On to Grimsby

We left Wells harbour this morning, as planned at 1 hour before high water. We were very pleased to see Sarah and Pat at the quayside to wave us off and wish us bon voyage! Imagine that game where you guide a metal eye along a twisted piece of wire and mustn't let the two touch; the same feeling came over me as we twisted our way down the contorted narrow river channel that leads to Wells as the strong incoming tide tried to push us off course. Just when we were pleased with our success however we were confronted by large breaking waves at the river bar. The boat reared and fell, this way and that, as we gradually clawed our way further to sea. It was wild, and we were all wondering whether we had let ourselves in for another 10 hours of it! Slowly however, the sea became smoother and tolerable. We had to continue motoring however, as the wind was from directly where we wanted to go ( we could have sailed and tacked of course, but we wanted to get in to Grimsby today!).

After a while we ate our sandwiches that Margaret and Geoff had prepared beforehand. We worked our way around a wind farm, slowly working past it. At one point the engine made a strange noise. We checked in the engine bay - all seemed well. We throttled back, then increased the revs again, and eventually normal service resumed. Perhaps we had something around our propeller for a while?

After being on watch for some time I took an hour off and went below, just as Roger came back on watch following a rest. Afterwards I made more bacon butties! Yum yum! Just then we started our entry into the Humber, and since we had made good time we throttled back - we would have been too early for the free flow through the lock gates at the marina. As we entered the lock gates the tide was rushing through into the marina in No 2 Fish Dock, effectively flushing us through like a piece of cork! We had to increase engine revs suddenley to regain some steerage in order to avoid being thrown against the lock walls. Eventually we got through and found a visitors berth at the marina. There were no staff around, but there were a few friendly people in the clubhouse.

We plan to leave the boat here for a while, instead of Hull, before we start the next leg of our voyage, although we must negotiate that with the berth master tomorrow.

Spurn Head at the mouth of the Humber is in the background as Roger pretends to be too hot!

Blue Star berthed at Grimsby, the clubhouse in the background

Geoff helps to prepare dinner