Sailing: Say Hello to Summer
Rather optimistically, I named this Bank Holiday trip "Say hello to Summer" in the hope that it would indeed be the beginning of summer barbecue weather. Unsurprisingly, it didn't quite turn out like that; more like the traditional bank holiday weather. Nevertheless, a fun cruising trip was had.
We set off from Ipswich on the Saturday morning, on a mostly grey, damp and blustery day day. The original plan was to head towards Sealand - a surreal "principality" in the North Sea - and then up to the river Ore. The forecast didn't look great for this, but nonetheless we went to have a look, and poked out past Felixstowe. Unsurprisingly, after a mile or so the less experienced crew members started to feel rough, in the choppy waters outside the rivers. I decided to go to plan B, and have a cruise around the rivers instead, and we ended up staying overnight at Levington.
The following morning, the weather had changed to bight and breezy. A fairly steady F5-6 was blowing in from the north-west, meaning that there'd be good sailing to be had as long as we stayed close inshore, so that the waves couldn't build. We first went down to the Walton backwaters, and then did a long reach up past Felixstowe, the Deben and the Ore. After some great sailing, the wind picked up to F7 and we came back down to the river Ore. Shifting sandbanks and rapid tide streams make this a tricky entrance, but all went smoothly, and after a slow chug up the river against the tide we moored at Orford, for an excellent evening barbecue and a quiet night.
On Monday morning, after again negotiating the interesting tides at the mouth of the Ore, we headed south again. Em took the opportunity to have a go at skippering, and headed us for Sealand once again. Despite the grey sky the wind was now much gentler, but the weather the day before had resulted in a rolling swell, which again scuppered the plan; a few miles offshore, the crew started to feel it again... In any case, with time moving on we turned for home, and tacked up past the docks again towards Ipswich. We arrived back shortly after 5pm, with a final opportunity for Konstantin to practice marina manoeuvres. As we arrived back, it suddenly turned into a beautiful day, so we had a slightly longer stay in Ipswich as we played hunt-the-fish-and-chips-shop. So much so that, cleverly, we managed to just miss the last direct train back to Cambridge - which is a good summary for the trip: not quite as planned, but a lot of fun anyway!
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