Last day in Wells-next-the-Sea
Trip Start
May 06, 2008
1
105
130
Trip End
Sep 30, 2008
Wells-next-the-Sea,
United Kingdom
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
We spent the day doing a bit of laundry, shopping and chatting to all and sundry. I spent an inordinately long time in the chandlers, spent a fair bit but had some bargains eg set of charts for the Dutch coast for £20.00.
Whilst we were out shopping, the wind changed direction and started blowing from the south west, which was good news as this is what we were hoping for
CW Leaning Drunkenly against Pontoon
. However, what I hadn't allowed for was its effect on the boat as she was taking the bottom. There was enough pressure on the hull and rigging to cause her to start leaning out, away from the pontoon. Had we not got back in time, the consequences could have been catastrophic, with the boat either falling right over or putting incredible strain on the cleats and the warps holding her. As it happens, we were in time and by using the cruising chute halyard, tied to the pontoon, I could winch her back to the vertical and thence to incline inwards. However, because she had drifted further away from the pontoon due to the wind, the net effect of her new leaning-in position was that the angle was fairly extreme, which led for a fairly uncomfortable few hours.We had originally planned to leave Wells on the early tide the following morning. However, after talking to a neighbouring Southerly 135 owner who was also wanting to get to Lowestoft, we concluded that if we were to do that, we would not make Lowestoft within the 6 hour tide window. Our only other option was to leave on this evening's tide and anchor out in Holkham Bay, about 2 miles west of the Leading Buoy that marks the channel to Wells. We decided to do this, so after dinner on board and as dusk was settling in, we cast off and bade our farewells to one of our favourite little towns. About a mile ahead, we could see the lights of the Southerly bouncing about as she crossed the bar, so we were given advance notice of the sort of night's sleep we would be getting.
The two miles to Holkham Bay took over an hour, as we bounced about and fought our way against a brisk SW wind and strong current. However, we finally got there and the sea was a little flatter but we knew that we would be fairly uncomfortable as we anchored in a 2 knot current and 18 knots of wind. It's very difficult to sleep when the boat is rolling, as you roll with it. We decided to sleep across the boat instead, which helped. Its' times like this that you get to appreciate the dimensions of Celtic Warrior!
We did finally get to sleep but it wasn't too long before we were woken up by loud banging above our heads, which meant that I had to get dressed, don waterproofs, lifejacket and harness line to hook me onto the jackstay ( a long piece of webbing that runs fore and aft to which you clip the harness line ) in order to investigate. It turned out that it was the spinnaker pole which had come unclipped at its base against the mast and it was swinging wildly, bashing the mast at random intervals. It was soon rectified but of course, all this effort meant that I was now wide awake again and consequently, it took a long time to get to sleep.
