Lowestoft to Grimsby - Days 101 and 102

Lowestoft to Grimsby - Saturday/Sunday 20th/21st August 2011 - Days 101 and 102

Lowestoft

This leg was going to be the longest as there is no safe port on the north Norfolk coast.  At the close by Tesco's, we stocked up for the trip and left the berth at 10.45.  The weather was set fair with southerly winds, the main and genoa were quickly set and spent a coupled of hours goose-winged.  By 13.00 we were 1 1/4 miles from and passing Great Yarmouth piers.  Just to the east of here is another wind farm and just south, sandbanks with their seals.

Power Express

This is one of the many supply boats based at Yarmouth, as seen passing within Yarmouth Roads.  The watch system adopted by us was two hour on and two hours off.  When coming around the top of Norfolk you come inside the Happisburgh sands where many a ship has been lost. The nearest lifeboat station is Cromer which has carried out many famous rescues.  The Happisburgh lighthouse we passed 2 3/4 miles offshore and little futher along the coast is Bacton.  This is where a lot of the gas pipelines come ashore from the North Sea.  By 20.30 the daylight had gone and the tricolour at the top of the mast was switched on, as we sailed on into the night.

While I was on watch at 21.20, Yarmouth Coast Guard reported a sighting of a red flare (someone in distress).  The nearest ship passing us informed the coast guard he was off Blakeney outfall buoy and was passing a yacht but had seen no flare.  The yacht he was passing was Selene.  I called the coast guard and informed, all was well on board and I had also not seen any red flare, he thanked us for the report and requested to keep a sharp look out.  There then followed two hours of other ships and boats informing of what they had seen and not seen.  Eventually, the pan-pan (very urgent message) was cancelled and the red lights in the sky could have been aircraft activity along the coast.  Gladly, no one was in danger and the time on watch listening passed quickly.

Dawn

 It was a very good night for the sail with a southerly force 2/3 wind and smooth to slight sea. The sky overcast most of the time eventually  cleared to give a starry night with a half-moon.  Therefore, the visibility was good with the buoys shown on the chart plotter  easily identified and the AIS gave us the course and speed of the passing ships.  By dawn, we were in the River Humber approaches and the shipping was running within the traffic separation zones.  It is another ten miles up to Grimsby and we made our way in the small craft lane.

Entrance to Grimsby

We went into Grimsby dock through the free flow lock and were tied up for 09.30.  We had sailed 105 miles in 23 hours and were in bed by 10.00.

The local boat owners told us how to walk into Cleethorpes and off we went.  Only to find ourselves lost in a very desolate industrial fish processing area.  Grimsby fish dock once the biggest in Europe is in a very poor state and the now run down side of it should be demolished.  Eventually, we found our way to a high street and a bus route.  We entered the nearest pub first where they were celebrating the management's anniversary and looked like they had been doing it all day.  The guy with his Rod Stewart karaoke was quite good, as his audience swayed and danced his music.  One pint was enough and on the bus to Cleethorpes.  This is another sea side town which has seen better days, the two pubs visited were not to our liking and the local bouncer told us they were the best two, so back on the bus and back to the boat.  We did not bother to eat ashore in the dodgy looking take-aways, so had our party grub on board.  We were not exactly in the best port but we were heading north.