An early start going down west to Wings Neck

Date Tuesday 13 September 2011 In good military fashion it was such an early start that we had to wait
for first light. Having secured alongside the fuel dock the previous night
made the start easier as at 0530 it was only a matter of slipping the lines to
be off. There was of course no wind whatsoever and even by 0900 it had only
got up to 9 knots and that, of course, was on the nose; good exercise for the
engine! The aim of the early start was to be at the eastern entrance to the Toby Baker, the OCC port officer at Wings Neck, warned us to expect a
bumpy ride as we came out of the canal and he was not wrong. The current, and
by this time somewhat brisker head wind provided some interesting seas; a
smaller sailing boat could have been very wet. Sid seem overall pleased with his first day’s outing on Caduceus
and we took up Toby’s spare mooring at 1455 having covered the 65 miles
from Gloucester in 9½ hours, all under engine I am afraid to say. Perhaps
tomorrow would be better. Toby repaired on board, as they say in Hornblower, for a couple of
glasses and then Sid allowed me to cook him pork in a mushroom and white wine
sauce. I seem to remember the odd dram of Caol Ila along the way to an early
night. |