Bradwell, and on to Harwich

Unfortunately we were delayed in Bradwell for an extra day, as gales were forecast and we thought it sensible to delay our departure. Our extra day consisted of walking to Bradwell village for supplies, walking around the marina, and meeting Pussy Cat who leapt around tables, chairs and visitors to the marina restaurant where we took coffee and pudding after Steve had cooked us an excellent chilli!

It was dry for our trip the next day to Harwich, although the wind died and we put on the engine. The sun shone for part of our trip, but the wind was very cold when it blew. We polished off the last of the previous evening's chilli down below for our lunch, and it helped to counteract the cold air outside. The cold wind seems to have blighted all of our trip so far. We are very close to the longest day of the year, but it just doesn't feel close to our normal summer at all!

The boat will stay in Harwich for a few weeks before we begin the next leg of our trip. More regular blog entries again then.

Pussy Cat

Roger with Pussy Cat

Entering Harwich - the port cranes looking like giant animals at the waterside!

...and on to Bradwell, on the river Blackwater

We walked to Burnham to get supplies this morning. Incidentally there was a nice laburnum tree growing in one of the garden of one of the houses - we realised immediately that it was a Burnham laburnum! We took some photos of each other in our team shirts, then slipped our lines after lunch and sailed with the wind behind us out of the river Crouch. We took a left hand turn into the river Blackwater and motored against the wind. We radioed a few other vessels to try to get confirmation that they could 'see' us via our AIS signal (the 'automatic identification system' should enable other vessels to see an image of us on their electronic chart plotter; in fact you should be able to do the same via your computer - just find a site that displays ships locations via their AIS signals). The firing range safety boat replied - his AIS wasn't working - sorry. We tried a few other commercial vessels - neither of them answered our call so we gave up. We arrived at Bradwell marina in the evening and found very few staff around - struggl;ed to find our berth and to get a key to the facilities, and to find a way of plugging into the electricity.

(If anyone would like another polo shirt incidentally, please contact Diane by 30 May).

Harwich tomorrow perhaps, weather permitting.

the marina at Burnham on Crouch

Steve at the helm, modelling the team polo shirt

Queenborough to Burnham on Crouch

Today we slipped our mooring buoy in Queenborough at about 0800 and set sail as soon as we reached the Medway river. There was a good wind and it seemed like an exciting sailing day.......until 20 mins later we reached the Thames when the wind died. So it became a motoring day - quite pleasant nonetheless as the sun shone on the smooth sea.

We noticed what looked like a pinnacle of rock projecting up from the sea, and scanned the charts to identify it, without success. As we got closer to it, the rick changed into a Thames sailing barge silhouette!

We then had to pass Shoeburyness firing range, and Roger telephoned to check it was safe to pass. We didn't really want grapeshot across our bow, or through our sails! 'Is it safe to pass?' asked Roger, 'Yes and No' came the reply! Great! Apparently we could pass and if there was a danger then the guard boat would come to warn us!

Onward we motored, finally taking a turn to the left into the River Crouch, and on to the marina at Burnham-on-Crouch.

Progress. This is new sailing ground for us, and a new part of the country to explore. The wind tomorrow is expected to be very strong, but subsiding in the evening when we plan to creep around the corner into Bradwell. Maybe only a 2 or 3 hour trip.

Our mooring at Queenborough, just before we slipped our lines

The Thames sailing barge

There is also a short video clip taken as we entered the river Crouch. You can see it by clicking HERE

....and on to Queenborough!

We had a brilliant day today! The sun was shining all day, and the wind was just enough to enable us to sail Blue Star for about 1 hour after we exited Ramsgate. Although we later started the engine because the wind was heading us, the sun persisted! Hurrah! We entered the Thames estuary and saw a seal colony on one of the sandbanks in the middle of the Thames, then Steve cooked up some egg and bacon for lunch (thanks Steve). MMmmmm! Very tasty! Then we motored on passing a number of rusting WW2 steel  forts located in the middle of the Thames…..incredible to think about the young men who would have been sent to man them with a view to shooting down enemy planes bent on bombing London! We motored on into the Medway, passing the wreck of the USS Richard Montgomery, still laden with tons of high explosive too dangerous to shift, and estimated to blow up half of Kent if it ever went off! Onwards to Queenborough on the river Swale which loops around the Isle of Sheppey. Yvonne, a volunteer water taxi skipper took us ashore where we sampled the delights of Queenborough – well, the first pub we came across anyway – before we returned to our boat. Thank you too to Sophie and to Mark, who manages to Queenborough Harbour moorings, for allowing us to stay free of charge. We really appreciate your help! As I write this post, Steve is cooking us a splendid stir-fry meal!

Steve prepares lunch

Red Sands forts

On a mooring at Queenborough

Volunteer, Yvonne, took us ashore - thank you Yvonne!

Roger and Steve raising money for charity :-))

The pier back to the water taxi pontoon

The view from Queenborough water front

View from BS in the evening

Queenborough evening sky

The heads debacle - Part deux

.......so as I said, last night we did another pump out, and then returned to our berth in the marina - or strictly I should say a different berth, since the wind saw us dancing around the marina entertaining the onlookers, decorating the starboard hull in the process. However, we were now ready to proceed to the next phase of the holding tank drain clearing operation. Again. We knew that the Little Princess twirling baton was probably not the choice of the professionals as a drain clearing tool, and we resolved purchase something that was properly up to the job - a piece of proper hose pipe we felt sure would fit the bill. Unfortunately the chandlers, apparently the only shop in town that sells hose, was closed to day because of the Bank Holiday. However, we tracked down Halfords and bought a 'syphoning tool' comprising a bit of plastic hose with a non-return valve incorporated at the end. Confident in our purchase we relaxed with a sea front coffee on our way back to the boat. On returning, I tooled up once more for the operation - a rubber washing up glove this time, plus various plastic bags taped around my arm by Crown Computing Steve. (Thank you to everyone at Crown Computing who has supported us by the way! We really appreciate your support!). I unscrewed the accusing inspection hatch cover and thrust my syphoning tool - the bit of plastic tube - into the smelly disgusting plastic box. The planned procedure saw me simply poke the hose down the tank drain - easy, n'est ce pas? Negative! The tube had a mind of its own, and every time I tried to thrust it in the direction of the tank drain it simply turned away and snaked around the inside of the tank instead, like some wild serpent! Surely I could simply push it down the drain hole with my hand? No. I found I simply couldn't get my hand far enough into the tank to do that - just as I got my arm in almost to the elbow, I found it wouldn't go any further because my wrist came up against the back of the tank. Drat and double drat!

I was all ready to march back to Poundland for another twirling baton when Roger and Crown Computing Steve came up with am alternative. They had noticed......lurking near the rubbish bins......was.........A STICK! A bit off a tree. It was quickly cut to size and poked into the holding tank and...voila! Slurping noises and draining of the tank followed! Hurray!!! We cleaned up, detolised everything this side of Dover, and decided to incorporate the 'stick' into the ships on-board tools, specialist section, stored in the cockpit locker for future use if required. Skipper Roger has asked me to point out that it wasn't just any stick that he found. The specialist nature of the stick was a small 'v' section at the poking end. Apparently this is what makes it so effective at drain clearing. OK. Anyway we then binned the syphoning tube that was by now pretty disgusting, as well as useless! Roger thought about asking for our money back, but we weren't sure Halfords would take it back.

The we had lunch and, motored around to Ramsgate. Sharp intake of breath! 'There won't be any room' the doom mongers warned - 'all those little ships returning from Dunkirk for the 75th anniversary of the evacuation'. We radioed, as required, for permission to enter the harbour of the supposedly excessively busy port (the answer is nearly always 'yes' because somehow all of the ships are never there when you call). We radioed the marina for a berth...'there are so many small ships here today that you will just have to find somewhere yourself' said the man, so we entered the marina cautiously. Blinking 'eck! What was the problem?! There WERE lots of small ships, but there were still loads of berths free too, so no problem.

Queenborough tomorrow perhaps. I wouldn't bet on it though.

Another day in Dover

So today was crew change day. Rob left (boo!), Hastings had left yesterday (boo!)  and Steve joined us today (hurray! ). Before Rob left we decided to check the seal on the holding tank inspection hatch by filling the tank up. Great news - no leaks.  Then we threw the lever to open the valve and empty the tank again. Negative. The tank didn't empty! ****** ****!!!!!!!!.
So this afternoon we did another pump out and went to buy another magic wand come twirling baton. Unfortunately Poundland was closed!  Drat! Perhaps tomorrow.

Typical!

So here we were in Dover all ready for the passage to Ramsgate, passing amongst the notorious Goodwin Sands (nothing to do with me), graveyard of many craft - departure time set, passage planned, berthing arrangements checked etc. Come the appointed hour, down came the mist and murk and general grottiness of the weather. Decided to cancel said trip due to poor visibility and general 'not feeling keen-ness'. We are supposed to enjoy this trip when all said and done, so why go out when it doesn't look enjoyable? Decided to use the newly available time to re-fuel, and focus on unblocking the heads.

So we re-fuelled and had the giant sucker on the fuelling pontoon suck up the contents of the holding tank, eventually - it took a while for the sucker to overcome what we presumed was an air lock in the pipe, but eventually it did its job! Phase 1 of the operation complete. Phase 2 was to check whether the emptying of sick, wee, and bits of toilet paper from the tank, gathered over previous days, had in fact cleared the blockage. We tried pumping more water through the toilet and we could see that the level in the holding tank was rising. Unfortunately we had hoped it would flow straight through, so we still had a problem. :-(((

Enter phase 3 - find a way of poking around in the tank to try to clear the blockage. I unscrewed the tank level sensor, and it looked like it might be possible to poke something down the hole - but what? There was also the option, now that we had most of the tank empty, to unscrew the inspection hatch on the side of the tank and have a feel around - the port is just about large enough to get one's hand into (my hand, to be more specific, but thank you to Rob for volunteering too!). We still needed something with which to poke around however. Something flexible but also fairly firm, that would fit down a pipe if necessary. MMMmmmm. We decided that a piece of firmish hosepipe would fit the bill, and I went on a mission in Dover town centre racing around to find some before closing time, but was unsuccessful. However, whilst feeling rather gloomy, and inside Poundland (who don't sell hose either), my eyes alighted upon..... a 'Little Princess Twirling Baton' complete with glitter, colourful streamers and a bell that rang when you shook it. We weren't planning on any military tattoo type activity that might require a twirling baton, but the plastic baton bit of the toy looked like it just might be long enough to poke around inside the tank. I strode purposefully back to the boat and showed my new purchase proudly to Rob. Fort some reason he didn't seem too impressed. No matter. Earlier in the day I bought a protective paper suit (disposable) and pair of rubber gauntlets, and so togged up in these I got on with the job, Rob passing me various cleaning kit and helping to keep me and the heads clean during the operation.

Poking the twirling baton through the sensor hole didn't work. It was just long enough to stir the contents up, but not to do anything else. Drat! That meant I had to get the inspection hatch off and poke my hand around inside (with rubber gauntlets on, of course!). Having consulted Bavria I confirmed that the inspection hatch simply unscrewed. It was very stiff, but eventually it moved! The twirling baton was then re-deployed via the inspection hatch, but to start with it still didn't clear anything, just stirred it all up again. HHhhmmm! I then inserted my hand into the tank together with the baton, having to bend the baton to make room, but was able to swish things around a bit more. Still no luck! I prodded and poked with the baton and eventually felt I had located the exit pipe from which the contents were meant to drain, and I  poked around there too, ram-rod like. There was a slight slurping noise......, I poked a bit more.....there was a large slurping noise and.....hurrah! Blockage cleared!

Enter phase 4 of the operation. Withdraw twirling baton and clean up. Easy you think? Unfortunately whilst withdrawing the twirling baton it slipped from my hand and fell into the waste outlet pipe! Blinking Eck! Fortunately I think I must have foreseen this possibility, albeit sub-consciously, as I had bought the version of the twirling baton that had a lovely blue ball on the end. I can see now that this is not just decorative - it is intended to stop the baton accidentally disappearing down a pipe when clearing a blockage. I managed to firk around with my hand until I re-located the nice blue ball, and managed to withdraw the baton fully from the tank. Hoo, blooming ray!

We cleaned up everything, detol-ised everything, and binned my protective gear. I think I managed to keep reasonably clean, but went for a shower anyway.

Apart from all that excitement, we saw a Spifire fly several loops over he marina today. Very impressive! Hastings left the crew, and Steve rang to confirm his arrival tomorrow. We look forward to Hastings re-joining us if that can be arranged at some point in the future, and we look forward to Steve's arrival. Rob also leaves the crew tomorrow :-(; he has been an absolute star in the galley, and elsewhere, so we look forward to him re-joining us later too. Three up for the next sail then - Roger (who becomes skipper), Steve and me. Next week just has to be better than this week in so many ways.

The internet is still rubbish and won't let me post pictures, but I will try to find a way later. (I might find it easier to upload photos to the yacht's facebook page, so you might want to look there? https://www.facebook.com/yachtbluestar?ref=bookmarks )

Eastbourne and Dover

The more alert of you will have noticed that I did not post a report yesterday? The internet connection at Eastbourne was naff, so I wasn't able to. Anyway I would have told you that it was a pleasant sail to Eastbourne from Brighton, after some arguing with the wind to escape - the wind preferring to pin us to the marina pontoon. With the help of the bow-thruster we were able to escape however.

I would also have told you of what we did in Gosport - jobs. Roger went up the mast to clean the spreaders and attach halyards for courtesy flags. I also noted Mary Mouse 2 - a former lightship now a bar and shower block! There was also Medusa - small ship used to guide troops to Omaha beach in 1944.

A late meal in Eastbourne resulted in my stomach complaining again! Oww! At 2.30am, having been unable to sleep I got up to pace the gents toilets for 20 mins in the hope of improving my digestion. It seemed to work and I finally managed a bit of sleep - until woken by crew early in the morning. Roger left us to attend a family 'do' so we were just 3 up for the trip to Dover - me, Rob (promoted to 1st Mate) and Hastings. Although Rob seems to have recovered, my recovery is taking some time longer :-(

We left Eastbourne at 0915  with sunshine and a flat sea. By the time we reached Dover at 1730 conditions had deteriorated rather. It had become cold and cloudy, and the sea state was very uncomfortable. We were very pleased to enter Dover harbour.

After tying up in the marina we discovered that the drain on the holding tank is blocked. Great! (Not!)
Will try to sort that tomorrow before our planned passage to Ramsgate in the afternoon. Hopefully the sun will shine and the sea will be flat??

(The internet is not good here either and keeps dropping out before I can post photos, so I may have to post them later. I might be able to get some on the yacht's facebook page, so you might want to check that? https://www.facebook.com/yachtbluestar?ref=bookmarks)

Brighton

I was very sick in the early hours of this morning; I'm just getting over it now, but still have a sore stomach, no appetite and no energy. Hence we decided to stay in Brighton for another night, the rest of the crew went off to explore whilst I tried to summon energy to take a shower and clean the mess I had made in the heads.

Several of you have commented that the tracking device appears to show us ploughing a furrow over land rather than following a route through the sea. I have switched my phone to use the most accurate setting so hopefully this will sort out the problem, although it will use more battery power (but hopefully not enough to drain the phone before we complete a days sailing). Lets see how it works.

So what had we done in Gosport whilst waiting for the gales to pass?  various jobs. Roger went up the mast to clean the spreaders and to attach halyards so we could fly courtesy flags etc. We are now able to fly the SCCC burgee too - see photo. Also in Gosport are the light ship Mary Mouse 2, now a bar and shower block. The ship Medusa, used to guide landing craft to Omaha beach was also berthed there.

The trip to Brighton was very cold, and we had been grateful to get into the marina. We had absolutely blasted along under head-sail only, when the speed was measured as 11.5knots at one point we decided that maybe we had too much sail up, and took in a few rolls around the furler.

The nights have been particularly cold. Last night I 'slept' in all my clothes and a thick quilt, and was still not warm enough. Of course the problem may in part have been my illness, although Hastings was cold too.

Brighton marina have been great, giving us two free nights in the marina! Thank you Brighton marina!

Roger up the mast

SCCC burgee flying

Mary Mouse 2

the ship Medusa

About Medusa

We're in at last! !

Feel like I've been through a very cold washing machine.  All up and down and round, with a very cold following wind.

Eastbourne tomorrow perhaps.

Going......

It's sun shining and blowing a fair old wind, very cold. Another yacht left earlier to day with 3 reefs. We're planning to 'take a look' after lunch. If we don't like it we can of course return. Expecting F6 bitter cold winds and large waves, perhaps 3m. The good new is that the wind will be mostly from behind, and most of the trip will be in daylight. Our intended destination is Brighton. Seen enough of Gosport for now.

Report

Progress - none expected today
1 crew member  (Rob) ill  and sick with stomach infection. 1 crew (me) a bit dodgy.  Weather - gales and rain.  Outlook grim.
Who's idea was this?

We're off!

We finally set off from Hythe on time, after absolutely wonderful support from many well-wishers! Thank you everyone for coming to support us! It was brilliant! Thank you also to Nick Burton for buying everyone a celebratory after-dinner drink; it was very kind Nick; much appreciated! Lots of photos were taken by Cliff - thank you Cliff! You can also see some of the photos on the Blue Star Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/yachtbluestar?ref=bookmarks We had a good sail to Gosport - it was sunny, although the wind was cool.

Tomorrow sounds like a 'port day' with Gales forecast! :-( And rain! :-(

Thank you Haslar marina, for supporting our challenge and giving us a free marina berth. Much appreciated!

Track Blue Star in real time....

If you click on the 'Our track' page listed above, you will find that a map opens up which shows Blue Star's current position. (Strictly, it shows the position of my 'phone). I hope this will help you to follow our progress. Enjoy!

Getting ready.....

Whilst I was interviewed by Radio Stoke this morning, Roger skippered Blue Star on her journey to Hythe ready for the big sail away on Sunday!

Me being interviewed by Lee Blakeman for Radio Stoke

Blue Star arrives at Hythe marina (photo courtesy of the marina office)

Guest Blog Post from Dan.......

Here is a reminder about the purpose of this sailing trip, and why it's so important to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Cystic fibrosis affects around 10,000 people in the UK and causes problems mainly with the lungs and the digestive system, with both becoming clogged with thick mucus.

Currently the median age of survival for someone with cystic fibrosis is 41 years old. Each week five babies are born with cystic fibrosis, and two people die.
There is currently no cure, but the condition can be managed with medication, physio, exercise and nutrition.

The condition affects everyone differently, but for many it involves a rigorous daily treatment regime including physiotherapy, oral, nebulised and occasionally intravenous antibiotics, and taking enzyme tablets with food. Some people with cystic fibrosis will have a feeding tube overnight.

For those who are very ill with cystic fibrosis and with very poor lung function, daily life can be a struggle as basic tasks can leave them breathless. Some patients use a wheelchair to get around, and use oxygen to help them breathe.

Five years ago I would have regularly joined my father on his sailing trips for a few weeks at a time, and it is an indication of the nature of the illness that these days that is simply not possible as I am not well enough.

I am delighted that he has decided to do this as the money raised will go towards funding vital research into new treatments and improving day to day living standards for those battling the condition, and I wish him all the best for his fantastic adventure.

Dan Goodwin

Shakedown week over.....

....so we finished off our shakedown week with visits from Kevin, and from Jean-Francois and from Chris. Finally.....the wind subsided and we were able to go to Lymington where we had the electric circuit powering the bow-thruster checked out, and on Friday we went sailing in Southampton Water - see the following film clip: Pieces of Eight 2 - Shakedown week sailing in Southampton Water

In Southampton Water I spotted a small boat out sailing ...Kudu! Was it the same Kudu filmed during the attempted circumnavigation by Nathan Whitworth - see https://www.youtube.com/user/onkudu - I guess probably not?

The boat heels over in the strong winds!

Margaret and Geoff leave without a sail, but hopefully they had a good time! (Many thanks for your donation Margaret and Geoff!)

J-F and Chris (Roger in yellow) enjoying sailing in Southampton Water

Cliff with Ace when we got back

Unfortunately Dan is still in hospital, and Jess is not well either :-(, so Diane is looking after Ace.

The week has been important, and we managed to:
* rig the sails (yep, pretty important for this exercise!)
* fix a water leak from the engine (thanks to Kevin's eagle eye)
* fit dan-buoy and fire blanket
* check that the reefing systems worked OK
* noted that there seemed to be no more water leaked from the anchor locker area, although we are still suspicious of this potential problem
* note that the auto-pilot doesn't work properly (when selected, the boat goes immediately into a tight spin, pirouetting almost on the spot! Very alarming when we first selected it!)
* check that the anchor windlass works OK
* figured out how to use the bow-thruster (you have to turn it on first!)
* became acquainted with our new chartplotter
* noted that the wind speed indicator is a bit temperamental - works some times and not others - not sure why
* note that the starter battery had become discharged - we charged it up again and it seems OK now, but we'll need to monitor it

....and our new radar will be fitted next week hopefully; we get the auto-pilot checked out too.

Then we're ready to go!

Update from shakedown cruise....

First of all we had Madeline and Jeanette join us on board - there first time on a yacht. It was a 'bit blowy' on Sunday so we didn't sail until Monday, when the wind was somewhat lighter. They had a great time, and would like to sail again with us when the opportunity arises. Roger's friend Bob also joined us for the day, and also enjoyed himself and said he might be interested in the Cape Wrath leg! (Sign him up!).

Cliff stand on the pontoon chatting with Bob and Madeline

Madeline shares a joke with Jeanette

On returning to the marina there was a coming together of a boat (ours) and an anchor (not ours) - result: Anchor 1 Boat 0 and a bent stanchion (now replaced) and some hull polishing needed. Lesson about manoeuvring a yacht in a strong cross tide and wind re-learned! Ouch!

The other great thing that happened was that we brought our 'new' outboard motor, for use with inflatable dinghy, on board. We bought it of a very kind man from Lymington, Mr Pitt-Pitts, who I cannot help but notice has made a donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Thank you very much Brian - we have not met, but we are very grateful for your support!

 Our 'new' outboard

By Tuesday the wind had built up to storm force 10! No sailing. but the yacht was careering around like crazy despite being in a marina 2 mile upriver! The forecast for tomorrow is similar, so no sailing likely, which is disappointing for Margaret and Geoff who have joined us for a few days. It seems they will return home having not sailed, but they are still having a nice time on board.