EVENT REPORT

SUFFOLK YACHT HARBOUR 

NITEX October 2002

The day started early for some of us making the journey in bleak weather/road conditons to Suffolk Yacht Harbour.  The weather was grim and the boating prospects did not look good at all. 

A visual on the slip showed the gradient to be somewhat steep and slippery as we watched a 4x4 hauling up a vehicle which had got stuck just trying to drag his empty trailer back up, this was going to be interesting with a fully fuelled Dragonfly.

Within the hour Geoff, Alan and Teresa had arrived to complete the trio of trailer’d boats for the event.

The boats were readied, the 4x4’s were slipped into low ratio 4x4 and made their slippery decent down towards the sea. This gave a pretty good demonstration of the term “slipway” but unlike most places we had to hold the boats on the trailer while the engines got up to temperature.

With all three boats sorted on the pontoon we made for the Yacht Club which fascinately enough is a converted lightship. We had a bite to eat and made arrangement to meet for the briefing.

Once the travel by water boats had arrived, ‘Cholly B’, ‘Lady in Red’ and ‘Maverick’ Geoff proceeded with our informal but very informative briefing, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The briefing covered all aspects of our journey and highlighted many prudent points for which we would inevitably get to try out later.

The time came to start our night passage so with navigation lights lit I set out for our meeting point at the opposite side of the river and awaited the other boats. A un-eary quietness is about the place apart from the ripple of my wash. The marina lights greatly help my exit as we are travelling some 5’ at the most away from the rather muddy and inviting sea wall.

The weather had taken a turn for the better at this time with the rain and wind held at bay, we had fantastic views of the stars and a very calm sea.

The boats all assembled across river, checked their radios and other vital equipment while waiting fro others to depart. There were no lights out here and the dark made it difficult to realise how fast the tide was flowing, a good watch had to be kept on the red light of the channel buoy to avoid getting paint upon ones boat. We set off down river in our pre-determined formation (not quite the red arrows).  Geoff rallied the boats over the radio to get them closer together as we gradually all get the hang of it and synchronise our speed. We did encounter a couple of problems with the lead boats not considering the following formation and essentially cutting us off at the buoys but these were soon corrected and all we had to bother about was the wash from those in front.

As we follow the long line of river buoys the task becomes much easier and we get the hang of reading the flashing light variations of the channel buoys from the chart and get used to operating our boats in the pitch black of the night. One gradually gets to recognise the differing club boats by their light formations and begins to feel at home in the dark.

The high-powered light beams come into play on this type of event not only for looking out for the unlit buoys, which we know, are there but also for unlit hazards in the channel and estuary.   At one point a very large official boat came along side us and used one of his high-powered beams down on us to see what we were about, ello ello, but he didn’t hang around and obviously considered us to be good citizens or just mad men (and ladies).

Looking for a large unlit buoy can have its moments, as you are aware this is a significant piece of steel if you should hit it. We used our gps to get within a half a mile of the ‘Stone Banks’ buoy and then used the high powered beams to scan the water while making sure we had enough water either side to take evasive action not only from the buoy but also from the other boats searching. Such a thrill when you find it safely.

Raw compass work was also on the agenda with ‘Wreckless’ competently leading this particular activity back towards land. 

Unfortunately the crew of ‘Cholly B’ did not feel too well “we know what that means” so they proceeded at their own pace behind the fleet.

Dragonfly hung back for ‘Cholly B’ while out in open water and I was aware that some form of vessel passed between me and the main fleet, exactly what this was I don’t know , it was pitch black there were no loud engines and just a single set of lights, just goes to show that vigilance is high on the agenda for these events and there are actually others out there. We all made it back to the river having thoroughly enjoyed the experience so far.

Now a bow wave from one of these very large barge type vessels can be a hazard in the daylight but in the dark this is a totally different matter and surprise surprise its far worse in such conditions. The first I knew was when ‘Wreckless’ looked to be in some difficulty in front of me as they severely bobbed up and down, I cut the power and presumed correct as the white wash and crests of the imposing bow waves from some large vessel came towards us hardly visible but like something out of a tidal wave movie.  These waves looked pretty large and I watched as Dragonfly’s bow submerged and came back up carrying what seemed like half the ocean to dump straight on top of us….. luckily enough we had followed Geoff’s expert teaching and were kitted out and prepared for the worse…. but Steve my crew still let out a loud cry of disgust as he had not experienced this phenomenon before, a smile came over my face as I recalled a similar event but on a much smaller scale at the shakedown with only my jeans and T-shirt on.

It seemed the larger you were the more these waved messed with you as ‘Cholly B’ took a beating not helped by the fact they had not seen my dilemma and were apparently looking elsewhere so they were thrown about the cockpit to such an extent they retired for the night and did not show the following day.

We arrived back at the marina safe and sound, mostly dry to the welcome of the lightship bar and then to retire for the evening. All apart from Mark ‘Lady in Red’ whom was still assembling his hood at 1:30am, he made up for it with a lie in anyway.

The next day the five remaining boats ‘Cora’, ‘Wreckless’,’Maverick’, Lady in Red’ and ‘Dragonfly’ made the journey round to Brighlingsea amid very calm conditions and flat sea state which allowed us to make good headway. After a swift taxi ride we all sat down for a very nice and relaxing fish and chip lunch followed by a chandlery visit before our return.

The sea’s had arisen slightly and the trip back was a little more interesting leading me to make full use of the trim tabs. With the nose pushed down we could still make good headway and had a good run back to Felixstowe. The boat will take it but the crew did not, unfortunately Steve sustained two cracked ribs in a bad landing as he was standing when I undertook one of my ‘boat out the water’ specials. So we took it a little steady after this as he was obviously in some pain.

The remaining two away boats ‘Maverick’ and ‘Lady in Red’ bid us farewell and left for their homeport leaving the final three boats to return slowly up the river to the marina for our recovery.

Concluding - a very enjoyable weekend, the weather was fare to us considering the time of year and all boats returned safely. An excellent way to learn new boating skills and techniques in the safety of a club environment, many thanks to those whom organised and participated.

	Tony in 'Maverick' on the way down river
Mark in 'Lady in Red' passes the cranes of Felixstowe.
	Alan, Teresa and Neil in 'Wreckless'
Geoff in 'Cora'
	'Lady in Red' and 'Maverick'
'Wreckless'
	'Maverick'
'Wreckless' & 'Maverick'
	'Lady in Red'
'Cora' followed by 'Lady in Red' and 'Maverick' entering Brightlingsea
	'Cora'
'Lady in Red'
	'Lady in Red', 'Wreckless' and 'Cora' on the pontoon at Brightlingsea.
We say farewell to 'Lady in Red' and 'Maverick'
	'Maverick'
Steve "Napoleon" before his injury.