Although I’ve sailed the east coast for many years I had not yet done the Havengore route, so this was in the back of my mind when my friend Ralph and I planned a short cruise in the summer of ‘99 in Mischief my Skipper 17.

Ralph also owns a Skipper 17 and mainly sails the south coast, we have had a couple of trips in his boat to the Isle of Wight.

I had to go into work on Friday morning (23rd July) but managed to get away from Leicester at about 14.00 and trailed the boat down to Titchmarsh marina on the Walton Backwaters. Ralph travelled up from London by train and I picked him up from Walton station at 18.00. When we returned to Titchmarsh we met up with Ted Jones who was sailing with us part of the way in his Sunspot 15 Genie.

After rigging and launching the boat we had a meal and a pint in the marina restaurant, Ted spent the night in his berth and we motored down the Twizzle to Dardanelles creek. The phosphorescence was quite spectacular in the creek that night.

We met up with Ted off Stone Point around 07.30 Saturday then he showed us the inshore route over the Pye sands, high water being 09.45 with calm sunny weather and a light south’westerly breeze. The first part of the trip was pretty leisurely, Ted made good progress and sailed closer inshore than us and opened up a good lead, we lost sight of him when he tacked behind Walton pier. We were moving quite slowly and even managed a spot of fishing on route but without success. Once past the pier we gathered speed and made some inshore tacks to avoid the tide. Past Clacton and heading for the Knoll buoy we could just make Ted out amongst some other boats so hoisted the genoa to catch up.

Navigation was just keeping a note of our position by dead reckoning and using the GPS to confirm the heading to the next mark and give us our speed over the ground. We caught up with Ted at the entrance to the Raysan channel and sailed into increasingly shallow water. We were still too early to get through so anchored for a bite to eat and some more unsuccessful fishing. Once underway again we got into the Crouch but Ted having no centreboard got stuck again and waved us on to meet up later in the entrance to the Roach, 26 miles covered.

Sunday saw a forecast of NW, winds force 4/5 and HW 11.20 at Havengore. Ted had to head back to Walton so we parted company at approx. 09.30. He had a hard sail back not reaching his mooring until 22.30. We headed down the Middleway and New Cut to the bridge. With no VHF on board we had to rely on the bridge keeper watching out for approaching boats, we need not have worried, just as we came to the fork in the river we saw the barriers go down on the road and shortly after the bridge began to rise. We were soon through and trying to lay a course for the Blacktail Beacon. Just after the bridge there are some red and green poles marking the channel but in the bright sun we found it difficult seeing the colours.

With the wind now increasing we had a good beat up the West Swin to the Whitaker Beacon and back into the Crouch. It was nice to drop the main and continue with the jib and take it easy. Back in the Roach we saw a Roamer at anchor with the DCA burgee flying so sailed over to say hello. It turned out to be Bill Serjeant away for a few days with his grandson.

Sunday night was spent in the Middleway, another 32 miles covered.

Mondays forecast gave 4/5 occ.6 still northeast so we decided to have a lazy day fishing, reading and birdwatching. There were also some seals that kept swimming around us. We did make a short trip around Potton island and through the swing bridge but even in the shelter of the Roach things were pretty hairy so we decided to stay put and see if conditions eased on Tuesday. We were both due back home on Tuesday but with no let up in the wind or change in direction it was doubtful we could make Walton so we decided to head for Tollesbury and recover the boat from there. It was a really hard sail down the Crouch and I was for turning back but Ralph was keen to press on so we kept at it and after about 4 hours made the entrance to the Raysan channel. Once in the channel with the wind more on the beam we flew along thankful for the reef we had put in before starting out. Just past the Bench Head buoy we saw a red ensign and staff floating by, this gave us a good chance to practice our MOB drill. We got it at the second attempt.

It was 17.30 when we picked up a mooring in Tollesbury Fleet and used the mobile to phone the marina for a berth for the night. Being almost low water we had something to eat and a good tidy up. By the time we could get over the sill to the marina it was quite dark and difficult to find our allocated berth, we gave up and went into an empty slot, strangely enough it was the right one.

Wednesday morning forecast was no change so gathering up maps and bus time tables we set off to collect the car and trailer. This took about 6 hours in all arriving back at Tollesbury at 15.30. After recovering the boat (we had already packed up and unstepped the mast in the morning) I dropped Ralph off at Kelvedon station and made it back to Leicester at 20.00.

This was the longest trip so far in the Skipper with new places visited and some good sailing. Ralph took about 45 minutes of video to remind us of the trip.