Arriving at Great Yarmouth after our trip from Wells-next-the-Sea
Arriving at Great Yarmouth after our trip from Wells-next-the-Sea

After hasty preparation, the sea trip from Wells-nest-the-Sea to Great Yarmouth which started well following the Ma Freen out of the harbour but worsened as we rounded the Norfolk coast and ran into strengthening southerly winds and a fast-running tide off of the Cockle Shoal.

We then negotiated recent buoyage changes before putting into Great Yarmouth rather than Lowestoft and mooring alongside another vessel at the Town Hall Quay. Tea for the girls at McDonalds and rides at Joyland.

We were awake in the night with Debbie being ill; complaining of thirstiness yet difficulty in drinking. She was snuffling badly as well and I worked out that the culprit was a new orange lion cuddly that Della had won in an arcade "grab" game. After all this disturbance, I was awake early listening out for the weather forecast and, on the basis of a south-westerly 3-4 anticipated, I decided that today was to be the day that we would leave Wells for Yarmouth. When Daniel had left for his holiday, we had intended that he re-join us for the trip round but there was no time for this as today was the only good spell before Monday when Debbie was due back for her riding event. I sat and planned the trip on my passage computer and printed the results out before Diana had woken late after a long lay in.

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I then listened to the extended forecast which re-enforced the need to leave today, and it was a rush to get things ready. I took in the excess fenders and ropes, folded up the hood and then took the Paxton Princess alongside the Wallbrook for diesel. I was glad I did when discovering that we needed over sixty gallons as we had not filled up since Grimsby. I got the boy from Wallbrook to help me up with the outboard engine and then hoisted the inflatable up on to the davits and, lashing it securely on, we were ready to go. As luck would have it, our old friend the fishing boat "Ma Freen" was on its way out of harbour, and we followed her in to the open sea and we were over the bar at just about high water. We then turned east and started to track round the North Norfolk coast.

The weather was fine and sunny with westerly winds; force two, but gradually, as we passed Cromer, the winds strengthened but, instead of being south-westerly as forecast, they seemed to be coming from the south. They got stronger and then we also had the fastest tides running as we approached the Cockle Shoal and the sea went from slight to moderate and then became quite rough. I radioed the Yarmouth Coastguard, informing them of our changed destination of Yarmouth rather than Lowestoft and querying the best route in the light of the unwelcome southerly winds. I noticed two other skippers taking an inshore route close to Hemsby and discussed this but took the sound advice that the buoyed channel is always the safest.

I was glad I called the coastguard as they told me of buoyage changes taking place at that very moment that was to have a significant impact on my passage plan. I hove to and ran with the wind and tide for a while before sorting out the changes on my chart and resuming the battle. This went on for hours as we made as little as two knots against wind and tide but eventually struggled down the Yarmouth Road to arrive at the harbour entrance in early evening.

The entrance was not as bad as I feared, and we steamed up the river to moor at the Town Quay against a Dutch motor yacht. I was a bit aggrieved today that a SW3-4 should turn out to be a S5 as it was most uncomfortable, but the lesson was there to be learnt from the reports from coastal stations which were at a variance with the forecasts from the point of view of timing. Also, it makes little sense cruising through the shoals at times of maximum tidal flow and I will have to plan the next trip better, probably by leaving Wells earlier or anchoring and arriving later.

As soon as we arrived the family were off the boat and along to McDonalds for tea and then on to Joyland for rides before bed. The girls were quite undaunted by the sea experience and continued to argue as usual throughout the whole thing.