Laying her up for the winter

After several days of autumnal weather with strong winds and heavy rain I thought it must be time to put Bonita under her winter covers to await the arrival of Spring. Sunday was a rather better day, cold but dry with light winds. The picture shows Allan and Toby helping with the trip from Bonitas mooring to her winter berth in Faversham creek.

Toby, now 2yr 9 months old found plenty to talk about and was very interested in seeing some long abandoned wrecks on the mud at the entrance to the creek. He had no trouble spotting the red and green buoys, but was rather less sure in identifying buoys with points on, like the one in the picture above.  Some sailors rather more experienced than Toby can occasionally find these confusing too.

Its rare for us to be able to get into or out of  Faversham creek with its many twists and turns without touching the bottom once or twice. Sometimes, when things have gone really badly I have had to call up the yard launch for a tow. That doesnt happen often - usually when theres a strong crosswind making manoevering difficult.  But on this occasion we managed to get all the way to our berth without disturbing the mud at all. With a force 2-3 westerly wind there was a line of smooth water running along the channel indicating where the deeper water lay. This shows where the flood tide is running most swiftly, and I am always reluctant to assume that this necessarily indicates the deepest water as it often doesnt. But on this occasion the line of smooth water provided a reliable guide, 

Bonita is now snug under her winter covers, with the mast, spars and sails stored ashore.  Various bits of gear have been taken home for drying out, repairs or if absolutely necessary,                                                                      replacement.