Stuck on the Alde and Ore Rivers
I ummmed and ahhhhed but eventually decided against crossing the bar at night and sailing against the wind to Lowestoft with Robin. I think it would have been doable, but I was still feeling very early-season and it was probably the right call.
I met Robin on the North Circular and drove to Orford to find Bob in good shape on the visitor moorings. I had swapped outboards for my old greasy but reliable-er 2 stroke and the gaffer-tape mend on the dinghy floor was holding up…
Without a big sail to attempt, we decided to explore Orford in the morning, then head up river to anchor at Blackthorn Reach for lunch, then spend the night at Aldeburgh, before returning the following day to leave Bob back at Orford.
Orford is a quiet town with a lot of Farrow and Ball cottages. But a pleasant enough place to stroll around with an old mate you’ve known for nearly 40 years. After bumping into some very sweet neighbours from Muswell Hill, we headed for the castle.
Built in the continental style to instill respect.
Anchor Mayhem on the Alde
We had a lovely sail up to Aldeburgh, through the moorings and up to Blackthorn Reach where we wanted to anchor. By now the sun had disappeared and it was quite gusty. I chose a good spot and ran Robin smugly through my arm signals to let him know my instructions while I dealt with the complexities of the anchor.
I went forward, and instructed Robin to give a good burst of reverse to stop her… But the burst became a sustained charge backwards… “Not that much!” I shouted as Bob headed for the bank. Robin’s face was lost as he bent over the throttle…
“Put it into Neutral!” I shouted… “It’s stuck!” he shouted back… By now we were getting into some seriously shallow water… I lay the anchor on the deck and charged back to the cockpit. Just as Robin had said, the throttle was completely stuck in reverse and we were moments away from disaster – you might think we could have simply steered in reverse away from the shallows, but Twisters, alas, don’t follow instructions in reverse. In fact this is probably the only time that Bob has reversed in a straight line…
I pulled the T-handle stop cable to cut the engine and she slowed, I then quickly pulled the genoa out to get us sailing again – fortunately, the wind was coming off the bank, so pretty quickly we were out of trouble. I then dropped the anchor under sail and allowed the current to lay out the chain.
On inspection (first ever inspection by me…) I could see the problem – the green metal tube housing the gear cable is completely corroded where it is held two-thirds down by the very rusty bracket which is probably a different metal. It was slipping and jamming the throttle. I found that by moving the throttle even further into reverse, it would free itself and allow the throttle to come forward again…
Annoying and extremely tiresome in marinas where to avoid hitting a million pound boat, you have to go even faster towards it…
We were both a bit shaken and headed back to anchor in Aldeburgh where we gate-crashed a party that some old family friends were having.
The following day we sailed back down river and around Havering Island where Robin snapped some wonderful birds.
Bob's Big Adventure 