Messing About on the Water

Ever since Simon's dad bought his yacht, a lovely Kingfisher called Sulabach, 18months or so ago, I've been asking if he'd take me out sailing. I loved the Swallows and Amazon books when I was little and have always loved the idea of sailing. The closest I could ever get was on the ferries over to the Scottish Islands my parents took us to for holidays as a teenager. I finally got to go sailing on Sunday.

After motoring out the harbour onto the River Orwell near Ipswich, we found enough wind to raise our sails. There's a six metre deep channel that runs down the river to make sure the bigger boats that run into Ipswich can get there! We tacked to and fro across this channel, keeping a close eye on the depth monitor for where we needed to tack. I refused to steer cos there were lots of other yachts about, all tacking on their own courses! As well as the main sail (in the middle of the boat) there's the gybe sail at the front of the boat which can be either a jib or a genoa sail; I don't know what the difference between the two is but Sulabach's is a genoa! Attached to the genoa are two ropes – one runs down the starboard side of the boat, the other down the port side. As you tack, depending on which way you're going, you have to release the rope on one side and pull the sail round using the rope on the other side and then fasten it to hold the sail in place. It's not hard to do once you've got the hang of it and I loved it :-D

We went past Felixstowe, round Shotley point and a little way up the River Stour where we stopped for lunch (just as we had a heavy shower!) There was a humongous ship at Felixstowe called 'Cosco of America' having hundreds of those massive metal transportation crates loaded onto her. I text my friend Duncan (who sails) to tell him my excitement at getting to play with the gybe sail and his reply was “Oh Christ. Please tell me it's the jib not the genoa”. Hahaha!

We went back the same way we'd come. Going back down to Felixstowe the wind was in the right place and we got some decent speed up. To start with there weren't any other boats around so I steered us towards Felixstowe until other people started to be nearby! Then I went back to the sail and watching the depth indicator! There was very little wind as we got back towards Ipswich so we goose winged for a while. To stop the two sails from blocking one another you have them out on opposite sides of the boat.

The end of the day was a bit miserable. After taking Sulabach back to her mooring a bit outside the main harbour we had a 20min trip back to land in her tender – Swallow. She in herself is worth a mention. She's called a 'maverick' – one of only 25 made, Simon's grandpa knew the designer and got one for his dad while it was still in the prototype phase. It's not the most thoroughly thought out design, but she is fairly nice to row and she does fold in half to become a sort of slightly odd shaped box that can be towed and kept in the corner of a garage really easily. Anyway, soon after I'd negotiated my way into Swallow from the much higher Sulabach (without capsizing Swallow, falling in myself or knocking someone else in) the heavens opened and by the time we got back to shore we were all wet through and I was fairly cold.

A good day, well worth the wait! I surprised myself with how much I learnt. I can name and identify (with only a little bit of help from Simon) all the different ropes; I can stop the engine and turn it off (which is more than I can do on a car!); I kind of understand reefing and gybing; I know what heeling is; I can recognise whether we're doing a port or starboard tack and can tell you who has to get out of who's way in terms of whether they're tacking, sailing, motoring etc. I can tie a figure of eight knot and a cleat (see picture below); make a gasket coil and steer (ish!) Just don't expect me to be able to transfer any of this knowledge to any other yacht!