52nd Swale Race

Yesterday we took part in the Swale Match, I think the only race where the Thames Barges, smacks and gaffers race together. We - and everyone else- had almost perfect conditions, mostly NW force 4. We had a very capable crew of D, Allan John and Martha.

For Martha (aged 6) this was her first sail on Bonita. 

The picture below, taken by Mary Gibbs from the smack ADC shows Bonita about to start the race.

Sadly Bonita didnt win any of the prestigious prizes, but we had a fine sail, and I was intetested to see a couple of barges that I dont remember seeing before in the Swale.

Will ( originally Will Everard) was one of the largest barges ever built- in steel-  and after a long career carrying cargoes now earns her living in corporate hospitality.

Seagull II is one of the smallest barges ever built, a half size barge built to carry explosives for the Admiralty at a time when the early internal combustion engines were thought to pose an unacceptable fire risk. She was rebuilt a few years ago and looks lovely, although the scaled down barges were never very fast.

And home...

 This morning at low water Toby had his first sail in sole charge of Eel, although never far from helpful advice from his Dad.

Then as the tide rose we motored from Queenborough, through the Swale, under the lifting rail bridge at Kingsferry and back to our moorings at Harty Ferry. So ends a short East Coast cruise, and as always it is much more fun with two boats and two dinghies

Queenborough

We got up at 5am to catch the tide from Brightlingsea ( though Toby arranged to stay in bed). We managed to keep a fair tide all day which was just as well as there wasnt very much wind. At just about low water we were crossing the sands of the Wallet Spitway - no problem: Bonita had around 1m under the keel, and Pretty Penny had around 40cm. Luckily there wasnt much swell.The pictures show Pretty Penny and Bonita under way in light airs.

We are now on the Isle of Sheppy at Queenbough, named after Edward III s wife, Queen Philippa. I havnt been here for a few years and find they are building a fine new causeway over the mud to improve access to the water. Years ago Queenborough was blighted by the smell from a glue factory, and you had to pay a small boy a few pence to look after your dinghy or risk some kind of unpredictable mishap. The glue factory is long gone and Queenborough is now greatly improved and a pleasant little town. We thought the best bit was probably the fine 14th century church.

Tired after a long day ( except Toby) we had supper cooked by D on Bonita.

Despite much of the river being crowded with yacht moorings, there is some - relatively- large shipping emerging from the Swale.

Brightlingsea

On Tuesday we motored up to Titchmarsh marina in the depth of the Backwaters and walked the couple of miles into Walton. I hadnt been there for a few years. The town centre now seems almost entirely given over to tourism with rows of small cafes etc. With so many catering for what is presumably a seasonable trade its surprising that so many can stay in business. On the edge of town there are a couple of large supermarkets which I dont remember from our last visit, but which must drain some money from the High Street. Alistair was looking for some new Wellington boots as one of his is leaking. Not of the shops we saw in Walton stocked anything as practical as boots.

So today we left at half tide and light northerly winds bought us to Brightlingsea. Despite neglecting to radio ahead, we were welcomed by the harbourmaster and had an excellent supper in The Yachtsman pub close to the waterfront.

The picture shows Toby, aged 8, rowing Eel without any (direct) supervision. His seamanship skills have definitely developed a lot in the last few days.

Walton Backwaters

A day spent exploring parts of the Backwaters. Toby went sailing in Eel with Allan as crew, and as the picture shows he is definitely doing well. There is no doubt that the best way to learn to sail is in small boats, and Eel with her little lug rig is about as simple as a sailing boat can be.

We moved both boats from Hamford Water to Stone point where there was a party of teenagers on the shingle, very possibly celebrating the end of A levels. Unfortunately while making a wide turn - the only type we  can do-  in a narrow channel Bonita ran aground. We had to wait an hour or two before we could kedge her off, a process which resulted in a lot of gelatinous mud coming aboard. We cleaned all this off and eventually all had supper in Bonitas cabin with a thunderstorm in progress outside. So a day which resulted in the boats only moving a mile or two, but nevertheless a fair bit going on.

Hamford Water

No need for expensive foreign holidays - we have come to Essex for a few days well deserved break!  Bonita (D and me) are sailing in company with Pretty Penny (Allan, Toby and Alastair). We left the Swale at 7am today with a southerly wind that was brisk at times and enlivened by showers that sometimes blotted out the visibility. We were off the entrance to the Backwaters when one of these rain squalls arrived so we hove to for half an hour  rather than trying to enter in difficult conditions. We are now anchored in the lovely Walton Backwaters, immortalised by Arthur Ransome as 'Secret Water'. This is a fine dinghy sailing area and we were towing Eel, our lug rigged GRP dinghy. Its always a worry towing a dinghy in boistrous weather in case it fills with water and gets lost, but Eel only accumulated about a bucketful of rain and spray. We sailed Eel around a bit and then all had supper on Bonita. Bonita has been here often, but its a first visit for Toby and Alistair. We hope to do a bit more exploring tomorrow.

Old Bolts

 Apart from a couple of short day sails Bonita has been peacefully on her mooring for the last few weeks while D and I have been busy ashore. Bonita hasnt been completely neglected though. I put her on the scrubbing posts for a new coat of antifouling. The previous stuff, applied in May hadnt worked well and weed and small barnacles were already growing on it. I presume this is due to an unusually hot early summer. Perhaps unwise economy in buying cheap antifouling paint may also be a factor -it looked like an attractive deal when buying online but perhaps less so in the real world once it was out of the tin.  Bonita now has a coating of a rather more expensive variety which I hope will see her through the summer.

In sorting through a box of old bits and pieces I came across some of Bonitas original keel bolts, which Dad had stored away. This is original Victorian wrought iron. These bolts were removed in 1968 when they had by then been in place for 80 years.  None of the old bolts could be extracted intact: every one broke around the middle where it had corroded at the point where the lead keel joins with the wood. Their strength had been reduced probably to less than a quarter of the original at this point, so it does seem like it was time the job was done.

I replaced the bolts that were inserted in 1968 with yet more wrought iron a few years ago as it didnt seem wise to wait quite so long this time. Though they showed some corrosion, none of the 1968 bolts broke while they were being extracted. I was interested to see that the original Victorian bolts were 3/4 in diameter (19mm). The new ones I put in were 7/8 in (22mm) so they should be good for a few years. 

So whats next for the old lady? We plan to be going on a few days Thames estuary cruise next week so we are hoping for gentle breezes and calm seas.

And home....

 While Bonita was resting in the fine new Dover marina, D and I went by ferry to join the Saint-Malo OGA rally. This was great fun with lots of interesting things going on. I was sorry not to have Bonita there but given the timing and the weather I think we did the right thing leaving her at home. Old boats often do better with more flexible timetables.

I had originally booked Alastair to help us back from St Malo, but on Thursday evening we went by train to Dover. We left the marina at first light -4am - on Friday morning. Even at this time there is plenty of ferry traffic coming and going from the harbour. It was a clear bright morning with little wind. The VHF announced that there were several channel swimmers attempting the crossing  and we saw an open-water rowing boat heading down Channel and dodging round outside the harbour wall between the ferry movements.

We motored as far as the North Foreland with virtually no discernable wind, but once we got to the Foreland a nice easterly breeze sprung up. With this we were able to push over the adverse tide with no trouble. This was the first time we had set the mizzen since I glued up the broken mast in Brighton, and I was relieved that all seemed well. We picked up our buoy on the Swale at around 4pm.

So the boat has been away about a month and this finishes her early summer cruise. We have a few more outings planned for later in the year.

Dover

Wednesday seemed a better day. The force 7 SW of Tuesday had settled down to f5 SW so at first light we decided it was time to be on the move. Unfortunately while trying to leave Brighton marina the mizzen sheet caught on one of the pontoon mooring cleats, and with our eyes fixed on the potential hazards ahead, we did not notice this until the mizzen mast had sustained some damage. Repairing this delayed us a bit, so we didnt leave till about 6.30. The sea was still pretty boistrous in the entrance to the marina after yesterdays strong winds.  

The picture shows Beachy Head on a rather grey morning. Despite the apparent lack of white horses on the picture, we had a lively downwind sail as far as Dover. Entering Dover harbour in a brisk wind is always exciting, but we sailed in with the engine ticking over, and dropped our sails in the relative calm once in the harbour. We tied up in the fine new marina, which was under construction when we were last here 5 yr ago. It was good to see that it has been laid out with fairly generous manoevering space for those boats with large turning circles.

Here Bonita stays I hope for a few days while I go to St Malo by ferry. 

Its good that quite a few Gaffers are gathering at St Malo and I'm very sorry that as it has turned out Bonita is not among them.

Breezy in Brighton

 Its windy today in Brighton. Force 7 at least with spray coming over the harbour breakwater. We strolled round the town while hoping the weather will improve maybe tomorrow. The picture shows Allan admiring a shop in The Lanes area that only sells plastic bath ducks. There were lots of different types on display. This seems like an extreme form of specialisation, and we wondered about the business model and how many ducks they had to sell every day to cover their overheads. There were no customers in the shop when we passed it and we didnt feel we needed any more bath ducks.