Cruising
Many of our members have cruising boats and enjoy exploring the waters of the East Coast, together with the coastal water around the British Isles and the Near Continent. However, you don’t have to go far to enjoy cruising, and many members often stay in our local waters, lying at anchor and enjoying the beauty of a sunset afloat. Nor do you have to cruise alone, as the club runs several organised cruises each year, most of which visit other yacht clubs or marinas on the East Coast. Other members prefer to “sail in company” with friends and make up their cruise itinerary as they go, according to the weather, tides and how the mood takes them. Each year many members strike off on their own to do a longer cruise around the coast or to the near continent and it’s surprising how often you meet up with another WFYC crew many miles from home.
The club’s cruising section includes members with both sailing and power boats and most club cruises these days involve a mixed fleet of power and sail. In many ways, club cruises are the ideal way to get into cruising. They don’t usually go far from home and you can buddy up with others both for safety and company. Our cruises tend to be social affairs and are as much about socialising once a destination is reached as getting there. Many involve an alfresco barbecue or a group meal in a pub or yacht club clubhouse, most also include the option of a mini ramble which invariably finishes at a refreshment venue of some sort. Visits to the fascinating wet dock area in Ipswich (usually early and late in the season) present an opportunity to visit the city’s bustling shopping centre, parks, and leisure facilities.
Memorable Cruises from the past.
THE FLIGHT OF THE SEAGULL
Woodbridge Cruise upriver division, with another small triumph for British engineering
It seldom sees the light of day, living in a locker as it does. When five dinghies set off to explore the world beyond Wilford Bridge in the upper reaches of the River Deben even beyond Melton, the call came. The group took the tide from the yacht harbour passing three boatyards and the squeezing under the Wilford Bridge to venture into the unknown. Soon the reeds closed in and apart from a railway bridge, all signs of civilisation were gone, only the reeds and the sky faced the nine valiant explorers, in their small fleet of rubber boats.
On and on we travelled for at least another mile or two, then it all came to a halt. The reeds closed in and the river became impassable. Propellers became fouled and progress ceased, so sadly and unaware that we were less than half a mile from a pub, we turned back.
On the return journey the tide had risen higher and there was even less room under the Wilford Bridge. We stopped to watch a large boat being lifted out at a boatyard in Melton and then we were lucky not to be run over by a large Dutch barge being towed down river to Woodbridge.
At the end, all agreed that when it came to making the most noise, the greatest amount of smoke and catching the most weeds on a propeller, our 44 year old small British Seagull outboard engine was head and shoulders above the rest. Just as we returned to the Tide Mill Marina, the plug lead jumped off the plug, just to let us know that we were home.
Another great adventure and although there are more advanced engines available, most of them cannot be started with a shoelace.
Graham Godward
