The rally this year was held at the Swallowtail Restaurant at Burnham Yacht Harbour on Saturday the 16th October. We were blessed with a late Indian Summer, courtesy of a high pressure zone sitting over Northern Europe, so sailing there seemed a good idea. Things didn't exactly work out quite as expected, but that's what sailing is about.

With the winds in the South East on the Friday, veering round to South on Saturday and Sunday, with clear skies and only the threat of a low pressure system on Monday, I worked out what I thought was the perfect passage plan. Depart from Ramsholt Friday afternoon, fight a bit of ebb inshore for a few hours, then pick up the flood down the rest of the Wallet and either continue over the Spitway down the Crouch if sufficient water or pop into Brightlingsea for the night and over the Ray Sand Channel to the Crouch late Saturday morning. Catherine very sensibly decided to join me by car. Ah, plans!!

Got to my boat, Wight Wizard, after a fortifying lunch of fish and chips and a pint of Woodfords Once Bittern to help the fish swim down. First curiosity was the almost full bilges and the engine a little difficult to start, but it had been a while since the boat had been used, so didn't thing too much of it. At the entrance to the Deben, I realised that I had omitted to take into account the effect of a SE F5 over a spring ebb in the bar. Nerve-wracking to say the least and not to be repeated, but we were out, sails up, one reef in the main and 2 reefs in the genoa, autohelm on, the boat settled down and the kettle went on. Relax.

A cracking sail, top end of a F5 all the way and mainly on the beam. The sun went down over Walton and the moon came up soon after. Passed one other yacht in the evening going the other way up the Wallet, apart from that there was just the moon and stars and Gunfleet Wind Farm for company. We were making such good progress that there was going to be insufficient water at the Spitway, so overnight at Brightlingsea was the unanimous decision (easy when you sail on your own). An almost downwind sail up the Crouch and I went to put the engine on at Inner Bench Head. Very reluctant to start (usually starts first time), eventually kicked in and I motor-sailed up to the entrance to Brightlingsea. The wind was now settling down and there seemed no point going all the way down Pyefleet creek to find a buoy. There was a Thames barge anchored up just off Brightlingsea, so I thought I'd join him. Sails down and just getting the hook ready, when the engine cut out. We gently sailed onto the putty, so I dropped the hook. Now: three times 5½ feet was 5 metres, but we were towards the bottom of a spring tide, so I thought a little more was called for. The moon was bright, the wind had died and all was well with the world (well, almost all!). On investigating the engine problem, I found an empty fuel tank; this had been filled up over a week ago, so something was amiss. Checked the engine and found the sump under the engine swimming in red liquid, checked the bilges and they were also swimming in red liquid. Diesel! All that duty paid, I could have wept.

Usual scenario, some of the things that would be useful were not on the boat, my spare diesel cans were in the garage (full tank, won't need them). I started bailing diesel using a Muller Rice container into a cannibalised paraffin can and used my now extremely useful diesel/water separator filter to return it to the tank, hopefully still useable. Needs must and what else was I going to do with all this smelly stuff. Once I had removed what I could, I tried the engine again, but no luck. Fitted a new secondary fuel filter, but spare primary filter was also sitting in my garage awaiting the winter refit. Might as well get some rest (sleep forget it). Moved the boat to deeper water at the top of the tide around 02:30 and then after spending most the night weighing up alternative courses of action (sell boat, take up knitting, etc) woke to a glorious morning with not a bit of wind. Crossed sailing down to Burnham off my list of options.

Having failed to persuade Mike Birch to move the rally to Brightlingsea, I called up Brightlingsea Harbour who kindly offered to tow me in for what I thought was a modest fee ("Saturday, don't think you'll find anyone around to help you"). Once tied up, hailed the water taxi to take me ashore to see if I could find assistance,  "Can you hold on a minute" said the water taxi, "I've just got to pick up a diesel engineer from another boat". Salvation! Said engineer came aboard, went to get a fuel filter, fitted same and got the engine started. No obvious leaks of diesel. Sorted. Asked to see the old filter I had taken off and there was the culprit, a rusty hole dripping diesel. So, hopefully, problem solved, again for a modest fee. The wind had now picked up and there was still time to sail down to Burnham. However the engine cut out 3 or 4 times trying to get out of Brightlingsea Creek and I sensibly headed back to the pontoon with my tail between my legs. Sometimes you've got to know when it's time to quit. Beer and lunch beckoned and Catherine was persuaded to kindly come down to Brightlingsea to pick me up and thence to Burnham.

We eventually arrived at Burnham Yacht Harbour for the pre-dinner drinks on Mike and Val Birch's Far Star, never knew you could fit so many in a boat. Jonathan Hague and Ron Gardner had sailed Hard Seed from Chatham, Norman Hummerstone had sailed Barbary Heron from North Fambridge (shortest passage relative to water line length), David and Shelagh Curry had come down from West Mersea in their new motor boat, Alchera and I had... well there's another story. The rest sensibly had decided to come by car. Catherine and myself were equipped with Gin & Tonic and I stoppeth one of three and regailed them with my tales of hardship and fortitude. It was great to catch up with everyone again and hear their tales of a summer's sailing, next year's plans and other nonsense. After an hour of good company (not sailing!), life returned and we all retired to the Swallowtail Restaurant for the evening meal. A beautifully cooked meal, lively conversation and a diabolical quiz devised by Val Birch that required us to extract the names of sweets from cryptic clues, e.g. 1. "Wobbly Infants", 2. "Wise Guys", 3. "Where refined people live" (answers below, no cheating). We kindly passed on the offer of drinks on board Hard Seed (been there, done that!) and retired to our kindly offered berth on board Far Star well content. It's amazing how you can relax much better on someone else's boat.

The morning dawned bright and clear and once again no wind. Jonathan Hague and Ron Gardner had departed early in Hard Seed to catch the tide back to Chatham. We rose after a leisurely start (isn't it great when the tide works in your favour) and walked round the river front to the Bikers' Cafe, meeting David and Shelagh on the way, where we all had a wonderful Full English breakfast outside in the sun and were entertained by the many bikes and bikers arriving for their breakfast. We were joined by Richard Keen and Sue Cossell who had had to make do with a mere hotel breakfast. After a very pleasant morning in the sun, swapping stories, some of which I couldn't possibly mention in this family-friendly article, tide and time beckoned and we eventually had to drag ourselves off and make our way by car back to Brightlingsea and attempt to get Wight Wizard back to Ramsholt. The wind had picked up, the sun was shining and we had a lovely sail back in the still relatively barmy conditions. The sun went down over Walton (again!) and I put into Harwich for the night. Very entertaining trying to identify navigation lights against the lights of Felixstowe container port. My new smart phone Navionics app was a great help.

An early morning forecast of "F9 later" prompted a quick refuelling stop in Shotley and back into the Deben just before the forecast gales struck. An eventful, but enjoyable end to a full and varied sailing season. You certainly learn a lot sailing the East Coast. Time to put the boat to bed, dig out the winter clothing and enjoy winter walks, log fires and cosy pubs, and time to reflect on passages made and the voyages that didn't happen and start planning for next year.

Answers: 1. Jelly babies; 2. Smarties; 3. Quality Street