51:47.98N 01:00.60E
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Tue 26 Jun 2012 20:57
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Monday, was a beautiful calm sunny
day and as planned gave us the opportunity to cut the umbilical cord
and leave the safety of the Walton & Frinton Yacht Basin (the pond) at
high tide. The channel is very narrow and once we had squeezed
through the narrow entrance to the pond and the adjacent almost submerged
withies, there really is a very sharp right angled port hand
turn. Fortunately, we had been at the club at low water a few days
earlier and mentally noted the flow of the channel from the pond and on
past the yacht club. Noel helmed Whisper beautifully and although he felt
her scrape through the mud at one point we pottered gently down the Twizzle to
deeper waters without incident.
It was such a lovely afternoon that we decided
that we would not wait for the next flood tide to take us down to Brightlingsea,
but that we would amble on round against the tide and the very slight
wind. As it happened we motored all the way. This gave the engine a
good work out and also the opportunity for us to use the Autohelm which is
an entirely new gadget to me. It was great and enabled us to keep watch
from the shelter of the hood as the temperature began to fall. It was also
most useful as we could eat our supper with both hands free!
As with all shake down sails (first sail of the
season), the inevitable problems arise. Whisper has
her share.
First the Navman, which was working perfectly well
at the end of the last season we sailed, will not fire up. OK, a
Chart Plotter is not an essential part of kit and as we all know,
should not be relied on one its own. In fact Noel prefers a
paper chart to "that thing"! But it does give a very sound instant
confirmation of where you are on the planet, that is so long as it is
working. The point is, that having invested in several electronic
charts of the areas we shall be visiting, it needs to be fixed!
Secondly, and the most important for the
female crew, the heads are not working properly! Noel realizes that
this needs priority treatment if the ship is to remain harmonious. The
usual simple fix may not be the answer and also it is usually the skipper who
has to fix a rather unpleasant task. So as soon as we came ashore this
morning a brand new loo was ordered express delivery and will arrive
tomorrow!
Otherwise our short journey was event free, but we
did enjoy the warm sunshine, gentle seas and the sight of the sun setting over
Brightlingsea. We, like many people enjoy the sight of All Saints
Church lit up as we drive into Brightlingsea, but last night it was quite
magical to see it lit up from the estuary. We arrived at 10pm and anchored
off Mersea Stone. We spent a very calm night, so still that it was hard to
believe that we were afloat, until the chain rumbled as Whisper turned with
the tide and the water gurgled past the hull.
We woke up this morning knowing that we would be a
few days in Brightlingsea sorting out Whispers problems, but feeling happy
that we have started our cruise and completed the first short leg of our
journey.
Brightlingsea from Whisper's Berth
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