Off the mooring

Daisy II now safely back on the trailer, having seen off storm "St Jude" from her mooring

We know that Drascombes are tried and trusted designs; herewith, yet more evidence of this.  I remain truly grateful for the quality of a boat which survived, unscathed, the ravages of last weekend's storm "St Jude"; that's more than can be said for a number of other boats moored at Pin Mill.  I noted F10 gusts on Monday morning at Harwich on the windfinder website weather report; Pin Mill was presumably slightly more sheltered but must, nonetheless, have been rather wild.  Subsequent reports suggest the eye of the storm tracked directly through this area of Suffolk.  I understand one boat slipped a mooring, another capsized, and noticed a few badly shredded jibs as I brought Daisy II back to shore in the dark on Friday night.  At the time of the storm, I had been in Cornwall on a short walking break but received a very welcome email following the storm from a fellow Drascomber at Pin Mill to reassure me that all was well.
Pulling her out in the dark on the 10pm tide, artificial light provided by the Butt and Oyster pub was extremely helpful.  Conditions were calm - a good reason for bringing her home then and not later in the weekend when another autumnal storm was due to strike - and she winched onto her newly serviced trailer with ease.

Now on the driveway, the hull has had a hose-down, I've run the engine through with unsalted water and checked the hull for necessary winter repair work.

End of season chores

I'd like to think the season is not yet over and hope to trail over to Rutland Water for the day later this month.  I'm also toying with the idea of taking her up to Honnor Marine for the winter to have her buoyancy upgraded and to leave the professionals to deal with a few other jobs on the wishlist.

Whilst October was a disappointing month with very little sailing possible, on the back of an otherwise superb sailing season, one cannot grumble too much.