Renegade Log 2020
To publish your logs please send your write-up and photos to David W.
30 September - 1 October Mike & Chris SYH-Burnham-SYH-Mistley-SYH
Chris and I had a great sail down to Burnham and back plus out to Mistley- amazingly good wind and good weather all the time.
30 August - 4 September David & Rebecca SYH-Mersea-Backwaters-Deben-SYH
We had a pretty relaxed few days. A good feisty sail to West Mersea on Sunday and a languid sail back in low winds. It was fun watching other yachts taking an inshore route while I headed round the buoys towards Gunfleet, looking for more breeze and a beneficial wind shift which paid off.
Tuesday winds were very low so we had a day ashore, walking part of the backwaters from Kirkby le Soken towards Beaumont Quay and a picnic on a little beach enroute.
On Weds winds were still fairly light so we decided on the Deben. Off Felixstowe we were call on Ch16 by one Len Jarman, on his mates boat also bound for the Deben for a lunch stop. I suspect Len and Brian went into racing mode as they made up a 3/4 mile gap and beat us into the Deben (We did elect to drop sail before entering). We had a brief word with Len as we passed by under jenny bound upriver towards Woodbridge before heading back to pick up a spare mooring for the night. As the wind gusts increased, we were looking for a candidate unused buoy at Ramsholt. We should have called George the HM but we decided to take a chance on one and had just made fast when the owners returned. We vacated and called George for a buoy which being light crewed and in increasing wind and tide the crew had difficulty picking up. After one failed attempt, I allowed the boat to fall back, spotting the double buoyed mooring behind me too late to avoid it. I resisted the temptation to apply power (I was in neutral) and expected the see the buoys slip past but no, I was held fast. I called the HM for assistance but he wasn't on the water. He suggested I wait until LW to try to clear it. I called Len to see if he had any bright ideas, the best of which was to call Waldringfield Boatyard who I caught 10 minutes before they were knocking off. Mark Barton kindly dashed down in his dory and had great trouble freeing the lines. I'd checked as Len suggested that the prop shaft could turn freely in each direction which was all fine. I was also able to show Mark a picture on our website of Renegade in her cradle so he could understand her underwater profile. Mark finally said he would have to cut the mooring line which could result in losing the whole mooring tackle. Knowing our old river mooring cost £1,000 to renew this was a low moment. Mark then was able to fish out the mooring strop and we made it fast with his spare line to a winch. He then cut one of the buoys and was able to power the remaining snagged line off the rudder with me gently waggling the tiller. He then reaffixed the buoy with some spare braid and used his dory to spin us so we could tie up at the bow this time!
The cost of his hours work and 30 minute return motoring to reach us was £60 plus vat. Very fair.
In the meantime Len had very kindly driven round to Ramsholt in case he could offer any support. Many thanks to Len for his help in our tricky predicament. A couple of stiff G&Ts later calmed us down a bit! We were glad we weren't still caught by the rudder as it really blew up later.
We crossed the bar to leave the Deben next morning in an F5 gusting 6 (I took.no chances, checking with Felixstowe Ferry assistant HM) with half an hour before HW, a little more nervously than usual after our ordeal. Got soaked on a filthy passage back to hot showers at SYH. All seems fine with rudder, prop and shaft, and they got a good testing!
14 - 16 August Mike & Family SYH-Ramsgate-Bradwell-SYH
A lovely weekends sailing down to ramsgate and back via bradwell - mainly dry & lots of cruising chute.
12 August Tony E & Len Orwell day sailing
good sail in steady breeze and nice meal accompanied by wives in the light ship.
8 August Tony B & Family SYH-Rough Towers-SYH
Had a nice sail around the Rough Towers on Saturday with family.
6-7 August David, Rebecca & more grandchildren Orwell cruise
3-5 August David & Mike SYH-West Mersea-Burnham-SYH
1-2 August David, Rebecca & grandchildren Orwell cruise
First few days introducing 3yo granddaughter and grandson to the boat, then Mike offered to join me. We had three great days in warm sunshine and good winds. First a good passage to West Mersea with dinner aboard as the visitor launch is not running as yet. Then a great passage across to Burnham where we took first advantage of the ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme in the town. Finally we returned to SYH in up to 30kts with a good return down the Crouch, across the Spitway, rolling down to the Orwell, then a final two grandchildren arrived on Thursday when we made it upstream to Woolverstone before ennui ensued.
A BBQ at SYH and night aboard before we disembarked on Fri morning. All in all a great week.
31 July Murray & Family Orwell day sailing
27-29 July Murray, Bob & John SYH-Chatham-SYH
I had a great day with Carolyn and the two grandsons Yesterday, probably the best sailing of our whole trip. It is amazing how quickly the journey down to Chatham, with warm salty water being thrown in your face for hours on end is forgotten!
Hope you have as much fun with your grandchildren David as I had with mine.
22 July Tony B Orwell day sailing
30 June Len & friend Orwell day sailing
24 June Tony E & David SYH-Walton-SYH
Had a great day sail with Tony E today. Very hot and with some decent wind (and some doldrums). In the end we headed out to Walton pier, turning about as the wind died, then overhauled a large cat coming through the docks and up to Pin Mill where we turned and long tacked through the moorings with the last tack towards the SYH SWB. At one point had to loudly hail a yacht that continued to bear down on us as we clearly gave way!
10 June Tony E & Len Orwell day sailing
Just to say Len, thanks for the sail today. I really enjoyed it, it was great to get out in the fresh air again.
