk if you want to continue following our adventures aboard our new boat
Sunday, 6 October 2013
The final voyage
Glen dropped Rik and I off at Fambridge bright and early. Well it wasn't that bright and in hindsight it wasn't that early either!
We launched the tender, scrambled aboard and loaded up our kit for the day. With the last of the ebb under us it was an easy paddle down to Brigantia.
On board, we checked fuel and water. Plenty of the former, not enough of the latter. Tying the tender to our buoy, we nipped onto the pontoon for five minutes to top up the water.
Off we went under power. Not so much as a breath of wind. So much for the F4 that was supposed to greet the day. We made good time down towards Burnham and started to get a bit of a breeze from the North West which filed the genoa and gave us a bit of extra get up and go.
However, the somewhat late start was now choosing us dear with the tide flooding hard nigh on halving our speed over the ground. Sausage butties went down very well at this point!
Out towards the Ray Sand buoy we crawled eventually turning North towards the Blackwater. With the main now up and a working breeze we were able to get her close hauled on the Port tack and just lay a course up the edge of the flats outside the old beacons.
Off with the engine for an hour. Ah, blessed silence! It wasn't to last however as our E.T.A. at Tollesbury was well adrift of what it needed to be.
Back on with the noise machine and a phone call to the chap whose bought her for some local advice about getting in well after high water. He was out and about in his dinghy so came out to pilot us in. I'd never have followed the line up the creek he showed us without his guidance but it definitely kept us in the slacker water
After a slight bit of confusion over which side of the pontoon we needed to be, we docked Brigantia and set about removing all our kit. We'd brought every kit bag we've got with us and on the sail up we'd taken turns to go through every locker. Despite having thought we'd removed most of the stuff already, we found loads more!
The deal was now done. Paperwork signed, payment confirmed. Brigantia is under new ownership and good luck and good sailing.
If you've enjoyed reading about our adventures on board Brigantia, come and join us aboard S.V. Erbas at www.sverbas.blogspot.co.uk
The End (which is just a new beginning!)
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
It's not looking any better! Provisional plan emerging ...
For once, all the different forecast sources are singing the same tune - it's going to be flippin' windy Thursday and Friday
At the moment, Saturday and Sunday look to be the only two days during our time in Essex when moving Brigantia to her new home is feasible. And unless we want to embark upon an early test of the sea-keeping abilities of Erbas, the weekend is the best bet for the move from the Blackwater to the Crouch
At the moment, it looks like a buggers muddle whichever way I try and organise it in my head
Whether we go for the Brigantia move on Saturday or Sunday, it looks like we've have a Westerly or Sou-Westerly F4 so it's a run down to the Spitway and a beat all the way back to Tollesbury. Yeah right, top up the tanks and hit the throttle once we're heading West methinks! A "slight" sea state is a misnomer really as we're talking about 0.5m to 1.0m waves and being in the estuary they'll be short and steep.
OK, so that's do-able if not ideal, no problem. But the trouble is how to get the right boats in the right place with the right people at the right time! It is giving me brain ache!!
Starting on the assumption that Plan A (moving Brigantia first) has gone out of the window, we have the whole crew and two cars at Tollesbury aboard Erbas by Thursday afternoon with Brigantia home alone at Fambridge.
Friday brings us Sou-Westerly F4 gusting F6 with a slight sea state, by Saturday that's settled down to F3/F4 and veering into the West although the sea state remains pretty much unchanged. Sunday it backs a bit to WSW and cranks up the gusts a notch and then apart from swinging around between WNW and WSW it stays pretty much with the F4 gusting F5 or occasionally F6 throughout the early part of next week.
On the basis of that, we really need to be getting the two boats on the right rivers over the weekend. Saturday looks by far and away the best day weather wise for the Brigantia move which means Erbas either moves out of Tollesbury on Friday or Sunday
If we get the hell out of Dodge on Friday, we should be able to thrash our way out of Tollesbury a good hour before HW (two would be even better) and provided we keep the hammer down we can make it to Fambridge sometime between sunset and dusk - and I wouldn't be too worried if it was after dark anyway
That puts Erbas where she needs to be and the whole crew at Fambridge - we'll have to do a car shuffle on Thursday anyway.
We'll then have to make a pre-dawn start on Saturday morning leaving Fambridge on Brigantia no later than 05:00. That should see us at Tollesbury an hour before HW, in other words with an hour in hand. Due to the quirks of the tides, leaving Fambridge an hour later costs us dearly flogging the proverbial dead donkey and we'd be nigh on three hours longer on the trip. Actually, an 04:00 or 04:30 start would be even better.
Sunday would be a slightly better day from the timings point of view as we could leave three quarters of an hour later but then Monday onwards starts to look iffy again. Given the massive inconvenience, not to mention potential costs, of ending up with one or both of the boats in the wrong place at the end of the exercise, I'd prefer to keep Sunday in my back pocket as a fall back if things go awry.
One thing I will not do, under any circumstances, is push the envelope and take risks. We established some considerable time ago that a Strong Wind Warning from either the Met Office or whichever flavour of GFS based forecasting service is flavour of the month is a no go for Brigantia.
That's F6 - F7, a Gale Warning kicks in at F8. This position might change with Erbas as she's bigger, faster, heavier and kitted up for severe weather although whether the crew would weather the storm is another matter!
At the moment, Saturday and Sunday look to be the only two days during our time in Essex when moving Brigantia to her new home is feasible. And unless we want to embark upon an early test of the sea-keeping abilities of Erbas, the weekend is the best bet for the move from the Blackwater to the Crouch
At the moment, it looks like a buggers muddle whichever way I try and organise it in my head
Whether we go for the Brigantia move on Saturday or Sunday, it looks like we've have a Westerly or Sou-Westerly F4 so it's a run down to the Spitway and a beat all the way back to Tollesbury. Yeah right, top up the tanks and hit the throttle once we're heading West methinks! A "slight" sea state is a misnomer really as we're talking about 0.5m to 1.0m waves and being in the estuary they'll be short and steep.
OK, so that's do-able if not ideal, no problem. But the trouble is how to get the right boats in the right place with the right people at the right time! It is giving me brain ache!!
Starting on the assumption that Plan A (moving Brigantia first) has gone out of the window, we have the whole crew and two cars at Tollesbury aboard Erbas by Thursday afternoon with Brigantia home alone at Fambridge.
Friday brings us Sou-Westerly F4 gusting F6 with a slight sea state, by Saturday that's settled down to F3/F4 and veering into the West although the sea state remains pretty much unchanged. Sunday it backs a bit to WSW and cranks up the gusts a notch and then apart from swinging around between WNW and WSW it stays pretty much with the F4 gusting F5 or occasionally F6 throughout the early part of next week.
On the basis of that, we really need to be getting the two boats on the right rivers over the weekend. Saturday looks by far and away the best day weather wise for the Brigantia move which means Erbas either moves out of Tollesbury on Friday or Sunday
If we get the hell out of Dodge on Friday, we should be able to thrash our way out of Tollesbury a good hour before HW (two would be even better) and provided we keep the hammer down we can make it to Fambridge sometime between sunset and dusk - and I wouldn't be too worried if it was after dark anyway
That puts Erbas where she needs to be and the whole crew at Fambridge - we'll have to do a car shuffle on Thursday anyway.
We'll then have to make a pre-dawn start on Saturday morning leaving Fambridge on Brigantia no later than 05:00. That should see us at Tollesbury an hour before HW, in other words with an hour in hand. Due to the quirks of the tides, leaving Fambridge an hour later costs us dearly flogging the proverbial dead donkey and we'd be nigh on three hours longer on the trip. Actually, an 04:00 or 04:30 start would be even better.
Sunday would be a slightly better day from the timings point of view as we could leave three quarters of an hour later but then Monday onwards starts to look iffy again. Given the massive inconvenience, not to mention potential costs, of ending up with one or both of the boats in the wrong place at the end of the exercise, I'd prefer to keep Sunday in my back pocket as a fall back if things go awry.
One thing I will not do, under any circumstances, is push the envelope and take risks. We established some considerable time ago that a Strong Wind Warning from either the Met Office or whichever flavour of GFS based forecasting service is flavour of the month is a no go for Brigantia.
That's F6 - F7, a Gale Warning kicks in at F8. This position might change with Erbas as she's bigger, faster, heavier and kitted up for severe weather although whether the crew would weather the storm is another matter!