by ianrmaciver » Sat May 24, 2014 12:36 pm
On Monday 19th May , launched at Wells Next The Sea . HM team very helpful , dropping the boat down the slip with their tractor . Moored overnight on the pontoon and shuttled the car / trailer back to Cambridge.
Weaved out of Wells an hour before HW...not the drink , it's just a very tortuous entrance , and set a direct course for the Humber Estuary. For the first couple of hours the tide was against and we struggled to get far enough from shore to escape the sea breeze. Finally with the tide turning we made decent progress passing through the Docking channel and then heading for Outer Sand East Cardinal. We had decided to skip Grimsby and continue north.
By now it was dark , with a fair number of ships about together with the Xmas tree lights on the gas rigs and activity around the wind farms.
The chart plotter worked well and the AIS overlay was reassuring , allowing monitoring of shipping .
The wind died down during the night and we motored towards Bridlington , arriving at 08.00.
The Port staff were very helpful , sorting out a berth. It was quite spooky to find ourselves encased in soft mud at low water , along with 150 other boats.
I'd been a bit worried about our VHF....and the port staff found a radio specialist who checked the aerial function , OK.
The duty member on at The Royal Yorkshire Sailing club was friendly and provided lots of info. on sailing further north.
The forecast was not great , but we pressed on in the morning heading for Whitby.
Expecting problems rounding Flamborough Head with a NW wind , we put a reef in . The wind was forecast to veer NW , but stuck around NNW and we had a very uncomfortable time under engine the whole way . The sea state was such that I had concern over Whitby entrance . Port Control Whitby were very good , checking the entrance swell and as we approached , confirmed that we should be ok. We entered at dusk , and moored on the waiting pontoon before the bridge. Port staff came to the pontoon , explained the port procedures and provided a " key" for the showers at the marina.
Two hours wait for the bridge were spent in the pub with fish and chips.
Radioing the bridge ....told to do this 20mins before scheduled time...got no response , so back to Port Control. Bridge opened and we found the visitor berth in the marina.
The last 5 hours had been carried out in torrential rain....so tent up and off to bed. Some leaks overnight , so a bit fed up in the morning. Looking at the forecast we decided to call it a day.....so back to Cambridge for tea.
Further North will be for another day!
So... 120 miles in two legs...34 hours at sea...two on board.
Learnings... Minnie is a tough little boat...tougher than we are anyway.
AIS is a great when in congested areas with poor visibility.
Once you sail overnight you need two crew who are happy to sail single handed...allowing rest/sleep. You can make good progress though.
We carry a couple of plbs and a just purchased 2 man life raft.(unused!!).
Sitting at home...Minnie at Whitby... I'm checking the weather and thinking about finding crew.
Ian