Steve Rowley

Late afternoon sail because of the tide. Not much wind although we trucked along nicely until it died altogether and started raining again. But still fantastic to get afloat.

Not sure wind again. A 1430 HW meant we didn’t have to be up at an un-Godly hour. Decided to pop into Bradwell to get a feel for the channel and marina layout, all achieved without drama. Once back out in the estuary the sails went up but the Tiller Pilot wasn’t behaving, I hope another expensive repair isn’t required. Hopefully it’ll behave when we got out again. A good second sail but don’t like it when things don’t work!

First sail of the 2025 season and it went very well! Not much wind to begin with but strengthened later. No disasters and great to be afloat again. Lou-Lou Belle went beautifully as you’d expect!

I had no particular plan in mind, I just wanted to get afloat for the thirds time this month - more delightful winter sailing! As usual the wind was blowing from Maldon at a decent rate. So with a reefed main we just reached back and forth off Bradwell. Lou-Lou Belle was going like a train! A few nice beam on waves added to the excitement.

I dressed for the occasion so was toasty warm. My B&Q builder’s gloves are excellent. Set off with a reef in the main and a reefed mizzen but shook them out as we got up towards Osea as the wind was dropping. Lou-Lou Belle went beautifully upwind, I’m sure moving 31kg out of the bow has helped. As the tide turned we headed back down wind and got the sill in good time with 5ft depth. Did brilliant parking. A smashing sail and as you can see from one of the photos the AIS is working well.

With high spring tide at 1300 today was ideal to introduce Liz, a family friend, to Lou-Lou Belle and the Blackwater. The wind was decent and rain wasn’t forecast until later so we set off, hard on the wind with a reefed main, towards Osea. The boat was bounding along, dipping her gunwale every now and again, with the odd lump of spray. Once past Ross Revenge we hove to so we could add some waterproof trousers and make a cuppa. The change of motion didn’t suit Liz and she was soon throwing up over the side and looking none too clever. We turned for home with the wind on the stern and soon back in the marina where I did some top banana parking! Despite the foreshortened trip it was still brilliant to be afloat again and Lou-Lou Belle felt very good. Removing the 31kg battery from the front of the cabin and cleaning her bottom seems to be appreciated.

Although there wasn’t much wind there was a nice high tide so I decided to explore the saltings and circumnavigate Great and Little Cob Islands, all under motor. Very pleasant little trip.

It’s was really foggy on my pre-dawn drive to Tollesbury but fortunately there was no fog when I arrived. High tide was 0619 and we left the dock just after 0700 with plenty of water over the marina sill. I watched the sun come up from a buoy off West Mersea where I had breakfast. My plan was to take the ebb tide up The Wallet for a close look at The Gunfleet Sands wind farm. There wasn’t much wind to begin with but after some tacking we had a nice close reach parallel to the coast past Jaywick and Clacton. As the wind was dropping we motored across to the wind farm then broad reached back towards The Blackwater. Then the wind disappeared almost completely so we motored sailed the rest of the way. Despite there being not much wind it was still a cracking day!

We left just before high tide at about 0950hrs. I wanted to head out towards Clacton for a change but it was an easterly wind and the waves were a bit rough so headed up towards Maldon against the tide. Made good progress and anchored off Osea for lunch. Then carried on but turned round as the channel was narrowing and it still wasn’t low water. Beat all the way back down with the tide and just after low water headed up Mersea Fleet. There still wasn’t much water in Tollesbury channel so anchored a couple of times and got the boat mostly packed up. By this time it was very dark. Managed to get down to the cill but couldn’t see that it was still exposed until we had nudged up against it. I thought we’d gently drift over as the water rose but we bumped and ground over broadside on. Hopefully haven’t sustained any damage! Once over we did some bumper boats as we ran aground in the marina. Eventually managed to get into our berth. Got home just before 2100 hrs.

Although annoyingly it picked up as I was coming in. I couldn’t stay out much later as the tide was falling. But, nonetheless it’s always good to get afloat.