Sailing on the River Orwell

We were fortunate to be invited out by Mike and Jean onboard Sestina their 40ft Oyster for a cruise down the River Orwell in Ipswich.  This was a perfect day out with clear blue skies and a light breeze - this was a welcome break from working on our boat.  

The River Orwell is in 24hr use by large cargo ships and RoRo ferries plus lots of pleasure sailing/motoring vessels which makes it interesting sailing.  The River is nine miles long with the entrance leading to the English Channel. 

This photo (right) shows Jean helming past the Flexistowe port with John keeping an eye out for other boats.

The scenery was very picturesque passing small villages, sandy beaches and wooded banks.  The sail gave us a valuable opportunity to reccee the river, familiarise ourselves with the various channel and cardinal marks for when we take Sabbaticus out by ourselves.  

This photo shows a floating light house on a barge - this was the first time we had seen this type of lighthouse before. 

Ideal conditions for sailing.

Lunch with Mike and Jean onboard Sestina

Given the ideal sailing conditions, and given this was a fine day in the UK summer, the river was busy with lots of boats out.  Unfortunately we learned on the news the next day that a woman had died after the yacht she was sailing on collided with a dredger and sank - right where we had been sailing. Sobering stuff.