Tuesday 9 June 2009

The Tide Waits for No Man

Thankfully Michael from Scarborough Engineers arrived early on Monday morning to sort out our engine. It was just a matter of removing the lift pump and taking it back to the workshop to remove the end of the bleed screw that had sheered off. He was really friendly and helpful, and was back on the boat and had the engine running in no time. Lucky for us, as we had time to kill waiting for the tide to come in enough to give us water to exit the harbour.
We were blessed with one of the best days out sailing yet (again, but this was a fantastic day of sailing!).
Imagine it – 10 to 12 kts of breeze on the beam, sunny skies and one of the most spectacular parts of the English coast – the cliff faces of North Yorkshire dotted with beautiful old villages huddled into secret little bays. We were cruising along quite happily and peacefully, but unfortunately had the tide against us which made our progress rather slow. This didn’t bother us too much as we were able to sail quite close in shore and really did get to enjoy the scenery. We were just a little sad to be sailing past Whitby, it would have been amazing to stop over, but unfortunately our engine problems meant we had to push on.
Everyone on board really enjoyed the afternoon, and sailing into the sunset over Hartlepool was amazing.
The down side was that due to the tide slowing us down a little more than expected, we just missed getting into Hartlepool marina lock by a matter of minutes, so not wanting to risk bumping the ground on a falling tide we went over to Victoria Dock, where a very kind Tees VTS controller helped us find a berth for a few hours while we waited for the tide to come in a bit to allow us into the marina. This berth was a little questionable – designed for hardened sea fishing vessels rather than our elegant yacht, with broken wooden pillars jutting out. With little wind and a quiet sea we managed to hang off this dock for a couple of hours, and Karen and I settled in to a cups of tea and fender duty, making sure our elegant yacht remained elegant, and not transformed into a workhorse.
Dave joined us for the 1am transfer from the fish dock to the marina, and the boys enjoyed their sleep. We were met by Bradley and Simon in the early hours, then finally got a few hours sleep at the end of another long day.
As they say, the tide waits for no man, so our sleep was a little short lived and we were all up at 7am again to get out of the lock. Hartlepool Marina were very kind and wouldn’t accept payment for the berth for the night. Thank you!!
Unfortunately the forecast didn’t hold true for the day, and the force 4-5 decreasing 3 was more like 5 increasing 6 from the NNE – pretty much on the nose, making it a rather wet, windy day on the water. The North Sea also has a horrible habit of forming really choppy, unpredictable swells which sent water over the bow again and again. Well, I suppose at least we managed to get the boys completely soaked before the end of the trip! They all really enjoyed themselves though, and are much more hardened sailors than they were at the beginning of the week. Unfortunately Bradley was a little under the weather again, but is in good spirits now.
Skandia put on another great welcoming, and this week we got to meet Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson (Skandia Team GBR). Ellen was also down to say hello to the crew before her talk. It is really great for our crew to meet such inspirational people.
We’re all back on the boat after another great talk by Ellen. The boys have been really hard at work again, as it is already the last night of the leg which means Video making night. They’ve done really well, and guess what… are now playing UNO!!! [09/06/09 22:00]

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