Sailing Course on Caressa - April 27th to May 2nd 2008

Mike Rochfort, Tim Reynolds, Barry Webster and myself, were doing various RYA courses (Coastal/Day Skipper/Competent Crew) with Richard Wells as Instructor. We met up on Sunday evening at Wolverstone, taking the tide down to Levington on Monday morning on board the 37' yacht Caressa, pride of the Classic Sailing Club fleet of classic wooden yachts. The genoa roller jammed on its second deployment which was just the beginning of our action-packed 5 days on Caressa. We picked up a mooring and sent Tim up the mast in the bosun's chair on main halliard with the spinnaker halliard as safety. The problem solved (a slack and twisted genoa halliard) we set off for Titchmarsh after a fairly comfortable sail via the Pye End Buoy, learning about preferred yacht tracks and sail handling on the way. Soon after arrival Mike served up an excellent chicken and rice dish which we devoured hungrily.

Tuesday saw us attempting to reach Brightlingsea, with Barry as Day Skipper. Richard thought it was a good idea to do some man overboard practice off Walton with the bucket-tied-to-a-fender routine. Spot-on maneouvering by Richard was spoilt when Dick let the boathook slip out of his hand and both the bucket and hook had to be retrieved by Barry and Ian hanging over the side. This didn't do our insides much good and several breakfasts were lost, the owners rueing the consumption of all that bacon and those fried eggs. Heavy squalls off Walton Pier had us hove to and deciding to return to Harwich and, after a rest, quietly to Ipswich Haven in the rain.

Wednesday brought a Force 8 gale in the river, so Dick's trick at Day Skipper involved no sail work. He made up for it by writing masses of gibberish in the Ship's Log! The expected calm waters of Levington Marina turned out to be a maelstrom of furious wind and rows of plastic yachts waiting to be destroyed by a rampant Caressa. However Richard, looking more like Captain Ahab every minute, roared at everyone on the mooring ropes and we managed to berth without damage, even though Dick managed to trip over the guard rail at the last minute. Many lessons were learned that day! We spent the afternoon examining Barry's Morgan Giles dinghy, currently being rigged at Levington. Dick thoughtfully cooked spaghetti bolognese whilst the others sought out the pub in the village.

Thursday opened brightly and Tim as Day Skipper took us down the Orwell in a vain attempt at circumnavigating the Whiting Bank. Strong SE winds and a trailing yacht had us pinned in the main channel but eventually Dick saw the error our his ways and wore ship to find safety from a departing container ship. More of these enlivened our crossing of the Deep Water Channel on an open port reach. Quartering seas were difficult to manage and the heavy forces on the tiller became too much for one to handle. The mild broach was quickly recovered and we continued on to round the Wadgate Ledge buoy and then to recross the DWC and return to Harwich Ha'penny Pier in a dramatic thunderstorm with associated squalls. Fish & chips restored our energy levels and we ran back to Ipswich in strong sunshine with a fair wind on our stern.

A celebratory dinner at The Last Anchor in Ipswich sent us to bed very happy. On Friday we picked up on the skills we thought we had missed out on. Mike got some steering practice, Barry did some mooring up and letting go, Dick got his chance to sling Caressa around like a dinghy with all reefs shaken out between Levington and Shotley Spit and Tim anchored in Erwarton Bay in the Stour where we had lunch. Barry had time to work out a 'cocked hat' with his dinky new hand-held compass and Dick at last got a go on the radio.

Every hour of this course gave us a new lesson in yacht handling and navigation. This was partly due to the strong and varying conditions which presented us with problems at every turn.  However most of the lessons we learned were due to the skill of Richard Wells in presenting us with the problems, letting us attempt solutions and being on hand to recover the situation and explain what we should have done when it didn't quite work out as planned.

A great trip!