by Adrian Langford » Mon Jun 08, 2015 5:08 pm
I'm part way through a lot of days in the Suffolk area! Having been part of the rally based at Suffolk Yacht Harbour with my son, Andrew, I left Meisje at SYH and came back (after a weekend of night shifts) with my parents and their caravan.
My Dad and I have been to Titchmarsh Marina (wonderful), including a huge hailstorm the next morning that I have recorded on my phone. When I get home I'll try to upload it. We went from there to the Deben, staying at Pinmill. From there we went to the bridge at the top of the river with my Mum, then after dropping both of them off had a quiet afternoon sail down to Waldringfield last night. Today I got up at 5.30 then sailed with the tide down to Felixstowe Ferry to fix the annoying staysail furler, which kept wrapping the forestay inside it!
After this I headed out one hour before low water, with the centreplate up, into a superb sea with a NE4 and decent swell. I experimented with the centreplate and sails and found that downwind the yankee or yankee plus staysail, with centreplate up, was most comfortable. I lashed the boom onto the cockpit mooring cleat to stop it thrashing about. With this configuration I could sail her with quartering or stern seas with my fingertips. With the main up it was much harder work, especially with the plate down.
I went well out to see, crossing the shipping lanes very early, then enjoyed having the place to myself with no boats or ships around, just the noise of the roaring surf coming from the south, I think about 5 miles away. The close reach with double reefed main and staysail at 4 to 5 knots into Suffolk Yacht Harbour w as fantastic. This was my first proper offshore singlehanded sail, and one I enjoyed, though I am rather tired now!
Tomorrow my Dad and I hope to go out again, before I recover Meisje Wednesday and drive home Thursday into Friday. It's been a fantastic trip. Many thanks to Charles for arranging the rally. Without this incentive I would probably not have been sailing here, in an area I last sailed in 45 years ago as a toddler!
Adrian.