The first sailing weekend of the season, saw us leaving Cambridge around 6pm. On arrival at the boat, Andy donned full oilskins in order to refit the new log and the sonar transponder, a job that he doesn't enjoy. With the forepeak (and Andy) dried out we had an early supper ready for an early morning departure out of the marina.
We were through the lock by 9am (not that early). However we managed to sail down the river with the wind behind us coming straight from Ipswich sewage works. We soon escaped the fumes and headed out to sea. We had a great sail, making nearly 8knots through the water. (bearing in mind we haven't accurately calibrated the new log yet). After nearing Cork Sands it was apparent the tide was pushing us south quite strongly so we eventually motor sailed in order to make the entrance of the River Ore before high water. Managing to avoid the sand banks we arrived in the relatively calm waters of Havergate Island and found a sheltered anchorage near the entrance to The Butley River just off Havergate Island. The sun came out and we had a lovely afternoon relaxing and watching the boat activity going on around us. Looking forward to an evening listening to the Eurovision/Australasia Song Contest
We had a constructive day on the boat yesterday. After breaking the second pump in the aft heads, I learned how to dismantle and remove the pump which involved a huge amount of cleaning. (I will leave this to your imagination) We were relegated to the forward heads for the rest of the trip, which, although stiff, do seem to do the job.
We set the alarm for 03:30 having decided we preferred an early start to a rushed afternoon. We were through the Ore entrance around high water and sailed on a reach down the coast, tacking a couple of times into Harwich before turning on the engine to motor against the tide to Ipswich. We were back in bed by 10am and, after lunch and cleaning up we went to Fox's where we bought two new pumps (a spare). We will replace some of the pipe and the pump next weekend.