Levington

We left Ipswich at about midday for a Parade of Sail down the river Orwell. D and I had Des from the NE OGA helping out. We left the wet dock at high tide when there was a steady stream of boats through the open lock gates on 'free flow'.

The sight of dozens of gaff rigged boats spread right across the river and progressing at a stately pace made a fine sight, though perhaps not fully appreciated by the skipper of the cargo ship coming up towards Ipswich and repeatedly sounding his horn.

However this peaceful scene was soon disrupted by a torrential rain storm. At times the rain was so heavy it reduced visibility at times to a few yards so we could see hardly any of the other boats or anything else on the river. The Parade of Sail became rather less orderly as a result.

 Eventually the rain became intermittent rather than continuous and we entered Levington marina where the Gaffers are based for the next couple of days to celebrate to OGA Diamond Jubilee. We have been joined for this by Tim and Elaine, Sian and Ant. There was evening entertainment until late at night. On Saturday there was again strong wind and a great deal of rain. None of the cruising boats felt the need to go out for a sail. Instead we drove to Sutton Hoo to see the site of the seventh century ship excavation where the Anglo-Saxon treasure hoard was discovered in 1938. Like so many others, we found the contrast between the peaceful rural landscape today, and the rich and colorful history of this spot very striking. The wooden structure of the ship rotted away long ago. The key point in her discovery was when the first investigator, Basil Brown recognised a rusty iron rivet for what it was and its significance.

 We then went to Woodbridge where a replica of the Sutton Hoo ship is being built. The build is informed by a great deal of historical research, and she is being built of the same materials and with the same sort of tools as the original.

It will take another 2 years or so to finish and is about half built.The black frames are temporary supports: the hull is being built of oak fastened like the original with wrought iron rivets. It will be fascinating to see her afloat when she is finished: 88 ft long, weighing around 6 tons and propelled by 40 oarsmen. Seeing the scale of the work, and some of the ironwork and jewellery on display at Sutton Hoo gives an impression of the sophistication, wealth and stability of Anglo-Saxon society at that time.

Ipswich

We woke the next morning to strong wind, rain and mist with poor visibility. We were glad to be on a mooring in a sheltered river rather than out in the open. We motored the few miles up the Orwell to Ipswich, and locked into the Ipswich Wet Dock, which was once one of the largest docks in the country, but is now given over almost entirely to yachts. We are here for the OGA Dimond Jubilee celebrations held over the next few days.

A large area of the marina has been cleared so the Gaffers are together as far as possible, and boats have been arriving all day with late arrivals being squeezed in.

River Orwell

D and I have been waiting for several days for weather suitable to our trip down to the Orwell, and today it looked as good as it was likely to get for a while. Tomorrow is forecast to be worse. So we left Lowestoft in company with Lahloo, Susan J, Moon River and Indian Runner at about 5.45am. We had a wind a bit south of west mostly around force 6. We had hoped for a slightly better wind but we were close hauled all day. The wind came with a very lumpy sea that washed the decks thoroughly and did its best to slow the boat down. The tide took us down nearly as far as Harwich, and a bit of tedious motorsailing into the wind got us into the river. We eventually picked up a mooring near Pin Mill.

As always the Orwell is a lovely river, peaceful with wooded banks once you are past the hustle and bustle of the container port at Felixstowe. We saw several gaffers and other classic boats.

The picture shows the Swedish built motor yacht Lilian, seen heading up towards Ipswich today after being at the Swale race last weekend. She was built of steel in 1916, is in marvellous condition  and usually kept on the Thames at Richmond.

Lowestoft

We are still in Lowestoft. We have had a few days of strong winds but are hoping for some reasonable weather to let us get to Ipswich in time for the Gaffers big gathering. In the meantime we have been enjoying the hospitality of the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club. They have a marvellous clubhouse purpose built in 1903. 

There are quite a few Gaffers here on the marina berths waiting for fairer winds. There are a few interesting resident boats here too.

The Omega is a Harrison Butler design, built in 1939. Harrison Butler was another talented amateur yacht designer, in his case the day job was as an ophthalmic surgeon. A number of his boats survive, and there is an active owners association.

Lowestoft!

We have been keen to make progress South, as it wouldn't be good to miss the OGA 60 celebrations at Ipswich next week, and the weather forecast is looking very uncertain. So we and several other Gaffers headed out on Thursday morning. We left from Scarborough, and took the fair tide to Flamorough head. The rest of the day was spent motoring into light winds. We have to be constantly alert to avoid fishing floats that might get entangled in the propellor. Some floats are well marked, but some are almost invisible and some of them look very like a seabird sleeping on the water. They are hard to avoid in daylight and almost impossible at night. Fortunately by the time it got dark a breeze had sprung up so we didn't have to motor and try to spot the fishing buoys at night.It was a nice night to be at sea: clear sky; there were lots of ships at anchor off the entrance to the Humber, but not many on the move to worry about.

The morning found us off the Norfolk coast, but we didnt get into Lowestoft till late afternoon. A stiff southerly wind for the last couple of hours made entering the harbour quite difficult. There is a real gathering of gaffers here now, and Bonita tied up to the lovely Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Letty -built in 1905 and recently beautifully restored - two old ladies together.

We are at the marina run by the very hospitable Royal Norfolk and Suffolk yacht club. This is my first visit to Lowestoft since coming here  long ago as a student in my 15ft Sunspot cruiser after a slow crossing from Vlieland in the Dutch Frisian islands. The harbour still seems to be very busy despite the decline of the fishing fleet.

Here we say goodbye to Hugo who has helped us down  from Blyth but has now run out of time

 He will be returning home rather more speedily by train.