Wherever you go around our coast you will find traditional local vessels, designed to give them the best chance of success in the conditions that prevail locally, and to be manufactured using the available materials and skills. The Norfolk Crab Boats and the Cobbles found on the Yorkshire coast are a case in point. Both …
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South-westerly 7 to severe gale 9…..
A working understanding of the Met Office’s surface pressure chart is all that is required to understand why this weather is happening. What is harder to understand is why it’s happening to me! After two nights and three days in the Marina at Levington our return to the river was most welcome. The forecast however …
River Orwell
Finally an end to the NE winds, fog and thunderstorms. A mysterious orange disk has appeared in the sky and the wind arrives, pre-warmed, over the top of the trees on the cliff at Pin Mill. We are now fully occupied in holiday mode. Regular swims with our gelatinous friends in the river, the Compass …
Lowestoft to Pin Mill
This passage quickly became a delivery trip, with too little wind to enable us to sail at anything like a speed that would enable us to complete the arrive at a sensible time. So with the Autohelm and the diesel engine on Flamingo steered us the 46NM to Pin Mill with occasional inputs from the …
Don’t Fret
I rarely remember my dreams but as I woke from my fitful sleep the night before our first big passage of the year the outline of my dream was still vaguely with me. We were on a trip (a passage?) with my good friend Martin, trips with Martin rarely end well. For some reason we …
2020 Cruise
So 85 days after the planned start date it looks like our 2020 cruise will start tomorrow. It won’t be the five month circumnavigation of Britain that we had planned but it is not many weeks ago that we thought that it would be impossible to launch the boat at all this year. We need …
Lift-out
In our berth at Fosdyke the following morning with a cup of tea at 0845 hrs there was a tap on the hull, did we want to be lifted out now or tomorrow? After a quick crew meeting we agreed that tomorrow would be good; yard manager Greg’s eyebrows clearly indicated that this was the …
Fosdyke
Flamingo over winters, along with several other Brancaster boats at Fosdyke Yacht Haven, situated where the River Welland Meets the A17 in Lincolnshire. It is a fantastic workmanlike yard that is superbly equipped and is blessed with knowledgeable, skilled and careful staff. To get there from Brancaster it is necessary to sail west along the …
End Game
After a couple of days at Brancaster the weather is beginning to get the better of us, it is now mid October and it continues to be cold, windy and at times wet. We are making the best of the weather by fitting in walks on the beach and along the coastal path. Our first …
A Change of Plan
I despise being woken by the alarm, it seems so brutal and starts the day badly. I am delighted then that when I glance at the clock it is 0350 hrs so I jump out of my berth, no clock is going to make me get up early! The system aboard Flamingo for early departures …
Parker 275 Flamingo's Adventures 