Despite commitments preventing us from doing the full week, ‘Catsnip’ and her crew had an enjoyable time on this year’s East Coast Summer Cruise. Highlights for us included a rather wild downwind passage from the Backwaters up to Shotley, surfing our way north into Harwich under reefed and scandalised mainsail to meet up with everyone on the first evening. The following day we said a temporary ‘fair winds’ to the fleet as they headed up to the River Deben. Instead we returned to Titchmarsh in thankfully calmer conditions taking advantage of our shoal draft to beat all the way into the Backwaters and Twizzle at low tide. This passage was aided by ‘local knowledge’ gained from the excellent Swallows & Amazons weekend earlier in the season.
Suffering from Deben FOMO during the week, we rejoined the fleet on Friday for the Pennyhole Bay Race and passage up the River Orwell to Pin Mill. A long course was set which saw us all beating out of the Backwaters to Pye End Buoy and then heading offshore to Cork Ledge in a rather bumpy sea before gybing for a long run back towards shore. Making a good start, and somehow managing to ride up and over each wave rather than into them, we stuck with the bulk of the fleet until the long run, where the bigger boats powered away. At the windward mark we managed to gybe inside ‘Cachalot’ and ended up sailing in close company for rest of the race – snapping photos of each other as we went!
After the finish, we enjoyed a pleasant sail up the Orwell, feeling rather insignificant as we passed the container ships at Felixstowe. Berthing in Woolverstonen Marina, it was a short walk back down to Pin Mill to catch up with everyone at the Sailing Club. A suitable three-course dinner was enjoyed, having sailed 25 nm, consisting of cake, burger, cake! The following day we said ‘fair winds and apologies’ again as we left to fulfil a long-held aim – sailing to Ipswich to go to the footy! After an entertaining afternoon at Portman Road, we left Ipswich Lock on free-flow and enjoyed a fantastic sail all the way back to Titchmarsh. This brought to an end our start-stop week on the Cruise, but we’re already looking forward to next year and will try to actually be available for the full week!
Report by Daniel and Amy, ‘Catsnip’
P.S. We later learned that we’d won the Pennyhole Bay Race, making it a 3rd OGA trophy for ‘Catsnip’ this year! Excitement aside, our apologies again for missing the final dinner and prizegiving! And Ed – you’re welcome with that tape measure whenever it’s convenient!
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