After spending a week in Scarborough cabin fever was definitely taking over and I was keen to get moving. On the evening of Thursday 2nd June I went u to the harbour masters office to pay my dues with a view to leaving on the Friday. Although the wind was still from the north the seas were at last calming down. His comment was "it will be uncomfortable but you'll get there!"
On Friday I followed my usual ritual and check the met office inshore forecast and it looked reasonable but after my visit to the sea wall I could see waves were still breaking and I decided that today was not the day. The harbour masters words were ringing in my ears, "it will be uncomfortable", yes I thought, very uncomfortable and I don't want that!
On Saturday I got up early, 0400 and followed the same routine. This time the sea looked much calmer so I decided to make a move. There had been a pair of motor boats also stuck in Scarborough and they also decided to make a move back to Hull, a down wind passage. Very different from heading into the wind and waves.
At 0430 I departed Scarborough, in the shelter of the harbour and bay I put all the lines and fenders away and raised the main sail and headed out into the grey sky and lumpy sea .
The forecast had said the sea state would be slight to moderate, but it seemed more like rough to me and the visibility was very poor. I didn't really see the coast line despite being only a couple of miles off shore until I reached Hartlepool. In the fog fishing boats appeared and disappeared and lobster and crab pots appeared out of no where and passed close by the side of the boat.
For the non sailor the danger of lobster pots is that the rope attaching them to the marker buoy can drag along the side of the boat and get caught by the propeller and entangled. At best the boat is then tethered to the sea bed by the propeller at worst it damages the propeller, the propeller shaft and even pulls the engine off its mounts. Often the only way to free the boat is to get in the water with a knife and cut it of. Something I didn't intend doing so it would be a call to the rescue services! So a good look out is required at all times.
As I progressed slowly northwards in rough conditions which I wasn't enjoying the words of the harbour master came back to me, it will be uncomfortable" I am very glad I did not set off the day before! Rough conditions not moderate!
Finally I neared Hartlepool. There was a considerable amount of commercial traffic going into the River Tees which needed to be watch out for. The other off putting thing was they the fairway buoy seemed to be well out of position and this made me check and double check I was where I thought I was. After considering the facts I assumed it must have been moved.
Passing commercial traffic off the Tees, in reality, on radar and on AIS (Automatic Identification System)
Hartlepool is not an all tide marina and can only be entered 4 hours either side of high water so I called up the lock keeper and check there was enough water. In the relative calm of the bay I put out
the lines and fenders and took down the main sail.
The commercial port of Harlepool
Captain checking out Hartlepool
a 1415 we were safely tided up on a rather shabby visitors pontoon after a long and tiring journey. Its surprising how tiring having to brace your body against the rolling boat and the next day I was feeling tired so decided to stay ad extra day and do a boat few jobs.
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