Scarborough to Saltfleet. Almost....

After a few days of rest at Scarborough, the weather looked like it was going to let us do the final leg back to Saltfleet. The plan was to sail as far as possible towards the Humber and anchor somewhere there, before heading into Saltfleet the next morning. Much like I'd done on the way up three weeks earlier.
Bridlington was going to be avoided for two reasons. Firstly, I felt like I'd been away from home for long enough, I was aching and tired - I needed a proper rest. Secondly, Brid isn't yacht-friendly. The walls are tall and the ladders are vertical and dirty. At the moment they've got a dredger and barge working which takes up a lot of room, this means visiting boats are forced into a distant corner, sometimes rafted 3 deep.
Ali has never been keen on ladders, and with her not feeling too well since we left the Tyne, I thought it best to miss brid and head straight for Saltfleet.

So, early on Sunday morning we left Scarborough and headed south with a nice F4 N/E to carry us along, the downside of this was it would be a "rolly" day with seas having hundreds of miles of the North Sea to build up behind us....
Quite early on it was clear that Ali wasn't enjoying it much.

With Filey Bay behind us, Flamborough Head was the next landmark and a big milestone in the journey home. I was a bit worried that the seas off the head would be rough as the N/Easterly was still blowing F4/5 as we approached. I decided to stay at least a mile off to avoid the worst of it.
A mile off turned out to be too close!
The seas were being reflected off the cliffs north of Flamborough, making it quite an "interesting" passage. Confused seas with the odd 8ft wave coming from any direction, the boat felt very small and was being thrown about like a cork.
A headed a bit further out to sea with little difference, a mile and a half away from the cliffs was still unpleasant. I knew that we would be in the lee of the cliffs soon, so gave up on trying to avoid the worst of it and headed back closer to the cliffs as we were now almost due east of Flamborough head. Half an hour of being thrown around, collecting a few bruises and a few more aches, and we started to get in the lee of the cliffs.
It was like being picked up and dropped into a different sea!
5-6ft seas (with the occasional big one!) suddenly became 1-2ft. Time to relax at last.

The last few hours had left me very tired, even after a few days in Scarborough I had little spare energy. I was aching all over and needed a rest.
The wind eased as I headed down the coast, gradually making my way inshore, until I reached Ulrome. The tide was now against us and progress had slowed. Ulrome looked like a couple of houses surrounded with caravans. I did't mind. I dropped the hook, dropped into the cabin and dropped off!

Not sure how long I slept, maybe 30 minutes.
I woke to find Ali looking green and extremely unhappy. The boat had been rolling badly in the swell coming from the N/E as I'd slept.
I pulled up the hook and started sailing again, I knew the motion of the boat would be much better under sail, although it didn't seem to help Ali...
With the wind now down to F2-3 and the tide running against us, we were making very little progress. I'd decided to carry on as the tide would be changing soon, and I wanted to make as much progress south as I could before dark.
Then the weather forecast came over the VHF. Tonight would be F4-5, and still from the N/E.
With Ali looking worse all the time, I was worried she could be seriously ill if we spent the night rolling badly at anchor. The only choice then would be to call out the lifeboat.
I turned the boat round, started the engine, and headed back for Bridlington.

After a while Ali poked her head out of the hatch and looked confused, although ill, she still knew the coast was on the wrong side of the boat!
I explained my decision and she went back below clutching the bucket.

The engine seemed to be coughing a bit more than normal as we approached Brid, I'd been used to the odd moment of spluttering, but it was now every couple of minutes.
I called Brid harbour on the VHF, but got no reply, so headed in.
As we rounded the first of the fishing boats inside the harbour I was directed to tie up to the dredger until the tide was high enough to reach "Yacht corner".
I'd stopped the engine to hear the directions, it took a good few pulls before it reluctantly fired. It pushed us towards the dredger and stopped again. We waited there for a while, then were told to move further into the harbour. The engine didn't want to play again. A couple of aborted starts got us towards where we were going. I was getting too tired to keep pulling on the starter, so got out the big oar and paddled us up to the side of the extremely tall fishing boat I'd been told to tie up to.
This boat was so tall all I could reach to tie to was a ladder set into it's side. Ali was getting worried that she wouldn't be able to get off at all!
I guessed that with all the comings and goings, we'd be able to move to somewhere more suitable soon. Eventually we were rafted on the outside of two fishing boats of a more reasonable scale. Ali wasn't really comfortable, It would still mean climbing across two boats and then tackling the vertical ladder, but there was no alternative.

We decided it would be best for Ali to go home by road, and she called her sister. The next day she would drive down from Newcastle, pick Ali up, then take her home before driving back up to Newcastle!

I then set to trying to sort out the engine. It was now refusing to start at all.
I stripped out most of the ignition system (again....), cleaned plugs and points, checked all the wiring. Still no sparks...
I then got some help from a boat moored nearby, "Sunshine" turned out to be from the Humber, crewed by Steve and son Michael who were long-time friends of a good friend of mine - Ted, another Humber sailor and almost a neighbour!
It turned out that Steve was a motorcycle mechanic. He came aboard and went through my electrics, coming to the same conclusion as me - the condenser was on it's last legs.

He offered me the use of his dinghy engine, a tiny 2hp Yamaha. After some work to get it running (it had lain unused for over a year) it ran well and seemed to move the boat around the harbour OK when we had to move to allow a long keeled yacht to lean against the wall.
So, with my engine lying on the cabin sole, the plan was to set off the next day using Yamaha power!

The weather forecast in the morning wasn't so good. F6 mentioned. I decided it might be a poor plan to set off into that with only 2hp to get me out of trouble if I'd needed it crossing the Humber.
I got on the phone and ordered a new condenser from Bill Higham in Manchester, he couldn't get hold of the right part, but told me he'd send one that would do the job although it would have to be mounted differently.
I pulled the big engine back up into the cockpit and fitted it back in the well ready for the new part...

It turned up the next day and I spent an hour or so bolting it on and wiring it in.
It still wouldn't start.        
I'd now really had enough. Yesterday's forecast had been wildly wrong, I could have been back at Saltfleet by now.
I decided to swap engines yet again, then  set off as soon as possible with 2hp behind me!
I'd got everything ready to go, so went to start the engine. It wouldn't!!!!
I'd been bought up on old 2 strokes, so guessed a new spark plug would help. I found a motorcycle shop in the town, replaced the plug, then tried again. It started first pull!

There was quite a bit of chop in the harbour entrance as I edged slowly out, the little Yamaha screaming away, but I was soon out and pulled up the sail and stopped the little Yam.
An hour or so after leaving I could see the clouds building over Brid. Big and black. As they edged out from the coast I was reminded of the squall I'd met just before reaching the Tyne. I pulled on all my wet weather gear and got ready for the deluge.
It didn't happen!
The cloud rolled over me, hiding Bridlington from view altogether, but although the wind picked up considerably, there was no rain. Just thunder and lightning! Lots of it.
The weather eventually blew over and I continued south, trying to get as far as Easington where I could drop the hook for the night.

As the light started to fade I started to make my way inshore, the wind had now gone S/W - better for a night at anchor, but on the nose for getting close enough to the beach to drop it!
I started the little Yam, pleased as it fired up and ran like a little sewing machine. Making a couple of knots I gradually got closer to the cliffs. Then it stopped! Suddenly. In a "seized up" sort of way.
Pulling on the starter said different, it wasn't seized but did feel very tight. It would fire, but no way was it going to run.

I thought of dropping the hook, then remembered that the tide was still  going the right way!
The wind had almost died now, but the little bit there was helped get me further south. Very slowly.
As  it began to get dark I was passing Easington gas terminal, then the wind died altogether.
The tide and my planned course just happened to coincide, so I drifted slowly past. I watched the GPS and decided to drop the hook once I'd stopped going south.
I just made it past the gas terminal when it stopped. I dropped the hook and gradually let out chain as I started to drift back north.
Too stressed to sleep properly, I crashed out on top of the gear in the cabin. I knew that if the wind didn't co-operate in the morning I'd be getting a tow from the lifeboat...