Trip along the Stour to Manningtree - Saturday 10th October

Sunrise on the Orwell

I've accomplished this trip many times but today was slightly different.  For one, it was the first and only time I managed the full length of the Stour in 2015 - and there have been several otherwise rather feeble attempts.  Most importantly, however, it was a day where all plans came to fruition, where timing and forecast worked out and the outboard motor, the usual 'get out of jail free card,' wasn't troubled at all.

31.0nm

We were on morning neap tides with HW at Harwich expected at 11am.  This necessitated a 4.30am alarm, driving to the coast with intention of leaving the mooring at 7am.  Shotley Point needed to be abeam at around 8.30am in expectation of a splendid run up the Stour, arriving at Manningtree at least by HW.

Gentle winds on the Stour, approaching Ewarton Ness

The forecast was for a light NE breeze until HW when the winds were scheduled to turn full easterly F4 so it was important to prepare for a lengthy beat back down the Stour in strengthening wind over tide conditions, where waves can pitch quite steeply and closely.

In the event, all of this happened.  The run up the Stour could have been quicker and, had it been so, there would have had time to go ashore at Manningtree - it's been a while since I visited an excellent coffee/breakfast shop there.  However, the breeze was steady but light in nature, so I was only making just over 4 knots over ground - steady enough to notch up a brew under way off Parkestone Quay.  The sail up the Stour passed by without incident, past the gloriously imposing buildings of Holbrook School, the moorings at Wrabness on the opposite side, the ever-disappointing Mistley Quay and then on to Manningtree.

Manningtree

 I glided through the moorings at around 11am - HW at Manningtree is usually about 40 minutes after Harwich - and popped round to photograph the lugger Sandpiper moored just off the quay area, with it's attractive burgundy topsides.

Lugger, Sandpiper

She looked a little weary of the year gathering, as she has, most likely a season's worth of weed along the boot line.  

Immediately, Daisy II swung back into the wind and tacked her way out of the moorings, with her skipper eating a packed lunch 'on the hoof', as it were.

Departure from Manningtree

A couple of tacks beyond Mistley Quay, it was time to tie in a single reef in the main, put a few rolls in the jib and furl the mizzen and this was how it remained for the long beat up the Stour.  Past Erwarton Ness, the waves were pitching quite wildly, so I put in a series of shorter tacks remaining in shallower, calmer waters until passing the red light vessel which is permanently moored off the ferry terminal.  The thirty-eighth and final tack helped ease Daisy II past the lengthening shallows off Shotley.  The mizzen was redeployed, rolls shaken out of the jib and, continuing with the single reefed main, the reward was a glorious reach against the ebb back up the Orwell, taking some great video footage with the GoPro and reaching speeds in excess of 5 knots over ground against the tide.

 Finally, I rounded Collimer for a pleasant run back to the mooring.