I posted yesterday about sailing and the unexpected. Well above is an oil painting of our last yacht. A really lovely boat that we had to give up for family reasons.
At one time we kept her at Neyland Marina. Now when we applied we were lucky to find a space. It was just next to the tidal shelf of the upper basin. Although room is pretty restricted we sailed her in and moored in our berth without any problems. Other boat owners chatted to us and we explained how lucky we were to find a spare berth in the marina. We explained where it was and I recall now they didn't comment.
Let me quickly explain the first time you can get out of the top basin is about two hours before high water, basically from when the tide is strongest. So we decided on a days sailing. Alex was on the helm and I as usual was the crew. We got ready started the engine and I let go our warps ( ropes) and we went astern out of our berth across the tidal flow intending to turn and depart the marina. Oh no the current had other idea it caught the boat and pushed us backward and sideways up into the marina our engine powerless against the force of the current.
Boat owners were grabbing fenders and boat hooks in case we trashed their gleaming hulls, Alex on the helm was unusually starting to panic and take on the demeanour of Corporal Jones in Dads Army. Fortunately Sanity quickly prevailed and she managed a perfect full 360 turn being carried backwards through rows of yachts to the delight of onlookers. We then gained momentum and motored majestically out of the Marina.
It was at that point we realised why that particular berth was vacant when all the rest of the marina was full.
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