Harwich to Whitby or On The Beach.

Where were we, oh yes, just left Harwich heading norf.  Sails went up, well actually the log said we sailed off the anchor with just the genoa rolled out.  The main went up after we had cleared a bit of the mess up.  The wind headed us mid afternoon and we had to motorsail for a while.  I did think about going into Lowestoft for a few hours kip but the sea was such that dropping the hook in Yarmouth Roads seemed a likely proposition.  The wind eventually came round to the east and there was going to be nice shelter behind the Scroby sands so we prepared to drop the hook just north of Great Yarmouth pier close inshore.  For some reason I decided to take the route via the forehatch with the anchor winch handle.  I took the cover off and dropped it behind me and freed off the chain and dropped the handle into the slot.  Doing this with the previously dirtyed chain meant that my hands were now muddy so I closed the hatch and made my way back to the stern via the deck.  Upon reaching the cockpit I washed my hands over the low stern section of the hull and went for the old towel hanging up in the wheelhouse.  The door was locked, bugger.

I had somehow managed to lock myself out of the boat with the autopilot taking us up the beach in about ten minutes.  I had no tools, nothing to take a hatch off or a window out.  I doubt I could have done it in the time anyway.  Luckily I had cut the speed to slow ahead so the eventual crunch would be lessened.  I thought that if I smashed the stern window I would be able to reach the bolt holding the (now strengthened) door shut.  What to use, ah the heavy steel bar that is the anchor winch handle.  I went forward to retrieve it from the foredeck making sure that I held onto it tightly.  I turned my face away and bashed the glass.  The bar just bounced off.  I tried again and again but nothing happened.  I used the pointed end, but it would not break.  I used two hands and clubbed it, I knew it was toughened but this was ridiculous.  By this time the beach was getting pretty close.

It was obvious that I was not going to get in this way so I tried to use the steel bar as a jemmy and prise the door open.  I smashed and scraped the teak door frame and got the lever in and applied some force and some more and the door gave a little.  Repositioning the lever gave me some extra purchase and I managed to get a gap large enough for me to knock the engine control into neutral.  By this time the beach was imminent and we were fortunate that there were no groynes in this section.  I reached for my "ready" pliers and pulled the bolt back and opened the door fully, we then made a hasty turn into some deeper water.

I was shaken, quite badly.  I have used the fore hatch to access the foredeck on many occasions.  Was this the fist time the door had been bolted, I doubt it.  The door has to be bolted open or shut or it slides as the boat rolls, and we all know Tutak rolls!  The strengthened frame actually helped in the end as it gave me a strong point to jemmy the door against.
 

The door has lost some of its top veneer any way but this just looks like someone has broken in, oh, they did, sorry.

The white blurs just to the top and right of the bollard are the only evidence of me trying to break the glass.  I has bruised the surface right enough.  I had an exhausted sleep and woke quite refreshed in the morning.  We left Yarmouth Roads at half after seven and goose winged our way round the corner of Norfolk past this little boat shed at Caister I think.

 
 Would it be an inshore lifeboat perhaps?  On and on past Sea Palling.  I once anchored behind the rock breakwaters there a few years ago but not now.  The sand has built up behind, which is what they were put there for I guess?  After Bacton and the gas terminal we started to pull away from the shore heading for the south race buoy.  

Guess who we bumped into?  I don't know when the Patricia overtook us but there she was, heading in the opposite direction.



I was considering Grimsby but the weather was good as was the wind so we carried on outside of the outersand buoy and the big ship anchorage east of the mouth of the Humber.  Darkness making it easier to spot the ships' headings along with the AIS of course.  Oh I forgot to tell you that as I was trying to smash the window I noticed the chart plotter had gone off.  I was a bit worried about this as it is like having another crew member along with Samantha the autopilot.  I eventually traced the fault to a blown fuse in the negative side.  I remember seeing a packet of those fuses in my workshop back home and wondering what they were for.  Luckily I had one spare!

Dawn broke and the tide was against us for Flamborough Head so we headed for a few hours rest anchored near the South Landing.  Not a good place with the wind direction and I had to cling onto my berth.  At least I could shut my eyes for a couple of hours.  I have last years almanacs and being a cheapskate I decided to work all my tides from Dover to avoid buying updated books.  Bad move I think, especially when you are short handed.  You need to be able to look up tides quickly when plans change.

So just after ten in the morning we gathered in the anchor chain, nice and clean this time and headed for the head.  It was a bit lumpy and got lumpier.  First time this year that I had experienced a "bit of swell".  I was a bit unnerved by it to tell the truth but as I settled down I reached for the camera and took a quick vid.  Sadly the worst was over but there you go.

Round the headland and past Filey Brigg, Scarborough and onto Runswick bay to anchor.  That was until I heard the forecast and Whitby was the sound choice.  Never been in before.  Checked it out on the way back last year in the dark and was pleased with the well lit approach.  And so we duly went round the offing buoy and headed for the outer breakwaters with the strong cross tide.  It always seems a bit strange to be heading somewhere completely different from where you want to go.  At five in the afternoon they swung the bridge for me and Ian from the marina took my lines.

We managed 158Nm from Yarmouth roads to Whitby.  I was due for a rest.  I slept solid for ten hours and stopped in bed the rest of the day more or less and watched the Canadian grand prix practises' and qualifying.  Whitby has a large super market just by the marina and a steam train tooting takes one back to far away times, quaint.

After a few days on the boat, land felt like there was an earthquake, 5 on the Richter scale, going on.  But jobs have to be done, I noticed that the spinnaker pole track on the mast was working loose.  It needed to come off and be re-riveted with some proper rivets.  As luck will have it there is a riggers a few metres up the river.  I will see if they can do it on Monday.

Here are a few shots of Whitby.

Looking back to the inner breakwaters.

Looking up river to the swing bridge, from the waiting pontoon at the fish pier.  The marina beyond.

A couple of boats waiting for the bridge, outbound.
 

 Starting to swing.

One section swung open now.  Larger vessels will have the other side opened too.  Sometimes, when it is busy there is two way traffic with both sections open.



 View from the marina up the hill on the east side.