The Journey Home part 2:

Travelling up the tidal Thames is a bit of a slog. first you need to take the mast down if you want to pass Tower bridge, you also need to travel with the tide.
We left the Medway with the ebbing tide early in the morning. This was during the para-Olympic games of 2012. You can imagine the security on the Thames at that time. We registered our intention to travel a month in advance to speed up the inevitable interceptions.

First came the Customs men

 
That's my "permit" he is checking.

Then The Police

Next The Port Of London

The sun was relentless and I forgot the sun block :-(

Passed Under the QE2 bridge:-

 We passed a piece of plant further up which "exploded" as we went past:-

We never did find out what happened.

At Greenwich the Thames became a horrendous chop with the wash of the tourist boats

Finally we reached Teddington at the precise moment that the river on either side of the lock was equal, the lockies opened the gates at each end and we motored through. Moored up at Teaddington an had a much needed meal and a pint. (we are the tiny boat)

The Jorney Home

The boat was at the Eversons boat yard in Woodbridge, I live in Oxford that's a bit of a long trip.
As I wanted to do a major refit I decided to take her home via the Thames to be moored near Oxford.
Before we left I needed to change the fuel tank As it was leaking into the bilges.

This rusty lump was removed by the yard and replaces with a new vetus plastic tank. being translucent you can see the fule level and any muck that may get in.

The day before we left she was craned in.

 Now sitting in the river Deben ready for departure.

 The first day of our trip was a slow motor from Woodbridge to Felixstow Ferry. I was crewed by Ray an old sailing friend. We gradually got the feel of the boat before taking her out to sea for the first time.

We got up with the dawn to take advantage of the rising tide to take us down to Brightlingsea.

The wind was right on our nose, so our first sail was a slog beating into the wind. Suprisingly the Swin Ranger managed a respectable 45 deg to the wind. Not bad as I managed to jam a novelty windsock into the main halliard  sheave at the top of the mast, and had to sail with a baggy main.

This is the naughty windsock just before we hoisted the main:-

Note the string around the halliard.
After a couple of hours slog we started the engine an motored the final approaches to Britlingsea.
We spent a very pleasant night on the pontoon.

The next morning we again started with the dawn making for Queenborough.

 Not a breath of wind did we get all day very hot!
We passed the SS Richard Montgomery, I'm sure a few bits have fallen off since I last went by.

We could not raise any one on the VHF at Queenborough, but finally worked out which were the visitors buoys.
That evening we enjoyed the natural beauty of the sun dogs:- 

  To be continued in Part 2:

The Swin Ranger is not a Cox 22 !

This is a Cox 22 it has a similar hull but that's about it. My boat was originally advertised as a Cox 22 Swin Ranger. It has to be one or the other, there is no such thing as a "Cox 22 Swin Ranger"

As purchased.

This is my Swin Ranger as I purchased her in 2012, she was called "Qastina" now renamed "Chronophage"  (Time Eater, or you may prefer Time Waster).