An English Summer 96

 

Stargazer winds her way upriver. The setting sun casting its golden glow upon the, lightly ruffled, waters. The breeze slowly melting away, amongst the wooded banks, of Upnor Reach, to one side and the buildings, of the Chatham Dockside, to the other. She glides silently up to the lock gates, borne as much by the tide as by the wind. 

This morning, we seized our moment of opportunity. Stargazer beat up to North Foreland in twenty two knots apparent. Making seven knots over the ground. A fair tide beneath her.

The forecast was for the breeze to ease, perhaps die completely, by mid afternoon. And to stay light and variable into next week . Our choice was: fair wind or fair tide . In the morning, a passage making breeze. In the afternoon, a favourable tide for the Medway.

Fortune is on our side. It is a neap (small) tide today. Giving us enough depth, in the ‘Overland Passage,' off the north Kent shore, for Stargazer to pass, even at low water. And meaning that the slowing effect, of an adverse tide, will be at its weakest.

Stargazer wriggles her way through the shoal Copperas Channel, at low water. Casting from side to side, searching out the best depth. Shaking out the reefs, as the breeze drops to ten knots. Slipping along, inside the Whitstable wind farm, over waters smoothed by the sandbanks to seaward. Two to three metres between her keel and the sea floor.

The tide has turned now. Helping Stargazer along. Raising the apparent wind to fourteen knots. Out in the London River, a steady stream of shipping files by. Skating across the horizon in stately slow motion.

Stargazer tacks into the Medway deep water approach . The stumps, of sunken (World War Two) munitions vessel Richard Montgomery's masts, her turning mark. 

Then she is slipping up river. Sails eased, to better harness its shifting zephyrs. Helm in constant motion. Heading up in the lifts. Tacking on the headers. All the while a glorious cacophony, of birdsong, serenading us from the saltings . As the wildfowl settle for the evening. And an English Summer fades inexorably into autumn.