Thursday 22 March 2012

Replan! Old salts and modern technology....

I met the cap'n and the purser at the local coffee house the other day.

The cap'n (left), with many years experience of East Coast sandbank dodging under that hat*, claimed I'd misread the currents in the Thames Estuary.

There was much heated discussion (even in a coffee house), then out came the Ipad and a free wi fi connection was found. The credit card was flexed, the Imray app for North Sea navigation was downloaded and its' tide planner showed that he was right.

If Vagabon leaves Burnham on Crouch a week earlier (or later) than orignally planned,  the tides are even more advantageous.

The downside is that I have to get up early on the day of departure. Since I retired, "get up early" has not been a set of words in my lexicon. However the mornings are getting lighter.....

* The cap'n demonstrated this experience to the Purser, the Viking and me when we were on a charter cruise in Ireland one year. We softly touched the mud as we felt our way into Clonakilty bay. The Viking (who habitually sailed off the West Coast of Scotland) was horrified as he only really felt comfortable with 30 metres of water under his keel.

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