Norfolk
Broads
20th
to 22nd September 2013
Due to a delay
in my forthcoming departure date for Kazakhstan and having been unable to sail
at the Loch Lomond Rally due to illness, we decided that as we had never
explored Norfolk nor had we been on the Broads, we would travel down for the
Broads Rally. This would allow us to sail Tra Bhui once more before the end of
the season.
Leaving early on
the Friday morning we had a pretty uneventful 400-mile journey to Hinkling
stopping en route for breakfast at the services just south of Carlisle on the
M6 and for lunch at a Sainsburys just outside Kings Lynn (We travel in style!).
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| Windmill at Horsey Mere |
Arriving at
Hinkling Broad just after 3pm we rigged and launched at the Whispering Reeds
Boatyard along with a number of other Drascombes before the slipway closed at
5pm. The slipway had a number of interesting and unusual features such as the
overhead cables which crossed the access just before it (necessitating the
lowering of the mast to allow passage) and the short approach which included a
sharp 90 degree bend which despite having a 29 foot trailer we successfully
negotiated due to the excellent turning circle of our tow vehicle.
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| Whispering Reeds Boatyard - Traditional House |
Friday evening
saw us motor approx 50metres to our overnight berth next to the pleasure Boat Inn.
Due to our very informal tent and sleeping arrangements we decided to berth
away from the other boats attending the Rally, not to be unsociable but with
the tent having one completely open end and one partly open end (is this a
tent???) we wished some privacy.
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| Again Tra Bhui's tent is a stylish structure |
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| It was busier on the other side of the dock |
This was the
largest Rally that we had attended with circa 25 boats in attendance, all of
which were berthed alongside the pub. An abundance of ducks and geese made
interesting neighbours in what was
a great setting.
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| Saturday morning briefing |
Saturday morning
saw a rising wind which was forecast to reach force 6 by mid day. The Broads
are very deceiving as the limited expanses of water are sheltered to a height
of at least 6 feet by surrounding read beds. This means that the disruption on
the water surface does not necessarily reflect the strength of the wind.
The plan at the
morning briefing was for the rally to sail in Hinkling Broad, which is a more
open expanse of water in the morning before sailing to Horsey Mere for lunch.
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| Plot of our trip Sat and Sun |
By mid morning
the wind had not yet reached the predicted force 6 within the sheltered end of
the broad where we were berthed so once underway we set the full main, jib and
mizzen. Tra Bhui certainly rose to the occasion and we flew across the broad.
With the rising
wind and the greater exposure at the far end of the broad we decided we would
be prudent to put a reef in the mainsail. This was quickly followed by a second
reef in the mainsail and a reef in the jib as the wind continued to rise. It
was only when we came to reef the jib did we discover that the jib sheets were
whipped on and could not be easily moved up to the reefing points – this was
blindingly obvious but neither of us had noticed it before!
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| Not our best sailing - unable to set jib - our learning curve!!!! |
After a number
of strong gusts I decided to drop the main altogether as we had previously
sailed our Lugger in windy conditions simply by using the jib and mizzen.
This was where
we began to find the differences between the Lugger and the Gig as with only
the jib and mizzen we were struggling to
get closer to the wind than 65 degrees and we could not get through the wind
when tacking. At this became very
frustrating as the rest of the boats sailed off into the distance, while we
experimented with the sails (yes we did let the mizzen go as we started to
turn). The stop gap solution was to use the outboard to force the bows through
the wind, a technique which was mortally embarrassing and one which will I am
sure never find its way into any sailing handbook!
On entering the
narrower section of Hinkling Broad and catching up with some of the other boats
we reverted to simply outboard propulsion as I had visions of us causing a
major incident as we bumbled around with our sails. We and a number of other
boats were put to shame by the traditional broads sailing boats which
skillfully sailed by us putting in a tack every 20m or so!
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| Creek crawling |
Arriving at Horsey
Mere we berthed alongside for lunch. With the sea only a mile or so away we set
off after lunch to walk to the beach
where we spent some time watching the local seal population cavort in the
breaking seas. The sea state was certainly more representative of force 5 / 6
winds than the Broads were.
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| Lunch stop at Horsey Mere |
The afternoon
saw us heading back to Hinkling after we entertained a local sailing school
with my attempts to raise the mainsail while Kathleen helmed. After circling the
open expanse of water outside mere twice we eventually had the mainsail set.
This highlighted a number of modifications which are required to the way the
halyards are rigged – which does not really fully excuse my own efforts.
With the
mainsail set, Tra Bhui became a different boat and one which was a joy to sail
as we caught other boats and sped by them on our run back to Hinkling. Before arriving back at our berth we put in a
number of tacks without any problems which did a lot to lift my spirits after
our dismal performance in the morning.
The Saturday
evening meal in the pub was first class – thanks to Julian Merson the Rally organiser for arranging everything.
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| Saturday evening meal |
Sunday morning
saw windier conditions with a number of skippers choosing to motor around to
the slipway and recover their boats. We were keen to get out on the water and
put our poor performance on the Saturday behind us, however as soon as we cast
off and Kathleen jumped aboard we discovered we had no gears. Luckily the bank
was still in reach of the boat hook and we managed to rebirth without too much
embarrassment. A quick inspection showed that the one of the retaining clips on
the gear linkage was missing. Spotting it below the engine allowed its
recovery, but only after a walk to the car which was close by to find a
suitable bit of wire to snag it with. The clip was brand new and had been
fitted when I installed the remote controls. After refitting it I discovered
that it was probably looser than it was designed to be when it jumped off
again, probably due to wear on the lever activating the gears on the engine.
Further investigation could wait until we got home – we had gears and we were
going sailing!
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| Having just been pulled over for speeding we dropped the mizzen |
Leaving an hour
later than planned we met more boats heading for the slip to pull out due to
the weather conditions, but we had a great sail down Hinkling Broad and into the
River Thurne, where we were pulled up for speeding with only the jib and mizzen
up! After that we motored the final part of the trip to Martham due to the
strength of the wind.
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| River Thurne |
Just before
reaching Martham we met Julian Merson in Daisy 11 heading back, but following
his directions we found a good coffee shop and enjoyed a well-earned coffee.
Heading back we
again motored up to the junction of Hinkling Broad and the River Thurne as we
were heading directly into the wind, but once around the corner we ran back to
Hinkling under just the jib, making excellent time and passing a number of
boats on the way.
All too soon it
was time to haul Tra Bhui out as we had arranged to meet Eilidh our daughter
for dinner and the slipway was again due to close at 5pm. Eilidh who works in
Dunstable had driven across to meet us with her boyfriend.
Tra Bhui was
easily recovered and was soon back on its trailer.
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| Where we went |
The Rally was a
great event and is one that we would like to come top again. It was also nice
to meet other owners and those who regularly post items on the Drascombe Forum.
Thanks again to Julian Merson for his organisation.
What we learned!
While we never
expected to simply rig the Gig and sail it without any problems we (I)
certainly managed to create the impression that we had never set foot on or in
a boat before!
Some of the
issues we encountered can be attributed to the way the boat is rigged – we are
currently changing a number of things such as the halyard tie off positions,
the connection of the sheets to the jib and a number of snap link fittings.
Some issues we
encountered were not every day occurrences such as the jib sheets being whipped onto the jib,
the main sheet cleat position not being flexible enough to allow the second reef
to be made in the sail (I have since then made up three different length traces
to be used with the main sheet allowing the cleat to remain opposite the helm –
this makes more sense if you are familiar with Tra Bhui’s rigging) and the lack
of any foot blocks for the helm to stop the embarrassing slip across the
cockpit when the boat is healing!
The main
problems we encountered were associated with heading into the wind under jib
and mizzen. These were (I think) caused by a number of factors.
- ·
The Gig as we sail it sails far
better under mainsail than under the jib and mizzen – this I put down to the
design of the boat and is something that we started to get to grips with during
the course of the rally. The solution is
obvious – we need to learn the boat and how each sail affects its performance.
By the end of the weekend we were starting to sail a bit better.
- · The keel shape on the Gig is
significantly different from the Lugger that we are used to. While the Lugger
has a shallow keel with a certain amount of rocker, the Gig has a pronounced
keel with very little rocker – this explains why our turning circle under
outboard power is similar to some supertankers. Anyone having seen me manoeuvring
when launching or within confined spaces may have noticed how close we go to
fixed objects. This is not due to our interest in said objects but is due to
our turning circle or lack of!
- ·
The depth of the broads only
allowed us to put the centre board down halfway which had the effect of pushing
out pivot point back. The situation in
the broads was fairly unusual for us in that the water depth was so shallow. Similar conditions may must also be common in Holland so it
would be interesting to see Dutch sailors cope with them
- · With only two of us on board
the boat sails slightly tail heavy so we have marginally more windage on the
bows than we would have if the 8 hulking sailors that it is designed to carry
were on board. I am not sure how much of a difference this
really made. The obvious thing is to fill some of our storage barrels with water
and see how altering the weight distribution affects the trim and handling
- · Due to the shallow depth proximity
of shallows, narrow channel etc we ended up sailing with the outboard down
which certainly did nothing to help our sailing capabilities. When we tried to
go about with the outboard up we nearly made it, but not quite which resulted
in a rush to get it back down and the boat turned before we ended up in the
reeds. Solution - learn to sail and trim the boat –
outboard to remain out of the water. Addressing the above where possible
hopefully will solve these issues
