Sunny Southwold / Wrung out in the Wash

A warm welcome in Southwold

We had a pleasant day’s sail from Harwich up the coast to Southwold, with a strong following wind and favourable tide speeding us along at 7 knots at some points.

Southwold was a nice comfortable distance, and my friends Miles and Karen promised us a warm welcome at the Southwold SC BBQ. The entrance was a little tricky, probably an extra hot madras on the spiciness scale: low tide, little depth, big following sea getting pushed over the bar. We were very glad to have local knowledge (in the ‘hug the harbour wall, aim for the fisherman’s hut with the blue door on the far shore when you reach the second-to-last ladder’ vein) this detail helped us keep on track and avoid the shallows.

It was strange but lovely to step straight from a tricky harbour approach to a warm welcome from old friends. Southwold Sailing Club is in a lovely setting and we had great chats with some members. Folk were very impressed at our plans, but couldn’t offer much insight about The Wash ‘we don’t really go north of Lowestoft!’ We were to find out why the next day.

We had a sunny morning in Southwold, and I was delighted to meet Aunty M who gave us a great stock of baked provisions! We waited for the lunchtime tide to help us along the coast. We set off in great sailing conditions, aiming for a passage anchorage at Sea Palling or maybe as far as Wells.

Reaching along in the sunshine, I had more than a few ‘this is why I’m doing this’ moments. Which was important, because there were fewer of these in the next 24 hours…

---

Sea Pummelling

One of the biggest challenges in Norfolk is that you have a long stretch of lovely coastline – and basically no harbours! My boat is a bilge keeler drawing 1m, so can get in more or less anywhere. But after Norfolk, you have Wells-next-the-Sea with access around high water only, then nothing until the Humber. So a real headache!

I thought I’d found the answer in Sea Palling, a passage anchorage near Happisburgh. A passage anchorage is usually a quite open anchorage in a shallow bay, offering minimal shelter but a feasible spot to get a few hours’ rest or wait for the tide to turn. Sea Palling looked like it fitted the bill for this.

Reader, it did not! The wind stayed fresh from the south overnight, and we spent an uncomfortable 5 hours wide awake, while clinging to our bouncing bunks, listening to everything in the boat clanking around.

So at 3am we called it quits – with the tide now turned, and rest impossible we decided to head north for the Humber. A mere 77 miles away! Raising the anchor in the dark went nice and smoothly and we were soon underway.

---

Wrung out in the Wash

Taking on a very long day of sailing after little to no sleep isn’t ideal, and I was struggling with being knackered and feeling quite daunted by the long passage across the Wash and wondering if we’d ever get to Yorkshire, never mind Scotland. The sea conditions weren’t helping, a lumpy following sea pushing the boat this way and that, and light following winds meant the boat wasn’t really getting in the groove. My morale and motivation were both on their lower settings.

At times like this I joke with Calum ‘do you want to buy a boat?’ And he usually retorts with ‘hey, shall we close the loop back round to Plymouth when we get to the Forth?’

Thankfully we did easily fall into a one hour on, one off watch pattern and we both got some rest through the day. Also, Calum is a helming and snack-making machine! This did wonders for my morale and I’d probably still be bobbing about in the Wash feeling sorry for myself were it not for his encouragement. Also, the wind filled in through the afternoon and we started to make good progress for the Humber.

We needed our wits about us for the approach, with multiple shipping channels hemmed in by shallow water and strong currents. But it all went smoothly and we were soon heading for Tetney Haven. This is a small mooring spot on the south of the Humber maintained by Tetney Haven YC. The approach is down a narrow and shallow channel so I’d emailed ahead to check for local info. A kindly club member then called back with lots of info and offered us a loan of his mooring buoy for the night. Thanks Stuart! After a long 24 hours battling across the Wash, this was the perfect haven and we settled in for a much-needed rest.