Wainfleet Yacht Haven and Skegness Yacht Club.

Well, after a little bit of T'internet surfing it became clear that living in Nottingham is perhaps not ideal for locally available moorings on the coast. So, figuring that Skeg. is the closest point on the coast to Notts we looked for a suitable location. For those that don't know the Lincs coast, it's flat and sandy, most of it having been reclaimed from the sea. And with global warming it looks as though it's likely to go back to the sea.

Anyway, one of my work collegues had their boat at Skegness so after a little delving we found the details of the small yacht club. We visited the club and the Haven and decided it all looked very interesting. The club secretary was very helpful though it did come apparent very quickly that having a fin keeled boat which draws 5ft ain't the boat of choice for this area. The other thing which swung the decision was the cost. Compared to most other coastal clubs the fees were very reasonable. The club facilities are basic, but functional, but you get a jetty, a slipway and a bankside mooring. All that is required!

So, June 2006, all ready to go and after aquiring some additional mooring buoys we were good to launch. Tides were checked, we needed a good 6m tide so as to not go instantly agound. Off we trundled with the boat on the back of the Discovery. Arriving about 8pm on a Sunday it was up with the mast ready to catch the flood at 8am. The night was spent kipping in the car and on the boat- the boat is not recommended. Also imagine a nice warm Summers evening sleeping in an open boat in the middle of a marsh. Yes, most of the wildlife still awake at that time is intent of getting it's share of your blood.

Dawn arrived and the resident Barn Owl popped over to say hello. Launching the boat down the slip was never going to go as planned. After trying the text book way a couple of times, it was a case of getting momentum up to push through the mud as far as possible. A bit of grunt shovng the trailer in with the Disco. seemed to do the trick. Then a case of heaving the boat off the trailer with a little help from fellow SYC member Glenn.

The rest of the day was spent completing final jobs on the boat and rigging the mooring in temperatures of 30C. Day 2 saw us taking a trundle out in to the channel. You'll see from the aerial image not the easiest of channels to follow with water all over, hiding the grass only inches below the surface. After inspecting the outer channel and discovering it was all a little windy, it was a sharp turn around and off back home.

Next Dropping the keel out of the Jag.