An excellent sail
was enjoyed by three dinghies, for perhaps the first time
this year the (single) GP14 being outnumbered by a pair of Wayfarers, plus a
separate sail by Brian and Ian in George's yacht.
Brian was, perhaps rightly, very concerned about depth of water above Hale
Point, and to avoid any risk of getting stuck he decided not to come with us
up to the Bridge but instead to go over to Frodsham and Weston Point.
We enjoyed autumnal sunshine, albeit with a cold north wind of about force
3,
possibly 4 at times, a combination that I felt at one point might be fairly
described as sub-Arctic sunshine(!)
This year there seems to be far less depth of water off Hale Point - which
is always shoal - than was the case last year, and dinghies on a dead run
can sail in only a few inches of water whereas the safety boat needs rather
more. So while the dinghies were able to pass fairly close to the Point on
the
way upriver, we in the safety boat had to take the long way round, keeping
more or less in the very narrow channel, and feeling our way with care while
watching the GPS and the echo sounder continuously.
It was interesting to note that the chart built into the GPS seems
remarkably
accurate in respect of the depths of water, even though the Admiralty paper
chart is years out of date (it is a 1976 survey, and as we all know depths
can
change frequently, sometimes over the course of only a month and
occasionally even less); on numerous occasions we found deeper water exactly
where the GPS told us to expect it, which makes it even more useful than I
had expected.
While we were carefully picking our way upriver in shallow water the
dinghies
got well ahead of us, and then Jim and Steve capsized. We put on speed to
catch them up, but they soon righted themselves, and once we caught them up
we stood by while they started bailing; initially we had considerable
difficulty in reaching them because they had drifted into shallow water, and
at one point while close to them and attempting to round up to come
alongside we actually briefly put ourselves aground. However we were soon
off, and they quickly had their boat under some sort of control, and we
continued to stand by while they sailed her off and emptied her. Then they
returned to the passage upriver, and all boats duly made it under and beyond
the bridge before turning for home.
On the homeward passage the sailors enjoyed a pleasant reach and
occasionally
a run from the Bridge as far as Hale Point, and then a stiff beat home from
there.