The gale rumbles off reluctantly, huffing and puffing. Every so often it turns mischievously on its heel and unleashes a parting squall. Stargazer runs out of the Secret Water under main only, reaches up to the Naze under jib and double reefed main, then settles for full sail to beat down the Wallet. We play hide and seek with the breeze off Frinton-On-Sea. Then it leaps out of hiding. We roar into the Blackwater, on the edge of control, in a force six - main flattened and backstay cranked on hard.
The sun breaks through as we round up under the lee of West Mersea’s familiar clapperboard packing shed, on its midstream island.
A pretty, Kim Holman designed, Twister bobs at her mooring. Stargazer secures to the vacant buoy astern, in good company.
Gulls, on the packing shed island, duet with curlews in the saltings. An aromatic curry warms on the stove.
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