Easy Rider

Too late to make any breakfast we loitered by the swing bridge at 5am. We escaped from inner Whitby Harbour and headed out to sea, accompanied by a couple of fishing boats. The sky was clearing and a rainbow gave us hope for a dry day. It is 7th July 2021.



A lovely westerly was blowing 15 miles per hour, and we set off for five hours enjoyable sailing on a broad reach, southwards towards Flamborough Head. We were pushing against a knot of tidal flow and the only problem was that we might get to the Head too soon. The tide runs at up to 3 knots round the Head. After about four hours the wind died down and so our early arrival problem was solved and also it was easier to make an egg sandwich for breakfast. Flamborough Head can be an evil place in strong wind and especially with wind over tide. Later, on the pontoon, locals told me their horror stories of 20-foot standing waves. With the tide starting to turn and very light winds we pottered past the Head on the inside track with barely a ripple to disturb us. The famous Flamborough Head kindly gave us an easy ride on this occasion.


Approaching Flamborough Head


Flamborough Head with a smooth sea surface

Again, we faced a problem of arriving too early - because Bridlington is a ‘drying harbour’. This means that at low tide the boats sit on the mud. This is not a problem for us as we have bilge keels, but it also means that you cannot get into the harbour until a couple of hours before high tide. We sailed gently round the Head and pottered about to delay our arrival at the harbour. 


We motored into the harbour and up to the pontoon and quickly sought out local knowledge to find somewhere nearby where we might be able to watch the match. England flags are very much in evidence along the sea front of Bridlington. Our plan is to arrive stupidly early to grab a couple of seats and then try not to drink too much beer before the match starts. A cunning plan that is bound to work well.

Tomorrow we have to leave at high tide, which is 4am, so the modest beer drinking element of our plan is doubly important. Our aim is to do a long day and try to skip the tide at the Humber. The ebb comes out of the Humber but splits into north-going and south-going flows. So, we need to arrive just before the tidal flow begins northwards against us and nip across onto the south-going tide to take us down to the Norfolk coast. We are aiming for ‘Wells-next-the-Sea’ which is a tricky drying harbour, so we have to arrive close to high tide in order to get in. If we are too late then I guess we stay out at sea and keep on going…

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