July 3 – Lowestoft -we made it!

By | July 3, 2012

The breakout succeeded. We left just before first light at 4am. Have now arrived safely in Lowestoft after an 19 hour passage.

We motored out of Grimsby dock at 04:00 at first light. The passage was to be 20 hrs which would get us into Lowestoft before midnight when the tide at Lowestoft was due to turn against us.

Sunrise over the Humber Estuary

Sunrise over the Humber Estuary

The day started off well with a watery sunrise over the Humber, good visibility and enough wind to motor-sail against the tide. The success of this 100 nm trip relied on us achieving an average of 6 knots so it would be motor sailing the whole way.

The Wash is a busy place, full of ships buzzing about building the various new wind farms. At one point we had 8 ships all zooming down on us, like a swarm of bees, heading for their wind farm nest.

We threaded our way through the channels and the various sandbanks of the Wash and arrived off the north coast of Norfolk. We had the opportunity to take in the glamourous Norfolk coast around Cromer at first hand. Including the huge wind farm at Sheringham.

The corner where it goes south down to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft was where we expected to have the most trouble; with the potential of head to wind and wind over tide! It was not to be. Our plan to pick up the tide for the last 4 hours worked and we shot down the inshore (Cockle channel) at 8 knots.

Wind farm off Norfolk

Sherringham Wind Farm

Then past the enormous wind farm on the Scroby sand and into Lowestoft by 22:30.

A rest day is planned for Wednesday plus time to provision for the next part of the trip. We will be exploring the East Coast rivers for a few days before setting off accross the Thames estuary for Ramsgate. Only 380 miles to go to Dartmouth now!

Passage Statistics

  • Grimsby to Lowestoft: 106 nm / 18 hrs
  • Sailed: 1 hr / motorsailed: 17 hrs
  • Total distance since start: 1528
  • Distance left to Dartmouth: 380nm

See a map of the whole journey plus a spreadsheet of the daily passage stats

Grimsby to Lowestoft

Grimsby to Lowestoft

 
 
 

 

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1 Comment

Bob Tyrrell on July 4, 2012 at 10:16 am.

Well done, great news! Bob and Jean, Bella Rosa

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