This diary entry is a little after the fact. 10 days in fact but it is a tale worth telling.
My boat was up at the Sufolk Yacht Harbour threatening to become a big financial headache. Moorage
was about £350 a month. A friend I'd made from a night class in London had suggested I join him
in Walton. I checked it out over the phone and the internet. It was cheap but it was also completely
up a creek. So lets see. It was Tuesday the 6th that I went up to Walton to check it out.
I liked it immediately. Kind of an old world boat yard feel to the place as opposed to a modern
marina with all that goes with it. £££££. Well I got up there, was introduced to a friend of
Richard's and before I knew it I was in charge of a plan to sail my boat down to Walton the
next day with a UK Coast Guard Officer! Dave, was my pilot for the day. Great guy. 25, bit
of a ladies man, x navy and up for an adventure. We did a tour of the local pubs and ended up
crashing at his flat before setting off at 8 in the morning to deliver my boat the next day.
Conditions could not be better. We had a brisk northerly wind which meant we were on a run to a
broad reach the whole way down to Walton. It was a good sail. First time with all the sails set.
Compromise handled and behaved like true lady. You could tell you were standing on a solid
boat. The sail was only a couple of hours. We had to make high water at about 1:30 pm. You
see, the pond, what the locals affectionately call the Walton and Frinton Yacht Club, is
effectively that, a pond at the end of a creek. It has a gate which can only by lowered at high water, because at
low tide you are literally high and dry, moored in a pond. Now the first bit of equipment to
go was of course the depth sounder. Great. But no worries I had Dave piloting the boat in and
we were on a spring tide. I figure we had about 2 feet under the keel and about a boat width of
deep water to see us through. The picture above is the channel at low water. We sailed up
and everything went smoothly. It was a good day. Perfect winds, sun and a Coast Guard escort.
Thank you god!