Ramsgate - 23/24 May 2006 (day 3/4)

Yacht Gothik

Ramsgate Royal Marina

Ramsgate Harbour

Kent

23 May 2006

Click here to see a map.

Logged distance: 53M

Chart distance: 41M

Time under way: 12h20m

Awoke 0500. Picked Phil up from the dock at 0530, made ready for sail and cast off 0640 about 3hrs before high tide Brightlingsea.

We were off - like a herd of tortoise, but we were off. Finally. The sun was shining, plenty of blue sky and a welcome force 4 from the north west. We headed into the River Colne, hoisted the main sail, hoisted the genoa and turned off the engine. So far so good. It was a pleasant cruise to the testing ground, about 2 miles out of the Colne/Blackwater estuary. We wanted to sail all points of wind and practice a few tacks and gybes to get a feel for things and make sure all was working as well as it needed to.

We'd completed our test run by 0800. Everything appeared to be working perfectly. The SW force 5-6 forecast for this afternoon should pose no problems for Gothik so we made sail to cross the Thames estuary and it's many sand bars.

It was at the entrance to Foulgers Gat that we had a fright. I gave a course to Phil who was on helm at the time. Soon, the safe water marker buoy appeared, 3 miles distant and dead ahead. We continued on our course. As we neared it Phil asked what side should we pass, from the chart table I replied "either side but keep it close" and then gave him the new course to steer. I came up on deck, conditions were gentle, the sun was out and the two Keiths were chatting on the foredeck. Suddenly the depth alarm went off (2.5m). "Prepare to TAAACK", I shouted but it was too late, we gently came to a halt, so gently that it was barely noticeable. Phil and one of the Keith's quickly latched on to what had happened - we'd run aground on an ebbing tide. The three of us were running around, starting the engine and shifting our weight to one end of the boat. With the boat in full reverse there was no movement and my heart sank as the rudder began to touch bottom. However we did manage to pivot the boat enough on its keel to get the wind more abeam. The extra sideways force on the sails healed us over enough to allow the engine on full throttle to allow us to move slowly forward and to one side. We were off. The depth sounder was still bleeping but beginning to show ever greater depths but still less than three metres.

Eventually we slid back into deeper water. It now remained to confirm our position and to work out what had just happened. My mistake was to assume the buoy Phil and I had spotted dead ahead was the safe water mark. In fact there were a pair of buoys relatively close together. One to mark the safe water and one to mark the edge of the channel. A mistake I won't repeat.

The rest of the trip was without drama but no less excitement. The wind strengthened, we had some squally weather and at one point two reefs in the main with a reduced head sail. There was a fair amount of shipping to avoid when crossing the southern approaches to the Thames estuary. By North Foreland (a few miles north of Ramsgate) we had a steady force six with a choppy sea but Gothik held her own and made light of it, tacking close hauled into a SSW'ly. The entrance to Ramsgate was a little tricky - my glasses were covered in salty spray and the sun was directly behind the features we were trying to identify - but we made it into the calmer water of the entrance without trouble and tied up alongside at around 1900.

All of us had enjoyed it. No one was ill and Keith S had now had his first ever sail. Switched on the heater and cooked up a supper of mushroom risotto with a bottle of fine Tavel rosé.

24 May 2006

More gales. Reports of 4 metre swells outside of Dover harbour preventing entry for small boats. We decided to stay put!