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 )