North Sea Crossing - Days 32; 33

Monday 3rd September 2012 - Ijmuiden to Lowestoft - Day 32

We left our box at 10.00 and went round to the fuelling berth and took on 40 litres of diesel before moving out of the marina and into the river, where we hoisted our mainsail and engaged Popeye (auto-helm).  We were passing the outer piers and into the north sea at 11.30.

Solina

The conditions for us were very good with a south west wind of force 2 and a flat sea, sunny, warm and very good visibility.  There are large yellow buoys marking the big ship channel every 2 1/2 miles and extend out as far as 25 miles westwards.  These are ideal to follow though you have to take account of the cross current taking you north or south.  About 5 miles out from the piers on either side of the channel there were a lot ships at anchor.  One of which was the 'Solina' a Polish ship which passed across our bows on her way to the anchorage.

North Sea Sunset

We were running with the engine and experimenting with the genoa as the wind shifted gradually more westwards.  Keeping a careful watch on the amount of water coming in from our leaking stern gland and pumping the water out with our now very efficient bilge pump every hour to an hour and a half.  At 20.15 we put on our navigation steaming lights and the sunset at 20.30, the wind died away and we dropped the main sail at 21.00.  At 22.30 we were passing the west cardinal mark 65 miles from Ijmuiden.  Around midnight the wind picked up from the south west and we hoisted the mainsail.


Tuesday 4th September 2012 - Ijmuiden to Lowestoft - Day 33

Sailing at night is very rewarding in conditions where you have a flat sea with a very gentle swell.  Good visibility with a clear star lit sky and 3/4 moon.

Dave

During the day we were working a watch system of 3 hours on and 6 hours off.  While from midnight to six in the morning it was 2 hours on and 4 hours off.  Linked into the yachts chart plotter there is an AIS (automatic identification system) which plots all ships over 500 tons.  You place the plotter cursor onto the now plotted small triangle and it gives you the name of the ships its course and speed, what will be its close point to you and at what time, plus its identification call sign and unique MMSI number if you want to call them up.  The added bonus being the VHF radio is also linked into all of this.  No idea how it works, as it is all white man's magic to me, but it sure gives you a lot of confidence, when you start seeing the lights of any ship and you know instantly what it is doing.

Alex

The sun came up at 06.30, unfurled the genoa and we even stopped the engine at 07.00.  The pictures show us at dawn and how we were dressed for the night crossing.
After two hours we had to restart the engine as the wind dropped and we were beginning to pick out the Norfolk coastline.
We picked up the East Newcombe buoy and make our over the sandbanks at high water on our approach to Lowestoft.
The harbour control gave us to permission to enter and we on the pontoon at Hamilton dock by 13.30.  We had made it across, travelling 105 miles in 26 hours.  It had been a much more comfortable crossing than our outward journey.

We were ashore in the Harbour Inn at 18.30 drinking very good Boddingtons but were bit disappointed by the fish and chips.  A visit to the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk yacht club cheered us up as we were made welcome and enjoyed the well documented history of this club with all of its fine furniture and memrobilia.  A walk back through the town found it very quiet and back on board for 23.00 but at least we were back in the UK.