Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on August 23, 2007 at 14:47:45 from 82.27.17.198 user Laurence_.
In Reply to: Re: Well, I find the shape of the Pye End Buoy as interesting as Beckfoot's plumbing... posted by Jock on August 23, 2007 at 07:36:30:
I altered the course to port, knowing the danger of going too far to starboard and ending up on the Dovercourt Beaches. Between holding my barge right on the point of a gybe, and peering towards the flat sandy shore for some indication of where the entrance lay, I, too, was searching to port, to starboard-anywhere for the sight of a buoy. Any buoy!
How does this work? If Dovercourt Beaches are a lee shore the wind must have been in the south-east quadrant - which can be unpleasant for going into the Backwaters in a strong wind anyway. Altering course to starboard would take him towards the safety of Harwich Harbour and give him just a little more sea room. Altering course to port would (unless he was extremely lucky and finished up in the narrow and winding channel towards the Backwaters) pile him up on the Naze shore - as Daddy says in SW "a good old bump...Lots of boats have been smashed up on that"
This is clear on the charts to which Jock gives a link.