Pavlov's Swan

Today (Thu) was a lazy start... We went ditch crawling till 1am in
Essex! Not as bad as it sounds mainly because night sailing is fun
and the beer always tastes better when you've earn't it! :-) The day
did take a bit of a down turn when I dropped my toothbrush down the
toilet but figured I would survive without it so into the bin it went
- you can all give a collective phew!! A day of sailing followed -
well sailing exercises to be precise - these ended with us collecting
my Examiner... After a good night sail - ok motor with sail up, I'm
now in The yachtie capital if Essex - Burnham on Crouch, beer in hand,
blogging.
And the pic? Well I've never met such a tame swan b4 - why so tame I
wonder? Go ask Mr Pavlov...

Roughing it...

Today - I finally got to Ipswich - as the sea gull flaps 7 miles & 15
mins - but yacht today for us - 30 miles and 9 hrs! OK we did sail
all the way via Roughs Tower AKA The Principality of Sealand [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand?wasRedirected=true
]. This is an old ack ack tower off Felixstowe with a colourful
past... The trip to Ipswich was a fine sail up the River Orwell - I
had the E Coast down as muddy ditch crawling - not the Orwell, it was
a fine river with green and pleasant banks - and with the wind
directly from behind us we had to zig zag all the way to the pleasant
delights of the Ipswich basin - & maybe a beer or 2! :-)

Well, well, well

As with all good plans, we didn't go anywhere near Ipswich today! The
day started with the Boss going up the mast to check stuff out. A bit
of who can turn the boat in the shortest distance was followed by some
sailing! Luncheon was taken at anchor overlooking the scenic delights
of Harwich port. The aftie was taken up trying to find The Well - an
11 meter hole in the sea bed that was ~ 6 meters deep. On land holes
are easy to spot - at sea it's a little bit more challenging 'cause at
boat level it all looks the same!?! Anyway, a bit of cunning nav (so
cunning it had a tail!) and the The Well was in the bag!!!! Big Grin!!

My Gaff

That's brekkie done - I did hold a 5 sec Silence for those of you in
work today?! :-) The yacht is a 35ft Jeanneau Thingy - very pleasant
floaty caravan type thing. The main characters in the adventure this
week are Keith (instructor and man of wisdom), Ben (dinghy racing
fearless youth) & Andy ( all round yachtie with bucket loads of
experience). The plan for today - go sail and explore the delights of
Ipswich Docks...

Sutton Who?

My tour of Suffolk culture continues with a visit to Sutton Hoo. The
exhibition was no more than OK - probably 'cause the Brit Msm nicked
all the shiny stuff for their collection. The guided tour, on the
other hand was excellent! :-) Knowledge and enthuiasm are a powerful
combination - and the guide had both in spades (pun intended!)
Fascinating site with a guide - couple of old mounds without! The pic
is a replica of a gold buckle found in the 39 dig - incredible detail
for 6th century AD 'pagans'.

Evenin' All

Well that's me arrived in Suffolk - it was a straighfwd 3 hr drive.
Why the Wilts Camera Safety crooks thought that early Sunday morning
was s good time to park next rural A303 dial carriage was a bit of a
mystery - a review of the accident stats will no doubt so that bit of
the road to be a accident blackspot - not. Grrrr.

The pic is of Willys cottage at Flatford - as made famous in
Constable's Haywain - hence the title of this post! ;-)

The Prologue

Wot no water are the tales of a sailing adventure on the East Coast of
England - an area renown for being depth challenged - hence the title!