The onlineweather.com gave a fair weekend, 3-4 Saturday reducing 2-3 Sunday. High tide in the bay was around 2 o'clock. It was also Wimbledon so my wife would be glued to the telly and I could be away all the time without feeling guilty.

I put the boat on the slip on Friday night and with the help of some reluctant club members got it off the trolley and onto the slip ( they know but can't believe that Dr.Syn weighs so much ) to await the 0200 tide. I was afloat at midnight and kept a beady eye on one of the largest coasters to come up the Lune. He was backing out from the quay and turning beside the club. The weather seemed very heavy and humid and some of the members were suggesting my internet predictions would be totally wrong.

When the weather is like this Morecambe bay comes alive at night with bio-luminescence (well that’s what the scientists at Heysham nuclear power station say it is), and as the coaster went out you could see it around her wake.

I followed at 0100 as the tide was now slacker and as there was no wind used the engine to take me about a mile into the estuary ( 4ml from Glasson ) to anchor for the night. All the way out the sides of the boat and the prop wash were lit up like floresant lights, it was quite spectacular. Every now and again I would run through a turbulent area over a bank or something and that would light up. As I was setting the anchor the whole sea around me started to glow and for a split second I didn't know what was happening ( abduction by aliens?), but then I realised it had started to rain and each drop was causing the plankton to glow. Time to get the tent over and turn in.

Saturday 1100 the tide started rushing back in, and a couple of miles away and in line with me was a large object coming down on the tide. Earlier in the morning I had noticed a large tree that must have swept by me in the night. Why is it with an estuary about 4ml wide at this point, everything wants to home in on me? I couldn't make out what this new object was, a seal ?- too big, a drum or container ?- wrong shape. I didn't really want to get the anchor in and move as I would have been swept back with the tide. You've really got to see it to believe how fast and strong it comes up the estuaries in the bay. As this thing got about 100m away it started to shear away and through the binoculars I could swear it was a dead hippopotamus. Cows do sometimes get swept off the marshes, but the head of this thing as it bobbed up and down in the waves looked more like a hippo. I didn't go for salvage so I still don't know what it really was. Just imagine that bumping into the boat last night, or rather I'd better not.

1130 anchor up, one reef in and headed for Fleetwood. I could just about point to it with a good breeze from the West ( OLW had said Northerly). The shallow waters producing a decent chop enough to let you know you are actually at sea, with the odd wave smashing into the bow. Great stuff.

As I got closer and closer to land about 2ml from Fleetwood, the board touched the bottom so I had to tack out again. I had to do this twice before I could aim for the beacons on the end of the slip at Knott End. The wind by now was probably the predicted 4 but from the West. I pulled down the main and ran into the River Wyre under jib to pick up a buoy near the sailing school opposite Fleetwood Marina. It's all mud here which is OK to walk on, but of course you need boots. Later I anchored a little closer in to cheat the tide.

All afternoon and night the wind got up and left me wondering about the return trip. Still onlineweather said it would go down tomorrow. When the tide rose the river was at the mercy of the waves in the bay and I think I'll patent the bucking LiLo ride. I would just start to doze off and the boat would lurch to one side and roll violently then swing round as the wind caught the tent. Ad infinitam. What a night!

Although I sensed a lull in the night it didn't last and my only real option was to try and get back to Glasson for the trailer. ( I'll never trust that website again) It was 6am, I had a 14ml walk and I had to be back on the boat before the water got to it at 1130 - could I do it?

I never realised how deserted Lancashire is at that time on a Sunday morning. Only a couple of cars passed but they wouldn't stop. I'd hidden my boots in the bushes at Knott End so at least I had shoes on. After 4mls I was lucky and got a lift in a minibus as far as the Glasson turnoff 3 mls from my car, so by 0930 I was back and planning the retrieval. I'd never used the slip here before.

Just before I floated, one of the locals came over for a chat and his parting words were "we only use the slip at LW if there's any swell". He forgot to add what the conditions were I was likely to meet.

Away I went, motoring into a good F5 and although calm enough here I could now see the seas sweeping over the slip. Well we'll have a look. As I approached I had to go out and drop back with the wind and tide and if I hadn't had to concentrate I would have enjoyed the ride. There were three fishermen on the end but it was too late to worry about their lines now, so I opened the throttle up and powered it straight up the slip - WHAT? I hear you lovers of Wayfarers say. Tough, there was no other option if I wanted it out, and I know what Dr.Syn can take underneath.

Because of the shallow banks, a force 5 here kicks up steep waves, enough to fill a wayfarer without a crew to bail.

The three fishermen just stood there wondering what was next on the agenda. I had to ask them to give me hand as the waves were now thumping onto the stern locker. They all pitched in, and although they were all big blokes, we couldn't drag it so I asked them to just hold it there while I got the trolley from where I'd left it nearby earlier. After quite a struggle, and me up to my waist in seawater, we got it on ( the boat had to be pushed back into the waves) and pulled it up out of harms way. If they hadn't been there I wouldn't have attempted it but turned and waited till LW. I thought I could tie it to the leeward side of the slip whilst I got the trailer. I hadn't realised that the sea breaks over the slip and cascades down the inside. Beware if you use this slip. LW is OK in bad weather

But wait there's more!!

I usually get the boat on the trolley and use the car to tow it all into a flat area where I can derig it. As the road sloped downhill into the carpark I decided to do it by hand and halfway there the boat suddenly dived off the trailer to one side. It wouldn't pull round. I thought a tyre had blown but when I looked it was squashed but not flat. Then I noticed a shroud loose - what the $%^& has happened. Then I looked up, Yes 4 telephone wires had brought me to a full stop. Quick get it all back before anyone sees it. It was a good job I hadn't used the car. By now it was also torrential rain, the Fleetwood lifeboat had gone out and some of my colleagues at the club were having a really bad ride in their bigger boats coming back across the banks from Piel Island.

If it was all sun and calm we would probably get fed up.

August bank holiday 2001 - see contents page - International Festival of the Sea - they are all photo's so may take a time to download

September 2001 - Poetic Justice - I was going out fishing on Sunday morning at 04:30, it would be pitch black but not to worry all the channel buoys have lights, or have they? A club member told me about Glasson's pilot boat. This heavy semi-displacement 40' boat kicks up a hell of a wash and slows down for nothing, and he said that a couple of weeks back it had been re engined with two brand new diesels. On one of it's first night jobs after the refit it kicked up such a bow wave as to turn one of the light floats over. Because of the fierce tide in the river some of the buoys are on floats shaped like catamarans and he actually managed to flip it. On the way back in the early hours he came powering up the river again, and yes you guessed it, just like the Inch watsit bell, he rammed it full on and ripped a large hole in the hull.

Luckily he kept going and drove it straight up the club slipway before it sank. They managed to patch it up and towed into the dock and lifted out before the next tide.

The slipway is 1:10 at Glasson and as there was nobody about at that time to help me get the boat in the water I had to use the car as an anchor. I positioned the car at the top and fixed a rope to the eye in the front bumper (for transporters). Then I took two turns around the trolley handle and pushed it down by slackening off the grip. I'd never done this before but it worked quite well. The rope only reached half way so I had to tie it off, chock the wheels and reposition the car down the slip.

There was no wind so I motored out down the channel looking for unlit buoys. I can usually cut corners in the Wayfarer but I was leaving on a low ebb. My large torch decided to pack up so I had no light. It was a beautiful night and you could see every star in the sky. A satellite also passed overhead, it was very bright so I assumed it was the ISS. This is getting bigger monthly.

As it was, all the buoys were the right way up and lit.

When I got out in the estuary the plan was to trawl for some bait then carry on and do a bit with a rod, the tide had other ideas. I started to get some nice shrimps so carried on trawling, and before I realised it I had got too far over and hit a bank. I turned round but promptly ran aground again. Oh blow I said ( or words to that effect ) It meant staying put for another 5 hours. On one of my other web pages I state that I always carry my tent and a light just for this very reason but this morning so as not to waste time, and knowing I'd be fishing, I just rolled it up and left it on the trailer. My sleeping bag was put in the car.

Now here I was, marooned for 5 hrs, after a 3hr sleep the night before and no comfort. I tried lying on the floor covered in the sail but a cold wind had now materialised and made that a no no. still I did have a stove and tea and food. I will never take the tent out again when in the bay.

I did have the consolation of seeing a small shrimp trawler from Fleetwood working one of the channels also ran aground about an hour later.

When the tide flooded we both went our separate ways, me back to Glasson punching a squall and looking for flipped buoys.

Spring Bank holiday, low tides, crap weather forecast, but what the heck, away for a cruise in an open boat. For cruise read - away from bills, work, jobs, road rage, nagging etc. etc.

Saturday's tide was 16:18 at 7.7m, which for Morecambe Bay is low - and it was to get lower.

I left Glasson on the flood at 14:50 so as to be near Fleetwood before the ebb in the Wyre channel. I used the engine to push me against the tide (excuse the facts and figures but I will need them when planning my next foray down the Wyre). From Plover Scar I set a course due East for about an hour then headed for the old Wyre Light structure, which on this beautiful sunny day was visible a good 4 miles away. As I got nearer and more confident in the depth under me (I didn't touch like I sometimes do crossing the Bernard Wharf bank which dries to over 5m.) I headed for channel buoy No.8 and entered the channel here. Beware of the wrecks between 6, 8 & 10 and keep eyeing your compass.

I entered Fleetwood at 17:25, just ahead of the P&O ferry, and picked up a small buoy on the Knott End side of the River. I was aground at 18:25

The ground here is muddy sand but you can walk on it where the boats are, don't try it nearer the Knott End slipway that looks sinky stuff. When I go off I leave my boots under one of the upturned dinghies on the sea wall.

Sunday - HW 17:12 7.35m Wind SE 4, on the nose of course. I left at 15:30 into drizzle, wind and thunderstorms imminent. I confess to using Mr. Johnson (my crew) again to allow me to follow the channels down the Wyre. I kept mainly to the middle Western side going down and didn't feel the board touch at all. At the Chemical Works the heavens opened with torrential rain and thunder and lightning. At Stanah, just under the pylons, there must have been 5000 fishermen on the bank, I've never seen so many in one spot before. They all looked as miserable as I did.

Before approaching Shard Bridge I had to get the mast down, which wasn't too bad as the wind was holding me back against the tide somewhat. The main problem was that I couldn't see out of my glasses, they were covered in spray & rain and I had to keep taking them off and sluicing them in the water. Once under the bridge (East side middle 3 arches) I had a little problem getting the mast back up, still it kept the onlookers in the pub opposite amused.

Now nature really made herself felt, It had waited until I was away from the built up areas and then lightning bounced all around me. It makes you think what you can do with a 23-ft lightning conductor stuck up in the air, and whether it would be affective anyway. I thought probably not and hoped for the best. After a while the rain passed and it became quite pleasant, although I was soaked to the skin.

It was at this point, just before Bankfield on the Ord map, around high tide at Liverpool (7.35m), that the board touched something very hard (three times). I can only assume it was rocks. I used the oars to find a channel but it seemed a fairly consistent depth. (There is a big green painted house there). After that there were no more problems with rocks but it was getting shallower and I was having to find the channels. (this was all around HW Liverpool, which meant HW here was a bit later, but it didn't seem noticeable). I finally got neaped at Larbreck Hall, just passed a caravan site. None of this was really visible from the river, as the water, although high tide, was still low. Tent up, dry out, tea on etc.

I read somewhere in one of Frank or Margaret's books that by the time you have the tea on the inside will have dried out and the sails stopped dripping. Well it took a good 2 hours for my sails to stop.

When I felt the bottom here, the spinnaker pole went straight through the top layer and kept going, so don't get out at LW.

With the tides dropping until Weds I decided I couldn't get up the river any further with confidence - Can anyone from one of the River Clubs email me as to more info on getting further up. I spoke to the Coastguard at KE who said they have been up to St. Michael's in the RIB.

Monday HW 05:30 7.6m (18:18 7.2m) - Left at 05:00 just as boat floated, it was quite a nice morning but there was no wind so I rowed back passed the caravan site. I was very wary passing the green house again, but the river seemed wider this morning, I kept bang in the middle and didn't touch anything. I arrived back at Shard's Bridge at 06:30 and decided to not go under until tonight. I anchored on flat sand about 50 yds from the bridge on the W side. I put the tent up, had a cup of tea and a fried egg sandwich, then had a couple of hour's kip - now that's cruising.

Shards Bridge - hard level sand

The rain now started to pour down again, otherwise I would have gone for a walk. It didn't stop till late in the afternoon when I had to think about getting the mast down to get under the bridge.

This time I lowered the mast onto the tent crutch, a much better idea as it is easier to control the tiller and it keeps all the ropes out of the water.

The water was very late coming back and I had visions of being neaped, but we floated at 17:30 and headed off back to Knott End.

The wind kindly came round to on the nose again so I couldn't sail in the channel. It was very wide here but shallow. I would dearly love to see an arial photo of the river at half tide, anyone got one?

At the Chemical Works the river is about 1/2 ml wide and in the middle I hit the bottom (at HW too). The Ord map says the channel is over to the West, but when I went that way it got worse. I went back up the East side without further problems. It is quite worrying thinking you are going to be stuck in the middle of a wide river with the forecast wind increasing and coming straight in at you from the sea.

It was also very hard to distinguish where the river went at this point. Both banks seemed to merge without a gap.

I picked up the same little blue buoy at Knott End that I had used on Saturday and got my dinner on.

Fleetwood by night

Tuesday HW 06:40 7.45m (19:27 7.23m) wind S 4-5. Stayed put. Got the ferry from Knott End to Fleetwood £1.50 each way. At low water the ferry gangplank, with footholds about 2 ft apart, went up at about 60 degrees on the Fleetwood side. How the old age pensioners were negotiating that I don't know, the ferry company should have paid them. Don't take your bike over on this, or disguise it. The skipper was moaning like hell under his breath, "bloody bikes" etc.

I had an all day breakfast, wandered round the town then called in at the museum. I was a little disappointed at that, I would have thought there would have been more on the fishing industry.

17:54 forecast NE 5-6 looks like another day in Knott End. I had planned to sail for Morecambe.

Wednesday HW07:47 7.6m (20:30 7.5m) wind NE 4-5 Had a walk to the garage for a can of fuel. This is in Preesal about 1 1/2 ml away. I tried to fill up with water here also but as he sold mineral water he wouldn't let me have any. (he probably didn't know I lived in Bradford and new his mates).

In the afternoon I went for a walk across KE Golf course to the Brine Wells, that was a very scenic walk. I didn't know about the brine wells until I was in the museum yesterday. Apparently, years ago, whilst digging for iron ore they came across the brine and started to mine salt instead.

On the way back I got chatting to Mr. Bradley junior (?) who was trying to repair the damage to the coastguards RIB engine skeg and he kindly showed me around the station. If you are going to get stuck in mud do it near Knott End CG station.

That night we had more torrential rain and I awoke in the night with damp legs. That’s the first time water has found it's way onto my sleeping bag even though my cover is never really tight. It was now approaching that time where you think to give up open boat cruising and take up knitting.

Thursday HW 08:48 7.84m (21:22 7.86m) set alarm for 05:54 to catch shipping forecast but it went off early at 05:30 so I dozed till 05:55 and it was then I realised the forecast was at 5:35. $%^&* it, I'll go anyway. I'll head for Glasson as the forecasts are not good. Packed up and ready for sea and dropped the buoy at 07:30. Engine out to No.14 then headed for Heysham power station. Touched the bottom twice and had to adjust course more Northerly, then after an hour turned more Easterly to Plover Scar arriving there at 09:30. I knew my wife couldn't bring the car over today so decided to stay at Sunderland Point for the night and sail back to Glasson on Friday morning.

Friday HW 09:40 8.2m. Tried to leave the beach with just a reefed main but kept getting blown back. Floorboards now covered in muddy footprints where I had to get out and push myself off. I rowed out into the channel and got the sails up for a slow leisurely sail against the gusting wind. I arrived at the slip in time to help a survey boat out of the water so I got them to help me up. Just timed it right. End of cruise

Although I hadn't managed to get to Eccleston, the intended destination, I had a good cruise, learnt a little more and got the boat back safely to Glasson.

2003 – Feb2004

Lost most of 2003 season on account of having to work in Spain for the best part of it. From October till now (Feb2004) Dr Syn has been mainly (unsuccessfully) fishing. My son has suddenly taken an interest in fishing (not sailing yet), so with a big spotlight fixed to the mast and a beam trawl decorating the sides we have had a few forays in Morecambe Bay. Over November & January we had some nice whiting on the rods and decent plaice in the trawl. On the last trip out, in thick fog at end Feb. we caught nowt. We relied on a small handheld GPS, they are marvelous. Roll on Spring.