Voyage To Southwold!!

Sheila and I have just enjoyed a short overnight trip to Southwold from our base marina in Outlon Broad. We sailed in our Fairline Holiday Mark1 “Beau Vallon”. We travelled down during Friday 14^th May and returned the following day. The sea portion of each leg was around two hours. The voyage to such a remote destination (after all it is a whole 12 miles away!) would probably not be considered worth mentioning by the seasoned sailor but I felt I had crossed the Atlantic single-handed and without any hesitation I can state it was a pleasure which I will never forget. It is an exceptionally satisfying experience to hop along the coast to another port in your own little craft!

I learned several lessons during the trip and though I would put them down on paper in case they can benefit any other Fairline Holiday skippers.

Lesson 1.

Because the idea of a trip down the coast to Southwold had been on my mind for a long time I had practised using my little Garmin GPS2 to track a safe route. All appropriate marker buoys where logged as waypoints, the correct approach to Southwold harbour was loaded and various check times entered to assure I was on track at all times during the journey. When passing under the bridge at Lowestoft I selected the route on the GPS only to find I had inadvertently deleted all memory some weeks previously. Lesson one is therefore to include a check of your GPS in the pre-sailing checklist!

I made the decision to carry on without the aid of my pre-planned route. After all, I am only popping twelve miles down the coast and I can see where I am going!

Lesson 2.

I could clearly see the transit buoys marking the safe channel but they were all a further half-mile off the coast from where I was happily sailing. Now we all know that these channels are just for the big boys don’t we? They are there for the large liners and cargo vessels, which require several fathoms of water depth. They are not for me with my little Fairline Holiday so I decided to save some journey time by simply following the coastline about half a mile out…. Easy!

It was just about low water and I was soon reminded why those attractive sandy shapes appear on the chart from time to time. I became conscious of a distinct change in the colour of the water and my attention was drawn to the depth gauge, which was flashing figures around the 5ft mark. I also noticed pretty waves breaking in front of me. Now it didn’t take me long to realise that perhaps those buoys are there for me too! I made the executive decision to spend some time wisely by turning away from the coast, around the sandbanks and into safe water. It was a very real pleasure to see the depth gauge gradually increase towards 40ft or so. “Deep Water is Safe Water!!!”. If you must take short cuts then travel very slowly, closely monitor the depth gauge and be prepared to apply the brakes at short notice. (Remember that even if you do safely find your way over very shallow water then the sand that is inevitably churned up by currents is likely to be finding its way into your water pump!).

Lesson 3.

After around one hour into the journey both Sheila and I noticed how uncomfortably cold it was becoming and it was suddenly quite impossible to stand without having a tight grip on something solid. We had left Lowestoft in bright sunshine on flat(ish) water, had stowed away the canopy and were wearing tee-shirts yet these changes had occurred just a few miles down the coast! I remembered why we had purchased unbreakable plastic crockery when I saw the plates bounce around the cabin floor in a formation dance with other various possessions. It was not raining but I was getting rather wet from the bow spray. The weather conditions were not dangerous however it has hammered home to me how important it is to be prepared for sudden subtle weather changes and to always stow possessions away as if you are about to sail into a force 6 wind!

Lesson 4.

Because of the weather changes the second half of the trip was quite uncomfortable and I felt extremely guilty when I looked at Sheila and recognised how ill, cold and uncomfortable she was feeling. I distinctly remember the dilemma at that time. Do I turn Beau Vallon around and head back to Lowestoft or do I plod on towards the safety of Southwold harbour, which by then was beginning to seem like a moving target. I now know how the donkey feels when walking towards the carrot at the end of the stick! Eventually the wonderful sight of Southwold pier and the harbour just a further half-mile down the coast appeared and I knew I had made the right decision to plod on! I radioed the Harbourmaster (or is it Harbourmistress since Maxine is in fact a young lady) to ask for permission to enter. She promptly responded by instructing me to remain outside the harbour for a further one hour since the tide was still ebbing and I would not be granted permission to enter until low water because it was unsafe. Well, we all know what it is like trying to ‘tread water’ when there is a small swell! That last hour was not at all pleasant however it gave me plenty of opportunity to learn how to best approach waves in order to minimise discomfort. The lesson learned here was to take better account of tidal differences in different areas and of the importance of contacting the harbourmaster at the destination port BEFORE setting off on the journey. Clearly I should have left Lowestoft at least one hour later than I did.

Lesson 5.

It was a great feeling to finally receive clearance to enter the harbour but then doubt immediately entered my mind when the harbourmaster asked over the radio if I intended to remain overnight and if I had booked a mooring? Well, there was no way I intended to get back into that sea until I had enjoyed a good nights rest preceded by a few pints of beer and a good meal….. but I hadn’t booked! Luckily she confirmed that there was indeed a mooring space available. The lesson here is obvious. Make a booking if you intend staying.

Lesson 6.

One more lesson to be learned yet before reaching the mooring! Upon entering the harbour I was greeted by welcoming calm waters and a wide river and I instinctively plodded slowly up the centre-line since there was no other traffic in view. I was enjoying the quietness after the noisy environment outside the harbour when it was rudely disturbed by the alarm on my depth gauge, which was then reading 2ft. You will all be familiar with the East Anglian Skippers Guide. You know, that small magazine which finds its way onto every boat and is read during those wet periods when there is nothing else to do onboard! Well, how many of you have read the page describing the dangers of entering Southwold harbour? My guess is that all of you in the Norfolk area will have read it several times!. Well, in an instant when my alarm went off I remembered that page and it states quite clearly that you must enter midstream then immediately move to starboard to approx 10metres from the pier because otherwise you risk grounding the craft on the sandbank! A quick turn of the wheel to the right promptly stopped the alarm and from there on the trip up the river to the mooring was pleasant and uneventful. There are probably two combined lessons here ie.to always use the depth gauge and arm yourself with all local harbour information before commencing the journey.

Lesson 7.

The journey back to Lowestoft the following day was like a dream! The sea was like a millpond. The sky was blue. Beau Vallon behaved perfectly. The tide was in my favour. Everything was perfect. There was just one more lesson I was to learn on the route home. I noticed a small buoy ahead then as I travelled closer to it I noticed several more… and more.. and more. They formed a log line from a point perhaps a quarter of a mile off the coast and further out to sea I noticed a small craft at the end of the line of buoys. The penny dropped! Yes, it was a fisherman’s extremely long netline so I decided that rather than haul his catch in on my prop I would turn east and pass around the stern of the fishing vessel. The friendly wave from the fisherman made me feel good…. You know, that rare feeling when you realise you have actually just done the right thing!

I have deliberately concentrated on the lessons I learned during this short voyage because I thought it might help others avoid them. If I were to summarise the whole exercise then it would simply be “It was without doubt the most satisfying sailing event I have experienced to date and I cannot wait for the chance to repeat it in the near future!”. Southwold is an ideal place to visit. The area is beautiful. The town is clean and friendly. The local pub (The Harbour Inn) serves first class food and the beer is the best I have tasted in Norfolk/Suffolk but of course since it is close to the brewery this is perhaps not too surprising! During an excellent night out at the pub we ended up singing along to the top quality entertainment. I encourage everyone to visit as the chance arises.

If we ever take a trip in our boat, even a small journey such as this, and we fail to learn something new then it is probably time to consider giving up boating! There are always going to be new lessons to learn and we should use them to improve the safety for others and ourselves.

Maybe there is one more important lesson here… The Fairline Holiday is a first class little boat for coastal work. It is at home when off the coast and we may be doing them an injustice if we allow them to collect dust along the riverside so lets go and adventure!

Happy Sailing!

Tony Jones. 16/5/4