Lunar Sea

Eyemouth to Port Edgar (Edinburgh) - Thursday, 25th May I was keen to get out of here today as there was a May Bank Holiday Fun Fare setting up on the quayside which had 'practised' on Wednesday evening. The thought of that going on when we were trying to sleep for an early start was the deciding factor. As it was we left at 04:40 (High water being 02:40), our second early start in succession, to be sure we cleared the offshore hazards on a falling tide. It was absolutely flat calm and no wind. For once it was a little warmer for that and the forecast was for no change. The Sunrise that greeted us was lovely. It was so flat that I didn't even bother putting out the Main as a stabilizer. It was going to be, as it turned out, the same for the whole trip with the 'Iron Spinnaker' doing all the work set at 1700 revs to give us about 5 knots.  It actually turned out to be perfect timing as the tide was against us for only the first couple of hours, th...

Amble The 5 day stopover in Amble was a lovely break.  We got to meet up with Deidre's partner Steve's daughter Louisa, Darren, Freya and Pirate Sam. On our last night we even had 6 for dinner around our saloon table - another first for Lunar Sea. The last sunset at Amble The facilities at Amble were great and had some good innovations, ie. a reception and fuel pontoon combined where, out of hours, you could pick up a welcome pack detailing available berths and an access card for the showers, gate, toilets and laundry. The ladies even had a bath - that must be almost unique!  Also, around the pontoons were numerous SOS points marked with high red 'SOS' at the top of poles, containing fire extinguisher, life buoy, etc at each - an excellent approach. Amble itself has gone through quite a change from the coal barges that used to load up in the river mid last century to quite a forward thinking town nowadays. The 20 or so recent 'Pods' by the lifeboat sta...

Day 17 Whitby - Hartlepool We left at 09:35 and needed to get the last but one swing bridge out of Whitby to make full use of the North going tide along the coast for our 25 mile trip up to Hartlepool. Having arrived off the entrance at about 15:00 we had to wait for the tide to increase in order to enter the channel into the lock which is dredged to Chart Datum. I draw 2m, the Low Water at 14:38 was 1.6m (predicted) so we had to wait until at least 16:00 for enough water. We were told that we should be able to get in at 17:00 but working it out there should have been enough at 16:00. We followed Mr. McCawber from Ramsgate in who drew 1.5m. They stopped in the mud just off the lock entrance just as we stopped in the mud between the pier heads. Very frustrating as we were told 'it should be okay'. Nevertheless, after a short wait for the water to make we managed to go astern out of the channel and wait until 17:00. Even then the prediction was at least 0.2m too high and we...

Scarborough and Hull We had spent a nice couple of days in Hull visiting our friends and taking in some of 'the City of Culture'. Visiting the broken lock gate to the marina which  had now been fixed and of course the Maritime Museum where the amazing 'Ceramic Poppy' remembrance sculpture "Weeping Window" was being shown by the same Sculpture that did the recent Tower of London's exhibit. It was very moving - representing the tens of thousand of casualties suffered by Hull during the First and Second World Wars, either fighting away or at home. Just opposite the Maritime Museum is the Art Gallery and combined, they had combined to show what they called an 'Offshore Exhibition'. The first exhibit as you go in certainly gives you food for thought. It is made up entirely from washed up pieces of polystyrene, mostly shaped like and looking like pebbles, collected by the artist off the beach. Scarborough to Whitby We were sorry to leave Sc...

The Best Laid Plans . . . . . . The initial plan was to sail for either Grimsby or Hull (hopefully) depending on progress and tidal restrictions. It meant an overnight trip of 105 or 120 miles. My son Andrew had come up to Lowestoft to help out with the journey. We left at 11:00. Luckily I listened to Julia for once (I always do of course!) and phoned Hull Marina about an hour out of Lowestoft.  "The lock gates aren't working but 'maybe' by the weekend". Not really what I wanted to hear. So. . .  either Grimsby and wait for 'maybe' Hull by the weekend or press on. I looked at the Almanac and Scarborough which was a 140 mile trip seemed the overwhelming best option. Grimsby had room for us but Scarborough made more sense as it would cut out the next long leg from Hull and also we still had Andrew to help us until Thursday. Last years Almanac still showed that the Inner Harbour dries but this years did say that there was at least 2m and had been dr...

A tad late with this blog - I have been a little busy. Day 6 Ipswich to Southwold. We finally left Ipswich 2 days ago, locking out at 08:30. It looked from the forecast to be fair winds and we should have the tide with us for most of the trip up to Lowestoft. ETA was 18:00. How wrong I was the wind was 16-23 knots and just East of the nose. The tide however was with us until past Orford Ness when the first of a series of engine failures occurred. Air was getting into the fuel system from somewhere, but where? In all we had 4 failures until I decided the best option was to re-route the fuel flow and return pipes directly from a 20 litre drum. The problem was solved but it had cost us a lot of time. The seas weren't getting any better and by now the tide had turned making it very painful to make any headway. We persevered on at less than 3 knots over the ground. It was still bumpy! Our friends couldn't make the trip and my crew was not a happy bunny. I ...

The weather Gods have turned against us somewhat. We have guests coming in Ipswich for our leg up to Lowestoft and nicer weather would be kinder. We had hoped to come out of the lock today and spend the night at Fox's Marina, unfortunately they could not accommodate us so another night in Neptune and the chance of a further visit to Ipswich. It reminds me a little of Sandwich here with the old buildings and a long maritime history going back to the 7th Century. (almost as old as me I here my grandchildren say!). Julia has had her first swim in an old Victorian bath house and used the time to cook and top up the freezer. For me the odd few jobs!!!

An early wake up call at 06:00 by the seagulls tapping on the window at  home. Were we really going to leave this morning? The sea looked okay off Broadstairs yet it was a little dull and a fair breeze. Forecast was good to go, 15 knots South gusting 24 would be fine. Perhaps a little drizzle in the afternoon. Lunar Sea was ready, we just needed a good breakfast in the Belgium Bar before leaving. Saying goodbye to family and friends was to make us ask, was this the right thing to do? Of course it was, and with my daughter Jo, daughter in law Jo and of course Julia we left the safety of Ramsgate until September next year. Going through the Pier Heads at 10:00. Julia and I were both overwhelmed by all the people that turned up to see us off on such a damp windy, cold morning  and I must not forget Frank and Steph waving something from there window as we passed Broadstairs. We were off on the joint adventure of our lives. ...