A Pot Pourri to Finish

Sorry for the long silence, all due to another exciting adventure taking place. In consequence, I'm now being politely encouraged by George and Yorkie to finish my posts on our Broads sailing holiday, so they can kick off telling you what they've been up to (no, this turn of phrase doesn't mean they went to South Africa to see the World Cup).

I therefore need to condense as much as I can into this post so if it's a bit bitty, then you'll know why. The extra length will hopefully make up for the lack of recent postings.

Last time, we were talking about a special mooring. It was not only was a delightful spot to moor and rest, it also had all the things I needed to complete my daily boating chores. These included:


refilling the water tank, emptying the rubbish (I've spared you a picture of the bins) and ...


pulling on and lacing up the cover at night. Bear in mind that this adventure took place in April, when the evenings were cool enough for us to really appreciate being able to turn the cockpit area into a cosy room using the cover. It worked like this ...


As the cooker was in the cockpit, under one of the seats, having the ability to enclose the cockpit was very useful.

After eating and washing up, we could retreat into the main cabin and be even more cosy.


I'm sitting on the bunk that I slept on with the rest of the crew tucked in at the side. We always got a great night's sleep. There's nothing quite like the gentle lap of water against the hull.

Our favourite staithe, Gay's Staithe, that we've been talking about, also had another interesting feature. It was home to a solar powered boat, which the public can take a trip on.

Sadly it wasn't moored up the night we were there, so all we could do was read about it.


When we got home we looked it up on the internet, and it is quite an unconventional looking boat ...


We will definitely have to go back and take a trip.

While Gay's Staithe was a special mooring for an overnight stay, we found another lovely mooring which could either be for a lunch stop or going to church.


As we were not there at a service time, for us it was a lovely lunch stop. We did think the church looked lovely, and what a great property was next to it - sadly now a former vicarage, rather than the splendid home of the present Vicar.


There's lots more I could say, but you've probably read enough for one day. I'll therefore close with a picture of the bear flag flying and a proud sailor, Randolph, standing to attention beside it. It seems a fitting way to close this nautical adventure.


I hope you've enjoyed reading, and I'll now hand the reins over to George, Yorkie and Patrick.

Lots of love, Eddie and the crew of Leander xxx

Passing for a Pilot

The bridge we needed to pass under was the Potter Heigham bridge. It is a beautiful bridge, but it has narrow arches and is incredibly low (just 2.03 m). This is so low, that hire cruisers are not allowed to pass through without a pilot. As a sailing boat though, we were expected to pass through without a pilot. This made me feel incredibly important, but also quite nervous.

We spent a long time, while we had our lunch, eyeing it up and deciding on the best line of approach, bearing in mind the currents that swirl round the foot of arches.

We were very lucky to have a small engine on Leander so we could crank it started (literally) and drive through, rather than having to rely on a quant pole to push her through, which is what non-powered boats have to do.

As we approached I kept a steady paw and a clear head. I posted my crew at strategic look out points so they could tell me if I got too close to any stonework.


As we sailed under we could see lots of gouges in the stonework which told a chilling tale of boats that hadn't made it through unscathed.


After making it through successfully, my happy face returned, and the task of getting the mast and sails up again didn't seem half as daunting, as it had been earlier.


In no time at all we were proceeding at full sail along the river, ready for the next chapter in this exciting adventure.

Lots of love Skipper Eddie & crew xxx

Rising to the Challenges

While Leander was a joy to look at and was beautifully crafted in wood, I found her quite a challenging boat to sail, and I was glad that our male minder - who has taught me most of what I know about sailing - was on hand to give me some help and advice. Here he is helping me work out what does what ...


.. from the incredible array of shrouds, ropes and shackles round the mast; it took some time to get familiar with them all, as they were there for purposes such as raising and lowering the roof and mast, as well as for raising and lowering the sails and holding up the mast.

Then I had to get used to a gaff rig, which was new to me. As I hauled up the gaff, I had to judge the correct angle between the main mast and the gaff. I knew when I'd got it wrong as the sail had wrinkles in it. When I got it right, Leander looked just like a traditional Wherry, and we are all very familiar with the sail shape we were aiming for, as a Wherry is used for the logo for our favourite beer, Woodforde's Wherry (yes it is brewed on the Broads).


In this picture you see the sail after I had put two reefs in. This was necessary on our second morning when we woke up to a howling gale. As the reef had to be tied in by threading a rope in and out of all the holes along the bottom of the sail, it took quite some time to put in.

All the effort was well worth it though, and it is so much fun to do it all yourself and be responsible for your own progress; much more satisfying that turning a key and starting the engine of a plastic pig (as we call the Broads cruisers).


Even so it was nice to relax on the boat when all the jobs had been done.

Lots of love Eddie and crew xxx

We Are In Residence

As I'm sure many readers will appreciate, one of my first tasks, after taking over the command of Leander, was to raise the bear flag.


I take this duty very seriously - after all once it is flying I am duty bound to sail Leander well, as if I don't, the bear flag will tell the world that it is me putting up such a poor show.

As for positioning, first of all I got it a bit low, so I climbed up the cradle that holds the boom when we're not sailing, to get it a bit higher.


This did the trick, and, as you can see from the picture, the wind caught the flag immediately and it began to fly proudly, to indicate B.U. bears in residence.

I can't resist showing you my favourite shot of the bear flag flying. It was caught on camera by Yorkie a couple of days later. Here it is ...


... a lovely Broads sunset, shining through the bear flag - simply magical!

Lots of love Eddie & Crew xxx

My New Girlfriend

I want to introduce you properly to the new lady in my life, the good ship Leander. We spent a lot of time together, sailing all day, then settling down inside her cosy cabin at night.

Sadly I haven't got any pictures of her sailing, as I was always on board when she was under way, but we did take some pictures from the shore while she was still moored.


She was a lovely traditional boat and had maintained her looks well, even though she was quite a venerable lady, compared to me. On the morning of the photo, we could put the sails up, with her still moored at the stern, as the wind was very light. On windy days it was not quite so straightforward.

While our first picture shows Leander with the cabin roof down, ready for sailing, with the roof up, and her night-time cover on, she looked quite different ...


Of course we were very lucky to have such beautiful moorings and surrounds for her to pose in.

Back soon with more sailing talk,

Lots of love Eddie & crew xxx

P.S. To the kind enquirer (Aunty G?) I am also very excited about my new acquisition of Tarka who is waiting at Blakeney for her first sail. It could even be tomorrow!