Thursday, 5 April 2012

Waiting out a gale

Lowestoft Seaside
On April 2, a flat calm day of endless motoring led us out of the Thames estuary north to the east coast seaside town of Lowestoft.  While Lowestoft is possibly not the most scenic spot we have encountered to date, the force 8 to 9 NE gales [40 knots / 75 km/h winds] in the forecast  were a powerful inducement to settle in and stay a while.  It is unpleasant to try to make to windward in even 20 knots of wind and Cuxhaven, Germany is 300 miles to the northeast of us.

20 metres away along the dock lies the training ship John Jerwood waiting out the same gale with 12 sea cadets aboard.  Captain Watkins, a retired navy officer, seems just as averse to suffering in bad weather as we are.

                                                                    *   *   *
TS John Jerwood
Today Colin Watkins and first mate Becky visited us for a while.  Colin, it turns out, has raced 2 round-the-world Whitbread [now Volvo] ocean races, one as captain.  Lots of Cape Horn and Southern Ocean stories were traded. His were better than ours!

We may get going Thursday evening . I'm trying to turn strong winds (from various directions) and everything from sun to snow into an acceptable early season passage to Germany. ... will see.  The John Jerwood will now, it seems, stay until Sunday. This is due to the complex logistics of buses for the cadet crew-change and harbours up the coast that can only be entered on certain states of the tide.  I'm certain they will be more comfortable in port than we will be at sea!


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  1. Winnie Pietrykowski11 April 2012 at 10:28

    Dear Mary Ann & Larry: If I'm reading the map correctly you are now in Cuxhaven, Germany. I really like this technical set-up: the blog and the map; it's almost as if I can imagine myself at the helm. (Yes, I can see we are now tied up in Cuxhaven! I think I'll just settle down and have a chat with the crew and see how things are). It's a cloudy day here in Ottawa, some rain, some sun, about 4-5 degrees. Soon I'll walk Emma and return to do some routine tasks: banking, bill paying, last load of wash, etc. It's been a delightful Easter: John came to Ottawa from Kingston, Diane our massage therapist joined us for Easter supper at Vince's brother's place in Sandy Hill and we did a line dance around the dining room, Lauren leading the way with "Now do this" (sideway hops) or "now this" (jumping like a bunny) or better yet, "this"(hop, skip and a jump). We returned home tired but satisfied: that Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc is pretty tasty.

    It's great to imagine you in the North Sea, so close to familiar places. Even greater to watch your travels by map. I went to Victoria BC in early March -- 10 days with friends walking, talking, and sleeping in until 7:30 a.m. I'm an early riser at home 6:00 or 6:30 so having no one to take care of but myself was a restful treat. I'll write again. Just wanted to say hello and to tell you that we were thinking of you this Easter. Much love, Winnie

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