51:59.25N 001:15.51E River Orwell

Saturday 1st July

Quite a gusty windy start to the day.  We happily swung on our temporary mooring and decided to do a couple of small 'in house' jobs and delay launching the dinghy until the wind dropped later as was predicted.  There was also a lot of activity in the river from power boats causing quite a wash at times, so far better to wait until calmer times.  

It was great to sit in the cockpit and watch a host of dinghies sailing up the river towards us.  There seemed to be children everywhere, in yachts, in power boats, dinghies and kayaks.  We discovered from one of the rescue boats that it was the Sea Scouts, it must have been their Regatta.  The hard at Ramsholt, just up the from our mooring was buzzing with children and canoes, the air full of the delightful squeals that only children can make when having a wonderfully enjoyable time.  Around lunchtime dinghies were moored to buoys and the young sailors collected by ribs and taken ashore for their lunch.  The stillness of the river descended for a short while and then the afternoon activities commenced and more happy squeals drifted down on the wind, it was delightful to hear so many children enjoying the water born activities.  

The wind died down and we launched Rustle with ease, the engine was then lowered and clamped on and the ultimate test of starting it proved to be successful!  Our ride over to the quay was pleasant, the tide was with us and the wind calm and a delicious meal was enjoyed.  

Sunday 2nd July

A very early 5:30am start to the day, so that we could get out of the river an hour before high water.  The forecast was for a gentle f3 NW wind, with gusts of 15 kts.  We hoisted the mainsail and motored against the current, with toast and tea in our hands, down to the river entrance.  Going out always appears less stressful to me, so feeling brave I took the helm.  Whisper's engine performed well against the flow and we agreed that we had never left the Deben entrance at 3.5 kts against the rushing incoming tide before.  Once out of the channel with 10 kts of wind behind us we unfurled the jib and killed the engine.  What a sail!  The wind once again increased to 21 kts and we raced along towards the shipping channel topping 7.5 kts at one time. A huge container ship was edging its way out of Harwich but we were able to tuck in behind her and cross the channel before the incoming ship got close to us.  Once across the channel, it was time to change helm and tack into the harbour, keeping out of the shipping channel this time.  We predicted that the massive container ships would shadow the wind from us, also we had the outgoing current of the two rivers, Stour and Orwell plus a head wind, so it was prudent for us to start the engine and dump the headsail.  After all we had had a brilliant sail which took us an hour as apposed to the other day, when the similar journey out of the river Auld took us 5 hours.  

Alas, the wind was taken out of our sails, figuratively speaking!  The engine started first time yet again, but no water gushed out of the exhaust!  How could that be when all had been going so well?  The serenity of our calm day was suddenly thrown, as rapid decisions were made as to what we should do.  The engine was killed and the headsail was quickly reefed to a much smaller dimension, to make for easier tacking to windward.  Our skipper did a brilliant job, slowly but surely we made our way through the harbour, short tacks enabled us to keep off the Harwich Shelf and Shotley Spit and not get too close to the docked ships before they stole our wind.  Fortunately, the wind did not die on us but maintained 15 kts and with the reefed headsail we were able to make quick tacks without loosing too much ground with the outgoing tide.  Eventually we were safely passed the docks and into the open river, here the tacks were a little longer with only the worry of shallow waters, so a little respite from the excitement.  This of course was only short lived as we now had to pick up a buoy under sail. This could be interesting, but possible as we have done this activity in the past.  Once we had chosen which mooring buoy to approach, we rolled up the headsail choosing to use the main, as flapping jib sheets are not pleasant for anyone on the foredeck.  

We approached the buoy and under limited manoeuvrability, I was just able to reach it with the boat hook.  The skipper came to help but despite letting the main go, felt that we were still moving too quickly to be able to hold onto the buoy, so we let it go!!!  One rather disgruntled crew member remained on the foredeck, whilst the skipper went back to the helm to recover some way, so that we did not end up on the mud.  

Another attempt was aborted, but the third approach was perfect in that The crew was able to reach the buoy from the quarter deck and with the skipper's help passed a line through the loop and made fast.  Our approach had been slower against the tide and whilst the skipper dealt with the buoy, the crew stowed the flapping main.  We had arrived and after a much needed cup of tea we set about looking for the lack of cooling water to the engine.  First we checked the seacock filter, there was some fresh seaweed in it, but not a great amount. Then the hoses were checked, followed by the impeller, all looked ok.  We tried the engine, but still no water!  We then checked the water pump which revealed an absence of water!  Surely this can't have failed, we knew that the engineer had fitted a new one!  At this point the crew felt it was time to put the cover back on the engine and plan the sail back to the Walton Channel.  Once there, we could pick up a friend's mooring and call the boatyard to collect Whisper for her haul out and major operation on Thursday.  The skipper was then heard to mutter the words 'I hate boats' simultaneously to my own unspoken thought!  

Whilst replacing items into the wet locker removed to access the engine, it was noticed that the water intake sea cock was in the closed position!  It having been opened and closed several times during the exploration process, had it been closed at the last attempt to start we wondered?  Sea cock open, 1st engineer below, 2nd engineer at the key, engine starts.....water pours out of the exhaust!  Yet another of Whisper's mysteries. 

Calm and tranquillity has been restored!!