River Waveney, Norfolk Broads - Drascombe Association Rally, 19-21 September 2014

This was the final Drascombe Association rally of 2014 and featured a varying number of boats, depending on the various pitfalls which befell the various participants.  At some time or another, the following boats were launched:
Coasters:Daisy II, Swift Tern, Nonsuch, Sapphire II, 
Longboat Cruiser: Puffin
Longboat: Jenny Morgan
Gig: Tra Bhui
Lugger: Muckle Flugga
Eight from the twelve who were booked in at the beginning of the week isn't a bad return!

Our hosts were the Waveney River Centre, which is a charming location roughly two miles from Oulton Broad and about eight miles from Beccles. 

The slipway is wide, with plenty of room.

Stern-to moorings at Waveney River Centre

Skippers and crew making final preparations for Saturday's trip!

On Saturday, for our planned return trip to Beccles, conditions were overcast and rather damp with a very light northerly breeze (F2-3).  Once the reeds and treelined riverbank took the edge off the wind, there was little left for us, so a good deal of time was spent motoring, or motor sailing.  However, various boats managed substantial periods of time without engine, particularly on the return trip.

Jenny Morgan ahead of Daisy II making what they could of the little wind available!

Gig Tra Bhui motor sailing

Daisy II arriving at Beccles, picnic awaiting!

Swift Tern bringing up the rear of the fleet!

The rare sight of Daisy II gaining a welcome crew member for the return trip!

Yours truly!

Muckle Flugga in motion!

Puffin in full sail!

Such a pity the wind wasn't playing!

Tra Bhui waiting for wind!

Jenny Morgan hitches a lift after terminal outboard woes....

Look, no helmsman!

Evening meal

Conditions on Sunday morning were rather clearer, although no less helpful - F5 gusting higher, sunny intervals with showers.  

Cheery sunshine on Sunday morning; a colourful array of Drascombes awaiting action!

Our planned trip to Oulton Broad went ahead, although the gusting wind made for some interesting manoeuvres.

A lugger sandwich?  Muckle Flugga leading the way on Sunday morning!

Mastless Sapphire II stops for elevenses just off Oulton Broad

Jib and high-peaked mizzen is the order of the day for Longboat Cruiser Puffin and her charmingly boisterous skipper and crew!  Taking a boozy short leave of their nymphs from the shore, the crew member was singing a rendition of the Sailor's Chorus from Act III of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas!

Jenny Morgan in familiar territory

Swift Tern making a charming habit of arriving last in the fleet!

Puffin's high-peaked mizzen looking splendid, motoring along Oulton Dyke.

The wide and gently sloping slipway at the Waveney River Centre was very straight forward with easy access, plenty of room for rigging and laying up and reasonable charges for usage.

Tra Bhui on dry land.

Daisy II returns to terra firma, being readied for the trip home.

17.6nm; red track - return trip to Beccles on 20th September; yellow track - return trip to Oulton Broad on Sunday 21st September

...after one hundred and eighteen days afloat...

Daisy II travelled around 80 statute miles during the early hours of this morning...back home on the trailer!  Why so early this morning?  HW was around 3.30am and, strangely enough, it's so much less busy at that time than 12 and a bit hours later.  Although a chap did turn up around 2am, presumably to sort out his keel boat which was refloating at the end of PMSC pontoon.  The two word conversation consisted of a mutual exchange of "Morning!" 

Launched, as she was back on 18th May, it seemed a good idea to document the cumulative effect of 118 days afloat on Daisy II's hull.  Excepting the occasional scrub along the waterline, and the application of a couple of coats of International Micron Extra anti fouling paint (navy colour), this is it.  Although, to be fair, the paint had also been tested from the beginning of April up until the second week of May.

I was actually expecting worse.  Pin Mill is, after all, a heavy fouling area.  Nevertheless, after a pressure wash and a good scrub, she looked rather happier!

There is staining along the waterline: the remedy for that can wait for now.

The purpose in bringing her home?  Attendance at the Norfolk Broads Drascombe Association rally next weekend.

Forecasts and container ships!

Sailing close to container ships

We are exceptionally fortunate to benefit from the fine service provided by the Met Office.  However, some aspects of their forecasting remain a mystery.  Today's inshore waters forecast was a case in point: F3-4, occasionally F5.  Looking at the pressure chart - high pressure with widespread isobars - and the wind speed predicted for Harwich - around 6 or 7 mph - it was hard to believe winds would ever creep above F3 and, for the most part, flags were limp.  Perhaps I was too close to shore, and these speeds genuinely applied several miles out at sea.  It is odd that F3-4 occasionally 5 seems to be a routine light winds forecast but seems to apply to anything from a 'millpond' up to needing to tuck in a reef!

After motoring around Collimer in the expected millpond, emergent ripples justified hoisting sail and, against a very light south easterly, sailing with the ebb, I carved a passage through Harwich harbour.

For some reason, today was a day for container ship movements.  Two arrived and three left as I was in the harbour.  Although visibility was generally poor, I managed some photos of these remarkable feats of engineering on the move!

China Shipping Line ship performing a 180 degree lengthwise rotation.

Another ship with attendant tugs being pulled away from dock.

Maersk on the move!  This ship has 22 containers along its length, piled up to 8 containers high (not counting any out of sight in the hold) and 19 wide.  That works out at 3344 containers...

13.0nm

Next weekend, Daisy II comes off her mooring and returns to terra firma, for the first time since May, in order to attend the Drascombe Association Broads rally on the River Waveney, September 19-21.  It will be interesting to see how well-barnacled the hull will be...