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Monday 22nd April 1963: Horning Ferry - Yarmouth Yacht Station
20 miles
Wind: South East Force 5 gusting
Sunny
At 12.00hrs Vagabond set sail from Horning Ferry.
She tacked down the Bure past St. Benet’s Abbey and then reached and tacked to Acle Bridge, where she moored at 14.00hrs. The Captain, Mate and Ship’s Dog went for water while the crew prepared lunch.
At 15.00hrs the mast was lowered and Vagabond was quanted through the bridge with the ebb tide. She was then moored at the Bridge Inn Staithe while the mast was hoisted again and she set sail once again at 15.20hrs.
While reaching and running down the Bure the crew saw a Chinese junk moored at Stokesby - these Chinese are everywhere. Vagabond continued past the Stracey Arms to Ash Tree Farm where the wind started to drop and the tide turned. For the last mile and a half it was a very hard beat against tide and wind with every inch counting. If Vagabond failed to stem the tide she would be forced to go way back up river to the last mooring which was at the Stracey Arms. With the help of one or two lucky puffs from between the factories and warehouses she managed to fetch Yarmouth Yacht Station Quay at 18.30. The crew prepared the evening meal while the Captain, Mate and Dog went to see the Harbourmaster about a tow through Yarmouth bridges into Breydon Water the next morning. The were directed to Mr. E. Liffen who agreed to tow Vagabond through at 09.00hrs the next day.
The mooring lines for Vagabond were carefully adjusted as the rise and fall of the tide at the Yacht Station is approximately six to eight feet which means that enough scope has to be left for the tide to ebb and flood unless you want to have the boat ‘hung up’ halfway through the night.
After supper at 19.40hrs the crew retired gratefully to bed for a good night’s sleep which ws only disturbed by the occasional wandering from bunk to bunk (via the Captain’s li-lo) of the Ship’s Dog . . .
