Mate Sue helming Nancy Blackett in Harwich Harbour (Photo: David Roulson)

At the beginning of October Nancy Blackett enjoyed her annual Autumn Cruise, the last of the season, which included a brief return to “Secret Water”, skipper John Smith writes.

The crew had all arrived by late Saturday afternoon, so, making the most of a nice evening, we set off for a night in Shotley, arriving at around dusk. We were soon enjoying a pre-prepared dinner and some wine aboard, and had a fine evening.

The weather forecast had warned of some unsettled weather, and some gale force winds too, so we decided not to sail too far from home waters. On the Sunday we sailed up the Stour, before turning and setting off for “Secret Water”, and arrived in “Amazon Creek” in the early evening, after some brilliant pilotage by our mate and crew. Having picked up a buoy off “Cape Horn” for the night, we enjoyed our first meal cooked aboard, and another lovely evening together.

Musical entertainment in Nancy Blackett’s cabin (Photo: John Smith)

The following morning, Monday, the forecast was still not good, with nasty gales included, so we decided to tuck up inside Titchmarsh marina for the day and night, and review our options again the following morning. The crew enjoyed some local walks instead, visiting the Wade and Walton Naze Tower, with some fossil hunting, retrieving some lovely sea shells. That evening saw another lovely on-board dinner, accompanied by some musical entertainment.

By the Tuesday morning the worst of the gales had either not materialized or blown through, so we enjoyed lunch at anchor in “Secret Water”, not far from “Goblin Creek”. After lunch and some sailing challenges, we set sail for the Orwell and settled into Woolverstone Marina for the night, hoping that we would at least escape to “foreign lands” again in the morning, before the forecast gales returned. We did have another great evening aboard.

Levington Marina (Photo: John Smith)

On the Wednesday morning, we arrived at Levington Marina before the gales did, and were comfortably alongside as the worst of the bad weather blew through. The crew divided their time between more hiking around the local area and attending to some maintenance issues. The evening saw another dinner, an introduction to the game of Bridge and some improved weather.

Thursday’s weather was lovely, and we enjoyed our sail up the coast and into the Deben, mooring at Ramsholt. The crew was refreshed by lunch and some sun-bathing, until being disturbed by an Apache helicopter buzzing overhead. Some sailing and power manoeuvring practice occupied the rest of the afternoon, before another meal was devoured aboard.

Ghostly mist on the River Deben (Photo: John Smith)

On the Friday morning, after an initial ghostly mist across the water, the sun broke through and we saw the start of another glorious day, badly needed to complete our sailing adventure together. The passage up to Woodbridge was lovely, but over all too soon.

During the week, we had seen several seals, and a great deal of interesting birdlife. With a bird expert aboard, we had soon recognised many of our feathered friends. We had also seen our own special “rain blob”, a tiny rainbow type pattern amongst a few clouds in an otherwise clear sky, off the Deben entrance area. We did not come across the great white shark that had been recently sighted entering the Deben, so perhaps it had found its way back out to the Atlantic again.

See more photos in our Autumn Cruise Flickr album.

This story is abridged from the original that was published in our members’ newsletter. The newsletter is published regularly with more members’ sailing stories and other news and is free if you become a member of the Nancy Blackett Trust.