A changeable few days on the Big Sail Home, with a few hiccups!
Dick and Calum’s second day aboard was a big contrast to their first. Instead of gliding past the cliffs of Beachy Head, in sunshine and light winds, we were slogging 30 miles to windward to the muddy creek of Rye Harbour. Sailing long passages to windward is hard work – you have to zigzag in lots of tacks, the boat leans over and progress can be slow. You usually end up sailing 30-50% more distance, too. With gusty winds and lumpy seas, one crew member ended up seeing their lunch again but they kept their spirits up throughout.
The approach to Rye is quite complicated. Although the bay is quite open, you have to motor your way 3 miles up a muddy creek that dries to mud at low tide. The channel markings get vaguer and vaguer, with the bleak banks of the creek populated with boats of all kinds in various states of repair.
Once you’re up the creek, you’re right in the middle of Rye, and we had a fine evening ashore exploring the ancient streets and sampling some local ale.
We woke early next morning to catch the tide, but Rye was not done with us! Thanks to a sneaky mudbank about 100m from the quayside, we got stuck fast for 12 hours. We spent a few minutes trying to rock ourselves off, but with a falling tide I knew we’d be spending another night in Rye – this felt incredibly frustrating. We quickly deployed our tender so that we wouldn’t get stranded on the boat for the day.
The frustration and embarrassment faded quickly with breakfast at a local cafe, where the owner laughed and said ‘oh yes, that mudbank… So many people get stuck there, we had a customer once who came in covered in mud!’ So we counted our blessings that we’d had a fairly dignified exit. I suspect that mudbank is sponsored by the local tourist board.
Dick headed off for a train, and Calum and I embraced the chance for a rest day, snoozing in the sun, buying clean socks and eating ice cream. Although this was all fairly relaxing I had to keep part of my brain switched on. With tides shifting to neaps, we had to get the boat off the mud that night or we could be stuck for several days. Operation Escape Rye went very smoothly, we waited patiently for the waters to rise, paddled out and got the boat back into a mooring on the pontoon. After drying out slightly on the wonk the first night, we were well pleased that she settled perfectly flat for a good night’s sleep.
Then another early start, with a moment of horror first thing as we touched mud again briefly (but broke free) and motored down the channel as swiftly as we could.
Then we buckled into a long day’s beating to windward to Dover. Our first big tacks round Dungeness and into Hastings bay felt pretty good, but as the day wore on progress become slower, especially as the tide ran against us in the last hour or so to Dover.
Despite the gusty headwind, the boat sailed well and Calum got into the swing of helming in ‘spicy’ conditions, and was able to rustle up some amazing halloumi wraps for lunch with the boat at a steep angle.
The final approach to Dover was hard work; it’s a very busy port where you have to radio in for clearance to approach 3 times, and be ready to wait just outside in case a ferry is arriving or leaving. So things got quite interesting as a rogue wave splashed into the cabin and tripped out our power bank which had been tucked safely into a quarter berth. And for a nice final touch, the marina had assigned us a berth with the wind blowing rapidly into it, which made parking up a bit of a challenge – which we pulled off neatly.
The long day, more electrical troubles and hectic final few hours’ sailing really took it out of me. I was wilting under the setbacks a bit and even wondered for a little why I’d embarked on this adventure. But some food and rest got me to a better place. It’s been a real boon to have such cheerful and helpful crew.
With even stronger headwinds forecast for the next 48 hours, we’ve decided to sit tight in Dover for a couple of days. Although the schedule is slipping a little some rest is much needed.
And I had a busy morning today, sorting various electrical woes and getting things well sorted for the Thames estuary crossing in a few days’ time.
things that might have been otherwise 