Our fleet of a dozen boats gathered in Lowestoft at the RNSYC over the weekend of the 18th & 19th May and enjoyed a super Sunday roast in the club house. The northerly wind was forecast to be just a little too brisk for us to make the passage to Wells on Monday so we made our plans to depart on Tuesday.
Tuesday dawned fine & bright. The forecast was for fog patches and by the time we left the yacht club basin visibility was really closing in at Lowestoft. Visibility was around 200 metres as we made our way up to Great Yarmouth @ 8 knots. Once to the North of Yarmouth the fog lifted significantly and we picked up speed to 18 knots. The clear spell was short lived and by Waxham visibility was down to 200 metres or less. We made a call to Wells Harbour to establish the visibility there. He reported 1 mile visibility so we pushed on into the mist with the radar whirring and the fleet running line astern of each other. The fog arrived at Wells before we did and it was fairly thick when we arrived at Wells leading buoy at 1800hrs.
Picking up the second marker, the yellow safe water mark which was not charted and not visible was challenging but our rib located it whilst the fleet waited at the leading buoy. From there it was buoy to buoy as we made our way down the harbour to Wells Quay where the Harbour Master was waiting to assist the boats mooring. Whilst the fog had obliterated the views of the beautiful North Norfolk Coast and had challenged our skippers, they all appreciated the experience they had gained and the drinks certainly flowed well that evening.
We enjoyed a couple of very relaxed and sociable days in the lovely town of Wells, tried some excellent restaurants, walks and shopping.
On Friday morning we departed the quay at 0700hrs. The weather was fine and the sea state very pleasant as we cruised back to Lowestoft at 20 knots arriving at 1015hrs.
