Wells next the Sea and Back part 2.

Tuesday’s weather was typical British Summer weather. Hot and Sunny, then torrential rain. The day was planned out in 15 minute slots to miss the rain and make the most of the sun. The day went something like this… Café, Boat, Pub, Tourist Office, Laptop, Pub, Beach, Light Railway, Boat, Pub, Café…..you get the drift. For evening dining we made our way to the Globe pub. A great meal, a little pricey but hey it’s to be expected. That nights weather forecast was taken and it was still looking a little bouncy. Having spoken to our neighbours and the crew of the Round the UK yacht which came in on the morning tide, we decided that unless it was going to be horrendous we’d be off at a civilised 09.30am. This was decided not so much on tide time as on the Café opening at 09.00am and being able to get a Bacon Butty. I reefed the main the night before…..can never be too cautious, and always with a little ‘Sods Law’ attached, as I didn’t fancy trying to reef as were were going over the bar. Following a good nights kip off we went. The tractor and plough left first thing before we actually saw any water in the harbour, the RtUK went next and we followed Antigua our Motorboat neighbour on his way back to Boston. (A bit like Thomas the Tank engine this)! The trip out of the harbour went well and the bar was hardly even noticeable with the slack tide. A left turn and it was close hauled to Burnham Flats against a 2kt tide. We radioed Antigua and thanked them for leading us out. After a little while it was evident that the wind wasn’t going to be much of an issue so the reef came out and a little while later ‘Thomas’ started his engine. It was one of those trips where you really thought you weren’t getting anywhere. Basically because we weren’t. You could see the Resolution off Skeggy laying the Windfarm about 16 miles away. That didn’t help the illusion of actually moving. Eventually we crossed passed Woolpack and made it to the exclusion zone around the Windfarm. This we followed on it’s southerly edge, even turning the engine off for a short period. The clouds had been bubbling over the Lincolnshire Wolds since we left Wells and now it was time for the squall. We had plenty of time to take in the sail, crank then engine up and make our way towards Seacroft. Most of the Fishing boats were making their way towards Boston between the outer sandbanks. Having never navigated this was we decided to creep up Wainfleet Roads. Once a marked channel but as the sands move so often it’s now unmarked; a little more interesting. I only got below 1m depth on one occasion and that was with me ‘exploring’. We anchored off the

Swatchway at Wainfleet and cooked up a concoction of Irish Stew and Sausage and Beans all in the same pan obviously. By this time the Sun was scorching no one around except Sammy the Seal and three A10’s and 4 Tornados dropping bombs 500m away! On cue 2hours before HW Ian Martin the local fisherman arrived. It seems the trend for ploughing is taking over the fishing community as Ian was making his way in. We followed for a laugh, may have scraped the bottom once or twice. Finally we made it back to the mooring at about 9pm and what a cracking 3 days. All ending in bright sunshine. Next trip early August.

A useful weather link. www.xcweather.co.uk