Boat Plans Wooden | Why do people cruise

Boat Plans Wooden

WHY DO PEOPLE go cruising the face of the earth in  small sailboats? I think most people cruise to find happiness, or at least inner contentment. But then we have to ask: What is happiness? Happiness is as elusive to find as it is to describe. I believe it’s the byproduct of working toward a goal. Happiness is serendipitous. It ambushes you while your attention is focused on your goal. If you deliberately chase happiness, it runs away from you. But if you chase a  goal, happiness sneaks back.

So what should a cruiser’s goal be? Almost anything you decide in advance to achieve through thick and thin. To sail around the world is a goal, but rather a grand one. Your goal doesn’t need to be that grand. It could be to collect certain rare shells from far-flung islands. To photograph six different kinds of whales in six oceans. To make a video or write a book. To retrace Slocum’s route and collect postage stamps from every country he visited. To climb certain mountains on certain islands. To take mid-ocean temperatures for the Scripps Institute. Youre limited only by your imagination.

Having a long-term goal, a definite objective, gives purpose to a voyage, removes uncertainties, and resolves many decisions that otherwise become burdensome, contentious, and, in the end, lethal to congenial relationships.

So if you want a successful cruise, set a goal that everyone can agree on —and firmly never budge.

Todays ThoughtA singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave you discover that there is another behind it just as important.

 —Stephen Crane

Tailpiece

A man visits his doctor. He presses his leg and says: “It hurts here.” He presses his ankle and says: “It hurts here.” He presses his ribs and says: “It hurts here.”  He presses his nose and says: “It hurts here. Whats wrong with me?

“Broken finger,” says the doctor.

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Boat Plans Bartender | Two Day Cruise – Part 2 Burnham to Bradwell

Boat Plans Bartender

Scow

Safe Water Mark

Bradwell Marina

It was with a little trepidation that I stepped onto the platform at Burnham-on-Crouch railway station where I was to be greeted by the owner of yacht Ladybird. My trepidation was not to do with meeting him, but with facing the fact that I was going to start a short cruise involving more than would be required of a day sail with Pike, my Iain Oughtred skiff. We would be leaving the River Crouch for a sail through the Ray Sand Channel, which would mean crossing the narrow isthmus of sand between Ray Sand and Buxey Sand. The return trip would be via the Swin Spitway at the eastern extremity of the Buxey Sand.

The Met Office Inshore Shipping Forecast for Gibraltar Point to North Foreland was: ‘SW 3, occasional rain, fair later.’ In fact, the rain came later that night when we were snugly berthed at Bradwell Marina. It continued into the early morning of Thursday, 20^thAugust.

High Water for Burnham on Wednesday 19^th was not until 15.49, which gave us ample time for getting to the yellow marker buoy from where we would sail northwards across the shallows for the Ray Sand Channel. At midday we cast off from Ladybird’s mooring at Rice and Cole and we powered clear of neighbouring boats before making sail.

We anticipated that our crossing of the sand at the shallowest point would take place about an hour before HW Burnham. There were surprisingly few boats on the move, apart from a number of Burnham scows being sailed by youngsters. The Foulness Firing Range launch was anchored off Foulness Point and red flags were displayed on the south bank indicating that firing was taking place. We already new that because periodically, there were emissions of black smoke followed by the sounds of explosions. Rather than firing rounds, it appeared that the burning off of outdated explosives was taking place.

A SW wind of force two gently wafted us over the incoming tide to give us two to two-and-a-half knots, bringing us to the all important yellow marker buoy. We arrived there a little later than planned, but that gave us the advantage of deeper water for crossing the hidden isthmus under Ladybird’s keels. We had an updated, detail chart showing two safe water buoys with vertical red and white stripes. Sure enough they were picked out by the skipper and confirmed to be so by further inspection through binoculars. They gave us reassurance that we were where we should have been. By then the wind was on ‘Ladybird’s’ port quarter and it increased in strength, possibly to a force three, giving us a good speed of over four knots. Far ahead to port there was the unmistakeable outline of Bradwell Power Station, which was very close to our planned destination at the marina.

Our course was parallel to the eastern fringes of the low-lying Dengie Peninsular. Ladybird’strack matched the zero metre line on the chart, but with the depth sounder showing four metres, giving us three metres to spare.

At the northern end of the Peninsula, beyond Tillingham Marshes, there’s the ancient landmark of St Peter’s Chapel. This historic building is a useful feature for taking compass bearings, and we used it for confirming our position in relation to Bachelor’s Spit, over which we passed with only a metre to spare - and that on a falling tide!

To avoid the ebb from the Blackwater we sailed as close as we dare to Sales Point at the entrance of the river, but beyond that, and hard on the wind, the current forced us further and further into deeper and faster flowing water. Had we not resorted to motor sailing we would have been forced to anchor until the tide or wind changed.

With only a mile to go, we furled the Genoa, started the engine and chugged into the wind, so as to arrive at Bradwell Marina in time for an evening meal. We walked a short distance to the Green Man pub where the skipper treated me to a deliciously tasty meal of fresh haddock and chips.

As is customary for me on the first night of a cruise, I did not sleep well. I fitfully slumbered, periodically waking to listen to the pitter-patter of rain and to speculate about the next day.

(Part 3 to follow)

Links

Two Day Cruise

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/two-day-cruise.html

Dengie Peninsula

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengie_peninsula

St Peter’s Chapel

http://www.bradwellchapel.org/index.html

Green Man Pub

http://greenmanbradwellonsea.co.uk/ 

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Boat Blind Plans | Two Day Cruise

Boat Blind Plans

Back at home after a two day cruise aboard ‘Ladybird’, I’m ready for bed! But here’s a taster photo.

The owner and skipper at the helm looks pretty contented.

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Boat Plans Bolger | Two Day Cruise – Part 3 Bradwell to Burnham

Boat Plans Bolger

Goodbye to Bradwell Power Station - literally it is being taken apart

Skipper at the helm

The skipper checking Ladybirds mooring before leaving

Goodbye and thank you Ladybird

A planned short coastal cruise may not be straightforward on account of the weather. Would there be enough wind? Would there be too much? Would we be able to sail the boat back to Burnham according to the navigator’s plan?

The 48 hour forecast at the start of the cruise predicted that the wind would be from a southerly direction between force 3 and 4. In which case, we would be on a reach for the first leg from Bradwell Marina to the Swin Spitway, and after tacking through the Spitway we could expect a long fetch with the wind coming from a point forward of the beam.

In practice, that is how it nearly panned out, except we arrived a little too early at the Spitway. Instead of being there shortly before low water when the ebb would have been almost stationary, the tide was still ebbing into the Wallet. In order to make over the ground, we had to have help from the engine. At that point, just when we did not want the wind to head us, it did! However, we were able to make 240 degrees while lee-bowing the ebb.

There are two passages between the Buxey Sand to the north and Foulness Sand to the south. We chose the northerly one marked by Swallowtial port hand buoys. The alternative passage was through the Whitaker Channel, but had we taken that option, the tide and wind would have swept us away from Burnham. The better tack was with the wind coming from the port hand side.

At the outset, on leaving Bradwell Marina, the sky was grey, and there was fine drizzle, which was not at all inviting. No wonder only two other yachts were under sail, each of them considerably larger than Ladybird, and as usual, the larger ones sailed faster. For us that was helpful, because we could see where they were heading which was in the direction we wanted to go, i.e., towards the starboard hand Bench Head buoy. From there we would continue to the N W Knoll buoy and the Eagle before arriving at the Spitway.

The sky began to clear, revealing bright blue openings between clouds to the SW. The wind increased to about a force three. Instead of sailing at two knots, the yacht was doing over four. We should have reduced sail to slow us down, for arriving at the Spitway as planned at 09.45 – just before low water. Low water at Burnham was at 1016, but out at the Spitway it was earlier. The further north you go on the North Sea, the earlier high water is. That’s because the flow or flood travels from north to south, and consequently the ebb moves in the opposite direction earlier than in the south.

The advantage of sailing at neaps is having deeper water at low water than at springs, because the range of water between high and low is less. For us, this was helpful because sailing on a south-westerly heading we could avoid the ebb by creeping over the shallows in the vicinity of the Swallowtail buoys. Beyond and in the Whitaker Channel, the flood made itself felt by lee bowing the yacht on both tacks – short when on starboard tack, and long on port.

On approaching Foulness Sand, south of the Sunken Buxey shoal, we drew close to seals basking on the sandspit. There you can sail very close to the sand in the proximity of Buxey No 1 buoy. Seals are not daft; they know were they can catch fish more easily -that’s where their prey have less room to pass between narrows; in this case, Sunken Buxey shoal to the north and Foulness Sand to the south.

Here we came to the highlight of our cruise. Conditions couldn’t have been more perfect – smooth water, sunshine, beautiful cloud formations, sparking water, fresh air, and a perfectly trimmed boat. Ahead, lay our destination. Seven miles away, we would have to stop sailing, tidy the boat, pack our gear into the tender, and call it a day. We did not wish our time away. Instead, we wanted to continue.

One thing I forgot to mention was the wonderful hospitality of the skipper. I never once had to prepare food or make a drink. He did it all! I was entirely spoiled and mollycoddled.

Thank you, Captain for a great time.

Links

Two Day Cruise – Part 1

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/two-day-cruise.html

Two Day Cruise - Part 2 (Burnham to Bradwell)

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/two-day-cruise-part-2-burnham-to.html

Bradwell Power Station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradwell_nuclear_power_station

Wild Foulness

http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2009/04/17/nature_trail_foulness_feature.shtml

Ray Sand Swatchway

http://creeksailor.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/ray-sand-swatchway.html

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