Samurai is a beautiful wooden
unclassed bermudan sloop, some 30ft, built in 1968.
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| http://www.photo-boat.com/ |
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(Picture of her to
follow. Meanwhile here is a beautiful one someone did of something like her earlier.) Her slender wooden mast reaches gracefully for the sky. (
Not many wooden masts these days, sadly. Unsustainable aluminium is
the norm.) Her narrow waist tells of her speed. She is a lovely
yacht and is one of Lady Cate's neighbours.
She owns Alex who invited me and
Gordon to sail her round to the Suffolk Yacht Harbour on the north
side of the River Orwell, 10 miles by road, 20 miles by sea as we
have to avoid the shallows near the coast. This turned out to be
three semi-retired chaps enjoying surprisingly weird weather.
Setting off from the Granary Yacht
Harbour at Melton we headed downstream against the last of the rising
tide. The sky was cloudy but bright. The outlook variable. Of course
when told the outlook is variable there is only one assumption to
make. The weather will get worse. And it did. The distant dark clouds
roiling dramatically higher as they approached from the West, got
darker thicker and severely threatening. Quite romantically
threatening. But there was little wind. Odd.
The River Deben winds gently down
from Woodbridge past Waldringfield to Felixstowe Ferry for some 10
miles. The channel is narrow and well buoyed until past Waldringfield
when one just sticks to mid-stream. The rain began. This is the
place to hoist the sails if the wind is favourable, which it was, so
we, well Alex actually, did, whilst Gordon steered and I held on to
sheets.
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| Samurai |
The air turned cold, not just cold,
seriously cold. The clouds overhead were deep blue-black. The rain
switched from mild drizzle to drenching in a matter of seconds. There
were four memorable sheet lightening flashes that lit up the dark
clouds brilliantly. We took it turns to stay below for a few minutes.
But still no wind to speed us on our way. The engine started making
weird noises. The water pump? Fan belt? The noises came and went.
Unlike the hail, which came and stayed. Really belting down. Not too
large, say 1cm at best. But a lot of it. On the 2nd September? It was
seriously cold. And still no wind to speak of. It must come, we said.
And eventually a bit did, so we enjoyed a few minutes motor sailing
at 45 degrees as we sped down river.
The bar at Felixstowe Ferry is very
narrow and demands 100% attention. I had crossed the bar on the
previous day in Lady Cate when there had been a strong 3ft swell
coming from the east. This swell was the last of it. Today it was
still there but only about 1 – 1½ ft. Unlike Lady Cate, who rolls
happily, if somewhat inconveniently, with the swell, Samurai cut
through the swell with ease, giving us a comfortable ride. But the
rain was not making life comfortable.
We headed SSW well clear of Wadgate
Ledge, the swell behind us, the tide against us, no wind to speak of.
Plod. Plod. The rain stopped, which was a great improvement. We were
uncertain however that we were leaving Woodbridge Haven buoy behind.
Eventually it began to recede. The bummer was that there was a
little bilge keeler whizzing along on a shore breeze about a mile to
starboard. Alex broke out the victuals like all good skippers should.
The sea was most peculiar. As the
tide poured over Wadgate Ledge it roiled and spun, giving us a
strange ride. Trouble is we could not time it any other way as we had
to leave near high tide Melton to get clear of the marina. The later
we leave it the worse the coastal tide against us.
At last the River Orwell beckoned.
There are some well named buoys on Harwich Approaches. We saw
Pitching Ground buoy ahead but turned starboard to pass Rolling
Ground buoy to port, staying out of the main channel all together.
The container terminal seemed very quiet. Are we heading for another
trade recession?
At last our destination was in
sight, just as a the setting sun gave us a beautiful Turneresque
display of richly coloured cloud set in a bright blue sky. That made
up for everything. Even the engine had stopped complaining.
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| Courtesy Suffolk Yacht Harbour. |
Gordon and I had fish and chips with an Adnam's beer
in the clubhouse, which is the former Cromer Lightship. Alex and Jane, who had driven down to take us all home, had more exotic stuff! Very
welcome, as we began to dry out. A strange weather trip but a great day out. Thank you Gordon, Alex and Jane.
Racing on Saturday!
