'Ipswich Lock, this is Goldfinch, over.'
I've lost count of the number of times I've made the call to ask the lock at Ipswich to let us through. But this time it was different. Normally we go for a day, or a weekend, maybe a week or two. But now, Goldfinch won't be returning to her home port for over a year.
Jo had given me a lift to Ipswich that morning, laden with clothes for all weathers, plus half a ton of books, charts and so on with vital information about the places I would be visiting on my circumnavigation. Mike, one of the crew, was already on board, and the others - Bryan, Debbie and Steve - joined us around noon. My friend Martin, who has a boat he keeps downriver in Shotley, had offered to sail up so he could give us an escort as we departed on this adventure, but in the event that proved to be unworkable, so he and another friend came by car to join us for lunch - a welcome alfresco pizza - and to wave us off.
Finally, the moment came. Bags were stowed, lifejackets donned, and at about 4pm, off we went down the Orwell. The first stretch of the voyage was short - just a couple of hours. We were planning on leaving at an ungodly hour the next morning, and it made sense to get the downriver bit out of the way, otherwise the hour would have been even more ungodly.
That evening we tied up to a buoy in Harwich Harbour and settled down to one of Mike's famous curries before retiring early to bed.
... And up at 3 am.
The reason for all this ungodliness is not just bravado. If you sail anywhere in British waters the tide is a major factor. It affects how deep the water is, and so determines whether you go aground or not. And it also affects how fast you can go. If a boat is going through the water at 5 knots, and the water is moving at 2 knots in the same direction, the boat is approaching its destination at 7 knots. On the other hand, if the tide is flowing the other way at 2 knots, the effective boat speed is only 3 knots. Unfortunately, the favourable tide is not determined by the convenience of the sailors, but by the motions of the moon, sun and earth; and sometimes you just have to get up at stupid o'clock.
At 3 am in mid-May, the sky is just beginning to get a bit lighter. Sunrise is not till just before 5 am, but the gradual lightening of the sky as we sailed up the coast of East Anglia almost - almost - made the early start worthwhile.
Sailed? Well, to be honest, most of the time there just wasn't enough wind, so we were under motor, but we did manage to go for about an hour and a half under sail, just to remind ourselves what kind of boat Goldfinch is.
We arrived in Lowestoft at about half past ten in the morning, tired but glad that after months of planning, the first step in the Two Summers adventure had been taken.
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