We set out towards the Deben after fuelling up at around 12.30 into a force 4 Westerly/South Westerly. Sails up straight away for a really good sail, just off the wind. Of course, this was not to last and the wind went further South so we started to beat. The wind was pretty shifty and there were a few dark clouds about.
The wind dropped so we used the engine to go further out to sea to pick up a bit of wind. We were soon going along nicely. Too nicely for Gail when the lee rail was under water, so in went a reef. Then another. Then the jib was furled in a bit. There were white horses all round and black cloudes overhead, with the sea getting rougher. It became very squally. As we realised beating was not going to get us to the Deben in time for the right tide, two hours before high, we deployed the iron donkey again, motoring into by now a very choppy sea. We were even then not making enough speed to meet the tide restraints and realised the only sensible thing to do was to return to Lowestoft.
By now there was thunder and lightening all round, and heavy rain showers. Not very nice. When we turned downwind we just poled out the jib and were soon making up to 7.8 knots on jib alone.
We checked back into the Roylal Norfolk and Suffolk where we are rafted up again on the visitor pontoon.
I guess we'll try again tomorrow. We are surrounded by cloggies. (Dutch people in case you were wondering).
Hope you make the Deben second time around. If you make it as far up as Woodbridge the Tidemill Yacht Harbour and town are delightful, just mind the shallows and don't hit the sill when you enter, as we saw one yacht do when we bought our boat from there two years ago. Oh and you're not alone, we were all over the Solent last week and there seemed to be more cloggies than Brits down here too! Chris & Hilary
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