Out of Lockdown 8

 

The setting sun jets fiery tongues of dragon's breath, across the sky, above the moored Pin Mill smacks.

A full moon rises, behind the gnarled limbs of ancient trees, as I make Stargazer fast. The last echoing calls of birdsong fall silent . Leaving only the silvery lap of the tide running melodically along the hull.

A twenty nautical mile broad reach has provided the grand finale to our passage. Riding in from Black Deep, to catch the turn of the tide off the Cork Sand beacon, and on up the pride of the Suffolk Rivers. The River Orwell.

This morning we left Ramsgate, pushing the last of the southbound tide, as a north easterly sea breeze filled in.

Sails just drawing, bow wave beginning to ripple, our speed eases up from two to three knots (over the ground) and then settles at three point four.

The long white snout, of the North Foreland, draws abeam. The tide slackens and then turns in our favour. Stargazer's speed over the ground increases to five knots. Not only is the tide pushing us north but, in doing so, it is increasing our apparent wind speed. Doubly helping us on our way.

Stargazer heels to the making breeze. A feathery foam speckled wake now streaming from her quarter, as she beats powerfully up Knock Deep.

We bear off, across the Long Sand, through Fisherman's Gat. Saluted by serried ranks of silently rotating wind turbines.

We are in the Black Deep now. The northbound tide running hard. Beating in fourteen knots apparent. Making eight knots over the ground, in the crisp spring sunshine, no land in sight. Just us skimming free across wind ruffled waters.

Now comes the moment to ease sheets. To hoist the cruising chute, for the run west into shore. The setting sun casts long shadows from behind our sails. It  leaves one lingering pool of warmth right aft, to starboard . I set the autopilot and sit there, contentedly, to drink a pot of coffee and eat a peanut butter sandwich.

The Orwell flood gathers us up, off Landguard Point, and shepherds us upriver. Amid the silence and soft colours of the Suffolk countryside at sundown.