A Clockwise Circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland in Gaudeo (Bowman 40)
| 17:15 Friday 1st September 2023 |
| Levington (the homecoming) |
| FAIR | F2 E | SLIGHT | 1009 mBar |
As the Prosecco bottles popped, friendly faces beamed. Some were holding balloons as others took photos, people cheered, and wished us well as we pulled alongside our berth in the marina. To see this sight in a river in our home county was very special after our long voyage. The sun was gloriously warm on this Friday afternoon, at the beginning of September. The warm wind had eased, and the water was calm. Of the all the well-wishers on the hard, Mary’s face stood out, I had not seen her for a couple of weeks and memories of our last sail in Scotland came flooding back.
My return suddenly seemed real, although I knew it would take time to properly sink in, but we’d made it. Some friends of friends had questioned our sanity and the likelihood of making it all the way, especially when we included the west coast of Ireland into the passage, and they may have had a point, but in the face of many trials we had achieved our goal. We made way on a Southerly course six months ago, and ever since we had been heading home, the long way round and against the prevailing winds. I’d skippered Gaudeo nearly three thousand nautical miles around five countries, four home nations plus Ireland, my soon to be adopted second home (as soon as my Irish citizenship comes in).
Now, all I had to do was berth her with all these people watching… at least someone would catch our lines.
| 15:45 Monday 27th March 2023 |
| Woodbridge to Levington (Passage #1) |
| FAIR | F2-3 N-E | SLIGHT | 1026 mBar |
Gaudeo’s annual berth at the Tidemill Marina in Woodbridge was coming to an end at the end of the month and we could renew or move, either to another marina or become sea gypsies, cruisers, all at sea. This was long in our thoughts. Financially, whilst annual berths can reduce the marina costs over the year after about 5 months of being elsewhere, and paying both home and away they lose this benefit. Yet, on the other hand getting a spot in a marina can be hard, the Royal Harwich Yacht Club has a 5-year waiting list and the Suffolk Yacht Harbour (Levington) has over 200 boats on their waiting list! We also had to consider the usability of the Tidemill. During day sails our draft often limited us to a couple of hours around high water, or we risked being stuck on a buoy downstream waiting for the next high water (although that had never happened, it was all too possible).
The decision was made, we had crew organised, and the boat was ready. Only the paperwork sign-off allowing me to skipper her as a charter-boat (JL SEA UK) was outstanding, and our surveyor was confident it just needed rubber stamping. After all, Gaudeo has some heritage, the Bowman 40 built in Southampton and designed by Chuck Paine is renowned for her seaworthiness and beautiful lines1. Until she was coded we would cruise as a friends and family boat, using split-wise to divvied up the costs.
Our plan was to sail around the UK and wild Atlantic coast off Ireland. We hoped to start in the Easter holidays, setting out on Saturday the 1st of April. Friday was a no go since according to some; Jesus was crucified on a Friday and even today it is considered deeply unlucky to set sail on any Friday. However, unfortunately the tides didn’t allow us to leave Woodbridge that day either since our arrival at Ramsgate, our first destination, would end up in the dark. Obviously not unacceptable but a consideration since it was early in the season, our crew were relatively new to cruising and had little training. So instead, I decided to move Gaudeo to Levington, an all-tides marina in the Orwell, this would allow us to make-way on the 1st, as planned.
In essence this was a shake down sail. After a long process of getting Gaudeo coded, which still wasn’t yet finalised I’d not had time to enjoy sailing her. We cast off, the weather was favourable, although it was cold – being northerly yet it was on our backs. I was blessed with my crew: Mary (my wife, Comp Crew), Emma (my daughter Day Skipper) and Michelle (a friend, who is keen to one day sail away with her partner Mark, who had to go to work but would be support crew with George – Emma’s boyfriend).
The sail down the Deben was always pleasant, we knew it very well, we took the short-cuts and made good time. Passing the Ramsholt Arms to port, famed for being in the Richard Curtis film ‘Yesterday’, we approached the Martello Tower2 at Felixstowe Ferry. The towers are dotted down the coast, they were defensive lookouts with walls 13ft thick, and cannons pointing seaward, from the Napoleonic wars, built between 1804 and 1812 in England and Ireland. There were 103 towers, but they were never tested by Napoleon’s navy although many were used during the Second World War as defensive platforms and gun emplacements. Today, whilst 74 still stand many are left unused, that said the one at Jaywick is an art gallery, and one near Aldeburgh is owned by the Landmark Trust who rent it as a holiday let.
Sailing out of the Deben can be interesting, the Navionics (chart plotting software) is next to useless here, the Harbour Master is the go-to guy for local information since the spit changes constantly, even the chartlets produced by Trinity House each year are no good today since it was published last year. The winter’s storms can alter the seabed significantly. Normally the buoys provide the most up to date information, yet today I know that one of the buoys is out of place! The tides run strong and fast in the water between the Martello tower and The Knoll. You must stay unnervingly close to the beach, so close you can speak with the people walking their dogs whilst eating their ice creams. Often, I’ve had boats hanging around the mouth waiting for an unsuspecting or (hopefully) an experienced sailor to take the lead and show them the way. Occasionally you will sail past a boat that has been left high and dry on the gravel spit, a testament to my warning not to follow the satnav.
High water was about an hour past and the tide was running out of the river, we shoot through like a cork out of the bottle. From the ‘Woodbridge Haven’ safe water mark the Naze Tower3 is the perfect landmark to pick out. The Tower is a navigational aid built by Trinity House (1720) for ships heading for Harwich, it stands 86ft tall at Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex. Today it continues to serve as an aid for seafarers but also acts a visitor’s attraction, event venue, Gallery and a coffee shop.
Listening out for Harwich VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) on Ch. 71 we crossed the deep shipping channel and entered Orwell using the recommended track. This takes us past two major nautical sites, the modern port of Felixstowe and the historic port of Harwich.
Harwich is still the east coast depot for Trinity House4, the charity incorporated by Royal Charter in 1514 to control and manage pilotage on the Thames, today they do so around our coastline and rivers with over 11,000 buoys to look after. It was also home to the boatyard that built the Mayflower5 (circa 1620) and visited by Lord Nelson in his flag ship Medusa (8 August 1801) when he secretly meet with Lady Hamilton at The Three Cups6 – an historic and famous building in Harwich.
“Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist and Secretary for the Navy, was MP for Harwich in 1679-1685.”
https://www.harwich-society.co.uk/maritime-heritage-trail/
The port of Felixstowe7 needs little introduction, it was founded in 1875 as ‘The Felixstowe Railway and Pier Company’ by Colonel George Tomline. Today it is owned by Hutchinson Ports, a subsidiary of CK Hutchinson Holdings which operates out of Singapore. Today it uses Remote controlled cranes, self-driving articulated trucks and is Britain’s biggest container port. It handles 4 million (TEUs – Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) containers a year. Like Harwich exploited centuries earlier, its location allows to reach many ports with ease, the rail infrastructure installed during its founding and the road network since enables it to remain the primary delivery hub for the UK.
As we sailed into the Orwell the sun was setting, Levington marina had assigned us a berth, Mark and George awaited our arrival and were primed to catch our ropes. We had kept Gaudeo here during our first year of ownership, and it was comforting to return.
Having readied the boat for the marina I motored towards the buoy marking the short, dredged channel into the marina. I was suddenly reminded of a time many years ago, whilst I was training with Shearwater Sailing. Vernon was our instructor, a retired Royal Navy doctor, an affable character who stood in front of the companionway engaging me in conversation. I was at the helm, green and unaware of the currents that slowly crabbed us sideways out of the channel and into one of the posts whilst still aiming directly for the safe water mark. I was devastated and so embarrassed that I repaired the scratch myself with filler and lots of elbow grease.
There’s been a lot of water under the keel since then and today I manoeuvred Gaudeo into our narrow berth with just a foot either side of us, barely enough space for the fenders. We made fast, hugged our arrival party and left Gaudeo all ready for her onward passage.
- https://www.rivalowners.org.uk/page/60/ ↩︎
- http://www.ecastles.co.uk/martello.html ↩︎
- https://www.nazetower.co.uk/our-history/ ↩︎
- https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/about-us ↩︎
- https://www.mayflower400uk.org/visit/harwich-essex/ ↩︎
- http://thethreecups.com/emma-at-harwich ↩︎
- https://www.portoffelixstowe.co.uk/50-years/history/ ↩︎
Jamie Limond 