Marco Serrano

A good practice day in river, quite cold and windy with a wind from different directions.

I sailed 23.1 nautical miles single hand, departing from and returning to Felixstowe Ferry. The wind increased throughout the day, ranging between 7 and 20 knots. My average speed was 4.2 knots, with a maximum recorded speed of 8 knots. Upon returning to the marina at low tide, I had a small incident due to incorrect tidal information provided by the Imray Tides app. According to the app (Woodbridge Haven station), the tide height at 16:45 was shown as 1.1 m, which, when added to the channel depth of 0.8 m, should have given a total depth of about 1.9 m — enough for my boat with a draft of approximately 1.3 m (4.3 ft). However, I ran aground near the starboard buoy Deben at position 51°58'.862N 01°23'.615E. I later checked the Tides Near Me app, which indicated the actual tide height was only 0.61 m at that time. It was a tricky situation with choppy seas and strong wind, but I managed to free the boat without any visible damage by staying calm, waiting for the right moment, and applying power carefully. The lesson learned: always cross-check tidal information using more than one source and plan based on the most conservative scenario. Tide type: Neap tide Tidal station used: Woodbridge Haven Low water (predicted): 16:40 – 0.6 m Position of grounding: 51°58'.862N 01°23'.615E (green starboard Deben buoy)

Winds were calm today, ranging between 3 and 8 knots from the north. Unfortunately, I had to keep the engine running for a considerable part of the journey to maintain progress. Nevertheless, I hoisted both sails to maximize sailing performance and reduce engine use as much as possible. At times, I was even able to sail with the engine completely off.

Choppy seas at the start, calming within the first hour. Course altered off track to avoid headwind, tacking towards the towers. On return, fading wind forced auxiliary engine use for safe entry into the River Deben. Wind: 7–15 kn (SE → S → SW)

Sunny day with wind speed 7-18 kn from South, limited by tide to reentry on Deben river. Nice practice with 4kn average speed and 6kn best speed I have noticed. Short and productive day.

Wind speed 10kn with up to 22Kn gust. Training sailing against wind, tack, jibe and uptimized sailing points. Good day sailing with a novice crew member.

Boat handling exercises Springing off pontoon Mooring to pontoon practice Dinghy embarking and operation

Tacking practice Mooring to buoy and anchoring exercises Man overboard exercises Night cruising under power

Wind speed 20 knots Cloudy with fair visibility Choppy water

Top wind speed 24 Cloudy but with sun spells Choppy water