Amble, 28th june pm

¡Gale force 8 is predicted for tonight!

Amble, wed 28th june, am

  Set off this morning at 7.30, got through the large waves at the harbour mouth with the hull slamming down a couple of times. Further out the waves were ok, not many white crests but I decided that with a  north easterly force 4 all day they were likely to get bigger, so decided to turn back and am moored up at Amble again.
  It's all good experience,  i had decided yesterday to go out largely on the wind speed - I should be able to manage a force 4. But didn't think too much about the sea state, if it had been westerly winds so that there was no fetch, then it might well have been doable.
  Forecast dry today so will visit Warkworth and it's castle. Next two days are forecast jolly windy, might sail Saturday.

Amble Tues 27th june

 It's been a  very rainy day here, I've mooched around town, done some washing, and planned next day's journey. The inshore waters forecast looks dead scary, even mentions gale force 8! But windguru says that tomorrow daytime will be moderate winds good for sailing. So my intention is to leave early tomorrow morning making for the Ouse bay on the south of Lindisfarne and then hold out there for two days of strong northerly winds.

Amble, Tuesday 27th june 2017

  Had a very pleasant sail yesterday from Blyth to Amble, about 13 miles. Gentle winds so full sail all the way and no stress. Started off doing 1 knot which was just drifting with the tide, the wind slowly built up and at one point I was doing over 5 knots. Passed by two or three porpoises that were hanging out in one area and disturbed lots of puffins sat on the water.

Off Coquet Island (which is in the distance)

Blyth, Sun 25th June

  This is a tad frustrating; trying to figure out if it is sensible to go to sea in the expected wind conditions. I suppose, on the plus side, i have generally been content with decisions i have made to stay tied up as the day's weather developed. However, i reckon the chances of circumnavigating via Caledonian canal are thinning.
  The met office's inshore waters forecast, which I intended to rely on, has a couple of drawbacks, it's for a 24hr period and covers a long stretch of coast so is not really finely detailed enough and it predicts average wind speed rather than separating out into wind speed and gust speed. It shows the coast as red when force 6 is mentioned. It is red most of the time! Windguru is good for gust prediction and is more finely divided into three hourly slots so I'm tending to rely on that more.
  At the  mo', 9.30am, there's shrieking gusts still coming in, it might calm down a bit at lunchtime and then pick up again. I ought to get myself out there just to see how I manage in the force 6 gusts but that's a phaphph, i 'd definitely do it if there were a safety boat.
  Tomorrow's forecast is the other extreme of exceedingly light winds so i'll deffo leave for the twelve NM to Amble, which will probably take all day. Needless to say i am itching to move.

Blyth sat 24th june

  I've been dithering about whether to go sail or not and decided, as the forecast is much like yesterday's, that i'll play it safe. Tomorrow looks equally blustery.
  My ratio of sailing to non-sailing days is pretty poor. Ah well, go with the flow. There's a music festival down the beach today, should keep me amused.

Blyth, noon, 23rd June

  Got out from under tarptent to reccy the weather just as the wind was freshening up. Spent a while looking at the RNYC knot meter whilst listening to the rigging noises. I reckon whistling is 15 knots, shrieking 20-25 knots and howling must be 30+.

RNYC clubhouse, a wooden 1800s lightship

  Went out onto the pier that makes the western harbour mouth and had to lean into the wind, it felt really strong and i was pleased not to be at sea. There were a few windsurfers in the bay and I saw a seal, which looked like it was listening to the barking of a dog being carried on wind from beach. 'Cos of the limited fetch there weren't big waves but they did have a lot of mini whitecaps.

  Came back and had a cup of tea with a neighbour,  thanks Alistair.

Moored at RNYC

Blyth, 23rd june am

  I'm currently sat at mooring waiting to see how the weather develops. The forecasts are for jolly windy and indeed the gusts are whistling in the rigging. The RNYC, whoose pontoon i am on have a wind meter which i have seen on 20 knots, though one could expect more wind at sea. The wind is from a good direction though, SW to W; good for getting me north and, as it is off the land there shouldn't be any gargantuan waves. Think i'll sit tight till lunchtime.

Blyth, 22nd june

  Set off for the 12NM leisurely sail to Amble at 11am in light winds and smooth seas and was working out contingencies for not making much progress. Then the wind picked up a bit as did the waves, both from the north. Then as i was trying to get past Newbiggin Ness the waves got many white crests and the boat was crashing into the valleys, by now i was on two reefs and still not managing to keep the boat level. It was 14.30 and I'd only done a quarter of the trip, if the wind had increased any more then i'd be a bit out of control,  so, decided to turn back. Once on a run everything quietened down and, of course, I questioned my decision. But by that time i'd travelled back a distance that would take ages to regain against the wind and sea.
  Went into town and had a curry

Blyth harbour, summer solstice

Leaving royal quays

Set off from royal quays at about 1pm, the wind was stiff but from the south so pushing me in the right direction. The waves were pretty  much from behind too, very large n scary, they try to steer the boat for you so for the whole sail i was on edge.

  Then there was a fishing boat wiv a geezer waving his fluorescent jacket off the front. I thought he must be in trouble so steered over - turned out he was fishing salmon with drift nets and I was on a collision course with nets. So once I twigged started up engine and headed south for a bit.

 Other than that it was fairly straightforward, downwind with just foresail up. Tho' I was a bit stressed the whole sail (scary big waves) it only took 3 hrs so i'm not worn out and fancy going to Amble tomorrer,  13NM away.

Blyth harbour in a sou' sou' easterly

  The sailing people here (royal northumberland yacht club) are dead friendly and as it is a racing night i had food as well as beer. WiFi that works too.

Royal keys, Newcastle, tue 20th june

  Yesterday i was up at 5.15am, to get to metro station and arrive at tridentuk who very kindly took my sail on a sameday turnaround to put me third reef in. Had a long and exhausting day in the 26C day.
  Visited Storrar Marine, which is a well stocked  Chandlers, particularly well provided with sailing reference books. Got the RNYC pilot guide to the nook and cranny harbours from Humber to Rattray head (recommended by Mike Septimus) and also a pilot guide for the harbours of Irish Sea. The latter  because a boater who purposely came to chat with me (who has circumnavigated twice) suggested i might go South down the Irish coast rather than Wales etc. Thanks for the infochat geezer.
  So i wuz carting books n stuff around, hung out near millenium bridge waiting for phone call from sail loft. Drunk beer n listened to great Northumberland piper. Picked sail up at 5pm,  more walking to Metro, then walking, with load, to boatie and was exhausted. Went to sleep 9ish.

  Woke up unready to go to sea, even tho' the weather was pretty much perfect. Had cafe brekky, did washing and boat fiddling. In between neighbour Ross invited me to sample his whiskeys - nice one Ross.

¡Saw a cone jelly!
¡comb jelly in Newcastle

  Reflected that i'm always thinking of big hops, trouble with sailing 20-30 NM means I need a rest the next day, so tomorrow plan to do a moderate 10NM to Blyth. Wind is scheduled to start stiff & then moderate so I've set sail up with no2 & no3 reefs in and plan to leave at a leisurely 12 noon as tide is not my way 'till 'bout 1pm. Try out new third reef.

Leaving Hartlepool

Royal quays, sun 18th June 2017

Boatie with sun reflector reflecting t'sun

This  morning had a breakfast at the local marina restaurant. It's the most designer joint i've et in, checkout the wonky coffee cup and the square iron bar backed dining chairs.

when entering the place passed by a couple of lap dogs which yapped at me - so I yapped back. Then the couple wiv doggies came into the eatery (wiv doggies), had two diet cokes and water for dogs and moved on after one of the little darlins left a calling card up one of the designer chair legs!

Tyne (royal quays marina), Newcastle - sun 18th june

  One problem that I had during yesterdays sail was that the knots holding the radar reflector failed so that was banging about all the time. This morning I dropped the mast and refined that, taking the opportunity to hang my red ensign too. Then, once mast was up, as the winds were light, had a play about with sculling (using one oar out the back) the boatie around; it worked out OK, pretty straightforward.

  Then went and found the metro station in advance of my journey into town tomorrow, which took me past the 'Earl Zetland' which is a big boaty that has a bar on board, so had a beer or two to keep me cool on this 27C day. Currently just chillin' on me boat wondering what to do about grub, might have to break into onboard supplies.

River Tyne, sat 17th june

Had an enjoyable sail covering the 20 Nm between Hartlepool and Tynemouth. Was on a beam reach most of the time (wind from the side) turning into a single tack beat. The wind was variable in strength, as usual but was never overpowering

Hartlepool, Fri 16th June 2017

Looked like there might have been a window in the weather this morning, but the wind continued to shriek in the wires n strings most of the day. 'Tis even doin' it now, at 1.30 sat  morn.

  Prediction is for perfect sailing weather satURDAY. All i'll have to worry about is sunburn :-) gonna head for Tynemouth as Sunday's predicted winds are very light so might struggle to get anywhere that day. i'd like to be on Tyne Monday morning, to get stove part and more reef in sail.

  Did a bit of boat fiddling; tarptent one  is now trash and 'new and improved' tarptent two has been deployed. For a bit of fun, fitted a rollock at back of boat to have a go at sculling. not tried it yet (will need boom inside t'boat), also connected sea-anchor, swivel, and rope so that can now be deployed without too much fuss.

3am dawn!

Hartlepool, early morning Thursday 15th june

  Got up at 6am and didn't like the look of the wind. It was stronger than i'd expected and the forecast, which hadn't changed since yesterday, was for it to build. So I ummed and ahhed for a while and decided not to go out. And i'm happy with that choice, at 9am the gusts are more and more frequently moaning in rigging.

Bumped into the boys from Lady May for the third time :-), they are off north today. Me new found mates boat has a blog too.

Hartlepool, Wed 13th June , later on

  Well, what a great bunch of geezers; dissimilar historys but a lot of common connexions. Nice one andy mike n jeff.

  'S really good for my soul to be in the company of boaters. Everybody likes to talk about your boat or what is happening with their boat. It's an independent-minded, water borne festival.
  Today a lady came up and said that forty years ago, she 'n her fellah were first together in a similar boat to mine, over in Scandinavia, with much more primitive conditions, in t'70's (no outboard motor). and maybe it's not so good now with a big yacht. We all got connexions :-)

  Outside

 
Inside

Hartlepool, Wed 13th June

Decided to have a rest day today, just as well cos there probably wasn't enough wind to get to me next destination which is North Shields.

  Had a look at the Tricomalee, 200 year old square rigger and a dishevelled paddle steamer, the Wingfield Castle, had a couple of lunchtime pints which felt so cool and relaxed compared to a 'normal' working Wednesday. Visited what must be the massivest asda to top up on dark n stormy supplies  (dark rum and ginger beer) and completely failed to modify new tarptent instead chatted. Going aboard Septimus this evening where Mike is kindly cooking a bunch of us dinner.

Spot the dinky dinghy

  Tomorrow plan to leave early to miss most of the strong winds and get to North Shields, hopefully get third reef put in mainsail and pick up replacement pump for stove. I've hardly used my gas replacement one, I've bin drinking tea and eating out in these civilised marinas.

Hartlepool, tue 13th june

  Went through Whitby swing bridge at 8.30 expecting light winds from the south but very soon had two reefs in the main and then got rid of main altogether and tried to sail close to the wind with just the jib - very difficult to keep on a course. I was wondering about contingency plans at this point as i'd only just started my 23Nm trip. Could definitely do with a third reefing in the main sail which would give me more options when i only have me for ballast.

  Then things calmed down a bit and i ended up close-hauled pretty much on one tack all the way with the wind veering favourably and many reefs coming in and then going out.


  Somehow i managed to catch some intense sun though it had seemed to be a basically cloudy day. Had my clothing a bit more sorted with long trousers under my salopettes but will try fleecy long-johns next time.

  Hooked up with Geoff & crew, fellow boaties and had a good pub meal and got an angle on a sail loft on the Tyne, which is probably my next stop.

Whitby, Monday 12th June 2017

Another day of strong winds, some sunny spells and a drop or two of drizzle. The gusts that sang through the riggings were more infrequent than yesterday but inshore forecast was predicting occasional force 7. Again i was happy not to be out on the open sea.

  Should have been a day of productive boat fiddling, particularly configuring new tarptent but couldn't be arsed, nice thing is, it's up to me :-) Fitted compass finally, was really struggling to work out where to mount it; it needed to be on top of a horizontal surface or stern-ward of a vertical surface. Ended up with it on top of the middle of thwart, not ideal 'cos it'll be in the way. But definitely a move forward to have easily referenced compass. Did some washing and paid marina bill.

  I'm moving on tomorrow, ¡yeehah! bin here since Thursday, bonus of this layover is that my cracked forefingers have nearly completely healed up. Forecast winds are very mild, Hartlepool is destination, 25Nm away, i intend to leave at 8am, tide should be with me from 10. So should be a relaxed sail, however; the Boston leg taught me to keep a weather eye out.

  I like watching the seagulls fly, there's a bunch of 'em, just rolled in, no doubt on the scav. I gotta theory 'bout seagulls; they got all emboldened, with us all being nice to animals n that, they nick our ice-cream and chips with impunity.  We oughtta grab 'em n eat 'em, that'll deter their larcenous tricks.

  Woke up with tarptent a flapping, and wind caterwaulin thru marina wires.

 Bright sunny spells meant another day of boat maintenance; sanded neighbour's fix,  decided that i'd leave it there, 'cos could have made it worse adding more gunge ('poxy n filla)

  Yesterday's floorboard fix looks good

 Installed rope handles for managing boat landing in a swell

  Bit of protection where I tread all the time

Stowage of rond anchor and sanitary shovel  (shit spade)

Flags

Whitby sat 10th June

  Woke up to drizzly grey dampness, stopped in bed for a while. The epoxy on my transom has gone all white, must have got moisture in it. The hatch cover and floorboard are ok tho.

  Had cafe breakfast and walked around town in the drizzly wind. Stopped in pub most of the day reading. Initially there was a family nearby with typically restless, fidgety kids. After they left the geezer of the outfit turned up with a pint for me, in appreciation of me being kind to his kids and not curmudgeonly!
 
  Back to boat and rain had mostly ceased but wind gusts were again shreiking in rigging, apparently 33knots out at sea. Helped a yacht moor up which aggravated my tortured finger skin so have plastered them up.

  Blog is gonna be dull for the next coupla days, i don't fancy the forecast for Sunday or Monday so don't intend to sail untill Tues

Whitby, fri 9th june

  Yee! Ha! Had another monumental sleep, must have been 12 hours, great mugs of tea and toast at the kabin cafe. Into town, got a replacement tarp, exactly like the one I set out with  before the FIRE!

  There's a good chandlers here, bought a stirrup pump for easy bilge emptying, and some really useful looking clips which are for hanking a jib onto 4mm line. I've got 4mm line around the perimeter of my boat so hope to use these clips to secure new tarptent

Today's weather has bin generally sunny with a bit of showers at midday.

All my appliances are charged up and battery is close to full. Today has been epoxy day,
1 the ply at the corner of front hatch had delaminated,
2 there was a chip out of the stern hatch top,
3 where I had cut the floorboards in two one had  a chunk broken
3a Also, when parking up yesterday, i had a minor collision with a neighbour. Saw him today and he was very happy for me to patch up the cracked rubbing strake. Thanks fellow boatie :-) i let them know that i were insured.

  Trouble is, tied up in a marina on a sunny day you bump into loads of boatie people and have happy boatie conversations, not conducive to being productive.  Shared a beer with Paul and Dan who i'd met previous in Bridlington. Also yesterday met a geezer who had been labouring through the southerlies going clockwise round in a 22 footer

  Still, epoxy waits for no man.

  I've  now removed the electrical tape (spawn of the devil) that i'd put over the top of the transom, this was keeping some screwholes dry which were from where i 've removed the traveller rail. They are now filled in with twelve, hand carved, 4mm, hardwood pegs. I made the replacement chunk of floorboard out of hardwood too.

  So that was my day done. Finally had some chips  (and curry sauce) after all these seaside resorts, downed some beers and un bouteille de vin rouge

.

  It's pleasant and tranquil here this evening

Whitby, Thursday 8th June 2017

  Got up at 5am, set sail at 7pm, Gary timed it to perfection to wave goodbye. Scarborough was an interesting place, 'cos it's on a hill there are loads of sets of narrow stairways between levels and also lots of narrow alleys and walkways.

  The sail was gentle and damp with drizzle on and off, low cloud and initially very gentle wind. Once again it was a basically a southerly, pushing me in the right direction on a run but consequently not very noticeable 'cos boat moves at similar speed to wind. Only 14Nm to do and, as predicted the wind and gusts slowly built up. Just as i approached Whitby harbour entrance i was just about overpowered with full sails up. There was a long rounded swell from the NE and sometimes these waves were breaking at the narrow entrance to harbour (with low tide making the water shallow) but i got in without having to manage any surf.

  Tied up to swing bridge pontoon at 11 and waited 'till 2.30 for bridge to open, so took opportunity to use newly acquired gas stove to brew up. It worked very quickly. I made a mistake in the gear i wore, as rain was predicted i wore my dry suit and underneath wore lycra type, wick-away long-johns but this was pretty cold. Next time i'll wear summat more insulative.

  I was pleased that the weather window unfolded pretty much how windguru had predicted, the inshore waters forecast was pretty scary predicting force 4 or 5, occasionally 6 but that is for a 24 hour period. Indeed by 2pm the wind was very strong.

Scarborough ,wed 7th june

  Woke up with no electrickery which was a surprise but it was a dry day with lots of sunny spells so soon had power back. Slept all the way through the nighttime gale and was pleased that tarptent was all in one piece.

  Had a cafe breakfast, did a bit of shopping, then boat fiddling & tidying which took ages for little change. All day the wind was strong with gusts shreiking through rigging.

  A lull in the windy weather is forecast for tomorrow early doors so i've been tempted to go for it, the forecast gusts are still strong and it all picks up in the afternoon. Southerly so should push me in the direction I wanna go.

Scarborough, Tues 6th june 2017

Had another mega sleep, crawled out, ablouted, had brekkie: tea,fry up and coffee in nearby cafe, then it was 11.30.

Good chandler in town, got most of what i needed, mended tiller extention u.j.with an allen one which, with minor butchery fitted my sea sure version

tonight is the big storm, the wind is larkin' about, shreikin' n shakin'

Seaweed Monsters

Scarborough, Monday 5th June 2017

Had a big sleep, stayed in bed late and was then a bit rushed. Checked in with port authority and then met up with mates number four; Hoorah:-), Gary n Deanna are holidaying in Scarborough when i'm here.Had a chinwag and climbed the castle Hill. Had a wine buying retail opportunity and have sunk a bottle of elderberry (11%),started the bottle of cherry(11%) and have ginger to go. The weather was damp and I prospected a B&B then it cleared up and i got miserly.

The forecast prospects are looking 'stormy weather boys' for the next week! With a possible window bright and early Thursday morning with a building southerly wind.

Scarborough is grand, though i was disappointed when i went out at 7pm to get chips & all was shut :-)

I'm pleased i didn't B&B it, tarptent is finessed to minimise water intake, i've got springs out to secure the mooring. With the wind occasionally whistling through local rigging and the rain pattering on tarptent i feel as prepared as poss for the oncoming gale.

Scarborough, sun 4th June 2017

Got up at 8.30, then it was pretty full on to get ready for the sea. A couple of fellahs in a motor cruiser, Lady May, were moored up next to me and are planning a similar trip,so might well see 'em again.

Had a really pleasant sail today, winds very variable in strength , quite a bit of sunshine. Got out to Flamborough head OK, no big waves, then it was a reach which turned into a single tack beat all the way. Sometimes a bit over powered with just a twice reefed main & occasionally nearly becalmed. Saw me first puffin. Flamborough is good looking with eroded limestone causing little bays, arches and caves. Next coupla days are forecast to be too windy for me.

Dreamtime in sunny Scarborough

Bridlington Sun 4th June

It was getting on for midnight when boat floated, then i loaded gear, so up late and started a bit of passage planning for Scarborough. Today is forecast force 3,4 sometimes 5, Monday is forecast up to a 6. So if i'm gonna go best go today.

High tide is at 2pm, i'll be afloat at 11am, plan to leave by noon, then get to Flamborough Head by turn of tide to take me on up past all the sharp & pointy rocks.

Bridlington, 3rd June

Had a damn thorough sleep last night. Waiting for 2pm tide in the morning so hit town had some snap (food),there's stacks of takeaways & cafes here. Bought some crocks (shoes) and then when the high tide had receded a bit, got boatie to beach, careened very easily having recruited a couple of likely geezers and hoiked the offending grit from centreboard with my new tool. All went very well.

So now I can sail again. Me plan is to stop in Bridlington tomorrow (Sunday) & have more r&r in the sunshine and go to Scarborough Monday which is forecast to have a bit of rain and wind up the chuff again.
.

Bridlington, 2nd June

  I like it here, part working harbour, part sail boaties and big part touristas. The media have bin wittling on for ages 'bout the decline of the UK seaside resort, guess they ain't bin to Brid recently. The harbour dries out to mud about half the time.

  First task of the day was to get centreboard unjammed  (really, first task was source a new pump  for me stove) but that didn't happen, I chucked buckets of water at it, lots of hose action and still it just moves a mm, which I reckon is play in the pivot bolt hole. summat is jammed below. This is something that i'd learned about but had'nt planned for, hadn't taken seriously. It's part of my gameplan,  on the east coast, to be on a beach 66% of the time. So, I need to perfect the art of solo landing a Wayfarer, on a beach, in surf and not  get cb bunged up. I have two, grand, inflatable beach rollers

which will help in the endeavour, they make brill fenders too, only prob is that there's nowt to tie onto.

   Mission number one tomorrow is the centreboard, there is a small sand beach between the mud and some concrete, pointed out to me by a fellow sail boater (who has built his own  boat.) where i'll careen t'Dreamtime and attack centreboard from below.
  Big thanks to Lawrence  (Laurence?) who fabricated, out of stainless steel, exactly the tool that I had seen somewhere in my Wayfarer research; for hooking pebbles out of centreboard.

So, nowt better to do I made a much needed visit to launderette which was well shabby including a burnt out dryer:-)
Came back to boat and rigged a bungee in the mooring rope with butterfly loop knots, works well but got my one pair of long trousers muddy.

I need to lay over here for a while. I was hoping my hands would just callous up and get used to the abrasion but my right forefinger has cracked/split at the joints which will take a bit of healing.
  High tide is at 2pm ish tomorra, the beach will be exposed 'bout 2hrs after so it'll be midnight when we're afloat again.
  I rather like this living within the strictures of natural rhythms, no doubt i'll soon be getting up at bright o'clock to catch a tide and dawn. Early night tonight, the gentle rain is pattering on me tarptent.

This pic shows t'rain and beach

Tetney haven to Bridlington, 31st May, 1st June

Tetney haven to Hornsea

It's working out well so far, going the 'wrong way round'. I leave at high tide and the ebb takes me up north.
Today I planned to leave at 10.30 on the high tide, but had a fender go AWOL, fortunately the wind took it to shore but it was very shallow, oars came in handy. Winds started off brisk from the east which was the direction I needed to go to get out of the Humber Mouth. First I had to head West to clear the sand bars, then a beat to windward, this was with two reefs in and playing with the jib area to keep the boat level. I felt that I was playing with the big boys when my first marker for crossing the shipping lane, tetney monobouy, was occupied by an arabic named tanker being held at the stern by a tug, gave that a wide bearth. The Humber traffic control said that they could see me on radio and gave me the all clear to cross over.

Then having got out East for the crossing I headed North following the coast. There was pretty big surf in the shallows of spurn point, there's summat about the noise of breaking waves en mass that jangles the nerves, obviously Wayfarer took it in it's stride with nose pointed in. Then it was a simple reach for quite a while, then wind dropped and I lost two reefs in quick succession.
It then felt like the wind was trying to sneak up on me, it came from behind very gently, then built up, so, learning from last Saturday I flew just the jib for the rest of the day, I reckoned I wouldn't get to Bridlington in the day anyway and it was to be a long days sailing. Once I cleared spurn point and the wind came from up the chuff it was bright sunshine all day.

I headed for a sticky up thing on the horizon which turned out to be a lighthouse at Withernsea and carried along a monotonous cost with soft cliffs with very narrow beachessian. I was wondering if there would be space to park a boat at high tide but logically we're near neaps so tide should not be so high. High tide was 10.15pm and I had to work out some where to stop for the night, scoped out what looked like the best prospect just north of Hornsea and anchored off there in very wavy seas. The waves were coming onshore at an oblique angle, when it was time I let the anchor rope out but it got me no where near the shore. The beach sloped at a sharp angle into the sea so I got in close with the outboard board, chucked out the anchor, and just about managed to land stern first in big surf. It took ages for the boat to stop moving and once it had I set up home and went to bed, no food,no tea, just sleep. Set me alarm for 5 low tide to dig anchor in to help get off.

Dodgy beach to ground on

Hornsea to Bridlington

Up early to catch 10.20am tide the anchor just pulled free! Must be summat to do with surf churning it up, managed to get out on oars against a gentle onshore wind then, tho' wind did steadily build up it was a pretty simple run to Bridlington ending with two reefs. Bridlington! Civilisation! They got toilets n showers n restaurants n everything. Arrived at 1pm, made a cup of tea, topped up outboard and filled stove on which the seal popped out, the plastic had got soft so mended it with a cable tie. Had a curry and bouteille de vin rouge, came back to boat, put kettle on and the stove leaked PETROL FIRE ON BOARD! (Wooden boat). The fire extinguisher I have worked very well. I think I suffered mild flash burns, the tarp has a hole melted in and I have no stove.

Dreamtime in Brid Harbour