Another exciting adventure on the good ship “Tutak II” was undertaken
early January 2010. The reason for this
voyage to the metropolis was to visit the Excel Boat Show; at least that was
our excuse for a few days away with the whiskey anyway.
The tides dictated that the outbound leg would mean an early start to
reach the Medway stopover in daylight hours, giving us an overnight anchorage
before heading up the Thames the following day to reach St Katherine’s haven by
dusk. I only managed a few short hours
of slumber before being roused by the ship’s clock some time before
sailing. Looking back at the log the
actual time of awakening was recorded as being 04:00hrs. The crew on this occasion were Doug and Taxi
Chris and they expertly loosed the old girl (with her new shiny and smooth
bottom) from her tethers at 04:50hrs an hour or so after high water, not
wanting to punch too much tide up the Swin even though it was neaps. If you remember ‘twas the time of the ‘big
freeze’ with snow covering most of merry England and more was forecast. Gales were expected at sometime during our
time away so we were keen to get a move on and reach our sheltered anchorage in
the Sharfleet Creek up in the Medway river.
Sailing was curtailed due to the Easterly head wind of around 13kts true
but we reached the Spitway by seven and came around to the South West at the
Whitaker for the Swin. The wind came
around as well and we just held on to the genoa for a motor beat to the Maplin
buoy by which time the wind headed us and it was motor all the way. Still the batteries needed a good charge
anyway and the newly installed heating system meant that we were all toasty in
the wheelhouse. The wind tailed off as
we neared the Cant by eleven o’clock and the snow started. An inch or so adorned the vessels and Kiitaja
looked for all the world like a polar expedition ship in the blizzard
conditions. There was not a lot of
shipping in the Thames which was rather spooky and nothing was showing on the
AIS (Automatic Identification System) but this turned out to be the skipper’s
programming fault, soon rectified I am glad to say. By 12:30hrs we were turning into Stangate
creek and thence into Sharfleet and came alongside the anchored Kiitaja by
13:00hrs having covered around 40 miles.
Broken things being fixed and after a wee rest we all retired to
Kiitaja to feast on one of Doug’s famous curries. Beer was downed to ease the searing heat, not
of the curry but the adjacent outlet of Alan’s rather efficient heater. The temperature had fallen and the soft snow
had turned to ice which made the late night ship to ship transfer somewhat
hazardous, although it may have been the beer.
Nine thirty the following morning saw us breaking away, leaving
Kiitaja to recover her anchor, by which time the snow had returned with a
vengeance (tee, hee). It took a while
before Rex could feel his fingers again apparently. He spent quite a time on the foredeck of
Kiitaja trying to get the anchor chain do the pipe. We had a tight schedule to reach Tower Bridge
for the first locking so we set off at a fair pace in the near “white out”
conditions. It was a wet snow which
stuck rather well to all surfaces including the vertical. The AIS was now reprogrammed and told us
where all the ships were as we negotiated the channel to rejoin the
Thames. Not wanting to waste time I kept
to the shallows rather than take the longer route via the deeper water. The crew found this somewhat unnerving as the
echo-sounder did not register very much at times. One o’clock had us off Mucking and by
15:00hrs we were approaching the Thames Barrier. Shipping was quiet and the journey uneventful
apart from the snow which had stuck to the mast and rigging had now turned to
brittle ice and proceeded to fall in great lumps to the deck below. As a responsible skipper I ordered the hard
hats to be broken out and issued. Doug’s no. 3 breakfast, bagel pizza lunch,
Christmas cake and things kept us fuelled against the biting cold as the cabin
temperature rose to +20C. Kiitaja had
materialised out of the snow which had by now stopped, she was not far
behind. We were just getting ready to
pick up a buoy outside the lock at St Katherine’s haven when we were approached
by a Police launch. It came alongside
and nimbly (well, sort of) disembarked an officer just as I was about to make a
turn for the mooring buoy. Naturally
this was delayed until the launch had sheered off and I was questioned by the
said officer whilst manoeuvring to pick up the mooring. Being a man, I had some difficulty in multi-tasking;
“Your name Sir is....”. “Hold on a sec, yeah, sorry, what?” They were apparently concerned that Tutak’s
port of registry (Guernsey) might be a failed State and thus a haven for
terrorism. Not that I minded in the
least about being boarded, I think some folk give them a hard time for some
reason. We successfully locked into the
basin and began ice breaking through the frozen water to our allotted berth and
began making snowpersons on the pontoon.
Another feast was rustled up, again by Doug, and we all went to our
bunks satiated.
The following day we trudged through the snow and ice and gained
access to the Docklands Light Railway which, surprisingly, was working,
probably due to the fact that, being automatic, no staff needed to brave the
weather to make it function. We found
our way into the vast halls of the exhibition centre and split up to do some
serious shopping. Now I have heard it
said that only girls can shop, but when a man is presented with hundreds of
boating gadgets, well....... In the
evening we all met up and had another meal, it was Doug’s statutory night off
so we had to go to Ziggi’s or something.
During the day the wind had blown a bit by all accounts. We were somewhat immune from this but the
forecast was still for gales from the North East, what joy!
Saturday was a day of rest whilst the goodies were fitted to the ship
for the journey home. New charts were
catalogued and electronic gizmos fired up and tested, almanacs were bookmarked
and annotated. All was ready and Doug
cooked us another fine feast and we were well on the way to finishing the
second bottle of whiskey. Taxi Chris and
Rex said goodbye, taking the train back and Miriam and Paul joined Kiitaja for
the trip back leaving me and Doug on Tutak.
Having woken up the keeper of the lock we eventually entered the Thames
at 08:55hrs on the Sunday morning to punch a bit of tide around slack water
before it turned in our favour. I was
again keen to keep the speed up in an attempt to beat the strong winds. The Medway or the North side of the Thames
was to be our bolt hole should it all get too much, but I thought that if
possible I would carry on against the flood up the Swin. My reasoning was that the wind with tide
might smooth the seas a little and, being neaps, there would only be a knot or
so of tide against us. There must have
been a lot of flood water in the river because we made very good progress at up
to 9kts SOG, reaching Sea Reach No. 4 by 14:00hrs. The wind had been a force 4 from the NE and
it had been a bit choppy going into it around Mucking Flats, but it moderated
to a 3 to 4 and I felt confident we could carry on in 17-25 knots of apparent
wind. Up the Warp we passed the
Blacktail Spit still carrying the ebb to the Maplin before darkness fell and
the horizon faded into the gloom. Up to
now we had had shelter from the drying banks to the North and East but as the
tide rose and we entered the more open water of the Swin and the Middle Deep
things began to get a little more exciting.
Saturday’s wind had kicked up a swell and we were heading into it with
some feisty little waves being deflected off the banks. I reckoned the deeper water of the Middle
Deep would be more comfortable than the Swin but we had to cross some shallower
stuff to get to it and those of you who know Tutak’s trawler tricks will
empathise; roll 25 degrees to port, heave upwards on the bow, flick roll to 30
degrees to starboard, the bow dropping like a stone, water over the top, roll to
port and so it continues. We corkscrewed
our way for three hours, sometimes taking water not only over the deck but over
the top of the wheelhouse too. Now, I
know, as long as I don’t get injured during somewhat violent movements, that the
boat is quite capable of handling it and I have been out in much worse. For the crew it was a different matter, the
rationale of knowing the capability of a vessel does not dispel the fear when
you think you are going to die. Doug is
a stalwart sort of chap and was prepared to hang on; I had promised him it
would quieten down when we turned at the Wallet Spitway for home. I calculated that we should reach the turning
point a 19:00hrs but the turn to the NW at the Whitaker and the flood tide
meant that we started to surf at 8.4kts SOG and thus we arrived ten minutes
early. Turning for the Bench Head
brought the seas on the quarter and still gave us a ride but running out the
genoa slowed the roll and we surfed for home.
We still had the flood with us and with the surfing we made remarkable
progress, still making 7kts SOG at the Nass.
We picked up a buoy in the Leavings at 20:20hrs having made a passage of
71.3nm in eleven hours and twenty five minutes at an average speed of 6.2kts. I might even have got back onto the berth but
it was a bit marginal with the tide and I didn’t want to be stuck in the back
creek at a jaunty angle after all that, thank you very much.
My thanks go to my faithful crew and steward for keeping me fed and
watered to Royal Yacht standards and for passing me the right thing at the
right time before I’d even asked for it!
Should you wish to avail yourself of his services, please contact me for
contractual obligations and tariffs?
I never dreamed it was possible to get from St Katherine’s haven to
Tollesbury in one tide on Tutak. The
circumstances must have been just right perhaps, the floodwater ebb in the
Thames, stemming neap tides and lower than expected head winds up past Foulness
and the Middle Deep. Add to that the extra
speed of surfing and the bonus of catching the last hour and a half of flood up
the Blackwater gave us the edge on what was an “incredible journey home”.
Extract from “Bill and Doug’s most excellent adventures”, Bothy Press.
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