Dave Drewery - Captain

Ed Morris - 1st Mate

All Wanderers are rigged for sea - bar one - guess who’s, a bit too much to drink and tired. We (northerners) smell from a sweaty journey and tell bad jokes - not true. Best thing - meal in Bristol Arms was was ggrrrrreat. Scampi and Fisherman’s platter minestrone soup - sticky rum and raisin pud - Ice cream fit to wear !! Adnams tractor boy beer was tremendous - followed by Morgan spiced / Glenfidich in the sailing club. And so to bed !! PPS. room to ourselves - can make as much noise as we want !!

End of day.

Saturday 12th May 2001 HW 1542 BST - 3.59 M Harwich

Rigged and ready for the off. Used foredeck as breakfast table - many thanks to the other crew - not so hung over after a hard drinking night !!

Sailing up the Stour to Manningtree. Fantastic blue skies without a cloud. One for the log - sailing today without a burgee - still in the back of the car - never mind we can look at every body else’s. Ed - "the crew" (it’s good to have someone to blame) put the main sheet blocks on up-side down, so the "captain" had to tie up to a buoy and re-rig the main sheet. It is a shame "he" hadn’t noticed this before we set sail !! So we sail in amongst plenty of other craft - keep a good lookout - aye aye captain. Joined the rest of the group on a broad reach to Wrabness point. Where’s the spinnakers ?!? - Dave has his flying. "Come on Ed get the kite up".

Beached at Wrabness nice and friendly for the boats, and the mud quite shallow. Had a light lunch - ginger beer and cake - yum yum - Mary would have liked this. Toast to absent friends Mary because she couldn’t make it, and Mark for letting us use his boat. Once again - spinnaker - Ed steer with your knees - "stand up Ed - use your legs". Let the wind blow! destination Mistley - kite down - for a hairy / scary ride around the mud flats. Past two huge ships tied to the quay. Followed the wiggley channel to the muddy shores at Manningtree. Wish I had Steve’s splatchers - Dave explain - Ahhh - snow shoes you say - could have been handy stuck knee level in thick mud. Thank you Dave for telling me " no sandals" back at the hostel.

Secured the boat and strolled the town and sailing club. Spied on local activities - replenished stores and had lunch watching guy preparing for round British Isles trip. "Ed go and fetch the boat". Homeward bound beat up to windward - wind against tide - bit choppy - goffers over the foredeck. Two and a half hours beating - very painful single purchase and no ratchet block for main sheet. Wet /cold bums but great sailing - F3-4 steady. Saw some great ships on way back. Arrived at slipway "Ed jump out - and grab the boat - grab the boat - you were supposed to grab the boat and where’s the painter ?? Queue at slipway proved a slight problem - traffic lights would have been of good use - slippery slipway.

Eats at Queens Head - Erwarton

Late, bar, car, pub, food, chat, telephone, boat, plaice, veg lasagne, chips, bed ! z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z !!!!

2339 BST

Over and out - roger.

Skipper corrects 1st mate on comms procedure - can’t over and out !!

Sunday 13th May 2001

Woke this morning after a decent nights kip. 0635. Captain had wheaties (the captains favourite) for breakfast cup of tea and bacon sarny. Main group to berth at Royal Harwich Yacht Club - ETA 1200, lunch, then hopefully Orwell bridge and sail back - ETA slipway 1600.

Exped to Pin Mill is order of the day – out-numbered 7:2 with outboards - sailing back against the tide might be a problem for some !! Forecast F3-4 SE - half decent wind - sail back against wind and tide - no problem !! Started expedition to Pin Mill a1000 BST narrow slipway lots of 505’s - one of our guys has flat tyres on his launching trolley could be a problem - wonder who’s it is ? Hazy sunshine - light winds - hope it picks up - where’s this 3-4 ? - lots of traffic. Wind dies - Abort Mission ?? Could paddle back now and drive to Pin Mill to complete mission. On spotting a friendly sailor with an outboard - we decided to take Dave’s offer of a lift to Pin Mill. Only once had a tow and that was with light winds on Windermere - didn’t want to argue with the car ferry.

Mud Mud glorious mud....... "Pint of Tolly Original please" Lunch - Steak pie / fisherman’s pie - and the smell of wooded floorboards. A fellow wanderer - came in and spoke of misfortune about running out of petrol and bewildered how it happened. On walking up the hard we met a friendly villager from Pin Mill who told us of the manager retiring from the Butt and Oyster, and tomorrow would be under new management. Lets hope they keep it the same................ Will return to find out - next mission captain ? The weather has been so hot these couple of days - shorts and T shirts for sailing - captain suggests fancy dress BBQ - Hawaiian theme. The chandlers was visited and purchased a souvenir for our missing crew member - hope it fits !! Dave bought a pair of laces and polish for his best boat shoes.

The boat was now afloat - lifted from it’s sticky situation - up onto the incoming tide. The wind had picked up nicely - I blame the Tolly - just what we needed. Tacked up into a good breeze F2-3 "might even make it back". Must remember to inflate trolley tyre for fellow wanderer - "how will we know which trolley it is there’s loads of them ? " - captain says it might be the one with the flat tyre - "yes of course" says Ed. Container ship approached from up-stream - "bugger that’s big" wouldn’t see many of them on Kielder. Had to sail full width of river to keep out of tidal stream. A couple of centre-board moments were had ! My throat seems dry - "have we got anything to drink Dave ?" - Lucozade - " Aahhhh" - "didn’t we have something else in the for’ard locker captain ?" - "Aahhhh" - OK we’ll open the beers. Bloody big ship ahead Dave ! The Sally Mearsk was ready to cast off and head seaward - tugboat in attendance. Fantastic sight – a sight that us in the north are not that use to – with so many trees around. Its quite refreshing to see more activity on the water – "look out Ed"

An so we are on the way home – to the jetty we know and love, and also have learnt to jump out on a steady the boat !! But look – the jetty is under water – pheeww.

The end of the weekend had come and we were happily tired. The boat took longer than expected to put away and we had to look forward to the long journey back to Newcastle. But it was worth it.

We both had a great time and would both like to thank the WCOA for their fantastic hospitality and good company and in addition the Shotley SC for use of there facilities. Special thanks to Dave Hewett who organised the weekend and a big thank you to my captain Dave (northern Dave) for putting up with my boat handling and unpractised jetty jumping skills. We would both very much like to come again given the chance. . . . . . .