Light Airs and Yachtsman's Gales: Robinetta, #3

Preface

What this book is, what it isn't, and how we wrote it.

This book is a record of how we spent our summer in 2014 sailing on Robinetta, a small wooden yacht built in 1937. It was a special trip for us and for the boat. In 1938 Robinetta  sailed from Scotland to Anglesey. In 1946 she travelled from Anglesey to Weymouth and in 1949 from Weymouth to Essex. This summer we sailed her from Essex to Scotland, crossing her 1938 track on the west coast, so apart from Duncansby Head to the Isle of Skye Robinetta has been all the way round.

If you are expecting exciting tales of travel on the high seas, you might like to look elsewhere, for danger is something we try to avoid. We have written about a few occasions where the weather made sailing hard work, but the boat kept us safe and we arrived without mishap.

Most of the words in the book come from our blog. A blog is not a book though. Blog posts are of the minute. We both post, usually without any coordination or discussion. Alison posts from her Ubuntu net-book with a small but decent keyboard, and always using Blogger's web interface and usually in the evening, or over a coffee a day or two after the event.

I post in a variety of ways. I have a full-size laptop and most of my longer posts will be composed on that. But I also use my 7" Android tablet and my iPhone. I find each platform makes me write differently. iPhone posts are often 'live' and consist of little more than a photo and a caption. Typing on Android is also a bit clumsy so I tend to be concise. Neither platform is good at laying out multiple pictures.

We spend some effort editing the book into a more consistent style. We have also changed almost everything into Alison's voice. So now there are parts I wrote where 'I' means Alison. We made many editing passes, taking it in turns. We hope this will make for a better read. There are two places where Alison was keen to keep my text almost verbatim and these are clearly marked.

Julian Cable, Bishops Stortford, 2014.

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Preparing to go

We decided during last summer that this year we were going to take Robinetta up to Scotland and round to the west coast. Julian applied for a three month unpaid sabbatical from work, and I told my employers that I did not want to work the summer term. It is possible to complete a circumnavigation in three months, but we did not want to. Our friends who had participated in the Old Gaffers Round Britain Challenge last year felt it was a rush. Robinetta is not a boat to rush around in! Her furthest documented trip north was to Isleornsay on the south west coast of Skye, and since then she had travelled anti-clockwise round to the east coast of England. Getting to the West Coast of Scotland would let her complete a circumnavigation, so we decided on that for our goal.

The idea was to have no agenda at all; to take our time and motor as little as possible. But then the Dutch OGA decided to celebrate their 10th anniversary with a cruise through the Netherlands right in the middle of our trip, and we wanted to go! Our friend Yvonne asked us to help crew her boat Kajan on the voyage, so one of our three months would be spent there. So now we would need to find somewhere to leave Robinetta in the middle of July. To make up some of the time Julian took two weeks of ordinary holiday at the start of May, going back to work for the second half of the month, before leaving in June.

With our dates set it was time to get the preparations under way. A visit to the Boat Show in January yielded new fire extinguishers and a lovely little self pumping bailer. You set it up on the mooring line, and the movement of the boat against the mooring operates the pump. We bought it to use in our dinghy Worm in the hope that it would pump the rain water out while we slept. Sail Scotland were there and we raided their stand for local booklets, then headed to the book shop for pilot guides. Julian wanted to get the Orkney Pilot, even though we were only going there if the weather was just right. It would help us decide if it was! I got seduced by a chart holder. It's the same size as our Imray charts and holds them flat and fully visible, being magnetically sealed round the edges. It's also rigid, and as we don't have a chart table and normally work with the charts laid out on the seats it should make navigation easier. We had a good look at cookers to replace our old Flavel Vanessa. We kept smelling gas last year, so it had to go! None of the marine gas stoves would fit the hole already in the galley.

It was April before we decided to buy an Orego two burner spirit stove. I was unhappy at losing the oven so bought an Omnia, which sits on the burner and is supposed to act as an oven. It certainly proved itself heating pies and pasties during the trip. I also took along our old toaster oven, which could be plugged in whenever we had shore power and stowed away where the oven used to be.

We finally got round to buying a new tiller pilot to replace the one that came with Robinetta. We went for a different make this time in a more powerful version, as we were not sure why the old one had given up the ghost. A tiller pilot is useful on long passages, and much more accurate than hand steering when out of sight of land.

Most of our navigation would be done on the chart plotter in Robinetta's cockpit and the back up electronic charts on Julian's tablet, but we invested in Imray's C range of cruising charts as well. I find it is much easier to passage plan on paper charts. The C range have small inset charts for many of the harbours, and are more up to date than our chart plotter. The Navionics charts on the tablet were more up-to-date than the chart plotter too, and much cheaper! We bought pilot books for all the areas we intended to go to, as well as having a Cruising Club Almanac for more detailed harbour information.

Meanwhile Julian re-configured the running lights, making sealed units out of old spice jars for the LED bulbs. The bulbs themselves last well, but they are on little circuit boards which corrode when exposed to sea water. The one on the anchor light has lasted for years in its spice bottle, so putting the red and green in the same type of housing (inside the historic running light housings) will hopefully help them last longer.

Robinetta does not normally have much in the way of entertainment facilities, just a transistor radio. Since we would be living on board for a while Julian decided we should bring our little TV which can run off the 12V battery. It makes the lights dim when we turn it on, but we were unlikely to use it much.

All the normal winter work got done on time, the mast got re-varnished, the engine got a new fuel pump and some pipework replaced (see our blog for why), then finally, the first weekend in May arrived. It was time to leave Tollesbury where we had finished our fitting out, and set off on a really big adventure.

3rd - 17th May Tollesbury to Grimsby

On Saturday 3rd May I drove to Tollesbury with Julian and a few final things we wanted on Robinetta, then I left him there while I drove home. Two trains, a bus, and three hours later I was back at the marina. Cutting free of the car is a scary business!

Julian took Robinetta over to the fuel dock and filled up with diesel. He also topped up the water tanks. All that was left to do when I got back was decide where the last few items should be stowed, and launch Worm, our dinghy. When we first bought Robinetta we carried an inflatable dinghy lashed to the cabin top, but it was a nuisance having to untie it and pump it up every time we wanted to leave Robinetta on a mooring. Julian made Worm using the plans for Ian Oughtred's mouse design, and we have towed her for the last couple of years without any problems. We launched her off a ramp in the marina at high water, and I rowed her across to the pontoon to join Robinetta.

We checked the height of water over the sill in the evening, and decided we should be fine if we left at 5am on Sunday. Then we had dinner at the cruising club, and an early bed, with the alarm set for 04:30.

It was already light when we motored over the sill and down Woodrolfe Creek past the old lightship which now hosts an activity centre, but dawn did not break until we were in Mersea Quarters.

The cloudscape above East Mersea looked amazing as we motored towards it. Being out on the water early is a wonderful experience and a privilege that few people get to enjoy.

Knowing we were leaving the Nass Beacon behind for the last time in a while did make me sad as we've enjoyed being based at West Mersea for the last four years.

We hoisted sail after we cleared the Nass, and discovered an annoying problem with the Wykeham-Martin furling gear we carry to furl away our jib. When we want to use the jib we normally just free the furling line from its cleat and pull on the jib sheets; this is enough to free the jib from its rolled up state. Not this time. The jib did not budge no matter how much we tugged. Julian went forwards and unrolled the sail manually, and the mechanism worked to furl it, but then it would not unroll again.

On this first day we had only planned a short journey, just long enough to feel we'd started on our way without any pressure, and we were glad of it now since we needed to do something about the jib.

We got to Brightlingsea before 10am, (pretty much low water) and the harbour master escorted us down to the far end of the pontoon. We told him that we draw 4'6", but he was sure we would be OK as he keeps his own boat, which draws 5' down there. We came to a halt 4' away from the pontoon at the stern! Not really a problem since the bow was in and we could get ashore to tie up properly; we would soon float as the tide came in, but it was not ideal.

Second breakfast was calling after our early start, so we rowed ashore in Worm and walked to the Victoria Café for a full English breakfast, then bought a new lamp glass to replace one that got broken last year. They are not easy to get hold of, but the chandlers in Brightlingsea keeps a stock as there are a lot of old smacks based there that use oil lamps. The rest of the day was pretty lazy for me, but Julian spent most of it trying to work out what was wrong with the furling gear. He thought he'd fixed it by mid afternoon, and we relaxed and talked over the next day's plans. Making the most of the tide called for another early start!

Mary Gibbs, one of our OGA friends had bought Molly Cobbler from Bernard Patrick, another friend, at the end of last year. Although she had sailed a lot in other people's boats Molly is the first she has owned. She sailed to Brightlingsea from Bradwell the day before yesterday which is just about the same distance we travelled today, but it is a much bigger adventure for her as she is sailing single handed, in a smaller boat. We met up in the afternoon and ate together in the evening, talking about our plans and hopes for the coming season. She wants to take Molly to Holland in July, a huge trip for a novice skipper, but with the right conditions one that is perfectly possible. We wished each other luck!

We came off from the pontoon at Brightlingsea at 04:15 with our navigation lights on, but there was enough light to see where we were going as we made our way out of the harbour and into the Crouch. The wind was pretty much on the nose, so we got the main up, then cut across Colne Bar as soon as it felt safe. We were just on high tide, so there was plenty of water.

Out came the jib, just as reluctantly as yesterday, and we had a lovely broad reach up to Walton Pier in record time (for us)! I saw a couple of seals, which was good. The wind was going a bit light, so we put the motor on for a while, but soon turned it off, it was just so nice a day for sailing!

We crossed the shipping lane out of Harwich quite a way off shore, near the Cork Sands, then furled the jib and Julian raised the reaching sail. This is our largest foresail, carried instead of the jib in light airs, which we flew all the way to Aldeborough Ridge. The tide had turned against us by this time, and the main kept lifting in the swell even though the sails were full. I was tired from the early morning, and felt a bit grumpy, but after a cup of tea and a caramel wafer I was glad to be sailing again. When we tried to go on to a slightly different course at the end of the Ridge the reaching sail kept collapsing, so Julian put it away, and we unfurled the jib again.

We were slowed to a crawl, (the GPS predicted that it would be gone midnight before we got to Lowestoft) so the engine went on, and Julian helmed for the next two hours while I got some sleep.

I took the helm again as we got close to Southwold. The tide was with us again and the wind came up, so I turned the engine off. I could see the flash of the Southwold Lighthouse. Its tower looks really tall from out at sea, although it always seemed tiny when I walked past it in the town.

We had an unexpected visitor here, a small but fearless bird that decided Robinetta made an acceptable resting place. It liked the coiled ropes by the cabin, but stopped first, and last, on my head to get a good look round before flying off towards the land.

After our visitor left the wind kept rising, and I found it quite difficult to steer. We could have changed down the jibs, but that would have meant reefing to balance the boat, so Julian rigged me a purchase like he did last year on the way home from Cowes, and it worked a treat. We were sailing along at over 7 knots, and the GPS forecast of when we would reach Lowestoft came down to 18:30.

We were going fast on a very broad reach as we passed the South Holm cardinal, and I was afraid we would gybe if I tried to change course, or go onto the sands if I didn't. We hauled the main right in, and put the engine on. Robinetta became more controllable on engine and foresails, but I could tell that there would be a problem later if we left the main up, so Julian lowered it. I did offer to go head to wind to help, but it is possible to lower the main on a gaffer on a run, so we did.

There might be problems getting the jib out, but the Wykeham-Martin gear still worked for furling, so Julian rolled the jib away as we turned towards the harbour entrance. The tide had been helping us beautifully up to that point, but I knew it would be interesting getting back up tide and into the harbour on the engine and stay sail. There were a lot of short steep seas, and Robinetta rolled all over the place. We also had to ferry glide across the tide to make the entrance. Motoring sideways up to the harbour was not elegant, but it worked!

I dropped the staysail when we were safely into the outer harbour, then Julian called up the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club and we went onto their visitor's pontoon. We were moored up by 18:50, and