May Day Bank Holiday Cruise to Benfleet 2013

Three boats, six people, set off and met up in Stangate on Saturday morning. Mike Curtis in Jolly Phonics set off Friday night and had already enjoyed a peaceful evening in Stangate. He had just set sail when Wil and two Bryans sailed in aboard Spice Cat, Wil’s new catamaran. Spice Cat dropped anchor and Mike came back to join us. The wind was getting up and we could not start up Benfleet creek until about 6pm (high tide about 9pm). Ian and Rod soon arrived in Frawne Justea, Ian’s 17 ton dutch barge. They thought they might be too heavy for Wil’s anchor and so set to their own anchor. After several dragging attempts, Wil persuaded them to raft up with us after all. This they did and the party raved aboard Spice Cat.

Lunch in Stangate Creek

The wind got up and up and culminated in a lightening storm at about 5pm. After this the wind reduced and we all set off for Benfleet. Wil's anchor had not budged!

We proceeded up the Ray, following the recommended route and despite being a neap tide of about 5m we never had less than 3m in the marked channel. When we arrived we were greeted by a welcoming party who had monitored our progress all the way across the Thames. They berthed all three boats on their slipway as we could all dry out upright. Incidentally as many of their boats are fin keelers they have all sorts of facilities available. After tidying up our boats we joined our hosts in the bar...

Boats from Hoo Ness in Benfleet

Mike left us on Sunday morning to get home and for the rest of us it was a leisurely day of chatting, exploring the local area and boat improvement. I went up Wil's mast to remove bird deposits from the luff groove on his jib foil. Much to do but we had just enough time to consume some food and drink.

Bryan Prepares to go Aloft

Rear Commodore up Spice Cat's Mast

Monday morning we said our farewells and cast off. Spice Cat motored gently down the creek waiting for Frawne Justea. But she didn't follow. A problem with a bent propeller guard meant that Rod and Ian had to stay another day!! Any excuse! They eventually left on the evening tide and got back in the early hours of the morning.

Spice Cat made a round about return spending Monday night at Harty Ferry and Tuesday night in Sharfleet before returning up the Medway in time to miss the strong winds at the end of the week.

Thanks to our friends at Benfleet YC for making us so welcome and we hope to visit you again soon. Thanks also to Charles for his tremendous amount of work and co-ordination to make this "See where the weather takes us" rally happen. He and Neil in Aurai and Physeline decided to go to Ramsgate to see if it was still there ready for our next rally. Then met up with Titcha lll and Woodstock Hi at Harty on Sunday evening.

Altogether the weekend was a tremendous success, proving that we can find new and interesting destinations at the drop of a weather forecast.

Bryan

Rear Commodore

Date Published 13th May 2013