Ad Lib 1

 

Stargazer's cruise preparations normally follow a structured stepwise process. When Stargazer and her skipper feel ready, we set sail.

The spring equinox arrives. A wash of green leaves clambers across bare brown branches. The clocks click forward into British Summer Time. Days lengthen, nights shorten, the air warms and the weather settles. An auspicious moment is sensed.

But this year the countdown clock is ticking. The lock, in Dockyard Basin No.1, closes until (at least) May, from April the seventh. The final neap tide (required to exit the river via either the Copperas Channel or the Swin Spitway), before that shutdown, is this Friday the twenty seventh of March.

This year we must Ad Lib, if we are to make good our summer escape. Those parts, yet to be delivered, must be diverted to ports that we later expect to pass through. Provisions come aboard; sails are bent on and systems are tested.  The early morning ritual, of scrutinising shifting forecasts in search of a suitable weather window, resumes. With a rush, the new cruising season is upon us.