Oostend 2007

I know its historical but for the 2 years I lived aboard Emblem I was without t'internet access and never had the chance to show any of Emblems trips, so here we go.

While Living aboard Disponibel, Gary and myself were very fortunate in being alongside a wondefull chap called Steve Woolgar. He lived aboard Emblem on the moorings at Hoo on the Tidal medway. We all worked dodgy shifts, Gary and self being coppers and steve being a taxi driver in sevenoaks, so we all finally met one night, arriving home about the same time just after midnight and much wine and Bacardi being consumed and spilt we have never looked back.

Eventually, life takes it turns and steve hitched up with a wonderfull lady called Debbie and they eventually bought a Barge of Biblical proportions called PAX.


My circumstances had changed, gary had passed away and Steve offered and sold Emblem to me.

Prior to that, we had attended The Oostend Voor Anker festival in Emblem since 2001 for the previous 5 years and although 2006 was my first visit to Oostend as skipper of Emblem, 2007 was caught on video.


The Festival was always organised for the last week in may coinciding with a bank holiday weekend in Belgium. In 2006, we spent 2 days hiding in Ramsgate due to bad weather and didnt arrive at Oostend till the eve of day one...much to my embarressment considering it was my first trip as 'skipper'

2007 however proved to be in total contrast and we set sail from Chatham at 7am in the calmest weather and sea I have ever known. Crew for the trip were, Steve, his son Jamie and for their first ever trip my daughter Rachael and partner Dan.

Emblem leaving Chatham

I had made a couple of improvements to Emblems Navigation systems during the year and we enjoyed for the first time a GPS chart plotter linked into a DSC VHF radio system

Should any emergency arise, then a quick press of the emergency button on the VHF set would alert the neartest shipping or coastguard to our plight and automatically give our GPS position....nice

The above pic shows our course and speed over the ground as we approached Dartness Point on the Medway.

It was a lovely morning without a cloud in the sky. Steve and myself had got up early and cast off while the 'KIDS' Jamie, Rachael and Dan had remained asleep, although half an hour into the trip, the engine noise of the Gardner 4L3 was obviously too much for Rachael and she repaired to the wheel house complete with Duvet to continue her beauty sleep

We ran with the Tide out into the Thames Estuary and followed the Gore Channel past Whitstable, Herne bay and Margate where we then shot past North Foreland and headed out into the North Sea for the Shipping lanes

Margate

I felt a bit guilty having insisted that Dan and Rachael take Sea sickness pills because the sea was an absolute mill pond, and the Tablets have a kindof drowsey effect

They however, managed to fight the effects and spent the next 9 hours of the crossing on deck taking in the sun and breeze

8 hours later Steve and myself were feeling the effects of an early start and a late night spent in the King George V pub....thank goodness for Auto Pilot and Radar alarm,

As we crossed the first TSS (traffic separation scheme) we needed our wits about us as there was a fair amount of shipping leaving the dover straights

This GPS pic shows us nearing the Sandetti East bouy prior to entering the last TSS

As you can see, our speed was nearly 7knts at 750RPM. The thick line was our GPS track to the nect waypoint, the little black arrow and thin line being our actual course due to tide.

Pics showing Steve doing an impression of an awake watchkeeper and one of the many ....huge monsters we had to avoid.

Emblems controls were/are very simple, a Geared Wheel for gearbox control and a twist and clamp lever for the throttle,. These pics should show the rev counter/temp guage, echo sounder and chart table and Ships Wheel

It was such a lovely crossing there was little to keep our interest except for a fly by from the Coast Guard aircraft and jellyfish spotting.

12 hours later saw us entering Oostend harbour and slotting ourselves into our spot for the 4 days of the festival. Our neighbours (whom we had rafted upto) were the crew of the goodship Mary Jane, a Dunkirk little ship whose crossing had been rather more adventurous than ours.

Just after leaving Ramsgate their steering pin had sheared and the skipper made the crossing and arrival at Oostend using only the twin props for steering and propulsion.....an excellent feat of seamanship considering the distance and age of the boat.

That will do for now, as its 8am and I have to be up at 4pm for night duty

will post part2 of the trip when Im next fully awake.

can any one help? the pics I post wont slot into the last curser position but plonk themselves at the top of the page so I have to move each one everytime I post

What am I doing wrong?