Fine Line Between Enjoyable and Horrendous!
My last post was about converting the forepeak into a v berth for the kids on our trailer sailer. This project was done as we didn’t have a rudder because it snapped at sea. I’d made it into a sawn off shortened rudder temporarily until the new one was ready. So we decided to go for an adventure up the river with Nathan and Rea.
Under the Bailey Bridge
We hadn’t used Elise for a couple of weeks due to no rudder and we really wanted to do something fun. So we made a plan with Nathan and Rea to lower the mast, go under the Bailey bridge and up the river Blyth to a lovely little spot by the heronry for the night.
The night before I checked the forecast and it was 40 plus knots from the West. I told Nathan and he said “yeah we’ll be alright” so with that we were all in.
Prep
Saturday came and it was blustery with a warm wind. Slightly cloudy and signs of rain. We got supplies, went to the boat and lowered the mast ready for the trip under the bridge. It was exciting.
We loaded up and made our way upstream beyond the bridge where we then raised the mast. With a glass of fizz in hand we made our way with the last of the flood behind us we arrived at our secret little anchorage for the night.
We dropped anchor, cracked a beer and took in all the surroundings as the wind was picking up and the tide started to turn. It was becoming wind against tide and a bit choppy.
Nathan and I went below deck and begun to cook while Libby and Rea were up top sitting in what was bordering a gale!
We enjoyed a lovely meal and battened down the hatches for the night.
Fine Line between enjoyable and horrendous!!!!
Now, if you recall one of my previous posts where we lost our rudder at sea, the motion was reminiscent. So the tide was ebbing and it was rather choppy, the rudder was raised and so was the keel. At low water there would be about 2 feet of water below us. We were swinging big time on the anchor, lunging again from side to side, we were all tucked up and listening to the howling wind and the rain tip tapping on the cabin roof. It was hardcore being inside while the boat was skidding from one side of the river channel to the other whilst anchored. Libby and I were actually enjoying ourselves but were mindful that it may not be the case for Nathan and Rea. Any way we could best describe the experience as a fine line between enjoyable and horrendous. We tried to get as much sleep as possible.
We made it through the night! Still windy, we put the kettle on and prepared to return to our mooring.
The tide was High and we were approaching the bridge with the mast lowered, cautious of wether the mast tip was going to scrape the bridge. We cleared it with ease and returned to our mooring. I think we were all pleased to back on land but it was an exciting little adventure. but we were all boated out for sure.
The rudder!!
It was back to fixing up the new rudder so we could get back out to sea. We had the first of our club cruiser series approaching and we really wanted to take part. There happened to be a huge cruise ship (the Arcadia) anchored off the town and we really wanted to sail around her. I was really hoping the rudder would work. But until then………
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