Photos....

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Links....

• Sea Scout Homepage

• Suffolk Yacht Harbour

• Harwich RNLI Lifeboat station

• Ipswich Haven Marina

• Sudbury Mercury Press Article

 

Suffolk Yacht Harbour is the East Coast’s leading independent Marina, with 550 berth, its own boatyard, Chandlery and Sailing School, their is also a brokerage and new boat sales office.

Friday

 The Sea Scouts like visiting Yachtsman received a warm welcome, and we set up our camp site at the west end of the Marina.

Leaders launched the two Ribs during the day and the Motor cruiser Braw Lass was craned into the water on Thursday.

Saturday

Everyone was up early and breakfast was prepared along with the packed lunches for the day

The Sea Scouts were fitted up with life jackets, and were shown how to fit one correctly, before heading down to the marina to get the first glimpse of the boats in the marina. Boat crews were given safety briefings and completed a daily Risk Assessment form on the boats before leaving.

 Before departing we called Thames Coastguard using the VHF Radio to get the weather forecast for the day.  

As we headed out in to the River Orwell we made our way up River to Pin Mill and cook Bacon Rolls on board Braw Lass for everyone.  

Sea Scouts made a good job of the driving and Navigation as we worked our way up to the Orwell Bridge, construction of this magnificent bridge commenced in December 1979 and was completed in December 1982, by the Dutch company Stebbings.

·         The main span is 190meters which, at the time of its construction was the longest pre-stressed concrete span in use.

·         The total length is 1,287 metres. The width is 24 meters with an air draft of 43 meters.

Leaving the Orwell Bridge behind, us and the gentle slops of the river banks we made our way to the port of Ipswich. We called Ipswich Lock on the VHF so we could gain entrance to Ipswich Haven Marina for our lunch stop in the rain!

 We made good use of the facilities before making our way back to the boats.

 After Lunch we made our way back to Levington and got showered and changed ready for our dinner which came from the Ship Inn at Levington.

After dinner we had a walk around the Marina checking out all the yachts and Lights on the river and at container port, before turning in for the night.

Sunday

Remembering that the clocks had changed, we were all up on time and soon ready for another day afloat.

The weather looked good and was confirmed over the radio before we left the marina. Our passage plan for today was to head out through Harwich Harbour crossing the shipping lane near the Yacht track and heading out to sea. We made good progress reaching Woodbridge Haven Buoy at the entrance to the River Deben at around midday before we made our return back to the Harbour.

We stopped at the Pontoons of Half Penny Pier in Harwich for Lunch and also managed to arrange a quick visit to the RNLI Station. But with time running out we had to get back to Levington to pack up our camp and recover boats.

Everyone had a great camp, and I would like to thank Suffolk Yacht Harbour, Ipswich Haven Marina, the crews at the Harwich RNLI Station, the Ship at Levington, Jeff & Tracy, Steve Cleverley and all the leaders helpers that worked so hard to give the Sea Scouts a great experience.

On behalf of the Sea Scouts,

Thank you every much,

Rob Palmer

3^rd Sudbury Sea Scouts