Tuesday 11th August Ref: 2015/27
Although it would have been nice to have another day or two in Ipswich Dock, the weather was at its best the day following arrival and there was much to do back at base and so a passage was planned for immediate departure. The weather was still and morning forecasts confirmed the prediction of the day before and the actual breeze was 4-5knots to start with and so we could go and have a smooth passage.
With High Water at around 9.20am, there was a level for Ipswich Dock just before that, which would prevail for an hour and we planned to leave on the last of that, carry the tide down the Orwell and then the ebb up to Lowestoft to make an efficient cruise at around the speed limit of 6 knots on the Orwell and then 8 knots for the remainder of the trip.
Passage planning on my MaxSea Time Zero application showed a distance of 51nm and similar passage times of about 6 hours for departures from 10am to 10.30am local time and so we waited to see when the levels could be maintained at the lock and leave just in time to exploit the convenient opening. In the end, being neapish tides, the free-flow ended at 09:20 UTC and so we were the last boat leaving thus.
The weather was forecast as very good around 8-10knots from the NE with smooth/slight seas with very little swell. I predicted more slight than smooth because of the adverse tide and thius proved to be the case but it did not go 'moderate' as flows would not be large at near Neap tides
24-25degC; 48-35-53-49 %RH, 1018-1020mb rising slowly; overcast but warm and 8-12 knots variable but mainly from the NE. sm/sl seas and good viz
