The Swale race and an East Coast cruise

 For this years Swale race we had D, Alastair and John as crew. We started with a reasonable light wind, but during the race it dropped away and the course was shortened. Many boats could not make the outer mark before the tide turned and had to retire. We carried on and finished the race, sadly without any prizes in return for our efforts. We crossed the finish line at the same moment as the championship barge EDME, the only bowsprit barge to finish. She had sailed the full course and the barges had started 30 mins before us. The finish line is quite short and as she passed us the barge took up much of the space and all of the wind, but we crossed over uneventfully.

John had to go home to work but Alastair, D and I carried on with a short E Coast cruise. The next day there were strong NE winds and we motored inside the Isle of Sheppey to spend the night on a buoy at Queenborough. While there we saw a teenager in a dinghy adrift, drifting downwind onto a mudbank and waving his arms about. I rowed over and found he had run out of fuel for his outboard, and had no paddles or oars or any other equipment in his dinghy. I towed him off the mudbank, and eventually a mate in another dinghy and with presumably rather more petrol turned up and took him in tow.

The next day Bonita crossed the estuary to join Allan, Alice and family at Levington marina on the river Orwell.  They have the advantage of a rather more modern boat - Dura, a Westerly 33. Although the sail handling gear may be simpler than on a gaffer such as Bonita, the electrics and mechanics down below are definitely more complicated. However, they certainly have a lot more space in the cabin. With the boats sailing in company we went up the river Deben, where we got as far as Waldringfield and spent the night there. We sailed south to the lovely Walton Backwaters, before crossing the estuary back to the Swale.

The picture shows Dura and Bonita anchored off Prettymans point in the river Deben. The lug sail dinghy is Eel, towed behind Dura on this trip and here sailed by Allan and Toby. Eel is a stout little GRP dinghy, over 40 yrs old with plenty of carrying capacity, stable and simple to handle, but not very fast under sail.

Bonita anchored off Stone Point in the Walton backwaters while her crew are having a swim ashore.

East Coast OGA race

 We used to enter the EC race fairly regularly, but hav'nt been for a few years now. Its always held on the River Blackwater in Essex, so unless its part of a holiday cruise we need to make sure there's enough time to get there and back across the estuary. This year I had Justin who is an expert helmsman as crew. We set out from the Swale at 2am on Friday morning to catch the tide. There have been moderate northerly winds for weeks and I was anxious that we might have difficulty getting across before the tide turned against us, However we motor-sailed as far as the Wallet Spitway and just got there by low water, so everything worked out, and we picked up a mooring buoy outside West Mersea. There was a fine gathering of gaffers afloat and of their crews in the West Mersea yacht club ashore, and its likely the bar takings would have significantly helped the club finances.

We had a nice force 3-4 northerly for the race. Justin helmed and I did everything else. Bonita doesnt do so well under the OGA handicapping system and didnt win any prizes but we had a fine sail and its good to see so many gaffers out on the water, and so many people of all ages enjoying sailing under traditional rig. 

A large feature of the EC race are the smacks, many of them very well looked after and sometimes sporting far more sail than they ever carried when they were working fishing boats.

Our mooring at West Mersea seemed to be about a mile from the clubhouse, and though there is an efficient ferry service I thought it would be interesting to be independent. I fixed our electric outboard to the elderly Tinker inflatable, together with a 100Ah battery. This worked fine and propelled us against wind and tide for three and a half of the four trips between the mooring and the club pontoon. Sadly the battery finally gave out as we were giving Colin a lift back to his boat after the prizegiving, and we had to row the last bit. However overall I was quite pleased with the setup which worked well for rather shorter journeys.

On the Sunday morning it was still blowing northerly, and we had a splendid sail back across the estuary. We picked up our mooring on the Swale under sail about an hour before high water. We were just tidying up the boat when Allan and Alice arrived with family on their boat Dura. They are hoping to cross over to the Essex rivers for their holiday but need a more favorable wind and rather smoother water with their young crew.

First time afloat!

 Bonita has had a quiet start to this season, though I have done some sailing on other peoples boats. I finally got round to painting her a few days ago, and yesterday D and I were lucky to have Sarah and her three eldest -Tamar, Isaac and Quin- aboard for their first ever sail. 

It was quite breezy, but we ran downwind under staysail for a couple of miles, then motored back to the mooring. After lunch our new crew enjoyed themselves waving at passing boats, exploring the ship, blowing the whistles on their lifejackets and jumping down the forehatch onto a pile of sailbags.

When we rowed ashore at high water the children were amazed to find all the soft mud had gone, covered by the rising tide. I tried to explain that it was the moon that caused the tide to come in and out, but I suspect this was thought to be another silly idea. 

Anyway, our new crew seemed to enjoy themselves, no-one was sick, no-one got too wet or muddy and lets hope they will be keen to come again.

Classic Boat article

 Nice to see an article about Bonita (and her skipper) in the June issue of Classic Boat magazine. I always like seeing stuff about Bonita in print. She has been in CB before - in 1993 and 2013 I think- but a bit more does no harm. 

But what about the old lady herself? Bonita is now out on her mooring on the Swale. She still needs painting, and I am waiting for some suitable weather and free time for this. Last week Allan and I renewed her mooring. This always provides plenty of fresh air and healthy exercise. As always, when we got to inspect it, 95% of the chain looked perfectly sound and good for another couple of years or so. 5% looked dodgy and not to be relied on. Its not quite that simple though, when you chip off the rust and look at the links carefully you often find its not as good as you at first thought, and sometimes the welds seem to rust more quickly than the rest of the metal. All new galvanised chain helps give peace of mind on those dark stormy nights when you lie in bed at home wondering if the boat is ok.

New jib sheet

 For years Bonita used to have separate port and starboard jib sheets tied to the clew of the jib. However the trouble with cutter rig is that the jib sheet frequently catches on the forestay when going about, and it wont come free regardless of which sheet you pull on. Its not a major problem as the jib will come free if you  come off the wind and bear away a bit, but it means that tacking in confined waters is not as crisp as it should be. And sailing without sheet winches, its best to pull the headsail sheets in sooner rather than later when the sails are full of wind. Having put up with this for years I thought maybe things could be improved and this seems to be the answer....

The new jib sheet is one continuous length of rope, with a brass cringle spliced in the middle that is shackled to the clew of the jib. There is nothing really to catch on the forestay.  I have been using this during the last season and it does seem to be a definite improvement - I wish I had tried it out years ago.

Thats all very well, I hear you say, but what news of the boat? Shes in her mud berth for another month or so. I've installed a couple more bronze brackets to strengthen the hull at the after end of the cockpit, and shes had her annual treatment of wood preservative being sprayed into every accessible crack and crevice internally.  With various other commitments we aren't planning any major trips this year and its looking like we will be mostly be sailing in the Thames Estuary, the Essex and Suffolk rivers. And with such a varied and interesting cruising area so close, why go any further?