Easter Joy

The promise of the forecast is delivered. Stargazer leaves Ramsgate as the sunrise glints off the house windows and a north easterly force three obligingly fills in.

We short tack, beating close inshore, to stay out of the adverse tide. Clawing our way north for two miles. Seeking out an eddy off the rocky plateau of the Broadstairs Ledge. 

Stargazer rounds North Foreland at dead low water and turns west. Wind and tide are with us now.

I free the sheets. Above us, the cruising chute blossoms in the breeze. The blue of its chevrons matching the blue of the Easter Sunday sky.

The making tide and our wind bellied sails lift us effortlessly up the Kent shoreline. The wind slowly building as our sun drenched, day long, reach continues.

We gybe off Garrison Point, still carrying the tide and....

....sweep majestically home into the Medway. Stargazer's anchor rattles down in Godwit Bay. Truly a start of season sail to savour.

Deja Vu

Ramsgate lounges indolently beneath the china blue sky of an Easter heatwave.

Stargazer slipped free of her moorings on Thursday evening, carrying me clear of the cares of a working day. A thrill runs through me as her tiller comes alive in my hand - for the first time this year. She heels to the gentle breeze and is off down river. The silvery voice, of the wake running down her sides, singing softly.

A light mist blurs the horizon as we slip past Darnet Ness into the outer estuary, adding an air of mystery and promise.

We sound our way into the marshes to anchor for the night.

Back in our old haunts, the anchorage which I call 'Godwit Bay,' surrounded by the myriad calls of teeming wading birds, and the sigh of the wind. I cook supper whilst the sun goes down....

....and a full moon rises. 

Good Friday dawns bright. A beckoning force 4 ripples the anchorage. We catch the turn of the tide at Garrison Point.....

.....and beat down past the Reculver Towers to North Foreland,

The sun is sinking low as we nose into Ramsgate. The final couple of hours have been on our new engine. For once, I'm pleased to have run it. I wanted to give it a test, and get the running in under way, before our end of May cruise. Our batteries are fully charged on arrival - the alternator upgrade is working well.

Less welcome news emerges on Saturday morning. When I check the engine, the coolant level has dropped. We are still losing coolant, despite changing the engine in order to eradicate the problem. Once again, no sign of any leakage in the bilge. I pass a lazy day pondering the cause of the coolant loss and watching the boats come...

...and go.

Stargazer and her skipper share the hope of a reach back to the Medway to celebrate Easter Sunday. Both cruising chute and Easter eggs are at the ready. The forecast auspicious.