On arrival in Oostende we asked the Harbour Master if we
needed to contact Customs and were advised this was not required. After four days in the marina we were then
surprised to be visited by Belgium Customs. The Customs Officer, Mark, told us he saw our yacht and wanted to
practice his English so thought he would visit. Although Mark checked all our documentation
and asked the questions it was a very informal visit with John and him chatting
for an hour so the objective of English practice was achieved! However, John did manage to score a number of good beer recommendations from Mark.
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| Getting ready to leave ... | | |
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Sailing through ships at anchor
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After five days in Oostende, the marina was emptying out and
the forecast was promising so it was time to head back to the UK – this time
the passage plan was for 19 hours to the River Medway. This trip required
considerable nav planning for John as we had three tidal cycles crossing the channel coupled with the constraints imposed by cross route Traffic Separation Schemes. The trip started out very well with excellent
wind, favourable tides and 7kts average boat speed (at times hitting 9kts speed over ground with favourable tide). Crossing the Vessel Traffic
Separation System was not nearly as daunting the second time nor was sailing
through the ships at anchor waiting to come into port.
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| Taking time out |
With the wind reducing, and being a nice sunny day we
altered course to ensure we continued to sail (rather than starting the engine and running against the wind up the entrance channel) and detoured past a couple of
wind farms. With the benefit of
hindsight we should have kept with the original plan as the wind died off and the forecast wind shift did not eventuate. We ended up motoring against the tide and wind – slow progress but the sun was shining
the sea flat so it was still a good day to be on the water.
Against the recommended best practice we arrived
in darkness to navigate into a new port and anchor up a creek (did I mention this was in the dark), crossing two major channels avoiding unlight shipping mooring buoys (very large) and a number of obstructions in shallow water. Passing shipwrecks with masts breaking the surface at night was quite haunting as the structures looked
like ghosts looming out of the channel. However
the night passage provided an excellent opportunity for the best mate to learn
her night lights – generous of the skipper to plan this into the passage just for moi!
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| SS Montgomery - shipwrecked in 1944 after dragging anchor she run aground on a sandbank - sobering lesson and easier to spot during the day though just as haunting. |
Thankfully we finally dropped anchor in Stangate Creek in the
River Medway at 2330hrs after another long day.
The next day saw John getting his daily exercise by going overboard and
cleaning the waterline – note the rope securing John to the boat ensure I
didn’t lose him to the tide and this was during slack water! We realised we had selected a popular
anchorage as the locals arrived on Sat with a total of 16 boats at anchor – quite different from being the solitary boat on Fri
night.
Next stop is up the River Thames to London.
