October 9th, River Stour to Manningtree; 400-up!!



GPS track, 29.3nm

It's important to seize opportunities like this at the twilight end of the year.  A promise of reasonable weather, some good breeze, and a day free from commitments were too good to miss.  So, I took the opportunity to work the Spring tide up and down the Stour.
Left the mooring at about 9.30am, motored against wind and tide until the Orwell turns South; then put up reefed main with jib and mizzen, and sailed to Harwich harbour, round Shotley point, and then had wonderful run up the entire length of the River Stour.  With the full flood, maximum speed was 7.3 knots, which is as high as I can remember.  I reached Manningtree at around 12.30pm, and then turned round immediately, anchored briefly opposite Mistley Quay for a bite to eat, and then in a fresh F4-5 East/North East wind, tacked my way back to Wrabness.  The sea state was rough with the ebb working against the wind; initially used jib and mizzen, then added reefed mainsail and spent time experimenting with various reefs of the jib.  Finally, fearing time may work against me, motor-sailed from Wrabness back to the mooring (reached by about 5.15pm, which just allowed time for me to access the end of Pin Mill hard).
I've spent some time fiddling with a tiller brake which I haven't quite perfected.  Will report when it works better!
Fantastic sailing, the Stour turned pretty rough once the tide turned, so lots of spray.  Surprisingly few boats out to play, but I did see the Deben Drifter on its way out of Manningtree, and then later on in the Orwell - obviously off for a night stop.
Total distance of 29.3nm, and a season's total now standing at 404.3nm.