The Westerly Owners' Association - East Coast Group

Titchmarsh Rally 28th May 2011

Our first sailing event of the season did not go quite as planned.

The organiser's report

After such a long spell of warm dry weather I guess it had to change some time & sure enough the wind gusted at F5-6 on the Saturday. So it was no surprise that the boats that could, arrived early. Flora, a Centaur, ventured from Sandwich in Kent, & Hunters Moon, Apollo X1, Meltemi, and Janimari II duly arrived on Friday from various East Coast ports. Local boats Norma Anne & Linnett joined these.

Oma, a Berwick moored in Alresford Creek off the River Colne left late Friday hoping to arrive by nightfall but on entering the Walton Backwater experienced rather more excitement than he had expected – see his story below.

The planned BBQ was aborted due to cold & windy conditions & 17 persons gathered snugly on Falcon for drinks & nibbles before retiring to the Harbour Lights bar later for a drink & natter.

Sunday saw the wind gusting up to 39kts so all stayed for another night. The evening saw a mini bus & cars take a contingent to the Walton & Frinton YC for a hearty meal returning to the marina as an early start due to the tide was planned for Monday morning, when the wind had finally abated allowing all to make a safe journey home.

A big thank you to all who made this weekend so enjoyable, and we look forward to meeting again soon.

Andy & Carol Clark, Falcon

A visitor's version

This was to be my third outing with the East Coast Westerly Group, the first two had been most enjoyable and this one, being the first of the new season, promised to be even better.

I set off to the boat, on its fore and aft mooring, after dropping off my youngest son, his wife and their kids at Heathrow for their flight to New York. A rush back to get to the Creek at low tide as I knew there was a problem with a mooring warp caught up at the stern. After wading through the East Coast mud and silt that forms a very thick carpet in Alresford Creek I discovered the warp had forced itself between the rudder and skeg causing damage to the skeg and jamming the rudder. There being nothing else for it I proceeded to smash off the skeg to free the warp and rudder. At least I would be able to sail to the meeting.

The tide rose and off I set under motor as the wind was SW 4-5, on the nose down the Colne. At least this would give me a good sail up the Wallet and on towards Felixstowe before turning into Walton Backwaters. However as usual on these occasions a few minutes after turning at Colne Point the wind dropped away completely. On with the Iron Genoa again!

Never having been to Titchmarsh before I relied on Andy Clark's directions and my new chart plotter (only the 2nd time of using it) to get me there in the dark.

All was going well, keep close to the buoys Andy had told me, so I did. Unfortunately due to the darkness and my inability to see a small Red buoy in the dark I went 20 yards to port of it and promptly hit Stone Point at 5 kts. Up went the bow on the sand and I knew immediately that I was stuck on the falling tide. A call to Andy explaining the situation as he was to meet me at the pontoon and assist in taking lines. “Have an early night” I told him before chucking out an anchor and trying to sleep at a 30deg angle.

Morning came and the tide with it. Time to hoist the Iron Genoa again. Key on fuel on turn….. Nothing!! The solenoid did not even click. Lots of battery, so that was not the problem. After 30 mins of fault finding I gave up looking and tried one last time. Vroom, she started. (No idea what the fault was but she was going again).

A quick call to Andy, “Half an hour and I will be there” “I’ll be there to take your lines” said Andy. An hour later I called him. “Delayed” I said. “Schoolboy error. I forgot to raise the anchor after the fuss with the engine and have now caught a mooring line” . Two very nice young ladies, on the boat legitimately attached to the buoy helped me to untangle my ground tackle then it was time to start the engine again. Nothing happened!!! This time no messing about. A jump lead to the starter terminal and the other end firmly touched to the battery and we were off.

Safe and sound on the pontoon at last. Drinks on Falcon Andy & Carol’s very tidy home and the story was told to one and all.

That evening we were due to be having a barbeque. Not in this wind we thought as it was now blowing old boots and getting chilly. More drinks and nibbles on Falcon was the order of the night and what a good night it turned out to be.

Sunday morning came. I was due home that evening but the weather had other ideas. A call home and apologies to Barbara, my wife, storm bound in Walton Backwaters and staying another night. It was decided that we would go to Walton & Frinton Yacht Club for a meal that evening. There was also a presentation to the Steward who, after 4 years, was leaving them. Again a very nice meal in good company was very much appreciated by us all. More drinks after at the Harbour Lights the off to a very well earned beer and food induced sleep.

Monday morning the weather having improved considerably some set off early while others slept on.
I slipped my berth at 12.30 some 4 hours before low tide for a long and lazy sail back to the Colne and my muddy mooring.

What a wonderful sail it was. A beat out towards Stone Banks then a close reach all the way back to Colne Point, where the wind promptly veered and hit me on the nose 2 minutes after turning for Brightlingsea. On with “Old Iron!” again with a flash of jump lead to battery and we are off.

Knowing that it is only possible to get to my mooring 3 hours either side of high water I meandered upstream getting to the mouth of the Creek at 8.30 pm. NO water!!!! And the top of the tide due at 11.45pm. What is going on? The combination of strong winds from SE to SW the previous day and high pressure coming in had decreased the tide considerably. Bugger! And now it had started to rain. After sweeping the mud for an hour and a half I eventually made it the 400 yards to the mooring and picked up my lines. Never before have I encountered such a lazy tide. Still now all that needs to be done is load the dinghy and row 100 yards to the slip, get in the car and drive home. Why are we not going anywhere in the dinghy? A final insult, my line between the mooring buoys had fouled the bottom of the dinghy. That just about finished the trip off nicely.

“Why do you go sailing anyway” asked Barbara when I regaled my adventures the next day. “Because I enjoy a challenge and the camaraderie of my fellow mariners” I reply. Long may it remain so. I have a feeling I can dine out on the story from that trip many times over.

Ian Bartlett, Oma