Shaka

Stargazer hoists sail and reaches downriver with a stately Suffolk barge. The bargee has brailed up the mainsail and I have taken two reefs in ours, despite the apparently benign conditions. The forecast is a southerly 5 to 7.

We're sheltered here by Woolverstone's hill and the wooded shoreline running down to....

.... the hamlet of Pin Mill.

But from there its a rough roistering ride. We beat out to Landguard (the River Orwell entrance) in 25-28 knots of breeze. Beating on out to the Naze (headland and turning point to head south west along the coast) the wind settles to a steady 30-33 knots from the south west . A full force 7. Fully on the nose. In the shallow waters of the Medusa Channel (running between Landguard and the Naze) the seas are short and steep. Its brutal work. Stargazer bucks and rears like a wild stallion. Spray, whole waves, rake aft like bullets. Only when we reach the Bench Head buoy (in the River Colne), 5 hours later, can we ease sheets and relax onto a swooping surfing reach into calmer waters.
(photo from the Waddenzee - too much solid water flying today for camera work!)

We rampage up the Colne channel, making for Pyefleet Creek, our anchorage for tonight. There's a loud clattering noise from astern. I look round. A windsurfer blasts up, skipping across Stargazer's boiling wake. A head appears around the sail. Our eyes meet. Simultaneously our right hands go up. Thumb and little finger raised, middle fingers clenched. The surfers' shaka. A silent, smiling, salute on a wild, windy, day.