First "real" trip of the year.

First "real" trip ever actually!

Two weeks earlier we'd (Me and Mac) been out as far as the Roaring Middle bouy on a day sail, this had been the first trip of any sort this year. That went well, a bit of bumpy stuff at the eastern end of the Freeman channel was the only excitement.
Mac enjoyed the rest of it, which was the main point of the day out, a bit of a confidence-builder for him.



So this was going to be the first "big" trip. Out of The Wash and into a strange harbour, Wells-Next-The-Sea, which is in Norfolk, so obviously a little bit strange!

Biggest worry was that Ali would be coming along. Now she's a rough tough Geordie and happy to have a go at anything (anything but stairs with gaps between the steps.....) but she'd sailed just once before, that was for half an hour and not leaving the river! I'd got no idea how she would cope with a full day at sea.

After piling all the gear onboard, we cast off shortly before 8am on 9th May, a day that might be remembered by a few others for very different reasons (which would include Hunstanton RNLI!).

With the tide already ebbing, the river was behind us fairly quickly, as we left Tab's Head the winds were light S/W and visibility was so good that my stress levels soon went down to zero.

I decided to keep Ali occupied and put her on the helm, she took to it quickly and seemed to be enjoying being "in charge"!
An uneventful couple of hours saw us through the Freeman, where we were passed by the ketch "Cariad" and out into the deep stuff, where depths often get into double figures!!!
Somewhere after the Roaring Middle light had been passed, and closer to the cliffs of Hunstanton, we saw a RIB speeding past, it looked from a distance to be the RNLI. I thought at the time that they might be out training on such a pleasant day. I was wrong, but more of that later....

Approaching "The Bays", the anchorage north of Hunstanton and the eastern corner of The Wash, I turned the laptop on to make certain of my position, plotter program said I was where I expected to be, nice to be able to confirm it though....
Picked up the deeper water of the channel through to The Bays and headed towards Brancaster. We were somewhere near low water now and the wreck on Scolt Head was high and dry on the beach.
Wind had slowly picked up all morning and was now F4 gusting F5 and I dropped the sail a little which made things more manageable and enjoyable.

Past Scolt Head and the entrance to Burnham appeared, a couple of small boats were anchored outside, the only way in at low tide would have been a walk up the beach!

All that was between us and Wells now was Holkham Bay, so I headed a bit further out and straight for the Wells Fairway bouy. It was now blowing a steady F5, but Ali still seemed to be fine with it, although after our early start she'd gone below for a kip.

I reached the Fairway bouy a little early for entry to Wells, a couple of hours early, and the outer part of the channel had moved to face N/E rather than N as shown on the chart and the Wells Harbour website. I had a half-hearted look at going straight in, but the breaking waves near the first 2 bouys did nothing for my confidence and I chickened out!
Back round and dropped the anchor near the Fairway bouy. I found out later that this was probably the worst place I could have stopped! The boat pitched and rolled horribly as I tidied the sail away.
After 10 minutes of this I watched the "Cariad" head up the channel and into Wells, closely followed by 2 fishing boats, I didn't need any more encouragement and pulled up the anchor to follow them in!

As soon as we were in the lee of the beach things got a lot more pleasant again, not a lot of water in the channel, but that was what I've been used to after a few years of sailing in The Wash, and a lot better than being on the anchor outside!


Arrived at the quay and promptly ran aground as I went to turn to the pontoon, quickly backed off and turned again. I could see the water flowing quickly past the pontoon and thought it would make a nice ending to the day to ferry-glide into the berth. What I didn't know was that for about 15-20 mins on each flood the current runs around the back of the pontoon and out underneath it just where I was trying to get in! This was that 15-20 mins....
First attempt was going well unil I got into this sneaky bit of current and I was pushed back out, narrowly missing the rudder of a nice catamaran whose owner was doing his best to help me moor up...

I had to back off and wait while a fishing boat went past and the much larger "Goosander" which had come up the channel behind me turned and fired itself at the pontoon, hitting it at maybe 4 knots. At least he got in!

Next attempt was at a steeper angle (after shouted instructions from the Harbourmaster) which got my nose in against the current, grabbed and manhandled towards the pontoon by said Harbourmaster, Bill - owner of the cat I almost hit and, as I found out later, someone I'd known in the "internet world" for a while but never met, Max, better known as ggt.

Tied up, introductions made, we headed off for a look around, followed by a pint on the "Albatross".
Later we met up with Max, who took us for a stroll around and a visit to "ggt" herself, then a couple of drinks in the company of Max, joined by Bill and Sandra for an hour or so until the music was turned up and we headed for some food and bed.




One tip for visitors to Wells, which isn't in the website or pilot book, the chip shop shuts at 9pm! The Indian isn't far away though......