Drascombe Rally - Norfolk Broads 20th to 22nd September 2013

Norfolk Broads

20^th to 22^nd 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!).

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. 

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.

Again Tra Bhui's tent is a stylish structure

 

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!
 

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. 

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.

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