So another year and time for the Wanderers East Coast Cruise. Last years event was characterised by strong winds, choppy seas and the lack of a hairdryer for Bev. Wonder if she’ll be there this year.

My crew, Dave, arrives from Newcastle Friday evening about 6pm, dinner is just going on the table so he stops for a bite, after dinner when the kids have gone to bed we settle down with a bottle of wine and the charts. The forecast indicates Northerly winds, and having checked with some old timers, this would be good for a run up the coast from Harwich to the Deben. We check the route, tides etc and agree the trip is feasible but decide to wait and see what everyone else wants to do – it might not be everyone’s idea of a pleasant sail. By now its time for the crew to head off to the campsite, but it appears that its too cold outside, and our spare bed is put to use.

Saturday morning I lazily roll over to look at the clock – 7.30, and jump out of bed. The kids are usually up and shouting at me by 6am. A mad rush ensues to get everything ready and rush off to Harwich, collecting the boat from Waldringfield on the way. Finally we make Harwich about 10.30 to find we’re not as late as we thought.

The old faces are mixed with some new faces, a total of 6 boats, good turnout. Stephen, the organiser, wanders over to say hello and gets the usual question ‘Where are we going?’ He says he’s thinking about Hamford Water, ‘What about the Deben?’ I say hopefully. ‘OK’ he says, so long as I lead the way. No problem, I thought.

A quick briefing on the route including some of the pitfalls of sailing in these tidal waters and we’re off. As we were late arriving we were last on the water complete with the keys to the club and the trailer locks.

We all head off safely down the river as per the plan and make a last minute cut across the main channel to head up the coast past Felixstowe. At this critical point the wind dies and it takes nearly an hour for everyone to pass Landguard Fort Point. But worse is to come, the wind picks up and is now a very cold North Easterly accompanied by a swell. My crew and I wonder how Bev is getting on without her hair dryer, these waves are definitely bigger than the ones she saw last year.

So the slow beat up the coast starts, we hang back a bit keeping an eye of Graham and Wendy, its their first time sailing on the open sea, although they seem to be coping well. By the time we get to Felixstowe Pier (about half way up the coast), it is obvious that we are not going to make the Deben before the tide changes, and we finally see people heading into the swimmers beach at Felixstowe pier for a lunch break.

As we get closer to the beach past memories, (from 15 years ago when I was young and fearless), come flooding back of surfing Ents up beaches like this at Uni – I think we only smashed a couple of boats during my time there. My reluctance to go in is overcome by my crew who instructs me that everyone else is there so we are going. Armed with my previous experience, we go by the book - drop the main (it’s a lee shore) and come in on the jib, timing is everything with these beaches and we hit it just right, nice big breaker takes us straight up the beach. Willing hands grab us and the boat is rapidly hauled up to safety.

Once ashore the first thing that happens is that we are told by the beach warden to hurry up and leave as this is a ‘no boat’ zone of the beach. Right oh, so we break open the coffee and start to warm up.

After lunch I notice one of the boats on its side and someone raking around in the centreboard case. I wander over and see that they have an ingenious little hook for raking out stones stuck in the centreboard case. The stone raking team move swiftly along the boats clearing centreboards. At last we get moving, we give a hand to Graham and Wendy to get off the beach first, again timing was everything and there was a nice lapse in the swell to help them get off, other boats start to leave before suddenly disaster strikes us.

My crew is getting the boat into the water when a large, steep wave picks the boat up and tosses it on its side up the beach, another wave follows and the boat is tossed even harder up the beach landing heavily on its side. The boat now has half the beach and plenty of water inside it. Just then we noticed Dave & Lorraine in a similar predicament. My crew rushes over to check they are ok, he comes back and says they are not moving from the beach and he has volunteered to drive round and collect them once we get back.

Armed with one of the stone raker hooks we get off the beach quickly and start the run back to Harwich. My crew works tirelessly to free the centreboard, but I think he is still a little bit in shock from the wave pounding and subsequent swimming event to recover our tiller, mobile phone and other accessories from the surf, and the centreboard remains firmly stuck. I also notice that the bow appears to be well down in the water. As we approach the entrance to the Orwell the wind has shifted back to a Northerly and we are faced with a hard beat back to Harwich, against the tide without a centreboard.

Without the centreboard, our course suggests that we may just reach Dovercourt beach on the far side of the estuary, as the other boats start the beat up the river against the tide, we go back to the book, weight as far forward as possible to immerse the bow, paddle lashed to the shroud but it makes little difference – looks like we may well be sailing into Hamford Water after all!

Finally, Terry comes past and thankfully he has an outboard, but then informs us he hasn’t enough fuel in his motor to make it round the breakwater so he kindly tows us to Dovercourt beach. Terry fills up and heads off to Harwich to let everyone know where we are – he also takes the keys to the club/trailer locks (but by this time a hack saw had been used to cut the locks).

My crew goes off to get coffee from the local shops, whilst I start bailing water and gravel out of the boat. When he returns we go to work on the centreboard with the stone raker hooks and finally two hours later, pliers, odd bolts, the stone raking hooks, and some helpful comments from my four year old son (who turned up wondering why daddy hadn’t come back with everyone else), the board finally moves free. I turn around thinking a nice evening sail up the river would finish off an otherwise bad day and see the water is now nearly 20m further down the beach and disappearing rapidly.

So with some assistance of a kind local, my wife and the kids we drag the boat down the beach chasing the rapidly receding waterline. Just then the rescue team arrives at the cliff top with road trailer and willing hands to pull the boat up the cliff. A tinge of regret creeps in as the evening sail might have been a consolation prize after a not very successful day, and I nearly send them back, but common sense (my wife gives me one of those looks) takes over and I decide to cut my loses and take the boat back to the club by road.

Back at Harwich the boat is secured for the night, and we hang around until 9pm waiting for the return of Dave & Lorraine. With some concern, we head off to the campsite to see if they have returned there. At the campsite Terry tells us they are back safely, so I leave my crew to pitch his tent and head off to home to crash out.

Sunday morning, the sun is shining, light winds again and I am on my way back to Harwich, armed with buckets, hose pipes, general cleaning gear and some optimism that I will have a good sail today. My crew has the cover off by the time I arrive and is busy filling buckets with gravel. We take the boat round to the hose pipe for a quick wash off and when the sand is removed the crack between aft buoyancy tank bulkhead and side shell is revealed, we open the forward buoyancy tank drain plug and the water floods out – so the heavy nose yesterday is finally explained.

So for us the weekend is over. I say my good byes to everyone as the set off for their cruise up the Stour to Manningtree, hopefully a much more gentle affair, whilst I leave to pack up and head off to sort out the repairs and think about what went wrong.

For my crew and I the weekend wasn’t as successful as previous years - we didn’t make one pub on the trip – but we met more people who enjoy Wanderer sailing and gained some valuable experience.

My thanks to Terry for towing us the last bit to Dovercourt beach and to the other crews who helped pull my boat up the cliff at Dovercourt. Next year, I hope will be more successful, but the trip from Harwich to Waldringfield remains a challenge for this year! As for Bev, well I wonder if she’s thinking of taking up surfing!

Those participating were :-
Stephen Clampin & Bev W1318
David Hewett & Loraine W980
Graham & Wendy Davis W1527
Neil & Martine Horsfall W1152
Terry Pullen & Judy Porter W863
Mark Evans & Dave Drury W1438

Mark Evans, W1438.
wanderingsegali@hotmail.com