River Orwell - Woolverstone - East coast of England
This time we are going out with a family, father and three children prefer a four-day trip to the East Coast of England. They embark the night before as we have to get up early in the morning. We cast off at 6.30 a.m. and a little later everyone helps to raise the sails!
The first few hours we record 4 beaufort (moderate coolness) south-southwest so Elise, with the favourable current, sails to the UK at 7 to 8 knots of speed. Around 11am we are at the busy traffic lanes which we cross at right angles, watching out for cargo, tankers and container ships. Occasionally, the engine helps with course corrections, especially as the wind (regrettably) decreases in the meantime.
To give an idea of the extent of the traffic system: it is 1pm when we can leave it. Then the crew can take it in turns to eat.
Fish and chips in The Butt and Oyster
Too bad, the wind drops and shrinks to West, to that comes rain… The engine has to help us! Around 3pm there is a bit more wind, we roll out the genoa. 20 minutes later, it is mainly the engine that propels us.
So it takes us until 5pm to reach the mouth of the River Orwell. We want to get to Woolverstone, which is still over 2 hours upstream. We enjoy the scenery, thankfully now without rain. At 7.30pm, we tie up at the “hammerhead” of the pontoon.
We eat a spaghetti on board, which tastes delicious after 13 hours of sea air!
The next day, we take the boat to Ipswich for a visit.
In the evening, it’s time to take the scenic walk to Pin-Mill!
We have reservations at the mythical “The But & Oyster” a must for sailors.
On this four-day trip, we choose Ramsgate as our next destination. We would have liked Dover as a stopover, but the marina is closed!
The moderate wind today is from NNW so we leave early as we want to enter Ramsgate before low tide. It works out – with a lack of wind – we still need 11 hours.
Cheers from the sailors! A stiff breeze (6Bf) for the return! This ensures that we achieve nice speeds and tackle the “Traffic Separation Scheme” after two hours. This has to be done largely on engine, but then the current starts to help so that after eight hours of sailing we see Mercatorhaven again and say goodbye to the sympathetic family.
Note: an international travel pass is required for travelling to the UK!
Of course, you can go for several variants for this destination.
2 day: Woolverstone round trip (although we recommend providing a spare day)
3 days: 1 day visit Ipswich, or return with a stop in Ramsgate or Dover
More than 3 days: then returning past Dover / Dunkirk is a nice trip.
A four-day example was deliberately chosen here, with unfortunately only one day of good sailing weather. Anyone booking a trip must take into account sometimes erratic weather conditions. Although you are eager to get to a destination, the wind may force you to choose an alternative.
Fortunately, it is rarely problematic and you can find other examples of very sporty long sailing trips in this section.